City Council - Regular Meeting

Uh, welcome to tonight's uh, council meeting for the city of Coington, May 5th, uh, 2026. Uh, the meeting is called to order. Uh, please silence your phones or turn them off. Roll call, please. I just want to make a note that Council President Mark Veret is acting mayor and as such he will not be voting on the matters this evening. All right. Councilman Callahan here. Councilman Bushnell here. Councilman Roberts here. Councilman Inman here. Councilman Burrell here. Councilman Botszford

here. If we could all stand for a moment of silence. And George, could you lead us in the pledge?

George, can you lead us in the pledge allegiance of America to the republic for it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. So, our first uh item up or person up is uh our apper uh Mr. Patrick Brooks. Please step up, state your name and address. Patrick Brooks, 416 East Gibson Street. Thank you, council, for seeing me. Um obviously, I've talked to everybody personally about the vision for the Gibson Street Greenway. What we have here in Covington is absolutely great. I don't want to take away anything that uh saying what we have is bad. It's not bad. What we have is excellent, but it could be so much better. And uh really that's the vision behind the Gibson Street Greenway is the city of Covington taking ownership from the trail head to Claymore Hill and making it the best section of St. Tam Trace. Uh we have a few problems that I get to see on a day-to-day basis. Ton of people are stopping at the Harbor Freight parking lot and not coming in through downtown. A lot of people are getting caught up at the Maribo intersection because the trace is kind of unclear right there and they kind of get lost. And then right in front of the shop, I can't tell you how many times I've answered the question, where is the trace? To us, it may be pretty simple. We've seen it a thousand times. We know where it is, but majority of the people from out of town are getting lost and and complaining to me about it every day. Um, I don't mind talking to people about I love being a great steward for the city of Covington. It's awesome. But we could do a little bit better. Make it a little clearer. Make it a little safer. Make it a little funner. I totally believe we can put a bike lane right down Gibson Street. I know not everybody's in favor for that,

but I think it's totally doable. It's not something I think we need to spend millions of dollars on. I don't think we really need studies for it. I think we need to come together as a community and figure out if that's something we really want to do. Um it's a great opportunity we have to really take a step forward and be a leader here in the community. No other city has this here on the Northshore. Um you know we claim to be the coolest city in the world and I think we are. We've got the culture, we've got the cuisine, but if you look at Vienna, Rome, Paris, what do they have that we don't? Bike lanes. So, I really hope that the city uh council kind of helps the cycling community move this forward. I hope y'all can move the motion to prevent uh get some kind of committee or board or piggyback on something that you already have. And I really appreciate your time. If you have any more questions, you know where to find me. 416 East Gibson Street. And uh I hope you really consider making this a possibility in the future. Thank you for your time. Uh, real quick, uh, yeah, I've seen like you have a bunch bunch of different drawings of, uh, suggestions. Uh, I think the that, like you said, I think something can be done to make it better.

Uh, I think the current striping of, you know, the bicycles and stuff is a huge improvement because a lot of them are like were faded, gone, you couldn't tell. Um, my only suggestion to you would be uh to talk to our safety committee first. I think that's would be the next step on this and that could be uh Councilman Inman on that one. Let's get together coat. I would be happy to. So, okay. Uh we do have one other speaker if that's on. Yep. Please state your name and address.

Uh my name is Orion Vans, 353 Craftsman Court. Uh I am speaking tonight as the president of the Covington Business Association on behalf of downtown businesses that rely on the vital foot and bicycle traffic uh that our city attracts. We're incredibly fortunate to have the St. Tam Trace connecting our community to the rest of the Northshore. The Covington Trail Head is a phenomenal asset and a beautiful gateway into our city. However, there is a critical missing link right on our doorstep. Currently, when riders enter town, the route along Gibson Street amounts to little more than painted symbols on the pavement. It's the second to last leg of an otherwise worldclass journey, but it leaves visitors confused. Now, I love brunch at Marie Bo on their patio, and all too often, I see cyclists turning around right there, stopping to ask me for directions because the path seems to vanish. This isn't just a navigational issue. It's an economic and logistical one for the historic downtown district. The intersection of Gibson and North Columbia is the heartbeat of the CBA's event district. When we host community gatherings like our final Friday block party, the absence of a clearly defined dedicated bike lane means that the trace route inadvertently gets blocked. This creates friction between our events and the very visitors those events help attract. And we want to welcome. We have an opportunity to finish the job. We're asking the council to consider developing a dedicated, safe, clearly marked bike lane along those brief blocks of Gibson Street. Even better, sorry. Even better, let's carry the aesthetic beauty of the trace through that corridor so it feels like a deliberate, proud extension of the trail rather than an afterthought. The city has done an incredible job developing car infrastructure with recent acquisitions for parking, allowing visitors to park and walk.

