Council Committee - Regular Meeting

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e e e city of PT Allen Louisiana Wednesday March 12th 2025 count Chambers each person must decide entering the chamber which agenda item they wish to comment on if they are not seated in the chamber when the agenda item is heard they will be notified by an officer to enter the council chamber to address that agenda item agenda please silence all electronic devices call to order please stand for the Pledge of

Allegiance I pledge of aliance to the of the United States America the for it stands one na indivisible andice hey before we do a roll call I I do ask that uh we take a moment of silence uh we have a um one of our Council people um is out due to an illness so we just want to whisper a short prayer for her thank you and we're wishing her a speedy recovery can I get a roll call M Rose M Jose Miss Gordon she's absent Hubble here M King here P here y hey number four approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of February 12th 2025 I get a motion he motion by councilman Hubble second by councilman P please Joseph Gord Mr Hubble yes King P hey five public comment com comments from the public are allowed in accordance with l r public comments comments from the public are allowed in accordance with l

r 42 col 11 section 2 through 34 and specifically limited to an agenda item to be considered during the meeting 3 minutes per person and 15 minutes per topic okay um I'm not sure if you were here before we did we did pull 789 off the agenda so 789 will be p page six presentation by Mr James self regional coordinator for the liberty and dignity Coalition regarding the four Constitutional Amendments up for consideration on the March 29 2025 ballot well first I want to begin by saying thank you all to the council um thank you to you mayor P I am a son of West Fon Rouge um I grew up here uh on silvery lane uh in Port Allen and then later I moved over to uh irwinville L road before later moving into bat Rouge um thank you guys again for having me these four amendments and uh I assure you that I'm going to be brief I will not take 15 minutes to go through these um as I know the hour fting there are several other items that you wish to cover uh again thank you but very quickly these four amendments are dangerous and what's happening is is

that those who um authored these uh proposed amendments did so with very little public input did so under what I would consider a cloak of quiet and dark uh and that they use a lot of language within there that made it very difficult for fol to really understand the actual nature and the intent behind those amendments um and so I wish to just speak briefly on those four amendments and um and to share with you the importance of us voting no on all four of these the First Amendment uh the first uh Constitutional Amendment that they are proposing it says do you support an amendment granting the Louisiana Supreme Court jurisdiction to discipline out ofate lawyers for unethical legal practices in the the state of Louisiana and to Grant the legislature the authority to establish trial courts of limited and specialized jurisdiction well here's the reality folks we already have limited and specialized courts here in the state of Louisiana these already exist this is an amendment that we do not need because there's already a provision the second thing what is of even greater concern is that what this amendment would uh open the door for will be allowed for there to be very vague ports that would could then be used to try as um could be used as an opportunity to to try individuals who may disagree with a perspective of a political of a particular excuse me political party that's scary the thought that you could possibly be prosecuted or brought before A specialized court with very little additional information about it and and be put in that sort ofed excuse me position or predicament what it also does is it also gives power to what we now have is a super majority state

legislature to set up can't lose courts and it also sets up can't win courts that's dangerous we also know that our judicial system is literally the last line of defense as it relates to democracy in this country one of the things that I've also noticed a personally note is that Louisiana has a very high concentration of Judges here a greater concern is that this also creates a two-tier judicial system which would allow those uh to circumvent the current judicial system that we already have in place by diverting uh individuals away from uh the court systems that we have in place to be specialized courts so it is for that reason we must vote no on the first uh Amendment the second one second uh proposed amendment is a tax reite and it says do you support an amendment to revise article 7 of the con constitution of Louisiana including revisions to lower the maximum rate of income tax uh to increase income tax deductions for citizens over 65 also provides for a government growth limit modify operations of certain constitutional funds and provide for property tax exemptions retaining for nonprofit organizations and churches at core this is a complete tattoo right it's not an adjustment to it all right and and the one of the consequences of this would be our faith-based communities who are often times who are or um tax exempt would then be subject to um being taxed on their property as well the other concern of this is that it presents itself as a um as a tax break or a tax cut but the reality is in order to benefit from that tax break you would have to make an excess of $115,000 the average median income for families here in this state is less than

