Mayor and Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

I'm now calling this meeting to order.

Please stand with us. We'll be led in prayer by Alderman Gallagher. Please remain standing after that for the Pledge of Allegiance that will be led by Alderman-at-Large George Payne.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you. that you're a wise God, Lord Jesus, and that your word says that if we will ask, you will give wisdom to us, Lord. So we ask you right now to give us wisdom during our meeting. Help us to make decisions that would make you happy in everything that we say and think and do. Let our minds be on you. In your name we pray. Amen.

and indivisible with liberty and justice for our own.

First on the agenda this evening is the approval of minutes for both the June 16, 2026 meeting and the June 25, 2026 meeting. So moved.

Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Hoots, second by Alderman Jerome. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

That motion carries next on our agenda. We have the privilege of swearing in our new fire chief, Mr Trey blood. So there'll be a public press release that goes out tomorrow. But we'll do the swearing in tonight. I'm going to welcome his family. Looks like you brought a good crew with you. And it's a special day. And it's a huge thing to be promoted to the top position in a department like the fire department. It's a huge honor. And so I hope this day is special for both Trey and his family. But Trey, you know, just a quick summary. Joined the Salem Fire Department in 1999. And I moved up all the ranks. He's a highly respected, highly regarded member of our team, so we're proud to swear him in tonight. So chief, let's come forward and let's let's swear you in. Make it official.

Thanks for being.

Right hand up. You just insert I. Pray blood so. trade do solemnly swear solemnly swear that will faithfully support the Constitution of the United States faithfully support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Mississippi and the Constitution of the state of Mississippi and obey the laws thereof and obey the laws thereof that I'm not disqualified that I'm not disqualified from holding the office of fire chief from holding the office of fire chief and I will faithfully discharge the duties and I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I'm about to enter.

Of the office upon which I'm about to enter.

So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations.

Thank you, sir. Congratulations.

Thank you, sir.

Okay, next on our agenda is our parks enhancement plan. As we've discussed heavily, the parks enhancement plan is funded by our tourism tax for our restaurant hotel revenue. So every four years, the state legislature puts a repeal date on that. And so the plan that we're just wrapping up started in 2022. We had a master plan that went by, had numerous projects on it. So now as effective July 1, 2022, 26, we have an extension for another four years. So what we want to do tonight, no board action is required. What we want to do is just have a public discussion about what our priorities are so we can be efficient moving forward. So the board sent some information out to y'all. So just want to kind of go through that. This this plan that we proposed by our parks director and myself is geared towards the projected revenue. So anytime we do anything like this, we're going to base the numbers on real revenues or very conservative projections. In all likelihood, over the next four years, your revenue is going to be much higher than it is this year. Right now, revenue for this year is $3.4 million. We've seen a trend over, this is our fourth extension. So we got the first extension in 2014, and the revenue in the first year was like 700,000 miles. So we've come a long way. The city's grown with a bunch of restaurants and hotels, so the revenue's significantly grown. We expect that to keep going, but a long way to tell you, this projection is being very conservative. It's keeping it basically at 3.4, 3,450,000 a year. And that would give you a total, until it expires in 2030, of $13,750,000. So what I sent to you guys is basically the project that we had scheduled for this past four-year period, the LED lights at Snowdon and Greenbrook. That's under construction now. We'll need to be funded by this revenue. And then the projection of the best things that we can do, and we talk a lot about this. Y'all know that we recently purchased some land at the tennis center. But when we look at all the options that we got and consider putting the puzzle together on the amount of revenue that we have, We believe that the best investment for the next four years is indoor tennis. And if you look in the community, if you look at what's happened since we started the tennis program in 2016, it's been one of the best investments that we've had. Just want to go through some of the reasons, and I've had some conversations with some of y'all, but what I sent to you are some of the reasons like we don't we don't just come and say hey look we know we like tennis or I play tennis or I know some people who play tennis that has nothing to do with it what we do is we look at a comprehensive what's going to bring the best return on investment for everything that we can do in our parks and as you see on our list we have some that are in our long-term plan I indicated 2031 on there just in case we're not able to get to them this time. That doesn't mean that 2031 will be the year. If the revenues are higher and we can move some things up from this list, we can do that as well. But we believe, our parks director, myself, listened to the citizens evaluating all the options that are out there, that indoor tennis is the best return on investment. Here are the reasons why. So when you look at what we've done since 2016, before that, we didn't even have a tennis program. We had four tennis courts in the city and had no director. We had no formal program. So we hire Michael Johnson in 2017. We build the initial eight additional courts. Then we come back a second time at eight additional more outdoor courts in 2024. we're named the tennis complex of the year for the state of Mississippi. So coming from, in just eight years, from a program that didn't exist, we've become the number one in the state. So a lot of credit to Michael Johnson and Wes Brown for that. It's very well operated. But the demand has been insane. Like the people that never played tennis. I mean, there are a lot of people who did not play tennis. And then we did the enhancements at the park. So many more people got involved. So tennis is just blown up, you know, as a program in general. But here's the reasons why indoor is important. Like I said, we have the 20 courts out there now. Indoor further diversifies and elevates Snowden Grove Park and our city in general to a new level in the tennis world, eliminating competition for most Mississippi or Mid-South cities. I know there's a super nice complex in Memphis. I never could remember that.

