City Council - Regular Meeting

for the, you know, what would be the main street, Mississippi main street parameters. And that whole parameter needs to be sidewalk.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you.

We'll call the order the August 4th, 2026 City Council meeting for Bay St. Louis. Do a roll call. Ward 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and that large Ward 1 is not present at the moment. Mr. Smith, if you'll lead us in invitation and pledge, everybody please stand.

In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us together today. We ask for your wisdom and guidance as we talk about the needs of our city. Give our council members clear minds and honest hearts. Help us to listen well to one another and treat every person with respect. Guide our choices so they may bring peace, safety, and fairness to all who live here. We ask for your blessings through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Is there any agenda amendments needed for tonight? No, sir. Nope. Okay. We'll move on then. Guest. Rainy? Rainy?

i'm the deputy director of the mississippi main street association and i have been working with your steering committee for the last couple of months talking about main street and what that looks like in bay st louis and i'm happy to be here tonight to talk to you all about that and answer any questions that you have about main street Bay St. Louis has applied for network membership in the Main Street program and what that looks like is they've submitted a very comprehensive application to us that outlines some of the things that they are looking to do with your downtown district and the ways they're going to accomplish that and work toward designation, which is our highest level of membership that gives you access to more services from us and greater grant opportunities. Thank you. Greater grant opportunities. Great event opportunities throughout the state and federal grant opportunities as well.

You think that one's better?

Maybe I just need to hold really close to my face. Okay. So the Main Street America was formed in 1980. Four years later, Mississippi Main Street was formed. So we were formed in 1984. We're a 42 year old organization at this point. We have 50 designated communities, which is that highest tier of membership. We have three communities that are in the network status, which is where Bay St. Louis is hoping to be in this next year. And then we have about 30 associate communities that are looking at Main Street, working our programs, and trying to implement our practices in their communities. And that's where Bay St. Louis is right now, is an associate community. So really the mission of Mississippi Main Street is to be the catalyst for preservation and economic development of, economic revitalization, sorry, of Mississippi's historic downtowns and traditional commercial districts. Our focus is on your historic downtown. We have asked for a district to be outlined for the Main Street in Bay St. Louis, and I believe that covers about 10 blocks, if I remember correctly from the application. And so we're very happy with that area that's been submitted and we feel like the practices that we can employ and teach and work with y'all on for Main Street will be very effective in those areas. We understand that a depot is supposed to be the headquarters of Bay St. Louis Main Street. This is a very, very common practice in Main Street. I would say about 25% of our Main Street offices are in historic depots. Lots of them are in other historic buildings, historic banks. We've had offices in historic jailhouses. It's kind of fun. But historic buildings in the downtown district are typically the venue for a main street to exist in. And many of those venues act as a tourist information center for the city. And that is something that Bay St. Louis also wants to employ. So we think that that's a really good catalyst for Bay St. Louis to enter into and to have a presence in your downtown district and to be able to work with all of the merchants in the downtown and the property owners to increase the economic vitality of your downtown district. So I just wanted to quickly show you some community statistics so you can see where Bay St. Louis kind of falls into the mix. I really like to look at medians instead of averages because I think they're much more accurate. But our median city populations are about 9,600 with county populations of about 45,000. Our primary type of organization tax reporting status is a 501 , which I believe is what Bay St. Louis is looking to establish as a 501 . That is our recommended tax filing status for Main Streets because that allows you to have the greatest access to grant programs on the state and federal level. So types of organizations. Main Street Bay St. Louis would be a standalone entity, but in several different parts of the state, Main Streets are combined with chambers, with tourism organizations, with economic development, and you might have heard some Main Streets talk about having members. That is typically the case when they are a chamber-focused Main Street. Chambers are 501 , they're membership-based organizations, and they do collect memberships. 501, 501 are mission-based organizations and they're focused on a certain mission, not a certain member. And so they typically have sponsors for the organization instead of members. So in this case, Bay St. Louis would look for resources through sponsorships and not actually having members of the organization because you will be a 501 . And lastly, just quickly, the budget. Annual revenues for a typical program, the median is about $149,000. 88% of our communities receive county funding in dollars or in-kind investment. We understand that the city is looking to provide the depot to the Main Street District, so that would be considered an in-kind investment and a partial paid investment, I think, a small amount paid by the Main Street District. So that's a good investment for the city to take in the Main Street area. And then about 45% of our Main Streets also receive county funding, about $20,000, and that's generally a cash donation. So why Main Street, why revitalize? Downtown often accounts for as much as 30% of a town's jobs and 40% of its tax base. I don't think many of us realize how many businesses are packed into a very condensed area into our downtowns and how much revenue and taxes those businesses generate over and over and over again, even though if we have a lot of turnover, our buildings in our downtowns, if they're upkept properly, have very low vacancy rates and they continue to generate that tax revenue over and over. And a downtown is a community's crossroads. A place that evokes a strong sense of emotion and helps define our identity. Nobody's downtown is the same. This is what I love about working for Mississippi Main Street, and I travel all over the state to all 80 of our communities, and not one community is the same. Everyone has a completely different setup. Everyone has a completely different set of assets available to them, and they all have their own challenges. So it's very unique work, very specific work to your community, and we look forward to continuing to work with you on your challenges, on your strengths, on your accomplishments to make Bay St. Louis the most successful place that it can be.

i'll take any questions all right any questions from anybody one of the things that was brought up last meeting they had a question about was do you have to pay dues to belong to main street so at the state level