$50,000 a year based on the US Census we must vote no on amendment number two amendment number three and I'm sure that's one that many of you have heard about in the news and it is every bit uh as dangerous and as damning as it sounds it deals with supporting an amendment to provide the legislature to determine the authority of which Fel crimes when committed by a person under the age of 17 may be transferred for criminal prosecution as an adult well the law already has an exemption for that the the broader concern is that it would allow children as young as 13 years old to be housed in Adult Correctional Facilities now one of the things that's often times said now let me say this uh as well I am 100% in support of individuals young and old being held accountable for what they do we understand that we do have uh crimes that are being committed by younger and younger persons but to place a teenager in solitary confinement in an adult Prison still opens the door for them to be sexually abused it opens the door for them to be physically abused opens up the door for them to be mentally abused and under this current Amendment it was also cut funding and services for things of Rehabilitation these young people being able to get uh their GED being able to go into a um being able to go into a trade program so it's again for those reasons we must vote no on amendment number three and finally the fourth one deals with uh the judicial election dates and it says do you support an amendment to provide for the use of the earliest election date to fill judicial vacancies what this in essence does is that it moves judicial elections and it will push them to low turnout dates I've had the opportunity to a couple judicial races

judicial races are very stringent and there are very strict rules that those who are candidates in a Judicial race have to abide by the broader concern with this is that it would Essence funnel elections to a very very short amount of time where the general public would not have sufficient time in order to V the candidate to find out more information about them it is again for that reason we must vote no on amendment number four also because of our judicial sports do serve as one of the as I stated previously one of our last lines of defense and by rushing through a Judicial election it opens up the door for what I believe to be cron I want to thank you all so much for your time and for hearing me and I hope that we all leave here and vote no on these four amendments thank you so much than you he number 10 consider approving a Cooperative Endeavor agreement with the one West fat rou organization in support of the annual Family Day in the park in the amount of $2,000 okay the family par uh organization came to us at the committee meeting and uh normally we do give them a a um we ENT corpor ende agreement where we picked up their expenses up to $2,000 in past years has been 2500 we got a cap with everything that's $2,000 so uh they have requested at this time that uh we do um continue our relationship I entertain a motion motion okay motion by councilwoman King second by councilman pay Mr Jose Mrs Joseph yes M Gordon

she's absent Mr Hubble yes Mrs King yes yes P yes pass 11 consider introducing an ordinance to increase the water and gas budget by 100,000 to address multiple leak repairs Mr Joseph good evening Council we discussed the matter last week the committee meetings we had all Poli in the system most of those that still some estimates for one but U we do need a budget amendment to cover the cost and expenditures Associated I entertain a motion motion by councilwoman Joseph second second by councilman Hubble roll call please Joseph yes Mr Hubble yes M King yes P yes 12 consider approving paying invoices from spin construction for $3,834 36 and 67,000 67,800 respectively for repair of the F1 pump and other emergency repairs at the railroad lift station this work has been previously approved by the council but the cost was not available so eron thank you mayor council um essentially uh for the benefit of the new Council people uh our these two pump stations uh had uh needed uh emergency repairs basically because in each case

in the case of the eent pump station at the U or influent Pump Station at the wastewater treatment PL three of the four pumps were out of commission and at the uh railroad one of the two and so that that obviously constituted an emergency because of the nature of you don't know exactly what the problem is still you start taking it apart there really were not able to uh provide a cost um however we monitored the amount of time in the uh uh what was actually done the scope and uh in both instances um the pump stations have been brought to uh you know 100% capacity with backup pumps and whatnot um and so I recommend that yall pay both of these U uh invoices one for the railroad in the amount of 13 834 36 and the other one for the um infl of Pump Station amount of 67,800 and of course the hope is now we won't have any more uh quote unquote emergencies where we have to you know pay for bypass pumping and other stuff like that since that's kind of money that um you know can't be recruit any questions yall okay get a motion a motion by councilwoman Joseph second my councilman p call please j h yes pass hey consider authorizing mayor pan to enter into a contract with Providence engineering and environmental Consulting

Group LLC to prepare to prepare the 2025 ms4 annual report that will cover 2425 the estimated cost to complete the scope of work is 10,000 so this is something that um has been in place before um in the past administration um the Wastewater storm sewer reporting is what they put together for us for DEQ approval um it's a lot that goes into this and they um have of course um agreed again this year to to put everything together for us um for all of our inspections so I'm just asking for the same which week it was the same last budget so um I'm just asking for the same thing this year I have any questions can I get a motion okay okay it was motion by councilman Hubble second by councilwoman King can I entertain a rooll call M Joseph yes H yes K yes okay yes thank you 14 consider authorizing Chief Mitchell to hire Chad AAR as an officer in the police department contingent upon the results of his Matrix test Chief Mitchell good evening mayor councel um unfortunately as y'all can see all Mr AB he's not here today um the reason why is because he had to work and we find out literally around right at 4:00 uh he did pass so um a little bit about Mr AB he have over 7 years un forcement experience um he's at Feld certified he

