City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, there you go.

There you go.

Good evening, everybody. Our July 13, 2026 meeting is called to order. We're going to have invocation, and then after the invocation, we will do the Pledge of Allegiance. Will we all stand for prayer and pledge? Let us pray. Gracious and eternal God, we thank you for the privilege of gathering once again to conduct the business of our city. We acknowledge that every good and perfect gift comes from you, and we ask for your wisdom as we make decisions that affect the lives of our citizens. Lord, as another school year approaches, we lift up every child in Hackettish. We pray that you would place a hedge of protection around them as they travel to and from school. Bless our teachers, administrators, support staff, and parents with patience, strength, wisdom. May our classrooms be places of learning, growth, safety, and hope. And may every child discover the gifts you place within them. Father, we also ask your hand of favor upon the many events that bring our community together in the months ahead. the Meepaw Festival, the Zydeco Festival, the Car Show, the Natchitoches NSU Folk Festival, and as we prepare for our beloved Christmas Festival, bless every volunteer, organizer, first responder, vendor, and visitor. Grant us beautiful weather, safe celebrations, and opportunities to showcase the hospitality and spirit that make Natchitoches so special. Lord, we pray over every project underway throughout our city. Give wisdom to those planning and building. Let these investments strengthen our neighborhoods, improve the quality of life for our citizens, and leave a lasting legacy for generations to come. And Father, we ask for economic blessing upon our community. open doors for new industries and quality jobs that provide meaningful careers and opportunities for our people, bless our local businesses, encourage entrepreneurship, and help Natchitoches continue to grow in ways that honor you and benefit every family who calls this city home. Finally, remind us that although we may not always agree, we are neighbors first. Give us hearts that seek understanding, words that build up rather than tear down, and wisdom to work together for the common good. We ask all these things in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Amen. Please join us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

unto God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Thank you for participating in the pledge. Our next item on the agenda is reading and approval of the minutes from our most recent meeting on June 22nd.

May I make a motion that we dispense with the reading of the minutes of June 22nd and that they be approved as recorded if no corrections?

Second.

Motion is made and seconded to dispense with the reading of the minutes and to adopt them as they have been recorded. Any comment about this particular motion? All right. Seeing none, Mrs. Stacey, roll call vote.

Eli? Yes. Nelson?

Yes.

Smith-Kirkendall? Yes. Harrington?

Yes.

PT?

Yes. All right, that motion carries. I want to ask everybody to please take a moment and silence your cell phones during this meeting. The City Council encourages public participation. Comments are limited to three minutes per speaker. However, this time limit may be reduced if there are numerous speakers on a particular item. To ensure efficient proceedings, all persons addressing the City Council shall state their name and shall speak in a civil and courteous manner. Speakers shall address the agenda topic only to which they are speaking on and shall not be repetitive. Members of the audience, please respect the rights of others and do not create noise or other disturbances so as to disrupt or disturb persons who are addressing the City Council, City Council members who are speaking, or otherwise impede the orderly conduct of the meeting. And again, we thank you for adhering to those. All right, as we do every month, we want to recognize this month, our employee of the month happens to be our IT manager, Mr. Steve Stinger. All right, Mr. Steve Stinger is here. We appreciate Steve's many years of service to the city, very, very hard, very, very good work ethic, one who comes early and stays late. You know, he's the type that he touches on just about, I mean, every department. I mean, people call upon him. So we certainly appreciate Steve's contributions to the city of Natchitoches. I do want to take an opportunity, I don't know, Ms. Clarissa, anything you'd like to add? I know he falls under the finance department.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Steve is an amazing employee, not just because he's sitting there, but he just does a wonderful job. He is very diverse in his lifestyle, so it's always fun. We have great conversations about work and other things, but it has definitely been a pleasure. Pretty much supports the entire city from an IT standpoint. I don't know how we would do it without him, but he is very well-deserved.

That's great. How many years, Steve? Total years, is it? How many years have you been with the city?

It's about 16 years.

16 years. Well, look, we appreciate your dedication and hopefully many more years to come. Steve came to us from Indiana. Yeah, so he's down here in Louisiana with us. All right. Next, y'all, and again, we should have made the Facebook post already, so we always ask those questions of the employees, so take a look at that Facebook post. I think it was posted last week of Steve. We've got two items that are coming up next. They are for final out of planning and zoning, and so Councilman Nielsen is going to read the first one, Ordinance 21 of 2026.

Excuse me. Ordinance number 21 of 2026 and ordinance amending ordinance number 64 of 2001 by changing zoning classification of property described as follows to rezone the following lot containing three and a half acres. in Section 56 and 57, Township 9 North, Range 7 West, on the north side of Kaiser Avenue, shown on plat and conveyance book 443, page 67. And A, HAP interest in a strip 50 by 195 feet between Lot 3 of Block O and Lot 4 of Block N, Blanchard Road subdivision. And I move to adopt Ordinance Number 21 of 2026. Second.

Motion made and seconded. We've had a discussion as to where these duplexes Duplexes are going to go. All right. And there's a residential already around. Our ordinance is set up such that you can't add any harm, if you will, to drainage anyway. So that's already covered in our new ordinances. So any comment about this particular item on the agenda? Mr. Wayne?

My name is Wayne Holm. And the mayor alluded to it, and I did not know that, saying there could be no harm to drainage, because that's what I wanted to talk about. On the east side of this lot, there is a drainage ditch that's terribly overgrown. I think it goes down the city parish line. And I've tried unsuccessfully to get it cleaned out. This area drains not only this area you're going to be building on, which is now just a field, but it drains back from Kaiser by the senior center, by the next street, Chris, that all drains into here. And those ditches just fill up when it rains hard. I mean, the water goes into them, but it has nowhere to go because it goes through this drainage ditch I'm talking about. And I was hoping you could use this project to clean the trees and weeds out of it. I mean, it's not only weeds, it has trees in it. Right. Okay. But you said your ordinance already would take that.

Well, I think zero impact is what I was referring to, right, Chantrelle? to the drainage, or zero, not a negative impact to the drainage, or Nick, Nick, come on Nick, come on Nick.

So what would happen before anything takes place? The developer would submit plans to myself and to Nick to review. And then in that review, whatever he submits, if it meets the zero impact zone, And Mr. Nick Barrett approves what the calculations are, then they'll be permitted to move forward with the plans. But it's not until plans are submitted to our office and we review everything before they can actually break ground. Right now, the only thing that they're asking for is to rezone the property. But everything else will take place in office.

