City Council - Regular Meeting

Cell phones. This meeting is now called to order. June 8, 2026, Natchez City Council meeting. We are now, at this time, we will have our invocation done by Donald Forrest. If you would please stand. Following that, we'll have a Pledge of Allegiance done by Councilman Eddie Harrington.

If you'd please bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we come this afternoon to say thank you once again, Lord God. We thank you for all of us that was here today, and Lord, we ask that you continue to bless each and every one of us, Father God. And Lord, we pray for Mayor Williams in his absence. We pray for the Councilman. We pray for the department heads, and we pray for the residents of the city of Natchitoches, Lord God. And, Lord God, we pray that we come to conduct ourselves in the way that you would be pleased, Father God, and that we would take care of the business of the city of Natchitoches that would be pleasing to you. In our son Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Please follow me in the pledge of allegiance. You may be seated.

At this time, I would like to have a motion from the council to remove from the agenda the special recognition of Ms. Juneteenth.

To remove it, you said?

Yeah, no one's here for it.

Oh, okay. I'll make a motion to remove the special recognition from Ms. Juneteenth-Queens.

I second. Thank you. It's been motioned and seconded.

I'll make a motion to... approve the dispense with the reading of the minutes and approve the minutes of the May 26th.

I'll second that.

Thank you. We've had a motion to amend to approve and dispense with the reading of the minutes of May 26th, 2026. I'll second. You should say vote call vote.

Yeah. Eli. Yes. Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall. Yes. Harrington.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Now at this time, we have the recognition, special recognitions. We've already had a motion and a second. So roll call, Ms. Stacey.

Eli. Yes. Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall. Yes. Harrington. Yes. PT. Yes. Thank you.

At this time, we will have the mayor's special recognition of the Mayor's Athletic Leadership Awards. And this will be, we have St. Mary's, I think, is here.

I understand.

Representatives from St. Mary's and representatives from NACA Central. Is that correct?

Okay.

I'm going to ask one of the council members to read it. They both say the same thing. Councilman Nielsen, would you mind reading that, please?

Mayor's Athletic Leadership Award presented to Kelton Howard, Natchitoches Central High School, in recognition of your exceptional leadership, dedication, and athletic excellence, your achievements have brought honor to your team, school, and the city of Natchitoches. You serve as a role model both on and off the field, and we celebrate your commitment to excellence. Presented this 26th day of May, 2026.

We're glad to have you all here this afternoon. I'm going to ask you if you all would please come forward and receive your plaque if you would. Would any of you like to say anything prior to receiving your plaque? No? Okay, these plaques are going to be presented to Hayden Nelson of St. Mary's Catholic School. Ava Hebert, St. Mary's Catholic School. Aaron Giedros, Natchez Central High School. And Kilton Howard. And Kilton Howard, Natchez Central High School.

Could I please come forward to the kitchen?

Ms. Hayden? Okay. Ms. Thompson, if you want to come and join me.

And none of you wanted to say anything? Tell us what you do. No? Well, again, we thank you and continue to excel in what you do. Keep doing a good job.

I think I recognize his face from Cintra there, watching him. Man, that guy, boy, you're talking about running hard, hard to come down. Really? Okay. Yeah, he tough.

That's wonderful.

What does he play, football?

Running back, yeah, football, yeah.

Okay. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Okay, we are down now to our proclamations. Proclamation 043, proclamation occurring June 2026 as market. month in the city of Natch, and Councilman PT will be reading that. Thank you.

Resolution number 043 of 2026, a proclamation declaring June 2026 as market month in the city of Natch, whereas the health and well-being of our citizens is of primary concern, whereas farmers' markets provide access to fresh food and support healthy communities, whereas participating in the Central Louisiana Network a farmer's market is essential to helping the negative farmer's market grow. Now, therefore, I, Ronnie Williams, Jr., Mayor of the beautiful city of Niagara, Louisiana, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as Rural Farmer's Market Month. I so move to adopt resolution number 043.

I second. It's been moved and seconded to adopt resolution number 043. All in favor do safe roll call vote.

Eli, yes. Nelson, yes. Smith, Kirkendall, yes. Harrington, yes. PT, yes.