Bay St. Louis Main Street would pay dues to the state level. It's part of being part of our organization. As far as a local membership to the local program, no that is not required. It is typically an organization that runs on sponsorships, city funding, fundraising based on festivals, events, special special things that go on in the downtown district parade fees things like that and then some of them about 20 i'm sorry about 48 also get county funding to help run the program so it is not a membership-based program at the local level beth you had mentioned that the base analyst is looking at doing the network status there's three other communities that are in that network status what are those communities Sure, currently we have Olive Branch in North Mississippi. We have the Farish Street District in downtown Jackson. And we also have Long Beach right down the road from y'all. And so Long Beach will not be applying for designation this year. This was their first year of network status. It is a two year program to run through the network status portion of membership. So they will actually apply for designation at the end of 2027. If y'all are accepted as a network member and work toward designation, your designation application would be due at the end of 2028 to be fully designated in 2029.

And then as deputy director, what is your role in terms of, I think when we spoke about this proposal at our last budget meeting, there was a desire to hire an executive director. What's your role in that process? Just kind of take me through that.

Sure. We do provide services for that. We have a director of community service. Her name is Anna Hawks. And she is our direct liaison between our network and designated communities to our staff. And she is available to help guide you through those interviews, to sit in on interviews, to help provide interview questions. She is a very great resource for that type of information. If she cannot be there, I can sit in as well. My main goal, my main focus really with Main Street is fundraising, grant development, and member relations.

So you're not necessarily the hiring body. That would be something that you've done.

So the main hiring body would be the Main Street board here locally, and Anna can step in and help with that from our team.

Okay. And this is, again, just as this was presented last week, I'm sure there'll be more questions, but tonight was mentioned there's a steering committee, and the entities discussed, City of Bay St. Louis, the county, and also Port and Harbor, are going to have some kind of financial endeavor into this. Will we have individuals that will appoint, each body that will appoint to a board? Yes? Yes. Okay. And then... We'll have monthly financial breakdowns and revenue expansion.

Yes, you should have a monthly board meeting with minutes, take an agenda, minutes, financials, all of that. And we help set that up as we walk through that network process. Typically, we start off with a steering committee that's not technically a board because there are no bylaws usually established when we step in and start working with the community. So we have sample bylaws that you can look at, sample articles of incorporation, things like that, that Anna really works through that process with you. It's called a cohort, it's what we call it, our network cohort, and they meet four times a year all together, all the communities that are network communities, and work together through the benchmarks that are required to make it to designation.

Is the steering committee in place now? Do we have people on that?

I believe you all do from the application. I can't remember exactly who is on that committee, but there is a steering committee in place.

Can you give me that information? Yeah. I just didn't know. Also, you mentioned that there's tiers of membership and network statuses. Do you have the different tiers?

Sure. The lowest tier of membership is an associate member. It's a $500 membership fee every year. It gives you access to our website, to trainings, to our annual awards, to... to any of our public-facing information, and also you have access to the MMSRG grant, which is a $500,000 grant that's funded through the Mississippi State Legislature. It does have a 20% match with it, and this is a new grant program that was funded this year that will go on in perpetuity for now. And other grant opportunities, we send that to all our associate members, and we keep them up to date on things going on in the Main Street world. When you make it to that next level, the network community, it's a $1,500 investment per year membership, and that is the training ground to become designated. So we're really beefing up. your capacity, getting bylaws in place, getting a board in place, setting rules, making sure that you have a director in place that can run the program, teaching you about the Main Street approach, which is organization, economic vitality, promotion and design. Those are the four areas we focus in for downtown revitalization. So there is a big focus on learning those four points and what they actually mean and how to implement them in your downtown during that two-month process, I'm sorry, two-year process. And then our top tier membership is designation. Our designated communities pay $26.50 a year. They have every other year on-site evaluation of their program. They have access to our staff basically 24-7 because we get texts even in the middle of the night. So we do our best to answer all the questions that we can, but that is our top tier of membership, and right now we have 50 designated members.

And we're in application process. At this point, Craig just sent it in Friday.

So we won't, our board will actually review that application in September at our September board meeting, and then the community will be notified by the first of October, and then network membership status would start January 1 of 2027. And then that would run for two years.

You also mentioned, and Nancy may have this information too, the 10 blocks radius, do you have that somewhere that you can forward it with me? And I do appreciate you taking the lead on this. The depot is in my ward, so I would like to be just a little bit more hands-on, but Nancy had more availability than me, so I definitely appreciate you doing the groundwork, just trying to catch up. I did have another question. You mentioned the 501 3C, the grant writing and the things that come with that. and the mission focus. Is that something that we will be determining in the steering committee, what the mission focus is?

Yes, you will set your own mission for your Main Street program. We have that state mission, the overarching mission, but all of our individual Main Streets will set the mission for their actual local program, what they want to accomplish, the things that are the most important to their local program, and we will work with you to help establish those goals and work plans to accomplish what your goals are.