Covington businesses are appreciative. The Saint Tamony Trace shows great promise of delivering same and we view this as a final step to delivering on that promise. By upgrading the space, we add practicality. We ensure the safety of our visitors and we create a seamless experience that supports our downtown businesses rather than competing with them. Let's complete trace in a way that truly reflects the charm and hospitality of our great city. Thanks for your time and your continued partnership with making our community thrive.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh is there any council comments or anything about it? Questions? No, I I'll just say I commend both of you guys for doing this. Uh it's it's an improvement that's probably necessary. I would take the necessary steps to go through Councilman Emman. But uh thank you all for coming. Just start the conversation because that's how things happen. Kudos to y'all.

All right, moving on. Uh we're going to move into our consent calendar. Uh regular meeting minutes for March 31st, 2026. Uh, an introduction of item number 2026-05-01, an ordinance of the city of Covington levying, imposing, and adopting the millage rates on all property subject to taxation in the city of Coington, state of Louisiana for the year 2026. That's under Councilman at large Verrett, interim mayor Veret. I think we can add some more titles. Uh on that and we have an introduction uh item number 2026-05-02 an ordinance of the city of Covington to amend the 2026 operating and capital budget under Councilman Roberts. And I need a motion to accept a consent calendar.

Motion. Second. Roll call. Councilman Bushnell. Yes. Councilman Roberts. Yes. Councilman Enman. Yes. Councilman Barrell. Yes. Councilman Bodzford. Yes. Councilman Callahan. Yes. All right. Moving on to the regular agenda. Uh unfinished business. Uh public hearing and action on item number 2026-03-02 and ordinance amending chapter 2 article 6 professional service contracts of the city of Cummington code of ordinances to revise the dollar threshold for procurement of professional service contracts. Councilman Roberts.

Y thank you. Uh so yes. So looking over this I'm going to ask that we table this. Uh I want to first commend administration for putting this together. Um prior to next council meeting I just want to meet as a the finance committee and let's get some of the verbiage I guess improved if you want to call it that just to kind of finalize some details in this before we actually vote on it. So I'd ask that we table it till next month. Motion to table. Motion to table please. Second roll call. Councilman Roberts. Yes. Councilman Aman. Yes. Councilman Burrell. Yes. Councilman Bodsford, yes. Councilman Callahan, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes.

All right. Public hearing and action on item number 2026-03-03, an ordinance of the city of Coington authorizing the city of Covington through the mayor to acquire certain parcels, rights of way, and servitude for the Columbia Street roundabout projects. Councilman Callahan. Thank you. Since I'm just coming in, Irene know more about than I do. So, I'mma turn it over to Irene. Hello.

Okay. So, this is an ordinance that will, as you recall, we are building two roundabouts on Columbia Street using the bond issuance funds. Um, currently we have 100% design plans that are in review still or we are finalizing comments on those. To complete those projects, um, we are going to need to purchase all or portion of eight different parcels of land, build those roundabouts. So, this ordinance will allow the mayor to enter into negotiations and to complete those acquisitions for this project. So, if you have any technical questions about the project, Cali is here. I can answer any funding questions you have.

Council questions. Okay. So, uh any public comment? Seeing none, hearing none. Uh I need a motion to close the public hearing. Motion to close. Second. Uh mot roll call. Motion to motion to adopt. I'm sorry. Motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Inman, yes. Councilman Burrell, yes. Councilman Bosford, yes. Councilman Callahan, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes. Councilman Roberts, yes.