Okay, that motion has been passed. Okay, we're down now to our ordinances, introduction of ordinances.

We don't have any.

We don't have any, okay. That's good. So we're down now to our resolution, next resolution on the agenda. Resolution number 034 will be read by Councilwoman Eli.

THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER LARGE. THIS IS A RESOLUTION NUMBER 34, 2026. IS THIS A LITTLE CLEANUP THAT WE NORMALLY DO YEAR ROUND. I'M JUST GOING TO READ THE TITLE ONLY BRIEFLY. A RESOLUTION FIXING THE TIME AND DATE AND THE PLACE OF THE REGULAR MEETING IN THE CITY COUNCIL OR THE CITY OF NAGLE FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS. be resolved that the city council of the city of negative is the regular session convened at the accordance and section 209 that the homeroom charter of the city of nature and the city council of the city of natives will meet regular season 5 30 or the second fourth month of each month for the next 12 months and To be resolved that the place a meeting should be at the seat of natives chambers 716 2nd Street of a sitting there unless provided Otherwise by the mayor upon public notice and I move to adopt resolution number 3 34 of 2026 second Okay, it's been moved in second

To adopt resolution number 034, Ms. Stacey, roll call vote.

Eli?

Yes.

Nelson? Yes. Smith-Kirkendall?

Yes.

Harrington? Yes. P.T.?

Yes.

Okay, these are just standard resolutions that we're doing to get the calendar in order for the next 12 months. Okay? We're next down to our... Next resolution will be read by Councilman Dale Nielsen, which is a resolution establishing meeting times and places.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Resolution number 35 of 2026, a resolution establishing meeting times and places of the Natchez Planning Commission, Historic District Commission, Airport Advisory Commission, and Water Works District number one, where a state law requires that notice of meetings of governing bodies and agencies thereof must be published in accordance with provisions of Louisiana RS-427. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Natchitoches that the Planning Commission of the City of Natchitoches shall meet in regular session at 5 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at the City of Natchitoches Council Chamber, 716 2nd Street, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Be it further resolved that the Historic District Commission for the City of Natchitoches shall meet at 5 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at the City of Natchitoches Council Chamber, 716 2nd Street, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Be it further resolved that the Airport Advisory Commission meeting will meet at 5 p.m. on the third Monday of each month except December at the Natchitoches Regional Airport Terminal located at 450 Wallenberg Drive, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Be it further resolved that the Water Works District No. 1 shall meet at 5.30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month at the Thomas building located at 562nd Street, Natchitoches, Louisiana. And I move to adopt resolution number 35 of 2026. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any questions? Let me go back. Do we have any questions on any of the previous resolutions that we've read so far? Anyone on this?

Any questions or comments on this resolution?

Again, these are standard resolutions. Seeing no comments or questions, Ms. Stacey, roll call vote.

Eli. Yes. Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall. Yes. Harrington. Yes. Petey.

Yes.

Okay, moving right along quickly. Okay. Next on the agenda, is a resolution appointing Stacy McQuarrie as Clerk of Court for the City of Natchitoches. This is resolution number 036 of 2026. Be it resolved that the City Council does hereby take cognizance of the recommendation of Mayor Ronnie Williams Jr. that Stacy McQuarrie be appointed as Clerk of the Council for the City of Natchitoches in accordance with the Section 208 of the Home Rule Charter. And for the result, the city council hereby confirms the said appointment.

And I'm going to have to think on that a little harder.

I move to adopt resolution number 036 of 2026. That's a wonderful job. I second. Okay, Ms. Stacy, it's been, any comments?

Approved and stereo.

No comments. It's been approved. Roll call vote.

Eli. Yes. Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall. Yes. Harrington. Yes. PT.

Yes. All right. Thank you. That takes care of that. Okay. Next on the agenda, we have Resolution Number 037, which will be read by Councilman Harrington, Resolution Appointing the Auditor for the City of Natchitoches.