I know one of the goals and kind of what was given to us last week the promotion of Bay St. Louis tourism and events I know in the past you know we've had other entities that have done that and Hancock tourism for one that was have a duplication of services which is what was folded because we have Coastal Mississippi also markets tourism and events in Hancock County and Bay St. Louis we have the chamber that does that as well so I'm assuming with with your guidance and then with the steering committee are we going to ensure that we don't revisit that issue where there's a duplication of services and how would that differ from what's currently being done or has been done in the past like do you have a plan for that steering committee

right there yes we will walk through that plan on how to not duplicate services during that two-year membership and we're very intentional about creating branding during during this process by the time you know after designation you should have branding but we're very focused on the difference between what city branding is and what brands already developed and what the actual Main Street brand is and what Main Street should be known for in your district so there will be a definite division of tasks for Main Street that they are responsible for, that they feel like they can make the contribution to your community in their own special way, and those will become kind of their focus areas.

And I would just like to see it to where it's not a any kind of political or cultural agenda and that it's truly indicative of what truly makes Bay St. Louis special and a place of part and kind of what's made Bay St. Louis thrive and keep some of that out and make it objective.

I think that's our biggest, you know, one of our biggest goals as a state staff is to promote how unique all of our individual communities are and what makes them so special. And we put in a lot of hours and a lot of work and so do our local Main Street directors to show people what's available to them in their own community and what makes their community so special. And if you don't love it, you cannot do the job because it is endless. But we're very proud of the fact that we do that day in and day out.

And that director would be a full-time position?

or that's okay you would work up to a full-time position at the time of designation you would have to have a full-time director but when you first start you can have a part-time director okay is there going to be any other dis i mean i know we got the proposal

Any other before, because it's something we have to decide whether this is going to be funded or not in our budget, but are there going to be any other, an agreement that's going to be presented once it's decided upon or upon that decision, an agreement with the depot building?

Yeah, like some whereases and what-fors.

formal agreement that specifies all of the logistics.

have put in there about renting the space as well, not just taking it for nothing.

Yeah, and that was one other thing, too. So, yeah, I did see that. So there is a proposal to rent it. So I know some of the other entities. Has it been presented to the board of supervisors or the Port and Harbor yet, or has that been something that's?

They have it. They have not. I don't believe they've had their budget work meeting yet.

The only thing I would like to just make sure.

But they're both aware, the supervisors and the board.

Just to keep in mind, I mean, I think right now we're opposed to one of the higher revenue sources, but also I think when we were doing our deep dive into our city-owned buildings and the leases, we're still putting in insurance and utilities to the tune of about, I want to say in this bill, what was it, about $60,000 to $70,000 a year? Don't quote me on that, but it's up there in terms of expenses that we have insurance. the utilities, maintenance. So is that something we can get with the other entities and do a prograta share, or that can be discussed as to what we're to ask is? Because that's really something that we're going to, that's going to be an in-kind, right? I mean, because that $12,000 is not going to really cover a lot of that.

It didn't cover it when we were only getting $150 a month.

Yeah, but at the same time, again, we're being asked for the same amount for a couple of other entities when we're providing those resources.

And what this brings, you know, Hopefully this brings in the people to offset the cost, you know, through sales tax and, you know, businesses open up and everything. Not only are they there just to promote what we have, they're there to recruit as well. And that's one of the things, what can come out of this? And I think they fully expect to be fully self-funded within a couple years, and I think that's very possible they can do that to where we wouldn't be putting anything into it at all

So it's just to get it off the ground and to get self-sustainable. Yeah.

You know, I think if you look at some of the stuff they have, you know, and I think some of it's conservative estimates, what they think they can get and all, and I think they can do well enough to where it will be a self-funded, you know, out of there with them.

All right. Any further questions?

Can I leave y'all with one last slide to look at? This is our economic impact in the state of Mississippi from 50 communities in 2025. So, 361 new businesses opened, 834 new jobs, 73 business expansions, 1526 downtown residents added 370 downtown projects completed over 87,000 volunteer hours. And if you multiply that by the volunteer rate of about $25 an hour, it's a significant input into what happens in Mississippi. $209 million of public private reinvestment and Mississippi Main Street administered over $766,000 worth of grants to our communities that we sought the funding for and then turned around and gave those services to our communities in the form of technical services.

And that's one thing, you know, we talked about is the recruitment of, you know, help recruit businesses in as well. You know, we spent some time with retail strategies trying to get businesses on the highway and wherever we can to get in here. This is just another added to that to bring people in. So, you know, sometimes a direct cash flow may not be there, but in reality what they bring makes up for it. All right.

Thank you all very much for having me tonight. Thank you, Beth.

Thank you. I appreciate it, Ms. Beth. Thank you. Ms. John, Hancock County Library.