So there's still some checks that need to go. Nick, did you – Chantrell spoke. Is that it? She said what you –

Yes, Chantrell, I understand that, but this is the last time I would get to speak on this issue.

Okay. Yeah, come on, Nick. Have you got something else?

Nick Barrett, City Engineer. Mr. Holm, I believe that ditch that you're referring to is under the auspices of the Natchez Levy and Drainage District. Have you all spoken with them about that? I don't think it's city responsibility. I believe all of that channel is within the Natchez Levy and drainage district responsibility. So that's probably a discussion maybe that we need to have with them. Okay. Also, I was going to ask, since I'm not with the parish any longer, can you advise us of what the status is of the project that was in round one of the Louisiana Watershed Initiative to construct a new drainage channel from really a little bit farther downstream of the channel you're talking about what we call Bayou Poisson, to bring some of the runoff and directly deposit it into Cane River Lake. I know there were some issues with right-of-way acquisition and that kind of thing. Can you comment on the status of that?

I believe that's what we call the East Nagatish drainage. Is that right? East Nagatish drainage, yes.

But all that is under the levy board. But again, the project that I'm referring to, which was the parish is the direct recipient of that grant money. I was just wondering if you had an update you could share about that project.

Well, I will share. Unfortunately, it's not... solid share. We ran into a problem obtaining the piece of property that we needed that the big pipes would go underneath. And they're still negotiating that as far as I know. And I do worry that they'll negotiate until the grant money goes away.

There's no doubt, though, that that would improve all the range of design conditions if that project were able to move forward.

It would get the water out of there much faster. Yes. Okay.

To reiterate what Sean said, our ordinance requires post-development peak runoff not exceed pre-development runoff. So those are the drainage calculations she referred to. So whatever is done with this property, as she said, plans will be submitted to her and to myself, calculations, a drainage study, all of that will be done so that we ensure that there is no additional runoff from the development.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. Any other comments or questions here? All right, seeing none, Mrs. Stacey, roll call vote.

Eli. Yes. Nelson. Yes. Smith-Kirkendall.

Yes.

Harrington. Yes. Heche.

Yes. All right, that motion carries. All right, we've got that second. This is the second of two planning and zoning items that are up for final, and this one is read by Councilwoman Washington. Eli.

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance number 22 of 2026. So ordinance number 64 of 2001 by change of the zone classification property described as follow. And the property is 4300 University Parkway. And it was recommended by meeting on June the 9th of 2026. and I approve to adopt ordinance number 22-2026. Second.

Motion made and seconded. This is about Hampton Inn adding a bar. Is that right? Right. Ability to sell alcohol, have a bar, pretty normal and standard what you see in hotels.

Complimentary.

Complimentary.

That's what they're saying? I imagine. Oh.

It's like breakfast. Okay. That'd be nice.

Hey, that's not a good business decision, I don't think. You have to go out of business quick. But yeah, so again, I think this is pretty normal. Any comments? Anything about this one? From anybody? All right. Seeing none, Mrs. Stacey, roll call vote.

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

Yes.

All right, that motion carries. We've got two ordinances outside of planning and zoning that are up for final. The first one is read by Councilman Harrington.

This is Ordinance 23 of 2026, Ordinance authorizing the Mayor of the City of Natchitoches, Louisiana, to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Natchitoches Economic Development Alliance. What said memorandum provides for services to be provided by the Natchitoches Economic Development Alliance, providing for a one-year term, providing for advertising, further providing for severability, and further providing for repealer and effective date of ordinance. I move to adopt Ordinance 23 of 2026. Second.

All right, motion made and seconded to adopt this. I mean, Nita, although the name changed a few years ago, the first iteration was Nagaish Community Alliance. Changed it more for the name, I think, Nagaish Economic Development Alliance. So we've been having an agreement. I think we bumped the dollar amount up a few years ago. We do have them at the one year. THE ONE-YEAR TERM. I THINK, LAURA, YOU HAVE, YOU WANT TO SAY ANYTHING? YOU GOT ANYBODY ELSE? OR WHAT, WHICH ONE? I DON'T KNOW IF YOU WANTED TO, OR YOU JUST WANT US TO GO AHEAD AND PUT IT UP.

Mayor, thank you. Laura Lyles with the Natchitoches Economic Development Alliance tonight. I don't have anything to add. If there are any questions, we'd be happy to answer them. But I did want to point out that we have a number of our board members here in support of the work tonight. So I would love it if y'all who have made the trip could just stand and be recognized at this time. We have a lot of people who help us do this work behind the scenes and just really appreciate them being here. And Tom Matuszka is our chair of the board. And so he's here to help me answer any questions if y'all have any. Thank you.

I DO. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU FOR SENDING OVER THAT INFORMATION. I GREATLY APPRECIATE IT. Thank you to the board also, too, for being here tonight. The only thing that I would like to happen, you know, I don't know about the case before the other board members and stuff, but for District 4 to bring things that the residents need in our community. Of course, Hobby Lobby and everything else that y'all brought. Tito's today, we greatly appreciate that, greatly. But more as in the last three years and stuff, we had contributed a lot of donations, plus everybody else, but to bring things. And I know, for instance, in District 4, we need a laundromat. There's certain things and stuff that can stop shopping carts from going across the bridge. I know we're getting a new bridge, but those are important things that we do need inside my community. And also, too, I'd like to say that The budget is pretty reasonable. And hopefully that we can try to work those kinks out of what needs to be done. I know we say that we're getting a plant coming in and stuff. I'm not sure I heard. Whatever. I'm not sure if it's falsified information or what. We'll see whenever it's here. Everything is a secret. But if it is, at least say how many jobs it's going to get. I understand the studies that we all do cost money. But also, too, that this money that we're allocating is the people's money. So if we can actually really, you know, take out some of those kinks, you know, come inside the community that needs, you know, . is high, you know, meat is high everywhere, but let's try to focus on inside the community. You know, my district need it. I don't know about everybody else's district, but my district needs certain things, you know, so, but I greatly appreciate you.

Any other comment, a question?