This is Resolution 37 of 2026, Resolution Appointing the Auditor for the City of Natchitoches. and it be resolved that the City Council hereby takes cognizance of the recommendation of Mayor Ronnie Williams, Jr. that the firm of Thomas, Cunningham, Broadway, and Totenbeard be appointed as City Auditor of the City of Natchitoches for the period of May 31st, 2026 through May 31st, 2027. I move to adopt Resolution 37 of 2026. I second.

Okay, Ms. Stacy. Any questions, comments? Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Roll call vote.

Eli. Yes. Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall. Yes. Harrington. Yes. Petey.

Yes.

Okay. Y'all are going through this pretty quickly. Next on our agenda is Resolution 038, Appointing the Fiscal Agent for the City of Natchitoches. And this will be read by Councilman Petey.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp. Resolution number 038 of 2026, a resolution appointing the fiscal agent for the city of Natchitoches, be it resolved that the ordinance number 004 of 2025, correction, 2026? Make that correction. 2026. Oh, it's 25, sorry. 2025 of the Natchitoches City Council Award, Bank of Montgomery, the contract for fiscal agent for the city of Natchitoches, Be it further resolved that the council does hereby take cognizance of the recommendation of Mayor Ronnie Williams Jr. that Banker Montgomery of Natchitoches, Louisiana be appointed as fiscal agent for the city of Natchitoches for the term June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027. I so move to adopt resolution number 038.

I second. Any questions, comments about this resolution? Seeing none, it's been moved and seconded. Ms. Stacey, roll call vote.

Eli.

Yes.

Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall.

Yes.

Harrington. Yes. PT.

Yes. Okay, we're down to resolution number 039, which will be read by Councilwoman Eli in reference to the Legal journal for the Natchez City Council.

Resolution number 3, 39 of 2026, a resolution designated Natchez time as official legal journal for the city of Natchez for the next 12 months. And I move to resolution number 39, 2026. Second. Second.

Any comments, questions about this? As you know, the city has to have things printed in the newspapers, and so Natchez Time has been appointed, as we have in the past, as our legal journal to print the news for the city council. Seeing no comments, if there are no comments, Ms. Stacey Roll call vote.

Eli? Yes. Nelson? Yes. Smith-Kirkendall? Yes. Harrington? Yes. PT?

Yes.

So this is just cleanup of city business. Now we're down to resolution number 040, and that will be read by Councilman Nielsen for the attorney and assistant city attorneys.

Resolution number 040 of 2026, a resolution appointing the city attorney and assistant city attorneys for the city of Natchitoches. Be it resolved that the city council does hereby take cognizance that Mayor Ronnie Williams Jr. has reappointed Alex Washington as city attorney for the city of Natchitoches in accordance with section 4. 0.02 of the Home Rule Charter, and be it further resolved that the City Council does hereby authorize the reappointments of three assistant city attorneys, and upon the recommendation of the city attorney and the mayor, that Daniel T. Murchison Jr., Cloyd Benjamin Jr., and Gary Conley are hereby confirmed and approved as assistant city attorneys, to serve in accordance with the provisions of Section 402C of the Home Rule Charter. And I move to adopt Resolution Number 40 of 2026. Second.

Thank you. Any comments, questions? Okay, it's been moved and seconded to appoint the attorneys again. Ms. Stacy, roll call vote.

Eli? Yes. Nelson? Yes. Smith-Kirkendall? Yes. Harrington? Yes. PT? Yes.

Now we're down to resolution number 041, appointing members to the City Planning Commission. Resolution 041 of 2026 is a resolution appointing members to the City Planning Commission, whereas the Mayor of the City of Natchez has submitted the following names for appointment to the Natchez City Planning Commission, being Charles Whitehead III, Michael Lewis, Trisha Eley, Ricky McAllister, Walter Johnson, Isaac Lewis, Alexia Conde, Anita Dubois, and Sadie Sawyer. Whereas further, section 2417 of the Natchitoches Code of Ordinances provides that the members of the commission shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor with consent of the Natchitoches City Council. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Natchitoches that they hereby acknowledge the appointment of the above individuals to the City Planning Commission and hereby approve and consent to same. And I move for adoption of resolution number 041 of 2026. Second. Okay. Any comments or questions to this? Anybody from the Planning Commission here? No?

Okay. Ms. Stacey, roll call vote. No questions. Eva?