How you doing today? I'm doing well. Good evening, Council. My name is John Burdack. I'm the Executive Director of the Hancock County Library System. On behalf of the Hancock County Library Board of Trustees, the Library Foundation, our staff, and our thousands of patrons that we serve throughout the year. I just want to thank you for your continued investment in our library in Bay St. Louis. But before I get into the discussion of why I'm here, I just want to give a little background on the Library Foundation and share some exciting news that we have with our foundation. So our library foundation was created to provide the margin of excellence. So what that essentially means is the library foundation is there to enhance all of our services that offer to our community and to our patrons. It's not there to fund the day-to-day operations such as salaries, insurance, utilities, PERS, retirement, things of that nature. So we look at the library foundation to support specific categories of funds. And there's five of them. There's collections, which is books, DVDs, all of our digital resources. Patrons have access to Libby, Canopy, News Bank, New York Times, things of that nature. And then our programming, all of our programming currently at all five branches is paid for by the Library Foundation. They also support our professional development. They support public technology. So all the computers that are out on the floor at the Bay St. Louis branch, they provide the funding for that, as well as all of our marketing and outreach. So there's five main categories that they support. Just recently, in February, you all probably... are aware of this but the library foundation opened up a used bookstore the second line used bookstore out of the big st louis branch and it is doing really well we've had a great turnout of volunteers it's 100 volunteer fan and 100 100 of the proceeds go back to the library foundation to support the mission, the foundation. And recently the library foundation voted to open up and start the registration of kids zero to four into the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. So much of the funds that are used from the used bookstore is going to go back to signing kids up to be part of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which is really exciting. But obviously that funding cannot pay for all the operational expenses. So that's really why we're here tonight is for our budget request for fiscal year 27. So as you know, Over the past few years, inflation, the cost of doing business, has gone up significantly. So insurance, PERS contributions is going up 0.5% every July 1. It just went up to 18.4%, and it's going to continue to go up over the next few years. There's just operation costs. I don't know if you've seen paper costs or toner costs. Even software licensing has gone up tremendously. They're being bought out by private equity firms and it's skyrocketing prices. And this is stuff that the Library Foundation cannot pay for. It's stuff that is the responsibility of our funding. So this year, with our accountant, we looked at our budget and we came to the conclusion that we're going to need about an 8% increase from our funding, which is you all, the city of Wayland, the city of Diamond Head, and the county, the board. So what you all provided last year, we are very grateful for, which is the $162,800. So about 8% of that is the increase which we are requesting, which is $175,300. Not to expand services, but just to maintain what we're already doing because of the increases of just inflation across the board. Okay. I'm sorry. We are hoping to get this request just so that we can sustain what we have been doing over the past year. Like I said, I've requested the same amount to all of our funding authorities, which is about that 8% across the board. So I'm just hoping that you all will consider the fiscal year 27 request from the library system for fiscal year 27 with that 8% increase from what you already are appropriating.

Yes, sir. Any questions from anybody?

John, and I know, I appreciate everything you guys do for the community, and I know in the past you've come, I think it's maybe two years ago, perhaps, And asked for the increase that was related to trying to keep the salaries adjusted. So this would just be for strictly Maintaining right so you're not looking at this does this go towards increases in wages? Is this for operations strictly and maintaining what you currently have or what we have?

We have two or three positions that are highly undervalued and underpaid or what they are currently And we would like to try to get that increase because job tension one is our expertise IT position that is we're trying to work with so not all of it will go to salaries but a small portion

Has Diamond Head's contribution ever grown or no?

It has. Every year that I've asked, I believe it's at $34,700. I just got back the feedback from the county attorney about the interlocal agreement, and I'm sitting down with our attorney tomorrow actually to go over the feedback from them. county's attorney so that we can hopefully move forward with looking at a new interlocal agreement because currently the city of diamond is a member of our signatory on the agreement so part of this new proposed interlocal agreement would have representation in the city so that's kind of moving forward to try to get them

And that would bring a more equitable expense of what's being paid by these separate entities? Because I know we talked about this a couple years ago, and I don't know if it didn't gain traction or if it's just a matter of a slimming process, but at the interlocal agreement. It is.

It's my hope that... We move over from appropriation to millage so that when the value of the mill goes up, the funding also goes up. And if it goes down, our funding goes down as well. But right now, Bay St. Louis, the county, and the city of Diamond Head are all appropriation the city of wavelength is not enough because they own their building outright but that is my hope but once we get this new hopefully the interlocal agreement signed we then can start having discussions about how the hancock county library system is actually funded because i know when i was here two years ago um there's questions about well double tax right um well if you're getting money from the county you can get money from the from the cities what is it that's going on so i can tell you right now that the city of bay st louis has a library branch that is open six days a week no other city no other brand is open six days a week all the other ones are open five days Bay St. Louis is open 50 hours a week. All the other ones are only open 42, with the exception of Burlington. So there's a lot more services happening that are available in a longer period of time at the Bay St. Louis branch.

And, John, the request for the 8% increase would be limited to the use of the Bay St. Louis library, right? Correct.

So right now it's about $377,000 to operate the Bay St. Louis branch, and that would go up to about $407,000. And that's what this direct confusion would be. Correct. And our headquarters, our administration office, is located at the Bay St. Louis branch. So my salary is broken up by five branches. That's how we determine the salaries for staff members that support all of the branches. So that's how that number 377 is broken.

What is your total salary? revenues collected through all the municipalities do you have that number um because i mean i think it would be a conversation more between the cities and county because we've discussed it since i've been on council for years to make it one fund through the county everybody pay it we drop all millage back they take over fully funding the library through county then it's everybody pays into that one system but that's more of a county cities negotiation i guess and

And that's what we're hoping to progress towards once we get the interlocal agreement signed so that the city of Diamond Head can participate in this conversation as well. Because right now, they're not represented on the Board of Trustees at all. Because the Board of Trustees has five of five trustees, three of them county, one Bay St. Louis, and one New York. So in order to get them to the table, we have to look at the general agreement to get them representation. But that's exactly what we discussed a while back about.

We had quite a few meetings about that, you know, trying to get it going, huh? Again, that's the direction I believe everybody wants to go in is just trying to get it there.

A single funding source through county millage and like you said, increases or whatever, it goes straight there and then we just roll back whatever percentage we collect and you know that dollar wise and village val and reverse it and decrease the tax just let the county pick it up i mean that would be the goal i guess one day and make it one fun okay but that won't happen this year so we still need to discuss an increase possibly right so okay for the county currently is appropriating a million three hundred four

UOL, $162,000. Diamond Heads, $34,000. And then Waveland is about $155,000, $160,000. And then we, through the gaming, we get about anywhere between $80,000 and $100,000 from Silver Sliver. Okay. Yes, sir.