I'll just say that Economic development, it's not a question, I'm sorry. It's not just about what has been built today or what is inside anyone's district or not inside anyone's district. It's about creating opportunities for the future of all of Natchitoches. Economic development is a long-term strategy, and it's not just a scorecard of what has been built maybe this year. Everyone, every city, everyone in the United States, everyone in the world is in that fight for economic development. And if we don't support NEDA, we aren't even on the battlefield. I mean, we can never win. and so i want to thank you all and all the board members here and everyone who's in that fight because i know it's a fight and um and we're rooting for y'all for you know the survival of our whole area so no pressure

I really appreciate those comments. This is really kind of a long-term game. It's a team sport and we're in competition. We're in competition with all the other communities around us. It's really about creating opportunities for thriving and growth in the future. It involves building our workforce. It involves bringing in new jobs. It involves really investing in the the businesses and the industries that are here and retaining them and helping them to thrive, but also to grow. And it's really the heartbeat of a community is economic development. And it's the source of the tax base for what you all want to do in terms of developing infrastructure in this community. And so we have to compete. And that's why all of these members of our board joined NIDA to do that. Organizations contribute money. There are well over 20 different organizations in the community that contribute their time and their people and their money towards this endeavor, knowing that we need customers and you need taxpayers and we need opportunities for our people. We don't want to continue to have our people leaving town, moving away, looking for opportunity. We want it to be here, right? And so we're all in and committed to that, and we appreciate your commitment and support in that as well. So we see it as a team sport, and we thank you.

I want to say this. First, I want to thank you all for what you do and the board members for being here and for what all you do. I know this ordinance is for a one-year contract, and I know it takes a while to get anything done. I can't speak for anybody else, but I would hope we could extend the time maybe two or three-year contract in order to get some things done. Because you are doing a great job, a lot of people may not know it or recognize what you have done or know what your role is in what you do. But I just want to thank you for what you've done. the development that you have brought in. And like you said, it is about bringing in jobs, retaining jobs, and making people stay in NACA, should not move away because they have no way of making an income. There's no businesses here. And y'all have been great in doing that. Although we've lost the business, but you are trying to get other businesses in here. And it takes collaboration. And it takes working with other people in other areas to let them know what NAFTA has to offer. And so I just want to encourage you to keep on doing what you're doing. And I would hope we could maybe extend it, but we're only staying for one year right now. So hopefully something will be done that they can see with a wash of tears in one year.

Thank you. Oh, let me elaborate on that, because yes, they do. And to get with Councilwoman Lodge and stuff, a wash interior is very important. I don't know if District 1, 2, 3 sees it, where we have shopping courts where people try to go over to a one wash interior that's on the east side, but... I feel like my district need it. So I don't, you know, everybody else might have a washing machine. I don't know. But I know a majority of my district that I represent don't. So thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments, Joe?

I'd just like to thank everyone in the room that came, that serves on the board. It's a great cross-section of NACADIS, and I've watched economic development in my tenure, and right now I think this group has put together a team that actually can accomplish things in a big way, and I look for... a big hit at some point, and you just got to keep fighting, keep pushing. The stars, so to speak, have to align, and I think we've got a better situation at the state level than we've had in the past, and we have a better situation nationally. So that being said, locally, I think you guys have come together as a group and looked around at the board. It's impactful. So good luck. Keep pushing. And I agree with Councilwoman at large that maybe next year we'll look at a three-year, depending on what kind of hits we get. So thank you again.

May I just say, I think it's important that we have somebody like working on behalf of the residents here, like you mentioned about job retention. And I might be a little biased, but, you know, I call it the big three. You got Roy Morton, you got Alliance, and also Pilgrims. And I know that you guys, y'all work hard to try to keep, you know, whatever we need to do, whether that be a tax incentive, to make sure that we keep them here so that we can continue to grow the city. But I appreciate you for your work. And I see us just going up and up. We'll continue.

All right. Okay. Any other comments? All right, Mrs. Stacey, roll call vote.

Eli?

No.

Nelson?

Yes.

Smith-Kirkendall?

Yes.

Harrington?

Yes.

P.T.?

Yes. All right, that motion carries. Our second of two ordinances that are up for final is read by Councilman P.T.

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance number 024 of 2026, an ordinance to amend and re-enact Section 3018B, which is located in Article 4 of Section 30 of the Code of Ordinances. of the city of Natchitoches, entitled Utilities. Said amendment being made to implement a change for electrical service rates, providing for advertising, further providing for servability, and further providing for repealer. I so move to adopt ordinance number 024. Second. Second.

All right, motion made and seconded. As we said a little bit, I guess now three weeks ago, really, that this is a pro-resident customer piece as the ordinance was being drafted back in 2023 to include CPI, Consumer Price Index. This is what every business does just to kind of keep up with inflation. Some would interpret it to be how it was written, to tie us down to the CPI, that we have to do it at the CPI. And this language now just gives flexibility that if CPI happens to be, let's say, 15%, well, we know our residents can't bear 15% of a CPI charge. So then we would come at a level lower than that. So again, this is pro... resident. This is good for the resident. And it gives us that flexibility to not, because it has that shall. Some people look at it and say, shall, and then make it seem like it shall be to the level of the CPI. So I know we've discussed this, but there may be some more questions or comments.

Yeah, I have a question. I was thinking about it more since last time, and yet the original language had The city, what you're discussing, the city shall adjust sewer rates based on the consumer price index, which shall, that term, I know Alex, law school, you learn the shall, should, all these. Shall means you must. And so, like you said, it was always, every year, no matter what the CPI was going to be, that was going to go up, and it could be considerable. And so, I agree, some kind of change needed to be made. Now, The new change, it still says that the city every year shall adjust the water rates. So every year they must be adjusted. And then it says not to exceed the consumer price index. So how that reads to me, every year it must be adjusted, just not to exceed. So that means it could even be adjusted down. Right? So it couldn't be lowered. And so I don't know if that's the intention of that language because as everything rises...

There may be a case. I think we kind of talked about this when we were three years ago. It doesn't happen as much, but I guess the CPI could be a negative.

review, well it wouldn't be a negative, but the ordinance is to say that the city would review the CPI. It would not make a independent decision regardless of the CPI. So I don't know if we want to, and I'm not a lawyer, but I'm just speaking on the intent, is that we would not exceed it and we don't have to go to the max of the CPI. We will make a decision based on financial need at the time. But I don't know, do we want to add verbiage to say we cannot reduce it? Do you see what I'm saying?

It has to not exceed, but then...

It shall be adjusted. I mean, it's going to have to be adjusted every year.

Yeah, the word shall did not go away.

And I think the intent is for that word to go away in a sense or explain that it does not have to be adjusted. We just have the option to adjust.

Well, it doesn't have to be adjusted to MACCPI.

And what would that adjustment be based on?

Based on the financial needs.

On the financial need. So as Councilman Harrington was saying, so based on the need or not needing, it could be lowered.

I don't understand that. But I understand if we want it to be written so that it can never happen just based on ordinance, but that probably wouldn't happen. Just realistically.

Because things don't typically go down.

It doesn't.

I mean, nothing goes down.