Yes. I'm sorry.

I think there should be a correction for number five. Okay. That should be Isaac Lewis, and that it should have been Charles Whitehead III. Instead of Isaac Charles Whitehead III.

The slide is wrong, but that resolution's right.

Okay.

Yeah, I call Whitehead III.

Yeah, it's right on our paper.

On our paper, Whitehead III, yes, he's on here. And Walter Johnson, he's on here.

Yes, so the actual document, it's okay.

Okay. Okay. Ms. Stacy, roll call vote.

Eli? Yes. Nelson? Yes. Smith-Kirkendall? Yes. Harrington? Yes. PT?

Yes.

I think I saw Ms. Sadie Sawyer. She's here. Yeah, okay. She's the only one here this afternoon. Okay. Welcome back to the Planning Commission. Did you want to say anything? No. Okay, thank you. Okay, that's it, Ms. Davis. Now we're down to resolution number 042, which will be read by Councilman Harrington, dealing with the Natchitoches Historic Commission.

This is resolution 42 of 2026, a resolution appointing members to the Natchitoches Historic District Commission for the city of Natchitoches, and whereas the mayor of the city of Natchitoches submitted the following names for appointment to the Natchitoches Historic District Commission as follows. Jared Dunahoe, Ralph Wilson, Dr. Steve Horton, Ms. Melissa Robinson, Ms. Miriam Salter, and Drake Owens. I move to adopt Resolution 42 of 2026.

I second.

Any questions, comments? Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Ms. Stacy, roll call vote.

Eli? Yes. Nelson? Yes. Smith-Kirkendall? Yes. Harrington? Yes. PT?

Yes.

Next on our agenda is the resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with the author Gallagher Risk Management Casualty Package Insurance Renewal. And this will be read by Councilman PT, Resolution 044.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp. Resolution number 044 of 2026, a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Arthur Gallagher Risk Management Services, LLC, whereas the Insurance Committee has reviewed the proposals submitted for the general liability, employee benefit liability, law enforcement liability, public entity management liability, public entity employment-related practices liability, auto liability, auto physical damage, umbrella and crime insurance for the city of Natchitoches, and recommends the contract in the amount of $573,493 be awarded to Arthur Gallagher Risk Management Services LLC for the period June 30, 2026 through June 30, 2027. I so move to adopt resolution number 044.

Second. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt resolution number 044-2026. Any questions? Comments? Is this something, Clarissa, you can elaborate on?

Yeah, this is just our insurance renewals. It actually was a very good renewal. We actually were able to get it down. I can't remember the amount, Mr. Ed, and we actually added cyber security insurance to it. So it went down even with us adding that to it. So it was a very good renewal period.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, one of the better renewals we've had in several years on this policy, and it went down enough that we could add the cybersecurity policy to it, and we're still $2,000 less per year than last year's premium.

That's great. Good job.

Sound like I need to go shop with some insurance.

Yes, that's one of 2,000 down. Okay. Did we have a second? Yes. Okay, thank you. Okay, Ms. Stacy, roll call vote.

Eli. Yes. Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall. Yes. Harrington. Yes. P.T.

Yes.

Okay. Our final and last resolution on the agenda, Resolution 045, dealing with the hangar door replacement, will be read by Councilwoman Eli.

Thank you. Resolution number 04. 1945 and 2020 seeks a resolution authorizing the mayor to advertise and accept the bids for the hangar door Replacement at the next regional airport whereas the city wish to advertise for the public be for the hangar door replacement at the next regional airport bid number 06 And whereas the sealed proposal shall be addressed to the City of Natchitoches Office of Director of Purchase 1400 Sabine Street, Natchitoches, Louisiana 71457 or received at the City of Natchitoches Purchase Department of 1400 Sabine Street of Natchez, Louisiana, whereas the city of Natchez will accept the sealed electronic bills for the project until 1 p.m. Thursday, July the 16th of 2026 at the Office of Director of Purchasing. 1400 Sabine Street and where it's the bill the beads will be public open and read aloud at the location at the time here above and where it's upon receive a pose of the committee member consenting of Carissa Brown Smith director finance Italy director purchasing Justin also airport management Chris PT councilman and review to make recommendation of the bids received number there is all about a set of negative and legal states convened at the honorable Ron Williams be here by the rise and power to the rate water the public of above beads and I move to adopt resolution number 0 4 5 for 2020 it's been moved and seconded any questions or comments

Ed, would you like to say something about this?