radar light lar instructor um traffic crash investigator he work with Zach PD and E shf so as of right now right no uh he's working out on doing his own his own stuff you want to get back into okay can we entertain a motion based on the um Chief Mitchell um and Mr a are passing his Matrix today okay councilman Hubble Council woman counc woman King and I just wanted to um also include that it's F to be one 110 G aoll call yes K yes uh we going to get everything started on tomorrow we got to go get fed for his uh uniform and everything and it'll be on there for the next okay that's it that's it and um we go to the next part oh I'm sorry for the Flop so I think um once again I've spoken to you guys um in February about the flock safety uh system cameras and everything I just love get blessing on

getting cameras as well um I've talked to all of you guys Visual and and with presentation so have any questions and that you have any questions can I get a motion okay moot by Council Hub second by councilwoman King call please J yes Mr Hub yes K yes P yes thank y'all 16 consider approving a Cooperative Endeavor agreement with the city of Port Island and the stone Square Lodge Number Eight for historical improvements These funds were appropriated by the state of Louisiana during the 2023 24 legislative session M Rose my understanding in uh meeting with u a group of the uh represent representatives from the stone Square large and um state representative um Ed Jordan that they did appropriate funds at the uh do the new a legislative session on last year to take care of some electrical work of stone Square large building is a historical site and um there was money appropriated for that purpose and they would work in conjunction with uh the corporative Endeavor that's been provided so we would need approval uh from the council uh that the the mayor can sign on of the city okay can I entertain a motion excuse motion woman Jose second second by councilman [Music] pay anyone from the public would like to be

heard May how much was the how much did they legisl the legisl allotted up to $75,000 but there are stipulations on how it has to be reported along with the need and the um specifics of the project and it's just for the uh Stone Lodge and the stone Lodge and for a drainage project wait I'm sorry for the stone large and a drainage okay 75 up to 75 got to have receipts you can't just check no I just want to know how much they they appropriate you know roll this Jose yes okay Mr Hubble yes M King yes M yes okay 17 presentation of the monthly financial report Miss Davis good evening council members in front of you you have a monthly report um I also sent this to you all on earlier this week so you all can review it does anyone have any questions we look like we're on target nothing except the sewer is over budget right now but we know about that but everything is on target for us to stay within our budget for the fiscal

year thank you you have any questions anyone from the still over the budget because of 11 yes because of Bud 400 to $500,000 for wastewater treatment improvements that 400 to 500,000 was not budgeted in this fiscal year that's why she was over bud I can't answer why it was it just was thank 18 condemnation proceedings none of this time 19 alcohol and beverage permits we have one renewal kns of Columbus Hall beer permit motion to approve a motion by councilwoman King second by councilwoman Joseph roll call yes okay 20 announcements and correspondence um the only thing I have um we did omit um for a committee meeting our new uh hire for payroll um Miss Tama derson is here tonight if you have any questions um but we had

interviews we had about eight interviews um the the Personnel committee um sat in separately because of the meeting loss um but we sat in the interviews and everybody agreed um so I wanted to BR her before the entire Council um I think M Joseph met her already I'm not sure if Mr pay's met her so I'm not sure if you have any questions I'm sorry I okay um so miss derson is here I'm not sure if you have any questions um she was hired uh at 117a just for public record you want to tell us a little bit about yourself um like she said my name is t d I have been in um customer service insurance agent and payroll now for over 12 years I thank the committee for the opportunity to apply and for you all hiring me I look forward to doing a great job and proving my credentials to you all thank you have any questions thank you Mr sumers good evening just wanted to ask see if y'all can give with TD to check on the red lights the S of the red lights are putting up in P specifically AV je because every evening the traffic backs up at that red light every evening it takes uh 20 25 minutes to get from right in front of Community Coffee to the red light and all that it gets stuck when you're trying to get when you're trying to come from Avenue G to get on the bridge so we get the new red lights up I just kind of curious about when they're going to get them up right operation the other thing is the the red light at Walmart that's in the city uh if y'all can give with them to see about the timing or see if uh all the traffic lights in the city of Portland are going

to be connected into the uh the traffic Management Center that they have in B rge because you know those are the two spots in the city of P traffic just brinds to a h and someone U messaged about Avenue G so I wasn't aware about the one by wmart yeah it's an everyday occurrence that the traffic just gets backed up with that red light and like I said the one La one ing so if they get those red lights working and greatly improve the flow of traffic especially coming into for Allen because you know all the traffic getting off the bridge you know it just creates a a nightmare right there Wai for our light to Su okay I appreciate it we'll look into no further business