All right. Public hearing and action on item number 2026-03-04, an ordinance of the city of Coington to amend the 202026 operating and capital budget. Councilman Rup.

Thank you, Councilman Bodard. Um, so this is one of our typical budget amendments that we do through the course of the year as various items come up that we may not have thought of when we were doing the original budget. And one of the items has uh garnered a little bit more attention and raised a few concerns or or not concerns, but just some more questions um since it was initially introduced. So, I'd like to make a motion to amend the item to remove item four, the $120,000 lighting at multi-use practice field, changing the total budget amendment from 820,000 to 700,000. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Uh, roll call to amend. Councilman Brell, yes. Councilman Bodzford,

yes. Councilman Callahan, yes. Councilman Bushnell. Yes. Councilman Roberts, yes. Councilman, yes. Do we have any uh public comments on that? And then seeing none. Hearing none. Uh any council comments? Motion to adopt. Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Callahan, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes. Councilman Roberts, yes. Councilman Inman, yes. Councilman Burrell, yes. Councilman Bodford,

yes. All right, new business. Uh, items removed from the consent calendar are none. Items to be voted on. Resolution number 2026-10, a resolution of the city of Coington uh Covington City Council designating an authorized signatory uh for the Louisiana Watershed Initiative project with the Louisiana Office of Community Development. Uh that's on mine. Uh what this is basically doing is uh allowing our CEO, Miss Aaron Star, to be the signatory on this and set of the mayor. Uh other than that, it's just kind of a uh just procedural.

Very good. All right. So, um do we have any uh public comment? See none here. None. Council comments. Yeah. I just have one question. And it's is it in addition to the mayor or is it in place of the mayor? I would be his designate. So the mayor is still allowed to sign but it just helps us to process the paperwork. This yeah this is about efficiency. I just when when the terminology was put I just wanted to make a clarification there. Yes. It's just adding me as a signatory. I thought as much but I wanted to confirm. Okay. Do we have any uh public comment? Uh counsel comment. Nope. All right. See none. I need a motion to accept.

Motion second. Roll call, please. Councilman Bosford, yes. Councilman Callahan, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes. Councilman Roberts, yes. Councilman Inman, yes. Councilman Barrell, yes. All right, moving on. Uh, comments and reports. Uh, District A, Councilman Callahan. Nothing tonight. All right, District B, Councilman Bush. Now,

thank you, Councilman Botsford. Uh, ozone drainage improvements are continuing, so be on the lookout for that. I want to congratulate the CHS boys and girls powerlifting teams on their national championship victories. St. Paul's lacrosse team just took home on the state title. Congratulations to them. Uh, reminder, school will be out May 21st, so uh, please drive carefully in our neighborhoods. a lot of more foot traffic, kids on bikes, and uh happy Mother's Day to my mom and my wife and to all the mothers out there.

All right, good stuff. Uh District Counc everything in C is going great. Uh I just appreciate everybody. Uh I I you see people on the streets, people walking. It's just it's in a good place right now. So

wonderful. Two things I want to mention. Uh today's Give Nola Day. It's Cinco de Mayo, but it's also day. If you're not familiar with Give Nola Day, it's your nonprofit day to give to a nonprofit. And so, uh being a nonprofit worker, I want to be an advocate for that as well. If you go to www.givola.org, find your favorite nonprofit and give $10, $20, a million dollars, whatever you have. But, uh www.givola.org. And then, uh the last thing I'm going to ask Councilman Emman to help me out with this because I don't remember the young lady's name. Cington High had an entry for the National Poetry Out Loud Showcase. I can't remember her name. Do you know it?

You were the man. So, I'm going to pass that on to him when it gets to him. But, um, impressive. I was so happy with that young lady, man. So, kudos to her. I just want to make sure her name is said during our meeting because, uh, we should be proud of this Coington lady. It was very good. That's all. Awesome. Good stuff. Uh, District D, Councilman Hman.