Typical for the most part. of going down. The CPI only has a track record of increasing or staying. So if we're writing to say that we are reviewing the CPI and that is our driver, then we would never go down because CPI is our resource. they've been going down with to reduce the bill still right but what i'm saying is the cpi doesn't have a record of being reduced it only has a record of going up or staying the same so regardless of the fact that you may be written right now we feel like there's a loophole our resource is written in the ordinance to say that cpi is the reference that we will use to make any determination

Okay. Any other comment or question?

I don't know. Is that what we wanted to say?

Do you have a verbal amendment you think will fix it?

I don't. I don't. I don't know. Alex, any of your thoughts? Or you just don't want to shoot from the hip? Yeah.

No. I mean, I think the goal was for us not to be mandated to make the CPI, which could hurt the community. I think we solved that problem. And whether or not it's ever going to go lower then, I don't see it going lower. For inflation, we're going up every year.

The way I read it, you shall go up every year. It's just a matter of how much.

Because that's what CPI pretty much does. Yeah, you're doing it based on what CPI does.

But we've gone two years without going up.

No, that's not true. Right? No, we did water and sewer last year. We didn't do electrical rates because we had a new contract, and I think it was wise not to do that. Clarissa really advised not to do that. I do think that was wise in hindsight, you know, because then we know what the LEPA contract did to us.

I got a question, and this may be for Attorney Alex. Being that it's dealing with an electrical increase or a sewer, is it possible for it to come back to the council for a vote instead of just having the ability to just raise that? And I know it's dealing with everything go up as far as the prices and stuff like that, but I think that since it's dealing with an increase on the residents, I think that it should come back to the council.

But I think that was the whole point of having the CPI in. So you administratively have some flexibility. Yeah.

Again, OK.

It's more of a financial question you're asking, whether or not they intend to increase it. Will it come back to the council? Yeah. I would like to see it to come. No, no, no.

And it does have to come. I mean, not it does. It will come back to the council, but it's not coming back to the council for a vote. This is coming back to the council for information. We will advertise the increase regardless of what it is. But it does not come back to the council for a vote because again, like Mary Williams said, I think the collective intent or the collective thought when we originally put this ordinance into place was that we did have the flexibility because it had gone so long without being adjusted. And we understood what that had done to the city's finances. So that's why collectively the thought was to gauge it based on the CPI so that you know that you have a credible resource to reference it to and that the city had the flexibility and didn't have to go for a vote that we did it based on the financial need of the city. But that's just speaking on what took place at that point in time. But that's what the CPI does. It helps you gauge whatever adjustment is needed to respond to the inflation. Of course, the reason why we want to put in something that does not force you to go to the max because every city is not the same. Inflation hits different areas in different ways. So that's why we want to make sure that we are not forced to max it out if it's not necessary at the time.

Any other comment, question?

I was trying to add language to make it more clear, but I am shooting from the hips. That's never good. Something of the effect of shall adjust the water rates on May 1st of each calendar year. to a variable of two, but not to exceed the change in the consumer price index. So it gives you that range.

I see what you're saying. You're saying each year you may can go 1% or something. I understand what you're saying. I kind of get what you're saying now. But still not over the maximum. But still increasing.

Depends on what the need is.

But you'll still be at that need.

Then you don't... I mean, that's kind of the problem I have with it is that it's so automatic.

From what we phrased it back to is at that snap point saying that we're not going to raise it. So if we vote no, they mean that it's going to raise anyway. To the max. To the max. So basically what it's saying that they're not going to raise it like that, they're going to look at it before a raise. So she's saying that we all will know, so we'll be coming in two for two. You might come in one. You might come in to know the exact point of where it's going to be raised. But at this point, vote no, you're still going to raise it. Vote yes, it's going to basically say, no, we're not going to raise it.

If I can, let me add that. Rates increases. That's a legislative function. So it's the council that controls it. It's not if they raise it. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's y'all control. Before we passed legislation that said that we would increase the rates based on the CPI. So you was basing it on if... Life expenses went up, prices went up. You're going to follow that. At this point, we're saying, the council's saying, we don't want that. That's too high. We want it based on some number, but let's use that CPI as a point of reference. But I would say, no matter what's taking place, next year, the year after, if y'all don't like the way it's going, it's a legislative power. We can come back with an ordinance, just like we came back just now. and y'all want to adjust it, we would adjust it because it's your power.

Because now, say next year, who's going to come up with the number?

Yeah, there's no rate study connected to either one of them, actually.

Well, the CPI is what means that. So what you would realistically do is look at what the gap is. So whatever financial gap that you potentially have based on what's needed, what we were not able to accomplish, where there were possible shortfalls in revenue for the city to make whatever improvements. So it's, you know, it's data that you have to go in and look at. You don't just come up with a number to say, yeah, we'll, you know, go up a half cent. You know, you don't just come up with a number.

How much did telephone poles go up? Yeah. How much is water pipe? How much is trucks?

And those are all things that we looked at during our... budgeting process. Those are all different factors that we take a look at in that process. So there is data in whatever the council would want to see or whatever calculation. Do I think we should go third party every year? No, I think you'll be using a lot of funds to do that. But should we present something that has some type of credibility, you know, on how we arrive to a figure, yes, definitely.

And in some obligations you have, like some of the loans that you have, you covenant the increased rate to make sure you can cover your bill. Yes. Same thing. You just, we're looking at the entire administration, not just the loans, to make sure you cover whatever debts you have.

Yeah. I'm not... I just, I don't know a better language. I'm just not thrilled with the language, but I don't know a better language.

We can bring it back up.

That's better than what is on the books right now.

That's a good point. That's a good point, Councilman Nelson.

Yeah, it is.

All right. Okay. I think we've got the most in the second. Roll call vote.

Eli.

Yes.

Nelson.

Yes.

Smith-Kirkendall. Yes. Harrington. Yes. Petey. Yes.

All right, that motion carries. We've got two ordinances that are on for introduction. The first one is handled by Councilman Nielsen.