All right.

Okay.

Will that be something to discuss at next budget workshop or what? Okay. All right.

Okay.

I'm good with some kind of increase. I don't know how much, but I'm good a little bit. I know everything has went up. I completely understand that. Even light builds lately. Every time I open mine, it's higher.

Electricity's to the roof. Yeah. Okay.

The software license is what makes it a big shock to me. That's another thing. Yes. It's 300, 400% some of the things that we have access to. We're shopping it around and we can't afford it. Yeah.

If it's a good deal, let us know.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Definitely take that advisement and discuss that at the next budget workshop and get back with Mr. John, okay? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate you coming tonight.

Thank you.

Okay.

Beth, do you have a card?

You have a card? A card. Oh, I'm sorry. Public forum for agenda. I didn't think nobody signed up. Okay. Minutes approval. Motion to approve the minutes from July 21st, 2026. Motion. Motion. Smith, do I have a second?

Davis, second.

Davis, second. Any discussion? Vote to motion.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Passes 6-0. Motion to approve the minutes from July 23rd, 2026 workshop.

Motion.

Motion, Smith. Do I have a second?

Davis second.

Davis second. All right. Any discussion? Vote to motion.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes 6-0. Motion to approve the minutes of July 29th, 2026 workshop. Motion. Motion Smith. Second. Do I have a second?

Morning second.

Morning second. Any discussion? Vote to motion.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Passes 6-0. All right. Consent agenda. Any discussion on any of the items? Josh, what item number?

Consent agenda.

Consent agenda. Six. Where are the

St. Louis light poles going just various it's not a new section would you like would you like me to add to that list

any further discussion I just saw item S just had a question do we do small towns or do we do small towns or is our population I just saw how they were going to the rural water association training so I was just asking

Any further discussion or questions? Vote to motion.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes 6-0. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

We didn't have a public forum. I didn't know. No. Okay.

I just wanted to make sure. I missed that. No, sir. No. Engineers report

all right good evening everyone we have one action item tonight um we've talked about the sidewalk project through mdot and lpa program for quite some time but this is the authorization to activate the pine ranch and soupy street sidewalk project um this will allow the lpa chief official who's the mayor to execute the memorandum of understanding for agreement and then all the mdot forms that are required to activate that project okay all right so um

It'll still be a while after this, probably. Still, it's just the ball rolling.

This is just the first step. First step.

Okay. All right. Good deal. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the authorization to activate Pond Street, Ranch Street, and Super Street sidewalk projects and authorize the LPL chief official to execute the activation request and enter into the memorandum of agreement with the Mississippi Transportation Commission?

Motion.

Motion. Smith?

Moining in seconds.

Moining in second. Any discussion? Vote to motion please. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes 6-0. Thank you. Thank you. Any other updates?

Nothing specifically unless there are any questions we'd be happy to address.

How's that Maine and Niche's coming?

It's coming along. We figured it would take about two weeks, and we're about a week and a half into it, so there's some more sewer pipe that they have to replace. There were some dips and sags in one of the lines once they went. They videoed it to try to line it to seal it off on the inside, but there's some more defects to it, so they wanted to go in and replace those so we can have everything done and open it back up for good.

And the lines you're dealing with are mainly on Main or running down Knee Case?

There's one on Knee Case and two on Main Street.

Okay.

So.

It's a big job.

It is. Thank you. The contractor's been great to work with, so we appreciate everybody's patience while we're trying to get it repaired. Okay.

Okay. Any other discussion? I do see a lot of improvements we have in the city with grant money and stuff, especially the main drain project and all.

Yeah, that one's coming along very well.

Looking good through Washington Street and all that area looks good.

We had in our report we should request authorization for the Allman Avenue, Allman Street ADA boardwalk at the next meeting. So we're trying to clear up things with the permitting agencies and proceed with that one.

Okay, good. Good deal. I appreciate it.

All right. Thank you. And as far as ADA curb cuts and, you know, access to get to the sidewalk, is that going to be in that same plan?

For the Allman Avenue project? Yes, ma'am. There's two parallel ADA spaces associated with that job, which will require the sidewalk to be cut, but that's included in that project.

And is there anything on the DeMontlinson?

Not part of that grant, but we do have the striping project. plan that we've been discussing. So that'll have some additional ADA parking in the downtown area. But we're still seeking funding for that.

Okay. And access to the sidewalk would be included in that?

Yes.

Piggybacking off of what Nancy brought up, I'm guessing it'll be a separate project as well. If I wanted to submit a street or intersection for that ADA access as well, how would I go about that?

So it's parking or crosswalks?

It's crosswalks and the sidewalk. He's talking about Blaze Avenue near Sycamore, where the arts is and the church.

Okay. We could probably add that to the overall striping.

I don't believe we have it. There's no sidewalks. How would you tie? We need sidewalks.

There's some right by the art studio that they put in, but I don't think it really ties into anything else. Nothing connecting.

We need to connect. I know Ronnie looked at trying to, I guess the sidewalk stops at the community center. So he's wanting to connect all the way down to eventually to the arts. And then now he can look at the possibility of going across the road. Have to be on both sides of the road to have the crosswalk over 88.

There's sidewalks in front of the Little Theater.