This is the same project that y'all authorized us to go out for bid for approximately a year ago, and the bids came in very high, so they were all rejected. The door was redesigned, and we're going back out for bid again. It's an FAA-funded project. It's not costing the city any money, and this will go on the hangar that was the old northwestern hangar. Sophie, did I give a picture of that one? Okay. Anyway, it was the old northwestern hangars, and that door is being replaced. That's one of the oldest buildings on the airport. Well, it probably is the oldest building on the airport. And just over time, the doors and the track system, all that needs to be replaced.

Okay. That's been explained, so no questions or comments on that. We've had a second, I believe. Roll call vote.

Eli?

Yes.

Nelson? Yes. Smith-Kirkendall? Yes. Harrington? Yes. PT?

Yes.

All right, that takes care of everything on our agenda at this time. We're down to, do we have any comments from the audience? Would anybody like to say anything?

30 minutes.

I'm going to ask my directors, if you all would like to have a word to say anything. Ms. Shawna, LaRue, do you need to say anything about your department? Anything y'all doing that we need to know?

Well, I just want to say that this past farmer's market, we had a busy market. We had a competition between the Police Department and the Fire Department of Cook Off, and the Fire Department did win, so we do want to, Chief Wynn isn't here to receive all his accolades, but he has somebody in his place, but we had a great market, and of course we have an upcoming market where we're going to just continue to have, open it up for new vendors and continue to try to keep it busy.

Sounds good. Ms. Clarissa Brown-Smith, you have anything to say? Chief Collins.

We're just getting ready for all the events that are going to happen back to back to back.

You're going to be busy in a couple weeks. Yes, ma'am.

A lot of celebrating. Good time of the year. Celebrating the 250th. We've got Juneteenth. We also have the Hall of Fame. We're going to be prepared and just getting ready to have a good time. Hope everyone comes with that same mindset.

Okay. Fire Department.

The only thing I have is... The new fire station is coming along fine. There's supposed to be pointed slabs this coming week, so we should see better progress after that is done.

Okay. Director Warner?

We feel like we've Recruited enough lifeguards that hopefully swimming lessons, we've got them planned to begin a week from today. Our lifeguards are supposed to get certified starting toward the end of the week. There's a gentleman coming down to do the certification. If all goes well, everything's back on plan. All it did was push our lessons. We do four sessions. It pushed them into August a little bit. We're still going to have the fourth session, so it's all going to work out.

And when will the pool open?

It should start opening Monday afternoon, provided we have enough people that actually pass the certification this weekend. I hate to go out here and say things that I've got to retract because it's all based on these – Young people getting their certification.

I understand that. I'm glad you've got enough to go on with it and open it up. Can you tell me the cost that's going to be?

The swimming lessons are $25 for eight days, Monday through Thursday. If you have a rain out, you make it up on Friday.

Now, I mean for the public to come and swim, for kids to come and swim. What's the cost of swimming?

A dollar or two dollars. I'd have to go back and make sure that I'm not. It's cheap.

Okay.

Very cheap.

All right. Good, good, good. Tim, anything you'd like to say?

We've just been dealing with a lot of problems. hit water lines. We got a lot of boring rigs in town that's hitting our water lines pretty regular. We fought two of them last week for about 20 hours, the two of them combined. We did start designs on 100th anniversary of Christmas Festival this week. Started looking at some new stuff that we could do out on Highway 6 and in the traffic circle. some new photo ops and stuff in town and a design for the new anniversary sign. So we're starting to work on it.

And you talk about water lines bus and I know a lot of broadband is coming in and I know they said today they have been bursting a lot of lines and so I guess that's what you're referring to being replaced.

Actually the broadband hasn't been the issue. The broadband Swift actually went aerial, and they've been holding pretty good to the aerial job. They, so far, have not hit us, but the gas company's hitting us a lot.