Uh, buckle up. I got a lot to say here. So, first of all, District D, look, dogs, D O Gs, D A WGS, I don't care how you spell it. Please keep them on a leash. We've had two incidences uh in in the district and uh there's been injury associated with them. Look, it's your dog. It's your responsibility. Please keep your dog leashed if you're going to come on a walk. Second, as Councilman Bushnell said, school will be out soon. So, we, you know, just be aware that there's going to be some uh, you know, young people out there out and about on two wheels of, uh, something, whether it's electric or bicycle powered. Uh, just be aware. Uh, on Jefferson and um, Tyler Street, there was there were recently some studies done. I realized there were people out there. I realize it seemed intrusive, but it allows us to pursue some additional funding to actually address issues on those two very important corridors. So, they weren't spying on you. They weren't taking down notes. They were literally counting cars as a part of that study. Uh library, they have a couple of things I want to note at the library, St. Tiffany Parish Library. On May 11th, there's a blood drive by Ashner from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. If you feel so inclined, please do so. May 12th, our very own Sarata Banette will be there uh to discuss her memoir 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. So, if you're available, I will not be. I will be at a graduation. If I were, I would attend. Uh and next, congrats to the following on being successful in both athletic and academic competitions. Uh this may not be a true competition, but congrats uh on pulling off the SSA blue dress run because the weather was a challenge, but they did get that situated. In golf, uh Bennett Lenasa, Ryan Hess, Parker Church, and Timothy Wolf, all from St. Paul participated in

the LHSAA finals as did from SSA. Uh Beth Ball, and Lucy Inman, no relation, but I'm sure she was superb. Uh Hannah in softball was the state runner up. So uh they had an excellent season. So if you know any of those young ladies, please congratulate them. As Councilman Bushnell said, St. Paul lacrosse were the state champs. And also in tennis, Jeffrey Roth Jr. over at St. Paul and William Cthur, they were the doubles champs. So congrats on to them. As noted by Councilman Bush Mel as well, Coington High's powerlifting teams went to Omaha, Nebraska to compete. They both won girls and boys. So, doubled national champs. Brett Falco won the individual title. So, congrats to those those people. On the academic side, Covington High's FFA, Future Farmers of America, are currently in Oklahoma in a competition. That team is Abigail Pelgrren, Ruby Parkinson, Jolene Hunt, and Caitlyn Sprag. And then as uh Councilman Joey was mentioning um the two young ladies, not one, two young ladies, sisters, the lot sisters. Madison Lot was at the Shakespeare competition in New York City and she finished in the top 10. I want to put this in perspective. There were 130,000 entries into this competition. Covington High School has had eight eight participants in the finals in the last 16 years. In addition to that, her twin sister Mallerie must be great a great family um was at the poetry out loud in Washington DC and was also in the finals. She is also the eighth student from Covington High School to make it to the finals in that competition. So kudos to them. Uh in terms of uh academics, St. Paul, you have five national merit finalists. Callahan Arch, Joseph Donahghue, Augustine Galazaweski, Ayen Chic, and

Colin Pendergrass. I need to put this in perspective. That is the top 1% of all students nationally. So, if you know those young men, please tell them congratulations because that that's a major achievement. And on a related note, uh my personal one of my personal inspirations in terms of going into education was a longtime educator in Covington who recently passed away. Her name was Sammy Whittington. Um yeah, she she was an amazing person. So if you know anyone in her family, please offer uh your thoughts. And last but not least, happy Mother's Day to my wife and my mom. Thank you. All right,

Councilman Burrell, District E. All right, thank you. Uh, we'll keep it brief this evening. Um, CBA meeting tomorrow night at Stone Creek. So, if you're available, go go out there and have a good time and support our local businesses. Um, have a bigger and better report for next month. Expecting some exciting news to share with everybody at that time. But otherwise, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. All right, good deal.