Leftwich.

Leftwich. And then Tunica National has an indoor. But if you look at most of the other cities, you're gonna find few that have as many courts as we have and have the indoor option. So it elevates us. I don't wanna say that it, I thought about telling y'all that it elevates us to the same level in tennis that it does in baseball, but that's a bold statement, so I'm not going to quite go there. But it does, in the tennis world, it puts you on the map big time if you have indoor tennis. The other thing is, again, it's adding an amenity that we currently do not have. So currently, when you're outdoor, it's a seasonal thing. When you get into the winter months and bad weather days, you don't have tennis out there because it's all outdoor. So adding the amenity makes the program a 365 day per year revenue stream, tourism draw, and development opportunity for our kids with no weather interruption. Next, it further enhances opportunities for kids who cannot play other sports. I've told y'all this before. I've told many people. It just melts my heart when I see six, seven-year-old little girls, they go, they got to pink tennis racket and they they're geared out and these are girls that, you know, probably wouldn't play softball, you know, probably would play volleyball. But tennis gives them that. That's their niche. That's their thing. And so it's just great to see the other opportunities for the kids. The other thing that We talk about all the things we do in youth sports, your baseball, softball, football, soccer. All these things have a short tenure for people. Tennis is a lifelong sport. So as long as you're able to get out there, and if you go to our courts now, you'll see, like I said, you'll see six, seven-year-old kids out there playing. And you'll see 86, 87-year-old people out there playing. So it's a lifelong sport. that has a multi-generational appeal, giving health and fitness opportunities and social relationships that would not otherwise exist. Can't tell you how many people that just, you know, being from South Haven and being the mayor, and they'll say, ask me about somebody, and I'll, oh, I said, how do you know them? Y'all are like 20 years apart in age. They said, we play tennis together. And so, again, it's that multi-generational thing. It just connects, you know, people of all ages, and that's something that the other sports definitely do not do. Your general economic attraction. Many tennis players own businesses and live and do business in cities with first-class amenities. I've had people before that says, Mayor, do you really believe somebody's going to relocate their business because there's a nice tennis court? Of course they're not. Are they going to move their business here or move here because our streets are paved back? Of course they're not. But what it does, it's a combination of all the things that make your city economically attractive. And when you have things like this, it makes you more economically attractive in general. Tournament capabilities. I mean, we're hosting some of the biggest tournaments now, but if you have indoor along with the 20 outdoor, It adds other regional events that we're not getting now, high school events and collegiate events. Optimizes resources, that's one of the biggest things I hear now is, do you have to reserve a court? The courts are full, we can't get on the court. So the more courts you add, it optimizes our resources. Outdoor tennis is first come, first served. With indoor tennis, there'll be a reservation system if we do it. Having both options simply allows us to better meet the needs of more of our citizens and visitors. So anyway, that's my summary. It's my recommendation to the board. But before we move forward with whatever we do, We want to be efficient. We've got to have architects design it. There's been a lot of work. As I told you, we've done a lot of work in advance of today getting pre-bed estimates so we'd have useful information to bring to y'all. And these are the numbers that we've been given. So just to be efficient, whatever we decide to do, again, we're not voting tonight. But we need to have some unison in where we go just for efficiency. So with that being said, open up the floor for questions and discussion.

Do we need to make a motion to have a discussion? Or can we just have a discussion?

But we're not, I mean.

I mean, I'm just making sure.

Sure, but if y'all, yeah, we don't.