You said the arts put that in themselves?

I believe they did. Yeah, they did. Now, we have that concrete unit price contract that that might be a good fit for that fixed in the sidewalk. And we could get striping quotes for the rest of it.

Yeah. Ronnie's working on some striping quotes now. Yeah. Maybe look at that. I would think we'd have to put the sidewalk down before we put the crosswalk in there. No? The ADA?

They really need to go in at the same time.

Yeah. That's what I mean.

But it's probably, I mean, you could get the quotes for the striping and line it up so that the concrete work could be done at the same time.

We've already got sidewalks from the community center and all that. Now it's just got to go in front of the old Patalos building.

Yeah, just through the parking lot and tie into the art center.

To go to Washington would be lovely. All the way to Washington. Yeah, one more block.

Also, they start road paving back.

Yes.

I had a road repair, and then right after that we should get into the few roads we have that we connected with that job there. Okay.

Yeah, they're moving quick now they're back.

Yeah, we want to try to finish them out this year, this year.

In the water well project, do we have an ETA right there in the community garden?

The what?

Do we have an ETA on the completion of the water well project in the community garden? Not yet.

Not yet. They had some screens that collapsed on them so they had to replace that. They really have until, they have several more months on the contract, but really the last thing they have to do is tie it in near Booker Street, the water line, and then actually develop the well. So there'll be one more, it's a 24-hour well development period. So they'll have to get, basically to get the water flowing, but they have to have everything tied in before they can do that. So we'll check with them to see if we can get an ETA on when they're going to do that, the connection, and develop the well, and then we'll have it reported for next month.

All right. Good. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yeah. Ordinances, nothing. City clerk's report. Motion to approve docket of claims 26-038, day of August 4th, 2026, in the amount of $1,856,596.92. Motion. Motion, Smith. Do I have a second? Second. Second, Lewis. I'm sorry. I guess I should have amended it. I'd like to remove...

47,658 stripling equipment for $18,445.82. Remove that from the agenda. The total amount would be $1,838,151.10. 1-838-151.10? Yes. Okay. Okay. So...

And what item was that you said?

4, 7, 6, 5, 8, dribbling equipment.

OK. So the motion to approve document claims 26-038, date August 4th, in the amount of $1,838,151.10. Removing item 4, 7, 6-5, 8, dribbling equipment. OK. motion and second is amended vote to motion aye motion passes 6-0 thank you motion to approve docket that claims to 6-0 3-9 special dated August 4th 2026 in the amount of 187 dollars motion motion second second morning let the record reflect uh miss holmes is out the room all right any discussion vote to motion aye aye all right all right motion passes 5-0 ms holmes has re-entered the room C. Motion to approve docket of claims 26-040, special date August 4th, 2026, in the amount of $2,455.

Motion.

Motion, Smith. Do I have a second?

Second.

Second, Davis. Any discussion? Vote to motion.

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Motion passes 6-0. Motion to approve document claims 26-043 special date August 4th, 2026 in the amount of $944,419.

Motion.

Motion Smith. Do I have a second?

Moining seconds.

Moining second. Any discussion? Vote to motion.

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Motion passes 6-0. Mayor's report.

Yeah, we're asking to ratify the appointment of Ronnie Robert to P&Z. Ronnie's been not sure how many years, but he's been here for a long time, always involved in the community with events and everything. And we'd just like to see him sit there. He's got a good head on his shoulders most of the time, I think. I argue that sometimes with his wife. But, you know, again, I think he'll be a huge asset to our city and all sitting on that board.

I agree. Did he submit anything?

I don't know you personally. I've seen you around. We met. I'm just wondering.

Yeah, he can give it. I didn't just call him to talk.

Yeah, you came as a reference. Someone actually told me a little bit about yourself. I just didn't receive anything and I didn't know if anything was submitted as far as to the council. Just to give us a little brief on yourself.

Yes.

Just a little tiny brief.

My name is Ronnie Robear. I live at 305 Main Street. I've lived on St. Charles Street on Beach Boulevard. I've been around a couple of times. I was the president of Robear Refrigeration Service, second generation in New Orleans, which the third generation is functioning now. Served as president of the air conditioning refrigeration dealers association just so that I commit myself to things Under Mike Foster with a 70 million dollar budget for workforce training so I can handle I've done that a little bit, too I've done I've been on a civil service commission here and did that for a period of time and When I got here, we first had a house in New Orleans and a house on Beach Boulevard, and Katrina fixed that one. So my wife didn't wanna be on the beach anymore, so we moved two blocks in, but we've done a couple of things. And since I retired from the HVAC business, I grew up around restoration and preservation and I lived in a French Quarter for 12 years I've been you know, the Vucaray Commission over there is a lot stricter than what we're gonna have around here And and I I did that and actually I consulted for them sometimes so I've gotten the hand on doing things. I don't mind giving up myself as long as it's not underhanded or played with and I don't think that's gonna happen over here. So I would welcome the endorsement if you choose to have me there. I will visit all the sites and attend the meetings and I just got a little bit of reading material from Nancy. which that may take a couple weeks. No, I can use that for research. But I would welcome it and promise I'd do the best job that I can.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I appreciate Ronnie being involved in the community. I know you've been involved for a number of years. When I saw your name coming up, I know I called you and you grilled me more than I grilled you. Appreciate your willingness to volunteer. It's not an easy position. Yes, sir.

Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Do I have a motion? Motion. Motion, Smith. Do I have a second?