I guess I'm up next on this. Uh, it's going to be brief. Uh I just want to get some reports from the food bank. Uh their average uh daily boxes for April was 101 every day. Uh total box distribution was 1,419. New household served was 61. Um as food costs rise, they're seeing an increase in demand. Uh they've also expanded their eligibility at 200% above the federal poverty level uh to enhance their in uh distributions with consistent staple boxes and fresh nutrients defense uh and lanyard boxes. The lanyard box program provides a dependable rotating menu of fresh nutrients foods such as fruits, veggies, and protein. Uh also they do a program for children when they're out of school. uh there's a lot of needy families, they can go and sign up and they will provide them uh with additional food for those those kids. Um the thing is too like about the kids, I was going to just echo everybody else things because I don't think you can say it enough is to slow down because they're going to be out there all over the streets uh having fun doing what they're supposed to be doing. Uh I want to wish happy Mother's Day to my wife and u that's it. And moving on to the administrative comments. Uh, acting mayor, councilman at large Verrett.

Thank you, sir. Just wanted to take the opportunity to say what an honor and privilege it is to speak from this side of the podium. Um, you look as good as you think you do. Um, and we and we and we do a lot of good work. I think it's my jacket.

Jacket is spot on. I saw you walking down the street and I said that man is dressed sharp. Um, all kidding aside, we're in a good place. Uh, I have had the opportunity to speak with many of our department heads, but what I have noticed is the number of residents and the businesses and frankly the constituents that have come up to me and wanted me to know what a great job our city employees do. And I know this is a temporary acting position now. Now, I've had the pleasure of doing it four times. So, thanks for administration and council for having the the um the trust in me to do so, but I can't tell you how heartwarming it is to to have people come up and not complain. Um we usually get a lot of that as elected officials and I just wanted to do a shout out because that's very meaningful of what we do on a daily basis. Um, I have a few things written down that Jimmy Enman might have skipped. First of all, um, Mother's Day, you did mention that. That's coming up first. So, shout out to all the mothers out there, uh, including my own and my wife. On, uh, May 16th, Saturday, we are going to have a free concert at the Trail Head. It is going to sponsor the Boys and Girls Club and it is put on by the St. John Fools and Miss Rule. It's going to be a lively event. It cost nothing to attend. It is free, but uh try to buy as many uh items as you can because it does help Scott Boys and Girls Club. So, come on and have a good time with us. On Memorial Day, the Covenant Heritage Foundation will do its annual Memorial Day and Veterans Appreciation. Um, shout out to the Covenant Heritage Foundation for doing it and shout out to those who

attend and it is our job and responsibility to honor them at that event. Uh, there will be one at the St. Tam Courthouse put on by the parish as well earlier, but please come to the Bogafly Hall and recognize our veterans and those that served. Uh, towards that end, I want to point out it's not in Covington, but it's a pretty cool thing. on May 27th through the 31st, there is going to be the largest group of tall ships along the Mississippi River and you can visit and uh go on these ships and um that's going to be a magnificent from what I understand it's going to go all the way up and down from the Riverwalk all the way down to Governor Nichols and it will have ships from each of the decades. So, might be a good field trip. And um on May 30th, the Grand Tasting by a Taste of Coington. Cliff Berson does a great job. Come on out and have a good time. Other than that, I believe our chief administrative officer may have a few things.

I have something to celebrate. Um as you may or may not have seen, Mayor Mark put out a post of some really good news that we received recently. DHH came in and did our an audit of our water system. And so I asked Jim Oberry to invite Adam Dupy, who is our water supervisor, to the meeting so that we can give him a congratulations on a job well done. The grade was an a 100A, which is I believe the best we've we've had, at least since I've been here. And it is all due to the hard work of that team. And Adam works his behind off to improve that system. He is the guy that's always in the ditch in the middle of a January night when we have a water break. He works very hard. His team works hard. And if you'll recall, as Morark also pointed out, the uh the wastewater treatment plant is the best the state inspector has seen. So, shout out to public works

and thank you, Adam. We appreciate that the water is so clean. That comes from both appreciate Thank you, bud. Yeah, Adam, I remember you were in Savas when they had that uh one of the pumps went out and uh not only you a hard worker, you're very resourceful. You found us enough to spare until we got the other one in and thank you for doing that. That that was awesome. So that is true. Okay. Anything?

All right, everybody. Uh our next meeting uh for June 26, the council meeting uh will be on the 2nd at 6 p.m. council chamber. With that, we are adjourned.