We don't need to, I'm fine. Yeah. I want to piggyback off what you said on the last point. I've been thinking about this for the last couple of days. I saw your email yesterday morning. This is going to shock you. I don't want six. I want 12. 12 indoor? I want us to be the best at what we do. That's what we've done over the last 14 years. I don't know why we wouldn't just, I want to not compete with Lethwich. I want to be better than Lethwich. And I want to make sure that we set the bar for everybody else in this region. And I think we can do it. I think we can fund it with other means. I think we have the bonding capacity and we pay ourselves back through Penny for the Parks. Did we need to do that? But I think before we commit to doing four or six, why don't we look at doing 12 and making sure we are the standard? And while everybody else is going to go, well, look, they got four or six. Let's go build 10 or 12. We're already ahead of the curve. Checkmate. Everybody else can follow you, do whatever you want. But where are you at the top?

Well, I appreciate you saying that, and I agree with you. The only thing I would say is you're talking about a significant amount of money. When we get into general fund money, we do have other things. We want to make sure you, of course, know that. So I agree with you. But at least whatever we do, I think we get started. And you can add the proposal that we have would build onto the existing structure. It would not demolish. At some point in the past, we talked about demoing what's out there now and starting fresh. But we've after talking to architects and Michael and Wes, we believe that the current facility still has use. So there's a way now we would basically what you're doing is you keep your pro shop and your concessions and everything that you have now, which is working well. And then you knock out about where the outdoor fireplace is, you knock off, that's a main hallway. And then you build an A-frame that goes back to the north. And so you can go, I don't want to say it's unlimited. We didn't really get into talking about 12, but we know six to eight, you can definitely go that way. So whatever amount we do, you can come back and add on to that because it's just a simple A-frame. Basically, it's tennis courts, you know, with HVAC system and, you know, roof. Well, it's kind of like we did with the amphitheater.

We did it all in one shot, and it was well worth it. Yeah. I mean, all I'm saying is can we at least look into it? Oh, certainly, yeah.

Can I add to that? Sure. We talked earlier about the nets at Stone and Greenbrook. Those nets were in the vid in 1999. They didn't do it because they saved money. And for like the last six or seven years, we've been talking about these nets, but we don't have them. We have the big metal pole structures, and I wish we had the nets. It would look so much better. And we talked about that earlier. I talked to the mayor, and now Raymond's saying that, and I'll talk to Raymond also. Let's finish the nets. Let's put the nets in. Like you said, hey, let's just see. We can't do it, but that's where we need to go is the 12-14 range instead of the 6 range. I mean, y'all are shocking me. I'm just saying, we do things to be the best. This could do for the city? What baseball did for the city? You might want to write it down that I said spend money.

You're talking about the guy who was nicknamed the Mayor of Snowden Grove. So, I mean, if there's anybody that agrees on what parks do for our city and our people, I'm up there with you the whole way.

Try to get a hotel room right now without a tournament in town. There's a tournament with teams from California and Texas. Oh, yeah. You can't get a hotel room.

There's no doubt about it. I just, and I agree. So we can definitely do that. I just, what I was presenting to y'all is a way to do it with just the park revenue. I hear you.

But I mean, I just started thinking, I'm like, let's just, let's set the standard for not just the state, for the region.

Yeah. And where's Wes? Wes Brown, are you listening to this? He's like Fred Sanford.

I mean, if we're going to compete with Lethwich, people are going to go, you want to go to a tournament in Memphis, or do you want to go over to Safer in South Haven, where they have better amenities, it's safer, I'd rather have my family there. I just think we blow it out of the water, and let's do it right.

I'm with you on that. We can definitely look at and do it. That's why I was telling you also that we already talked to the architect about it. whatever we can afford to do. And again, we can shoot big, but if we can't, it's something that can be added on to easily because it's just, it's an a frame.

Yeah. But I, you know, again, we need to, we need, we gotta go take a bond. We'll go take a bond. Yeah. I mean, we need to look at it.

And Caleb's over here probably freaking out, but he's not, he's not, we've been talking about our Caleb and I have had been in a lot of discussions about We're waiting on the audit to be done. That's step one. We need the audit to be done so we can know where we stand from a financial reserve standpoint. Then after that, we've already done an analysis. We have a large amount of debt capacity. I mean, we've done a good job over the years of staying way below the state required ratios. And I know you all appreciate we've all had that as a goal to be you know, manage the debt wisely. But we have a lot of capacity, a lot of debt capacity that's there. So that's out there. There are, and again, that's why, and we can meet and, you know, look at the big picture. But there are some public safety things that we want to do as well, capital improvement. So we want to, you know, put that in the mix too, make sure we don't, you know, that we give them their right place in the priority list as well. But no, I agree with you, and let's build as many as we can.