That's a good-looking picture of it. Ordinance number 25 of 2026. and ordinance of the city of natchitoches louisiana amending the base hourly rate of compensation for police officers and otherwise providing with respect there too whereas the city of natchitoches employees police officers who serve and protect the citizens excuse me and property of the city and whereas the mayor and city council recognize the important role that police officers play in maintaining public safety and the general welfare of the community and whereas the mayor and city council have determined that it is in the best interest of the city to adjust the base hourly rate of compensation for police officers to attract and retain qualified personnel, and whereas the Mayor and City Council find that increasing the base hourly rate from $16 per hour to $18 per hour for police officers is necessary and appropriate, and whereas the Mayor and City Council have determined that this increase shall apply to all sworn police officers, but shall not apply to police dispatchers or records personnel. Now, therefore, be it ordained by the Mayor and City Council of the City of Natchitoches in legal session convened that this ordinance is adopted for some of the authority granted to the city of natchitoches under the constitution and laws of the state of louisiana including louisiana revised statute title thirty three in the home rule charting of the city of natchitoches the purpose of this ordinance is to establish a new base hourly rate of compensation for police officers employed by the city of natchitoches in order to ensure competitive compensation Maintain adequate staffing levels and promote the retention of qualified law enforcement personnel All right, thank you councilman for reading that Came to our conversation and we didn't include it at the time of budget because it was the budget had already been

submitted at that time when the question came up. But this is a 1995 sales tax. Is it 1995, Chief Collins? 1995 sales tax that was passed by the citizens of the city at that time to be used to support law enforcement. The sales tax is exclusively a law enforcement. Law enforcement is the beneficiary of this sales tax. I think the prevailing thought had been that the sales tax, the money from the sales tax, the funds from the sales tax could be used just for capital improvements, equipment, vehicles, things of that nature that your officers, detectives would need. But once we actually read the, and there's a word for it, Alex, what do you call it when the people vote on it? You got a word for it. You told me.

You told me the word.

So that's a fancy word that that is. You know, they put it in that.

Pro se verba.

Pro se verba. There you go. Pro se verba. All right. So we've seen the verbiage of those amendments and things like that and things that you vote on. But when we actually read it, it does say, I think what we, you know, it does say the capital expenditures, but also the day-to-day, and there's something like that, operational costs. And just broke it down, operational costs, what falls under that, salary enhancements that you can make. So just want to be more competitive in law enforcement and that's really to the benefit of the residents so that we can retain more officers, detectives here. And this is not a, there's no increase to the residents. This is using an existing tax dated to 1995 to use it for salary improvement. So this would take our base pay in law enforcement from $16 to $18. And how it works in civil service, you have to increase it on up. So it's a pretty good hit. But again, so that we make sure that when the residents call, we have officers to respond. to their cause. So this is what, while we're doing it again, it's an existing tax that we have so that we can be more competitive and retain more of our law enforcement employees.

Well deserved. Well deserved.

Okay. Any comments or questions? That's really basically what this really is. is just for introduction so if they happen to be some questions come before the meeting on the twenty seven please reach out chief is anything you wanted to add to that i'll just point out just a few uh... things of fact on record since december twenty nine

eight post-certified officers, two being corporals, two with five being lost to one local agency, another one being lost to a local agency, and one just deciding law enforcement wasn't for them. We had two individuals that signed up. One went to the academy. One was getting ready to go to academy. One made it through the academy, but unfortunately was not post-certified, so therefore we cannot use that individual as one law enforcement officer. The other person decided that they didn't feel they could go in people's houses and law enforcement wasn't cut out for them. On average, our salary is roughly about $5,600 below any agency comparable in size and providing the services that we provide. That makes it difficult to attract candidates, especially when we have candidates that are They're unable to go to other agencies. They come to our department. Our wonderful staff gets them trained up and through their drive and conviction, they learn a lot of things. And then agencies steal them from us, basically. I will use that word, steal. It's unfortunate. You can't be upset with the officers because they do start out with the desire to provide services and to help protect and serve the community. But they have lives, they have families, and they put their lives on the line. Just tonight, right before this meeting, we had an individual who lost his life down in Alexandria protecting and serving. And he served on a unit that I once served on. for several years. We know that. We take that risk. All we're asking is that you consider increasing that base pay so that we can be more competitive, especially it will motivate some officers who have been here in the trenches and realizing that, hey, we're nowhere near the agencies just right across the street. And this, this gives us the opportunity to make sure that we are competitive. We, we don't, we possibly can retain the ones that we do have coming. I would like to say out of losing those eight post certified officers, and the two non-certified officers, we replaced seven of those officers, but they're getting ready to go to the academy, and that's something that's a detriment to the citizens of Natchitoches because they have to go and get trained and get certified. So I just appreciate any consideration. Regarding this matter, we do need to...

to get us where we need to be so that we can keep our our individuals there and also participating in all the festivals we have so thank you well look i was going to say something about that i mean we can't create a perfect situation this is one of our challenges if we can knock this off make us be more competitive i'm not going to say we just have to do it this one time forever and that's it but um certainly another challenge it's great being an architect but the work that they have to do with all the festivals and everything they go on, which we love, but on the back side of it, it does kind of work your local law enforcement a lot. So we're trying to think of ways to address that and deal with that, but I think this is certainly one step that we can make to allow us to keep more of our people. All right? So again, certainly send us any questions or things like that. I'll add another piece that's up for introduction. It's actually read by a councilwoman at large, Smith Kirkendall.

Thank you, Mayor. This is ordinance number 026 of 2026, an ordinance authorizing the mayor of the city of Natchitoches to enter into a cooperative endeavor agreement with NSU Athletics and the Demons Unlimited Foundation, DUF, relating to a Dream Home giveaway benefiting NSU and the city of Natchitoches, providing economic development opportunities for the city and its residents. Whereas the city of Natchitoches is specifically authorized under Section 106 of the Charter to provide for the general welfare, safety, health, peace, and good order of the city, whereas Article 7, Section 14C authorizes the state of Louisiana and its political subdivisions to engage in cooperative endeavors with each other and with public or private entities for a public purpose, whereas Northwestern State University's Athletics Department and the Demons Unlimited Foundation are partnering with Rose Properties and Development on a Dream Home Giveaway fundraising project to raise funds that will benefit the university's athletics programs, whereas the project involves the construction and promotion of a residential property located at 107 Hidden Oaks Court, Natchitoches, Louisiana, which the property will be given away through a raffle drawing to be held on November the 6th, 2026, with tickets priced at $100 each, going on sale beginning May 4th. They've already been on sale, 2026. Whereas the university and foundation have requested the city's participation in the project through the donation of certain building permits and utility connection costs associated with the property, and whereas the city has determined that supporting the university's athletics programs serves as a public purpose by enhancing the economic development of the city of Natchitoches through increased tourism, Visitors are spending on lodging, food, gasoline, and other goods and services, and associated sales tax revenue generated that attract larger crowds and more competitive events to the city. Whereas the city has further determined that the project will serve a public purpose by strengthening the relationship between the city and the university, promoting positive publicity for the city, and supporting the education educational mission of the university by enhancing its ability to recruit and retain talented student athletes. And this is for introduction only.