Moining seconds.

Moining second. All right. Vote to motion.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. Appreciate you, honey.

All right. Thank you, Ron.

The only other thing I got to remind everybody, budget meeting workshop tomorrow night. We need recess for that as well. We got one tomorrow night? Yeah. It's tomorrow night.

You said tomorrow night, but then you said that was canceled and that it was on the 10th.

No, the 10th next one after this is the 10th. Okay. So tomorrow. Okay. Budget workshop.

Just remind me tomorrow. I will. But we need to recess tonight.

We'll all remind you. Yeah, Kaylin, please remind me.

Anything else, Mayor?

5.30.

Yeah, 5.30.

Okay. All right. That's all you had, Mayor? Yes. You good?

I appreciate it. Thank you.

Council Business. Friends of Elena C. Jones. I don't see Mr. Clarence here tonight, huh?

I saw somebody walk in there.

Ted might have something.

All right. Mr. Chase.

My name is Ted Chase. I'm a resident of Bay St. Louis. I'm here on behalf of the Friends of the Valina C. Jones Society. These are the family and friends and the graduates of the Valina C. Jones High School, which at the time was the only high school education for people of color in Hancock County. Four years ago we started the process of having that site designated as a state historical society and that was completed two years ago. The next step is to have a marker placed out in the front of the school, similar to those that are other historical places around the city. The cost of that marker is approximately $3,000. I think it's 29. And for the three entities that were, that benefited from the impact of that school, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, and the county, Hancock County, we're approaching each of those institutions and stuff with a request for $1,000 donation. Now we have worked with Tish Williams at the chamber and she has said that there is a process by which that can be done so the money does not come to this organization but actually is funneled through the foundation, the Hancock Foundation and stuff and then that money would go immediately to the MDAH with the Mississippi Department of Archives and is that history? History. And history. They're aware of the project, they have the paperwork, I believe you have the paperwork that shows that application process. The only thing we're waiting on is to be able to pull those monies together so that we can start that process TAKES ABOUT SIX MONTHS, SIX MONTHS PLUS TO ACTUALLY HAVE THE MARKER DONE. WE WORK WITH THE MAYOR'S OFFICE TO DETERMINE WHERE ON THAT SITE THAT WE WOULD, IT WOULD BE THE BEST PLACE FOR THE MARKER THAT IS SET UP AND WORKING WITH COUNCILMAN Also, sort of how to help clean up that site so it's not only representative of the value of that piece of property, but again, to make it a place and stuff that attracts tourists to that building and that site. So we're here to request your support and your $1,000. Thank you.

We haven't built that in the budget yet.

Any questions?

We haven't accounted for that in the budget, right? But we've got an upcoming meeting that we can talk about it.

Tomorrow.

We'll discuss this at the workshop tomorrow and present it to the next fiscal year's budget. All right. We'll discuss it tomorrow at the budget workshop.

But then that'll be what, October before, that'll be October before they receive the funds through the?

Yeah, if you put in the next budget year. So I guess that's the question is when or do you know when the other two entities are planning on getting the money?

Working with the Board of Supervisors and also the City of Wavelength to determine if they have a separate process that they have to go through. But before the process can begin as far as manufacturing that marker, they have to have a check in hand. So it's a six month process no matter when we start it. So obviously the sooner the better, but it's not like we have to have it in tomorrow.

We can fund it without going through this year's budget. That's an opportunity in the budget we have to do that.

I think we allocated $5,000 to...

entities nonprofit and I don't think we've used any of that right was it a thousand was it a thousand okay funds available I mean to finance it now without going to the budget that way they can get they can get started on on getting an order and all I said six months if we wait another

This is a project that has been in the works for some years, and we really would like to, before any more members of the organization and stuff, move on, pass on. Again, the last graduating class was 1969. So if y'all could do the math and realize there's not a lot of the graduates left that would like to see this. So very much appreciate your support, if the money is there and stuff, to work with Tish's office and the other two entities to get that checked out.

Thank you. Y'all want to make a motion? Make a motion. Authorize $1,000.

Let's do it.

But who would it go to? Would it go to the Friends of Lindsay Jones or would it go to the Chamber thing?

It would go to the community, the Hancock Community Development Foundation. Hancock Community Development Foundation. And that's basically they're just the placeholder for the money until the other two entities and then when that, then they can cut the check.

And we can just put it on the docket next week.

So you're purchasing a sign is what you're really doing is you're purchasing a thing. You're just going through the foundation because I think if you send three independent checks to Archives and History, it could get a little confusing.

It's held in trust. Yes.

Okay.

All right.

And there would be nobody with the organization, the Valena C. Jones Society, that would be touching that money. It would go strictly through foundations and processes that are already set up separate from that organization.

Yes, sir.

Thank you. Okay. We'll just have it on the docket when we meet again, the 17th, whatever it is. 18th. 18th. Have it on the docket then.

So we're doing a motion tonight to approve it? We'll put it on the agenda. Okay. All right.

Next meeting. Sounds good. Thank you.

Much appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's just get the foundation to send an invoice. Yeah.

Yes.

public forum for non-agenda topics i'm sorry new old business miss nancy i'm good thank you great good i'm good too all right somebody dropped some horses off out in ward six the other day i got three of them roaming

Horses?

Saturday. He's talking wooden horses. He's talking real horses.

Real horses. He's a real. Real.

Oh, my God.

Do you think they got out? Do you think they broke out of somewhere?