Yeah, I just would like to at least look at it. We have to study it, then we study it. But I think if we're going to do it, let's do it. And let's be bigger than that. Let's do better than that. And we have the amenities to do it. We have the city to do it. It's safer. Why not just set the standard? We have with everything else. That's who we are.

Amen. We certainly are.

Looking back at the 22 to 26 plan, in 26 we mentioned dog parks and the black vinyl fencing. The LED lighting at Greenbrook, which is 27, which we've already done, which is good. But to jump over the other two and go straight to the tennis facility, I'd like to go back to... I'm not sure the black final fencing includes the netting. That's the best way to start it.

That's what I'm talking about.

We put it on that list in that order for a reason. I think we ought to kind of stick to that.

Well, I appreciate you saying that just to share information with everybody. We've had heavy discussion about that. We have some pieces of property that are actually already being used as a dog park. One of those is the pecan grove at Snowden. We discussed that that's a minor expense. It's something that we could do in a very inexpensive way. We started thinking about this, and another idea came up is, We just put the Field of Dreams playground across the street. So we started worrying about, do we really want to advertise that as a dog park? You know, when you got the kids right across the street because the dogs are, you know, by their nature are going to get loose. So we have some liability concerns about letting that be a dog park. And in 2022, that was in our mind, that's one of the places that we had envisioned for that. So I'm certainly not against a dog park, but a dog park certainly doesn't, know in in my mind and their parks director's mind carry the weight of a you know indoor tennis But we could probably still do it. We just need to find a safe place to do it. Because no matter what you say, I know a lot of people love dog parks. I'm not against dog parks. But when you're held accountable for the day-to-day operations and what happens to the people, you've got big dogs, you've got little dogs. Dogs are going to get loose. Some dogs are going to bite. And so anyway, we just started from a liability standpoint, worrying that we may not want to advertise it as a dog park. Any other thoughts?

I'm excited. I'm saying let's go do it. And I'm shocked.

I know. I want to spend money. People are shocked. That's why Wes needs it.

Wes, it's going to be okay. Okay. Well, that's all tonight. So what we will do is on an upcoming agenda, we will put – put that on the agenda so we'll have more discussion about it more information at that point in time and then Caleb will we'll look at the master capital improvement plan just kind of see how that would tie in and the other thing to Alderman Wheeler's point we haven't looked at the cost of the vinyl fencing and the netting in a few years so probably want to get some Pre-bid drill down on that a little bit more, get some pre-bid estimates on that, because everything that we've done is with inflation, you know, if you've had something on the list for a while, you can count on it's going to be a whole lot higher than it was. Okay, so we'll put that on an upcoming agenda. Anybody got anything else before we move on? Okay, next on our agenda is authorization to seek bids for the Snowden Grove overhead arch signs. And we talked about this. This is just some of the remaining funds that we had from the 2022 plan could be used to fund this. And basically all this is doing is mirroring what's at Central Park and Cherry Valley. So you would have an overhead just to beautify the entrance, make a grand entrance. You'd have three of them. So you'd have one of them on Freeman Lane. When you come into the park on the east side off of Malone, then you would have one at Snowden Lane and Nell Road, which is the southern entrance to the park. And then you have another one on the main, Sunset Loop, which comes from May Boulevard. If you go through the first four-way stop at Snowden Lane, you'd put one right there. But that's what this is about, and I had it designed and ready to go. I'll make that motion.

Second.

We've got a motion of Alderman Wheeler, seconded by Alderman Gallagher. Any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Hughes? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes. Alderman Wheeler? Yes. Alderman Juarez?