All right. You may have seen the Dream House signs. I think that was recently. I know they said May, but I think they recently did the press conference. It may have been done in June or something like that. So it's a part of the development. Is that Chantrelle, Nolly Road? It's not Nolly Road, is it? Nolly Road.

This is Hidden Oaks.

Hidden Oaks, okay. That's that 14, I think that 14 development, they're developing 14 properties or homes, right? Right on the nose. What's that?

Right past Nolly? No, it's past Nolly.

Okay. So just to kind of give you a reference point as to where this is. So NSU has benefited because they're raising money. They're selling these tickets for $100. They're raising money for NIL, which is name, image, likeness. What do they do? What are they hoping to do? They've got some other things they're trying to do. But because they're kind of, if you look at the schools in the Southland Conference, they're low in terms of not having much NIL money. So the theory is that this will help them. One of the things that will help them to build up their coffers with NIL and get some better players, which will support their athletics department, their football games, their basketball games, and to the extent that it extends to baseball and some of the other sports. And, you know, the benefit to us would be, you know, if you have a strong sports with your university, then, you know, that drives more people here to watch those games, more people coming back who graduated from Northwestern State University to, you know, come to those sporting events that we talked about. So we're looking to get a CEA with the university on this. I think the fees, I think you said what we will be waiving, right, because this is what this CEA is really getting down to. $1,100, I think, from P&Z. Is that what it was?

Yes. It's $1,100 for the permit fee that's going to be waived.

If this passes the council. Yeah. Okay. And I think $600 from utility. Is that right, Tim?

No, it's right at $1,000.

Right at $1,000. Okay. So we're talking about maybe $2,100 or close to it. Okay. So again, yeah, Rhodes is building the property. So just at this time, council, any comments or questions? But that's basically the gist of what this is. The city potentially partnering with Northwestern in the way that we can, which is waiving some of the fees for this project, which we can't do all of them because Some of the fees are for IBTS to inspect as the project goes along. So we don't have the authority to waive those. So at this time, any comments or questions for me? I'd be happy to take them.

First, let me begin by saying that If we didn't have Northwestern State University, we wouldn't have Natchitoches. We wouldn't have what we have here. So we need to do what we can to support Northwestern State University, the Northwestern State. The Northwestern State, that's right. As you like to say. But I think we're limited in things we can do with our public funds. And the amount doesn't matter, even if you're wanting to... donate a dollar of public funds. We're very limited at how that's done and who can it go to, et cetera, et cetera. And first off, I would like to know, because my understanding is Rhodes Properties is building the house and funding the house. It's my understanding. And then they're giving it to NSU to make it so. So to me, This would be something that, in that process, Rhodes Properties would be paying for. So is this a donation to NSU, or is it a donation to Rhodes Properties, which of course would not be, would be unconstitutional. That's, I don't know that, who's it really donating it to, is what I'm saying. Who's paying, who would be paying for that? Do we know that answer?

I would say that you know, NSU certainly is benefiting from the proceeds of the raffle. And I guess you're saying technically who would have to pay the fees and ‑‑ Yeah.

Well, I can say that You know, under Article 7, it allows for nonprofits, it allows for universities, but it also allows for private businesses. I know the council and a lot of places I represent, you're used to dealing with nonprofits when you're giving those donations, but it also allows for a private business to do the same. the city received the benefit. And the benefit, which the mayor mentioned, would be that sales tax, use tax, hotel spending, and we're talking about $2,100 or so. Does that benefit exist for the city? I think it kind of clearly exists because five home gains will make that money back.

I see there's There's more to it that we might need a table and look at, because there's a couple Attorney General opinions. There's one kind of spot on on this matter, and it's opinion 150095, and it was the city of New Orleans donating funds to a school in New Orleans because it benefited the community, is what they stated. And it was for school-related public purposes that would benefit their community. And the Attorney General said... concluded that generally not municipal purposes, or further stated that even if a public purpose could be shown, a payment without anything in return is wholly gratuitous. And then the legislative auditor agreed with it. That's my concern here, is we're proposing to donate water meter, labor, permits, equipment, other public resources, and I haven't seen any. I mean, we got the CEA today, and I looked at it, and the CEA says in it that it's to enhance the economic development of the city of Natchitoches through increased tourism, visitors spending on lodging, food, et cetera, et cetera, promises of things that could happen but not are actually objectively happening. And the Attorney General says something has to be with objectively equivalent value in return. And the fact that this project may generate goodwill and increase tourism and improve our image and otherwise benefit the community, I don't know if it's... I don't think it satisfies the constitutional requirements, and I don't want... There's some things out there that I've seen that's made me nervous about this, where if... legislative body has knowledge and then they vote when it comes to gratuitous donations of public funds and they vote against the knowledge that states they can't do it, they could be found potentially liable.

What was that? Yeah, it's for introduction, so I don't think we need to move the table or anything. Can we ask for an opinion?

Yes, we can absolutely ask for an opinion.

Well, what was that opinion you cited? What was that?

Opinion 15-0095. Okay.

15-0095. Yeah.

Is there something maybe we table and talk about more on?

Well, I don't think you would tell you about an introduction. Yeah. That's what I said.

It's a tough introduction. We want to pull some more AG opinions, but, you know, my position is we're talking about $2,100. Well, it doesn't matter the amount. I know. It could be a dollar. The facts from the AG opinion, all facts are going to be a little different. We can take a look at what you have and compare it to some other AG opinions and come back to the next city council.

Or restructure the CEI?

Yeah. Whatever the council feels comfortable with, we can change the language to make sure everybody is comfortable with it.

Yeah, and I talked to Kevin a little bit, so I think they're going to try to come to the next meeting and not be at this meeting, so that's why we don't see the NSU representation tonight. I told them to, you know, come to the voting meeting, if you will. Any other comment?

You said $2,100. Is that in here? I don't see it.

I think it's up to, I think it's not to exceed $2,000.

It was per permit. Okay. Yeah, we didn't put the amount.

Okay. Any other comment? All right, like I said, it's just for introduction. So we'll have some more conversation and look at Attorney General's opinion and all that stuff like that, okay? All right, we've got four resolutions remaining on the agenda. This first of the four is read by Councilman Nielsen.