Okay. Well, good. It's being taken care of. Good, great, great.

Oh, yeah. Back to Festival, how are we doing funding-wise? Last year, and then this year, and we have some back orders.

We still haven't gotten our lights in that we ordered last year, so that's going to take a pretty hefty bite out of the budget. We're not going to have much left, but we'll do it. We'll get it.

Yeah, and then we actually budgeted a little bit more under the mayor's budget as well for just supportive HGVA as they, you know, round up their amazing plans for the Christmas festival. So we kind of work with them on whatever they need and we'll continue to do that.

How much money do we allocate from HBA from having our officers and pay-wise for public department of working out? Do they pay us for that?

Say it again. I'm sorry.

Do the costs come from them, or are we paying them for the employees?

We pay our employees, public works, community development, police, fire. We pay them for their efforts to support the Christmas festival, or any festival, really. We do get an amount back from HDBA every year in regards to the Christmas festival. I think it's been about $25,000 the last few years. Yeah, so they actually... give us those funds back to the city to help cover some of the costs.

Let me say, this year there was a discussion with the mayor and I don't, Ms. Sandra.

This year the mayor agreed to, we each get $25,000.

Can you, you want to come to the podium? Can you hear? Everybody can hear? Come on, step to the podium.

When we split, the city gets 25 and HDBA gets 25, which we put back into the festival. And this year, the mayor agreed to leave his 25 in the festival account. He normally gives us $5,000 to pay towards security. So this year, that $5,000 will come out of the $25,000, and that will leave us $20,000. but we're having three drone shows and we just sent the check a week ago for half and that was 49,500. So the 25,000 on both sides goes real fast.

Okay, thank you, thank you. Okay, we're down to, I think, Mr. Donald, did I get to you? No, you're next.

Yes, I just want to say with the grass, with the rain we get now, the grass is growing pretty rapidly. And we could, you know, we want the residents in certain areas of part of town to help out because we don't have the inmates. And going into the neighborhoods has taken a lot to maintain the fairways, what we have to cut, and also going in the neighborhoods. So we asking the residents if they can, as who able to cut the ditches on their own property, please help us out because it puts us in a bind trying to do the neighborhoods and the fairway. And we just asking for help. We need it.

Okay. I like to have comments from you department heads, and this is why I'm doing this. You know, y'all, I just don't want y'all sitting here for nothing today.

Ms. Edley?

Yeah, we had our annual inventory audit count on June 1st at the purchasing department, and it went well. Had a good audit. Also, we just finished our prior year fiscal year, and we started our new fiscal year on June 1st. And it was a smooth transition this year. Everything went great, and we're off to start on a new year, new budget.

Pretty good. Thank you. Ms. Yontrell-Rock?

Well, as we spoke of earlier today, tomorrow we actually start our bid process for the clearance grant. And I think that's like 15 different properties that we're going to use for the clearance grant. We have an additional 25 properties that we're going to bring up for demolition and clearance, plus some additional after that. So I'm going to ask that you guys be patient. Let us get this group of properties down with the clearance grant, and we'll work on the list that I showed you today. And then after that list is done, we'll see where we stand as far as what's left in our budget and where we need to move with additional properties.

Okay. How are you picking which properties go in the grant? Are you getting like the oldest, the ones that have been there the longest, or how is that?

Those are properties that we started a year or so ago. It's always we work up in one season a list of properties. And then the next season is when we actually work to actually bring them down. So it's a list that we've been working on and we add to it as we progress. So this is a list that would have been next on our list had the grant not come about. So we found properties that we knew were already condemned or that we knew had been worked upon or had been dealing with property owners for previously that never did anything with. So as we come to the properties that they become condemned, or we list them on our combination report. We try to get as many as we can, but, I mean, it's always a process. It's a working process for notification, working with the property owners, because we don't want to have every property in the city of Niagara is adjudicated to the city. If we send out a notice to a property owner and they respond to us, we want to at least give them a chance to respond back. Even if the property has been sitting there for a while, a lot of them don't live here. So they don't know the properties are in the condition that they're in, not until we notify them. So we still have to give them that leg and that recourse to say, well, let me at least try to take care of it before the city comes in with those extra funds and do the demolition and make it adjudicated to the city. Because all that does is put another headache on the city to have to maintain those properties.