No, I think somebody, like, brought in a trail and got them off and left. They're running down Central right now.

Just when you think you've heard it all.

Yeah, I know.

New issue.

Yeehaw.

Okay. I know.

That's why we need a budget for our barn, for our horses.

Yeah. For Mardi Gras season. Yeah. Mr. Lewis has left at 634. Public forum. I don't know if this fell a cliff. Mr. Cliff. Here he comes. I don't have to stop watching. We might be in trouble tonight.

Some of these have already been covered. Cliff Rival, 702 3rd Street. First and foremost, Mike, thank you and the administration for addressing what may or may not be a drainage issue along 3rd Street near Chantilly Terrace and Romney. Either of those ditches are visually clean, down all the culverts. You can look through them. They're clean. If there's going to be a backup in drainage, it's not going to be in that area. And we are part of the big funnel that goes down to the beach. It was noted to me by someone else that if you drive down Beach Boulevard, when you go, just before you get to Romanita, and there's a big open canal, and it goes under, and it's wide open. And then you go to one down by Bay Oaks, and it's, where's the ditch, where's the canal? So with that being said, one of the things I was gonna discuss is that when we get to that point in our ordinances, We don't need to just look at the impact of fill and all that on the adjacent neighbor. But we need to particularly, as you get closer to the outlet, what the impact is on the people upstream. Because you guys in wards five and six know that two feet is a lot of drop. I mean, it is. So if we do something down near the canal, down near the beach that causes the water to have to get a foot or two higher, then it backs it up all the way to Old Spanish Trail. I would ask that when we get to that point, we do look at that because now we look at the adjacent neighbors. Well, if you were the outlet, you affected more than the adjacent neighbors. And we continue to build and we continue to develop, so that's something we need to kind of add in and have on our radar screen. ADA compliance, Ms. Nance has already taken care of that. I do appreciate that. My wife does use a walker and it does need curb cuts. Thank you very much. And Mike, you already answered next budget workshop tomorrow night, so. If I can make it, I'm going to come and call you all again. Now, those of you who don't know this, there's a change. Y'all recently approved a private subdivision down between 3rd Street and the beach. I wanted a private subdivision. Well, somehow, my understanding that they got the price tag put in a road. which actually the best one they got was less than what I would have figured it to be, but I guess they choked on that and now have come back and requested a special use district. I asked Kyle, since he was the only one that I know of, Robert, if you'd like to get in on it, what constitutes the need or the requirement, why would we approve a special use district in a perfectly good residential area? So that's going to come. I'm going to go to the P&Z meeting on the 12th, but I'm going to tell you ahead of time, I'm already getting phone calls from neighbors asking, what in the world? We approved something that they showed us, and now I guess they don't like the price, and they're going to want to change it. That's not a precedence that's going to impress people favorably. So next thing, and again, special use subdivision, special use district, and oh, well, we don't want to do it quite that way. So I can tell you ahead of time, there's going to be some pushback on that. If you weren't aware of it, you're aware of it now.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, Mr. Click.

Did I make three minutes? You did. Yes.

You ran over a minute. We'll dock you next meeting. That's right. Mr. John Ullman.

Hi, Mr. Jones.

John Oman, 110 DeMontles and Avenue. Hi, folks. Nice to see you. It's also delightful to be following Cliff Ravale up here without having to worry about his blood pressure. Nice going, Cliff. Some of you may have gotten an email from me earlier today, which I was just showing off an article that's seen by Bay St. Louis, very complimentary. And in that email, I'd also threatened to come here and make some comments about it. And I'd given up on that idea until the Main Street Association was here, and that was just too much on top of each other. But my initial thing just to comment on was the photographs in that thing of Main Street were kind of stark in appearance. And that can be looked at from different angles or whatever. And started thinking back to efforts to beautify that area before. And I remember that in the years following Katrina, There were a number of occasions where Main Street merchants stood right here, some individuals, some groups, and complained bitterly that the city wasn't doing enough, and probably some citizens weren't doing enough either, to get customers into their stores. Now, as part of that, I think it was directly or indirectly associated with it. Big, enormous planters were put out all over the 100 block main street. See, Mr. Smith remembers them. And to the best of my knowledge, the city paid for those. The city put them out. I think that might have been one of Les Fillingame's last projects, regardless. They're out there. They look nice. The vegetation in them eventually all died, fairly short order. And then the planters themselves developed the mind of their own. And they started slowly, inexorably, just a few feet at a time, moving away from the sidewalk, more onto the business. And after a while, they all, went into another dimension someplace. Really, kind of amazing. Anyway, when you talk about Main Street Associations and all the rest of this and any type of helping out down there, please keep that in mind. Thank you.

Thank you. Hey, Mr. John, one thing on that Old Town Merchants right now, whether someone was there, but Holly and them, they're looking at replacing that and starting that same thing back. I think they... got what they doing they doing pelicans or something trying to get some kind of design in them so they're looking at that same process right now down through and just continue once they get started they want to continue to go We'll put trackers on them.

It would be nice if there was something that provided shade. Hair tags. Hair tags.

That was all that was on the public forum. An umbrella. Attorney's report. You good, Ms. Smith?

I'm good.

No executive session. Motion to adjourn. Motion to recess to August 4th meeting to August 10th at 530. Motion to recess by Mr. Smith.

Second.

Second by Ms. Holmes. Vote to motion.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Passes 5-0. The recess. Thank y'all.