Resolution number 47 of 2026, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute change order number two to the contract between the City of Natchitoches and Pat Williams Construction LLC for the new fire station number three on University Parkway in Natchitoches. Louisiana bid number 0678, whereas the City of Natchitoches awarded the bid to Pat Williams Construction on January 12, 2026 by ordinance number 43 of 2026 in the amount of $3,253,000 for the new fire station number 3, University Parkway, Natchitoches, Louisiana, and whereas... contract amount was increased to $3,304,143.86 by previously approved change order number one, and whereas on June 30, 2026, Stantec, architect issue change order number two fully described in attachment a Whereas the contract some will be increased by change order number two in the amount of twenty nine thousand five hundred and fifty one dollars and fifty cents and the revised contract total will be three million three hundred thirty three thousand six hundred ninety five dollars and thirty six cents and whereas the city engineer has reviewed this change order and recommended approval of same as being in the best interest of the city. Now, therefore.

Nick, while you're waiting for that, when did this project go into? Was it May? I'm trying to think when we brought it around.

Was it May?

I don't remember. This is the third change order.

It was in June, wasn't it, when it started? June. The completion date's in June and July. June or July of next year.

Yes. Oh, is that what you were asking?

No, I said when did we break ground?

I think we had our ground break in May.

And this is the third change order? Okay.

No, this is actually the second change order. It's a little confusing in that The contractor submits it to the architect. They submit it as change order request. And actually, this is actually the second change order.

I see.

These are things, though, that come to light as construction begins. And that's why I wanted to try to explain what we have here.

We've had a few weather delays while we're waiting on him. We've had a few weather delays. So as you go by, you see the slabs there. They should start erecting steel this week, weather depending.

I was talking to someone and they were saying they hadn't been over there working in a while.

It's just the weather's had us. Also, I think we're waiting on the concrete to cure properly. We had to have like a 90% cure on the concrete before we could do any kind of steel erection on the property. But it is moving along. It's just kind of slow right now.

Okay, basically three items in this change order.

The first, you'll notice the little red shaded area on the left part of the slide there.

Originally, and I don't really know why they designed it this way, they designed the new driveway to tie in basically to the edge of the shoulder of University Parkway. That's not normally the way you do it because the shoulder structure, the pavement structure, is not the same as a roadway or even the concrete drive that we're building here. We felt like we really needed to extend that to tie into the travel way of University Parkway in order to ensure that we have a pavement structure there that will fully support the weight of the fire trucks as they exit the building. Again, I don't know why they had it in the plans this way, but rather than having issues that Public Works is going to have to address later, we decided that under the contract is the best time having the contractor there to go ahead and construct the driveway fully all the way to tie into University Parkway. Any questions about that aspect? And then the second one has to do with the parking lot between the main building and the storage building. You'll see again two red areas there. And I apologize. We couldn't get it blown up better than that for the presentation. The first involves the construction of a concrete curb. The grades of the parking lot were such that there was a potential for having water. Thank you for that. having water that might go into the storage building. And so by constructing the concrete curve there, we intercept the flow coming off of the parking lot and conduct it to the edge where it can be conducted over the slope. And then the other red area on the top there, the existing grades for, as far as the plan grades, I should say, of the parking lot made it a pretty steep, you see the area on the top there, it made it for a pretty steep grade of the, or cross slope of the parking lot. And so by raising that up a little bit, it actually helps, I think, better construction. The combination of all three of these changes is the $29,551. I've looked at all the contractors' price breakdowns. They're all very much in line with what we would see normally. Again, this is a change order that if these things were part of the original plans, technically we'd be paying the same amount in the original bid. Yeah, I understand a lot of these things, though. For example, the parking lot grades really didn't come to light until you see the dirt work that was completed, and then you get to looking at grades and how things drain, and it's like, well, this could be a problem. So now is the time to correct it rather than build something that's not going to work. Any questions?

You know, I always go back and say, We got about $1.8 million from the state on this one.

I have a question.

Yes, ma'am.

Have we finished the... Or spill over at the quads? Has that been completed?

We have completed the cleanup of the spill, yes, ma'am. Okay.

What about the drainage part?

I'm waiting for that to be scheduled by Public Works. They have a long list, I think, of things, but it's on the list. So, yes, we already have in place a right of entry that's been signed by the quads. property managers. So whenever they can get to it, we'll do it.

So it's going to feed over to the residents that's across the way?

It'll help the drainage, yes, all the way to Orobleen Road and even further up Orobleen Road. All right. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

So they've done the cleanup, though, right? The cleanup has been completed, yes.

Okay.

All right. Questions about the thing, Jordan?

Okay. Thank you.

All right, Nick. Thanks a lot. All right. No other comments? Mrs. Stacey, roll call vote.

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

Yes. All right. That motion carries. Next, Resolution 48 is read by Councilman Harrington.

This is Resolution 48 of 2026, a resolution reappointing Jenna Severance to serve on the Grievance Committee for the City of Natchitoches in designating the staggered terms of the Grievance Committee. And whereas the City Council has determined it is in the best interest of the City of Natchitoches to maintain a staggered schedule as follows, this is Gina Severance, one year term expiring July 2026, reappointment five years to expire July 2031. Donna Williams, two years, expires July 2027. Charles Hall, three years, expires July 2028. John Dunn, four years, expires July 2029. Joe Hamilton, five years, expires July 2030. I move to adopt resolution 48 of 2026.

Motion made and seconded. You know, this just staggers the terms. It appoints Jenna to a five-year term, I believe, right? So just keeping the same group now. We've had one situation we've had to deal with, but just keeping it. All right. Any questions? I'm not seeing none. Mrs. Stacey, will I cover?

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

Yes.

All right, that motion carries. The last two deal with the South Williams Water Line Project, and Councilman P.T. is reading the first one of these two.

Thank you, Mayor. Resolution number 049 of 2026, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute change order number three to the contract between the city of Natchitoches and David Lawler Construction. Whereas on April 13 of 2026, the city council approved change order number one, a decrease in the amount of $2,010.00, making a revised contract total $835,851.00. Whereas on April 13th of 2026, the city council approved change order number two in the amount of $64,728, making the revised contract total $900,579. Whereas on July 8th of 2026, contractor issued change order number three, fully described in attachment eight, whereas the contract sum would be decreased by change order number three in the amount of $28,739, and the revised contract total will be $871,840.51. I so move to adopt resolution number 049. Second.

Motion made and seconded. There's a decrease. That's what this change order is about. Tim, is there any comment you'd like to give us on that?

No. It's a decrease of $28,000, so we actually came in over $100,000 under budget on this project after this reconciliation change order. Incredible.

That's good. Really good.

And the contractor did work Saturday working on the punch list items. There wasn't very many punch lists. It really went well. Very good project.

Came in on a Saturday.

Yes. Whoa. That's good.

Yeah, and that's Lawler. Lawler. That does sound.