Do we know how many properties before this current board got in between 2019? Do we have a direct number of how many properties was on demolition then than now?

I don't have a total account, but I can tell you that the properties, the number of adjudicated properties from the time I started in 2019 until now, I know we have over 60 properties. And then we have to maintain those properties if it's not redeemed by the property owner. And that's more money out of our budget to have to cut every year because a lot of people look at us, and I'm going to say it, like a high-priced lawn service. They think that the city is supposed to maintain those properties, and it's not our responsibility. But that's how they treat us.

Have we looked at selling any of the adjudicated properties?

We have, but some of our properties that we maintain, some of them aren't big enough to do anything with. And we talked about changing the minimum lot size for a buildable lot. I mean, they can take a lot and we can build on it. We'll just have to take it aboard beyond or take it to planning and zoning and ask for a variance on the lot size. But a lot of properties, they're in an area that is not maintained. No one wants to live in that area. I mean, if we were to come up with a way to bring these properties and these areas up, I mean, into compliance to where they want to be sold and bought, then, yeah, they would be. And then a lot of the properties that we have, they could be sold. They could be used. It's just finding people that want to spend the money to maintain them.

I would hope we could find some developers who would want to come in, like you said, these small businesses. And it's out there. I mean, I look at Shreveport and these other places.

There are fundings out there, but you have to have the, I guess you say, the headcount for that stuff to be awarded to different grants. You have to have things in place to receive the funding to be able to rebuild a neighborhood without gentrification, to reestablish a neighborhood, to maintain a neighborhood. Those funds are there. but you almost have to be a city three times our size to get a lot of that funding.

And it seems like the lot size, I think we made a mistake when we changed the lot size for the city. We didn't grandfather the lot sizes from the, the west side or Carver or Scarborough. We overlooked that. So now you, it causes you to have to go before planning and zoning. for a variance of the lot size, and that just doesn't have to be that way. We make it hard on the new owner if you don't do a tiny house or something of that nature. So those are things to look at to try to open it up.

So what if you have a residence that's next to a adjudicated property that belongs to the city? If they are taking responsibility of cutting it, is there any way that we can find a way to donate it to them if they take responsibility?

The new company, EMP Consulting, who is actually the management and sale of our adjudicated properties, that is one of the... items that they offer. It's called the next door neighbor program or the dollar program, that if you have property that's next to adjudicated property and you can show proof that you've been maintaining that property for a year, then there is a way that steps that's put in place that will allow you to buy that property.

So we wouldn't be able to donate it instead of buy it, or we're going to buy it for life.

It's up to the city what they want to do. If they want to sell it for the appraised value of the property, or if they want to do a dollar buyback program, it's up to city council and the EAP company on how you want to manage that or how you want to maintain it. It's there. It's just having people to know it's there and then providing the correct steps on how to go about doing it.

Yeah, we may need to have some kind of workshop.

But we wouldn't be able to give it away. We would have to sell it at some price. Right. And usually it is at, you know, appraised price and, you know, no upcharge or anything like that. But because it's city... It's owned by the city at that point. It's under the ownership of the city. When it's adjudicated, then the city could give it away, but definitely would be able to sell it at a very reasonable price.

But to put it back on tax roll would be the goal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, though. There is a way to donate to a nonprofit group.

Yes.

But it has to be a type of a nonprofit group or a type of organization. That's the only way you can actually do a type of donation, not for residential development.

But if they not put...

Right, it has to be a city benefit.

Yeah, but even if they're not putting anything on it, but they're taking responsibility when we get back to cutting it, you know, they, you know, we can, or is this like reducing the price down for them if they, you know, showing responsibility that they've been cutting it for this long period of time instead of saying they were going to sell it for X amount of dollars, but they've been keeping it up and the city have not been keeping it up.

I understand that, but just because it's city-owned, we could not give it away, and we have to follow the guidelines in regards to what price we can market it. I definitely understand what you're saying, but we do it as a city, and because it's a city-owned property at the point of adjudication, then we would still have to sell it to them to what level that is. You know, we would have to get the expertise of our attorneys.