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is a resolution to amend the property maintenance code ordinance. And so this is something that we've been thinking about for a long time after you know, just looking at, you know, property conditions in the neighborhood, things that, you know, or affect curb appeal the most. And so that's what kind of birth this thought process. And for the record, for the people who like to misquote, I'm not recommending anything tonight. Okay. What I'm doing tonight is bringing facts to this board of aldermen for consideration. I'm not recommending that we do anything at this time. So what we run into is in the current property maintenance code, we have blighted property violations. So there's a list of things that are undesirables that bring down property values that have a negative crime impact in neighborhoods. And it comes down to curb appeal. So we were careful in 2015 or 16 when we passed the first maintenance code that we didn't violate people's rights. We didn't want, there was rumors that we were gonna inspect the interior houses and ridiculous, y'all may remember that. It was never intended for that reason. It's intended to look at things that negatively impact the other houses around you, and the property values in a residential neighborhood. So those things are things that can be seen from the streets, curb appeal. So when you look at a home, you could have the grass cut, you can have the hedges trimmed, you can have it looking good, and then you visualize broken blinds or sheets on the windows, and that exists in our city right now. Or foil. Or foil, things like that. So when you look at that, From a real estate standpoint, it kills the curb appeal of the home. In addition to that, we now know that it's no secret we fight drug sales. There are drug dealers in our world that that look for places to go and they look for places where they are not high profile for the most part. And so what happens a lot of times, and the police will tell you this, they can almost read the house like a book. Like when you pull up to the house and most of the blinds are straight, not broken, And then you have one or two that you can see at the bottom, they're bent and broken. It's no secret that's their lookout window. So that's a tip off that, hey, they're using that for a reason. So all this led to the idea of we really want to further enhance the property values and the conditions of our properties in South Haven to add another blighted property values. And it would read like this. interior window coverings, blinds, shutters, or shades that are broken or bent, temporary materials used for permanent purposes, or any other materials not manufactured for the purpose of window covering that are visible from a public street. And so you would just add, that would be the things that are added to the things that are a violation. But just, I just wanted to discuss that with y'all. I'm always cautious about you know, adding to it, you know, if what we have is working. But I can tell you that that is one of the most, as I've looked at the neighborhoods, and that's one of the most negative things that really drive down the curve appeal of residential neighborhoods. So I just want y'all to, I want to hear what you got to say, or if you don't want to say anything tonight, not asking for any board action tonight, just want you to start thinking about that and help us all as a city, let's decide if we want to add that. I thought we already had an in-neck. Did you? Yeah. No, we had some other stuff when we crafted this thing initially, but we backed off some stuff because we wanted to, you know, we didn't, we wanted to kind of have some experience with it first before we added too much. And again, you know, experience shows it is a neck, it's a big neck. Okay, any other discussion? Just be thinking of if not, we can move on. Just be thinking about that. Okay, we'll move on. So next, there's an amendment to our employee handbook. Mr. Nick Manley, city attorney.

Yes, Mayor and Board. Recently, the Mississippi legislature added or revised Mississippi Code 45.6. 16 and 45617. There are a lot of those revised laws create the right for follow up testing for law enforcement officers who test positive for illegal drugs. The new sections direct the employee employer to utilize a hair follicle analysis should the officer dispute the urinalysis urinalysis results. The Mississippi government body for employee drug testing changed the policy to include hair follicle testing with the corresponding cutoff levels. Therefore, this revised policy in our handbook utilizes the federal cutoff levels for the hair follicle analysis, which would be consistent with the Mississippi law for those follow up tests for our police officers. So tonight, just authorization to approve the handbook as amended in accordance with 45 616 and 45 617 and is recommended by the Human Resources Director Melanie Trisdell.

So moved. Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Flores, second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is a revised lease with GSA for our FBI lease.

This amendment to the FBI lease just includes its anti-DEI statement, which was required now by all federal agencies pursuant to President Trump's executive order. It does not change any of the terms of the lease as far as amount or length of time. our term for the lease. So tonight just need authorization to have the mayor signed to revive or the mayor Caleb to sign the revised lease to include the GSA language consistent with President Trump's executive order.

So move. Second. We have a motion by Alderman Flores, second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Dukes. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler. Yes. Alderman Flores.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on the agenda is resolution for motor vehicle for hire.

This resolution just authorizes Karen Johnson on behalf of RCM Works Elite Luxury Transport operating motor vehicle for hire in accordance with Mississippi Code 2127-131. And she has provided information to the city clerk's office to be granted the permit.

So moved. Second.

We have a motion from Alderman Payne, second from Alderman Wheeler. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Hicks. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler. Yes. Alderman Flores.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on the agenda is a contract amendment with Premier Lawn and Turf.