Lawler.

Have we heard anything yet about what residents saying anything about the improvement?

I have not.

Okay, not yet. We'll wait and see how it goes. All right, but good project. When you come on the budget, any comment, questions? All right. Seeing none, Mrs. Stacey-Roccovo?

Eli?

Yes.

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

PT? Yes.

All right. That motion carries. We heard the great news from Tim that we came $100,000 on the budget on this project. Substantial completion is what we do, and it's tied to the Cy Williams Waterline Project. It's what we do at the end of a project that it's been

complete is done all right uh... and this is where i come from the washington a lot thank you may resolution number fifty two thousand twenty six a resolution authorizing the mayor's insecure to start the case of substantial completion for the country between the cd and they've a lot of construction illicit for the south williams waterline project be numbers zero seven And whereas the work has been completed. And I move to adopt resolution number 50 of 2026. Second.

Well, motion made and seconded. The project is done. All right. Anything, Tim, there?

No, we actually now start the warranty period. The warranty period after substantial completion should be about a year. So anything that comes up between now and a year, they come in and fix it for free.

Okay. All right. Any comments or questions about this particular item on the agenda? Seeing none, Mrs. Stacy, roll call vote.

Eli?

Yes.

Nelson? Yes. Smith-Kirkendall?

Yes.

Harrington? Yes. PT?

Yes.

All right, that motion carries. Our next meeting is in two weeks on the 27th of July. Download the Golden Agri-Shap. Download Regroup. We do send messages out through Regroup. All right, we have a few announcements we want to share with everybody. I will say that... Starting with Juneteenth and then even Sports Hall of Fame and then America 250. We had a lot going on. Mixed into that. Farmer's Market. Still got a couple more Saturdays of Farmer's Market. But, I mean, Juneteenth was well attended. You didn't get the crowd for Sports Hall of Fame on the Riverbank, but the induction ceremony was full. Things like the luncheon, where I happened to be on my cell phone looking at Wikipedia about the people. All right. But the luncheon was full. And so just really, really, really good there. And then America 250 went, you know, beyond, you know, because people go out of town and things like that. But there were a lot of people who came to Natchitoches on that night. So I think that was really good. So we get to take somewhat of a little breather as we get ready for the fall events. We have now Open Swim. Going on from 1 to 4 30 at the city pool starts starts today like today like oh That but it's we got is going now. It's going now. Okay. All right, so that's Monday through Thursday Sporting agility nutrition camp and look their things going on. You just kind of got a you know I know about them. We do a really good event. We just need more people to come. We call it our Summer Splash event. We do in May. But it tells people what's going on. But this is ages 8 through 17. It's at the formerly HP building, and they only have room for 30 participants. All right? Go Baby and Me. This is a pop-up baby shower and resource fair. This is Louisiana Healthcare. So it looks like you're invited to join us for light refreshments on July 14th, which is tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Natchitoches-Bolger Parish Community College pop-up. And it's going to be at, you know, the Bolger campus here. So again, that's tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. We've announced this once before, the Natchitoches Parish Library, one of the cool offerings, meaningful offerings of our Natchitoches Parish Library. But legal help simplified, learn about a legal issue, find the self-help. So again, I think they're walking people through legal issues they may have. And it says this has been funded by a grant from Louisiana Bar Association. So again, another way that our library does something great for our community. And that's on July 21st from 11 to 1 p.m. So Christmas in July, countdown to 100 years of Christmas festival. Man, so the countdown starts now. Next Friday on the 24th, there's going to be a centennial celebration. the Natchitoches Christmas Festival with a Christmas in July celebration throughout the historic district so come enjoy holiday cheer a little early as local shops and restaurants bring out their Christmas spirit with festive decor special deals holiday inspired food and drinks and more so I think also miss Sandra there is a press conference this same day right is that correct That is correct. Oh, Rebecca. I'm sorry, Rebecca. All right. All right. So, Rebecca, yeah, what time is it, the press conference? 10 a.m. It's at 10 a.m. And at the Sports Hall of Fame on that Friday, Cane River National Heritage Area, you all are doing Christmas through the decades. We are. We're happy. Can all of you do it for $700,000? So there's a press conference next Friday, but they're also opening the exhibit. So, again, we're going ahead and we're kicking off 100 now, okay? So I'm really excited. I had a great meeting with Mrs. Dickens on today about some of the things that's coming. I think you all are going to be excited about it as well. So be on the lookout for more announcements. The Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center open house and informational session taking place on July 28th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. 4278 University Parkway and this is presented by the Natchez Area Chamber of Commerce. It just tells you a little bit about Mary Bird Perkins is excited to be a part of the Natchez community. open house tour of the center about their oncology services, the cancer care available to the local patients. So I think over the years, we've really taken some important steps in improving cancer treatment here in Natchitoches. I mean, people used to just, oh, you got to go to Houston. But I think that's not necessarily the case anymore. So great job by our partners there in RMC and other health care folks. All right. I think there may be one more. Okay, what about that Folklife? What you want to? Yeah, yeah, get that. He's going to grab that Folklife. Yeah, it's this Saturday, the Folk Festival. So we've been very busy on the Riverbank. Like I said, we do have two more Saturdays of Farmer's Market, all right? And I actually was able to go this Saturday. It was great. Got some great vendors who are selling some great product. So I really just want to give you some information about the Folk Festival. Different crafts you can buy, foods you can purchase and eat, always some great things, great music and things like that. So there's just a little something from NSU site. I think it's at the top right there, Steve. Oh, yeah, they always say that in the air conditioning. Yeah, so not in the heat. So just give us one, just a couple more minutes of your time. Yeah, there it is right there, Steve. Yeah, no, scroll up a little bit. Yeah, there we go. And if you could make it bigger, too.

The 46th Annual Natchitoches NSU Folk Festival will be held July 18th at Air Conditioned Cranker Coliseum at NSU and Natchitoches. Featuring performances by Sondra Lawrence, Gino Delpost, and Gal Holliday with Gal Holliday and the Honky Tonk Review. This year's festival theme is American and Beautiful, and there will be plenty of beautiful crafts on hand, as well as the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship. Outdoor activities will include traditional blacksmith demonstrations, Did they say a time? I know it's this Saturday, but... Okay.

We'll say 10. It's starting at 10, y'all, is what we're going to say. But, again, there's plenty to do. All right. At this time, y'all, we've got those announcements for us. The chair will hear a motion to adjourn.

May I make a motion to adjourn? Second.

Motion is made and second. All in favor?

Aye.

Meeting is adjourned. Have a great night, everybody.