Yeah, because by state law, any city-owned property has to be sold at fair market value. Now, there's some, maybe, I have no idea. I don't do any property work at all, and I definitely don't do any lawyering for a municipality. That's what these guys are here for. But there is something about the fair market value or any other statutory allowances. And there's something of the... I don't remember, something of the benefit of the city, and I can't remember exactly what it was, but there may be something to look into and research some kind of argument about the benefit of the city. Maybe there's no, how long we've been maintaining it, how much does that cost in the city, and the benefit is now to take that off the books and now to put it on a tax roll, maybe it starts making money.

I don't know. Yeah, please. and anytime you're dealing with adjudicated property i mean you either follow statutory law or we have our own process so we won't just be donating the property without a benefit to the city yeah in ordinance and resolution that guide the way so either fair market value or some appraised value but i understand what you're doing yeah yeah okay but we won't just get this

All right, thank you. We had a great discussion here.

Because I was just saying, I'm willing, you know, more as in if we'll just donate it. I know a lot of people be like, well, hey, I got about 29 that we can just start cutting. You know, just going to donate 29 properties, you know, if you just go cut it.

It doesn't work that way. I think you said that company was, is it EPA Consulting?

E&P Consulting.

I'm sorry, what?

E&P Consulting.

E&P Consulting. That may be something, anyone out there listening or watching can consult with you about?

Yes, ma'am.

How to get in touch with E&P Consulting. And if you're keeping up the lot, I think a year, I think is what it is, a year more, you may be entitled to get in that lot at a reasonable praise value. Okay, any other comments, concerns? Okay, being none, we're down to announcements, Ms. Stacey. The next Schedule C Council meeting will be June 22nd, 2026. And do we have any other announcements? I can't read, so I'm going to ask Chris if he's closer to it than I am. I can see some of it.

Yeah, the next scheduled city council meeting will be June 22 of 2026. The city of Niagara's offices will be closed on Friday, June 19th of 2026 in observance of Juneteenth.

Okay. That's that Friday.

That is a Juneteenth Freedom and Unity Heritage Festival. Friday, June 19th And the grand marshal will be Ms. Felicia Chantelle Hardison. June 10th basketball showdown, the city of Natchitoches. That's Saturday, June 20th of 2026. Time is 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Natchitoches MLK Recreation Center. a celebrity basketball game, the Sheriff versus the Police Battle, the Northwestern Demons versus the 1865, and Niagara Central versus Lakeview Alumni Showdown.

And I think I was told Clarissa Brown Smith is going to be playing basketball that day. Is that what I was told? Oh, I'm going to be doing something. I'm going to be doing something.

Okay. Also got the Jammin' June 10th Fest, downtown Nagelis, Louisiana, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., and the live performance by J-Paul and Zydeco New Breeds.

Is that that Saturday?

Yes, Saturday, June 20th.

Okay.

Okay, America 250... Fourth of July, celebration, a negative show on the riverbank with Trini Triggs and Johnny Earthquake. Six to ten.

And the date on that?

That's July 4th.

July 4th, okay. Off of July, okay. Next. That's on a Friday?

That's Saturday, July 4th. Yeah, it's actually Saturday this year. Okay. Really?

It's on Saturday.

That's great.

Okay. Do we have another slide? No. Okay. I just want to talk about the course. We have the Juneteenth parade, which will start, as you saw earlier, that Friday, which will kick off the city events for that Saturday. That will be the Juneteenth parade starting at 6 o'clock. Actually, the lineup will be at 5 o'clock. The parade will roll. at six o'clock, and if you have any questions or anything like that, you can contact myself or Ralph Wilson, Maria Magom, and Tankia Palmer. I'm trying to think who I was working with that. So we're looking for vendors, if there be any, or anybody who would like to ride in the parade, they're welcome to do so. Just contact us. Okay, anything else from the audience? Nothing else? Meaning that we have no other comments. Make a motion that we adjoin. Can we hear a motion?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded that we adjoin. Motion.

Have it.