This amendment was previously tabled, but since that time the amendment has been revised to just include the cut, spray, maintain the islands on Nell Road between Getwell and Tullahoma. The Nell Road Islands will be visited twice during each month during the cutting season and maintained. One application of pine straw is included in the price. Islands will be visited monthly during the off season. So there'll be 24 visits per year and the monthly amount is $22.57 per month as revised down from the previous time this was discussed before it was tabled. So tonight you need authorization to bring it off the table and then bring it in authorization to approve the amendment for signature.

I'll make the motion to bring it off the table.

We have a motion by Alderman Wheeler, second by Alderman Payne. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say no. Ayes have it. Motion carries. It's untabled. Is there any discussion about approving it?

How is this compared to our other landscaping like Elm Gatwell or other places?

It's the total contracts about a little over $300,000. So this was 2257 times 12 is 30. Yeah. And so about 10% a little under. That's what we questioned. We were concerned initially about the significance of it. We were told that there was an error in the first proposal, and then We had some heavy discussions over the last month about it, so they've revised the amount to this amount.

How much was it before?

The contract without, this is the Nail Road Island, so before, since that was a new road, it wasn't on the contract. So when we awarded the contract, we have a list of all the right-of-ways that they maintain in the city. And it was, Robert, it's over $300,000. What was the amount? Before we do this, it was $320,000. How much? $302,000. $302,000. Yeah. And this, again, is something that we just rebid it last year. Nick, was it last year or two years ago?

Two years.

And so this is something that could be rebid if y'all want to do it, but this is where we stand now. We have some islands that need to be cleaned up. Yes. Or else you're going to see the mayor, you don't want to see the mayor out there doing it. Well, if it doesn't get done, I won't be by myself, I'll assure you, but I will be out there. I'll make a motion to approve. Second. We have a motion by Alderman Flores, second by Alderman Wheeler. Is there any further discussion?

Can it start tomorrow?

I think we already, yes.

Okay.

Yes. Hearing no other discussion, roll call, please.

Alderman Thain? Yes. Alderman Hughes? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes. Alderman Miller? Yes. Alderman Flores?

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is a resolution to surplus police department vehicles.

Yeah, this resolution just authorizes the surplus of certain vehicles in the police department that are wrecked or are not able to be utilized anymore in the service. So it's my authorization to surplus those vehicles.

So moved. Second. We have motion by Alderman Flores, second by Alderman Wheeler. Is there any discussion? I hate to see the Krautwigs go. That was a real police car. Well, they were well built and obviously we got our money's worth out of them. We got one more? I think we need to save one for the museum. They were good ones. They were the real deal. Okay, any other discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Hoots? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallop? Yes. Alderman Wheeler? Yes.

Alderman Flores? Yes. That motion carries. Next on the agenda is a resolution to clean private property.

Mr. Mayor, I move we adopt a resolution granting authority to clean private property as presented on this date.

Second. We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Hoots. Is there any discussion among the board? Hearing none, is there anyone in the audience who has a financial interest in any of the properties on the list who would like to speak? Hearing or seeing none, roll call, please.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Hoops. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler. Yes. Alderman Flores.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is our planning agenda. Ms. Whitney Cook.

Yes, sir. The first item we have on the agenda tonight is a design review application. This is for DeSoto District LLC. Yes, there's some lovely pictures down there. And basically, a few weeks back, we actually came through and approved the subdivision application for this. This is going to be right south of Silo Square's secondary entrance where the actual silo is. What you've got here is a spec building for two tenant spaces proposed to be a coffee shop with a patio around the rear of it as well as a bank. As you can see by the elevations, it's a beautiful building. It does mesh well with what you have around there. It has pushed the building all the way to the front of the street as opposed to putting the parking in the front, they've pushed that to the rear. So it falls in line beautifully with the solid square development to the north of it. developer, Spence Ray, who did the provost at Nail and Getwell Road, was received very well by the Planning Commission. We did not have any recommendations of changes to the building or its landscaping. Site plan's already gone through. We've made some adjustments to that. That obviously doesn't come to this board, but they did agree to all of those changes and subdivisions in place. So it was recommended unanimously by the Planning Commission and we're recommending approval here.

Mr. Mayor, I make a recommendation. I'm sorry, I make a motion that we approve item number one on the planning agenda as presented tonight. Second. I'll speak English tonight.

On item one, we have a motion by Alderman Flores, second by Alderman Gallagher. Is there any discussion?

Whitney, will all the buildings in that development be similar in design?

Knowing the developer, yes. But do I have a general guidelines for it? No. And we're honestly not opposed to having some different characteristics as long as it's done a good quality and we'll ensure that and he's he's proven himself to do that. So all of them will come forth in front of you.

Any other discussion on item one? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Hood? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes. Alderman Wheeler? Yes.

Alderman Flores? Yes. That motion carries.

Our second application is our request to vacate a portion of Tulane Road, which you see highlighted here in yellow. This is going to be south of the intersection of Stanton Road and Tulane all the way down to our city borders. As of right now, the city is not utilizing it for anything other than a construction entrance, which is going to the east of it. We do have points of access for our training facility, obviously on Stanton Road, but it does not serve any more public access to anything other than the private entity to the east of it. We don't want to continue maintaining that road and the conditions there and allow the construction to carry on on that road. So we're proposing to vacate that once you do a vacate like that from the center line over it splits to each of the individual properties. And basically your measurements here about 2600 feet a little over half a mile, 80 foot wide. We're requesting to vacate that and distribute it back to the two property owners, one being our side, one being obviously the Duke Energy side. And I'm sorry, we're proposing for it to officially be vacated August 1st.

Is that Judy?

Yeah, that's me. May I make a motion? We approve item number two on the planning agenda.

Second.

On item two, we have a motion by Alderman Hoots, a second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion?

I'm assuming both property owners are perfectly fine with that.

Yes. I mean, obviously the one to the east is utilizing it to gain access to their property. We attempted to keep the maintenance up on it and bonding it and things like that. It's a lot and there's just no need. It doesn't serve any public access.

So any other discussion on item two? Hearing none roll call.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Next on our agenda is our mayor's report. Just a couple of quick recaps. The visiting World Series happened since our last meeting had a tremendous turnout for that. A lot of again, tons of players in from all over the place and families. It was just a super special event our parks team did an outstanding job like they always do and so again just another another solid success with the disney world series all of us most of us went to the mississippi municipal league conference last week and it was also a success i know of all the years that i go down there we always find a class that that i learned something in and it's just It's just worth the trip down there. They're always something that provides some value. The cities share information. The biggest thing is the networking value of it when you're talking with other cities and both giving them advice and then learning, hearing their ideas as well. Not to mention the legislators are down there. It's just a tremendous event. Come into contact many times with people at the state capitol and I met him. I met him at the Boer watch I mean, that's where I met him at the hotel not even in a You know the convention center room, but it's just a just a great networking event. South Haven has always represented Well, we're highly respected among the state and when we're down there becomes very obvious that we're highly respected statewide So it was also a great event and that's really all I have tonight Next on our agenda is our personnel docket

Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the personnel docket as presented on this date.

Second. We have a motion from Alderman Payne, second from Alderman Hoots. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Hoots. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler. Yes. Alderman Flores.

Yes. And that motion carries. Next on our agenda is our city attorney's legal update. Mr. Nick Manley again.

Just one quick item that came up this afternoon. Authorization for a purchase and maintenance agreement for a printer for the Parks Department. Their printer is no longer working. So tonight, they need to go ahead and get this printer purchased. And so we purchased for the maintenance agreement, and we signed by West Morale. Cost?

Is it a lease or is it a purchase?

Well, it's a purchase agreement, so it's new equipment, $6,895. So moved. Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Flores, second by Alderman Gallagher. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Hoots? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes. Alderman Wheeler?

Yes. Alderman Flores?

Yes. And that motion carries. Next on our agenda is our utilities billing leak adjustment docket.

Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the utility bill leak adjustment docket that's presented on the state.

Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Hoots. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne.

Yes. Alderman Hoots. Yes.

Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler. Yes. Alderman Flores.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is one claims docket.

Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the claims docket in the amount of $3,227,342.62, including demand tax. Second. We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Flores.

Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Hughes? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes. Alderman Wheeler? Yes. Alderman Flores?

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda, we have the part we need to determine the need for executive session.

I'll make that motion. Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Gallagher, second by Alderman Wheeler. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say no. Ayes have it. The needs this evening are course of action for security personnel, plans and devices, litigation and claims for utilities, public works, police department and fire department, prospective sale of city property and economic development within the city, and also interdepartmental personnel with no action. So is there now a motion to declare executive session? Second, we have most modern hoots second modern pain. All affairs. Is that not on there? Okay, will you amend your motion personnel in planning and development with code enforcement as well? Y'all good with? Yes. Okay, so that motion has been amended. So any, any discussion about any of that? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed say no. Ayes have it. Motion carries. The mayor and board are now in our executive session.