Remarks by Douglas Lawson
171 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 7
- Play at 4:20:26
“So here's my question. And you guys can pass the mic back and forth. But if we're going to go ahead and select the same vendor we used previously the last two times, the timeline for selecting that vendor, for proceeding with the search to bring in a city manager, and to bring some applicants to the table. versus the timeline that we currently have, because we're still looking at not getting any potential candidates for the next probably three to five months, depending on how long it takes to review, how long it takes for them to go out to secure, and then how long it takes to interview. My…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:22:53
“I think just to address my colleague's concern is just I want to expedite the timeline. I've been saying this from the very beginning. And to that same point, I want to see what is the quickest way for us to bring this and bring some candidates to the table for us to have a vote on. And the reason it's even brought back up tonight is because I'd like to look at expediting this timeline in a fashion where they've brought this up. We've talked about HR. We've talked about other options. What can we do today to move this board forward and bring some candidates to us as quickly as possible? So…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:26:42
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:31:20
“Thank you, Mr. Chair. Library director just asked me to make sure that we know that there's events going on in the city starting on October 26th all the way through, I'm sorry, September 23rd through the September 30th. Please check the city website for digital literacy programming, family reading out loud. One foot in front of the other. read the book, and we can work it out workshop. The programming at the library is excellent. We just need to make sure the residents know about it. So please check our city website. Make sure you participate in these library programs that are going out.…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 30:13
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 32:16
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 33:00
“Perfect. It will be or it was. It will be reposted? It will be, yes, sir. And that's going to be Intergovernmental Affairs, Economic Development.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 33:10
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 46:44
“I see that our debt service fund is up to $11 million. Are we moving forward with submitting any applications to diversify our funding and some of the capital projects that we have, like a water plant? I know we talked briefly about WIFIA. We talked about some of the bonds. We talked about some other things. First question, where are we with the WIFIA? Have we submitted an application for that yet?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 47:33
“Sorry, before we go forward, you said that the WIFIA is the highest interest?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 47:42
“So that means we have not submitted an application?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 48:45
“I don't recall the board meeting or the decision of the board to make those decisions in regards to going with the SRF versus the WIFIA because of the, at the time, highest rate.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 49:18
“So that discussion was to not proceed with WIPIA?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 49:46
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 51:37
“Thank you for that clarity. I understand that, but I'm thankful for the hopefully the public and maybe my colleagues. But what I'm trying to explain is we need to alleviate some of the pressure on our bonding capacity. These other vehicles and these other funding options alleviate those pressures to help with offsetting some of the costs to the residents. Even though the interest may be higher, these are other vehicles that we can look at. And we want to make sure we look at every funding vehicle versus just the bonding capacity. Because we've presented the lease back. We've presented the…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 57:38
“Thank you. Where is the parking revenue in regards to revenue?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 58:13
“So this slide is the general fund revenue, just the first line. This is the only fund we're looking at which is itemized. Correct. On the slide we're on. Thank you, sir.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:05:21
“Chair. Mayor Lawson. That was my point. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The community grants program, we've decreased it, but we have funds available to move forward based upon what we actually applied for. The thing with that, I need staff to make sure that we're marketing it. And this is for Walter Communications advertising and putting it out like this education grant. We had a speaker come last week that discussed we need to advertise, make sure we bet it, put it out properly, give multiple organizations an opportunity, because what we heard for years is that the community benefits package that we…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:08:00
“okay i'll address that later i don't think he's here well mr mr chair if i if i can comment on that we created a program we did that we did the renaissance and the reclaim cra was supposed to manage it here the funds in the mehop were used in other areas so we created a whole housing division so we need to allocate money and budget for housing department on the city side to help residents outside of the cra we did that in previous years but it wasn't followed by staff So this year we need to allocate a dollar amount, make sure the programs implemented across the city and make sure those funds…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:09:05
“So I think we need to just finish those comments. We need to make sure that those monies are directly budgeted for a housing department, and we use those funds, and they can be replenished from MHOP, because we've been waiting on MHOP to possibly pay into it. But now that MHOP is now an ordinance that will be on second reading, we'll have more money coming in, but we need to allocate money for the housing department now.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:25:22
“And to that point, we shouldn't be discussing qualifications, whether they are or not for an employee. This is not our employee. And if the charter or the law states they should report to us, we can make that determination. But to just discuss whether they are or not qualified, they were not hired by us. And if state law does require us to make that hire and they report directly to us or an outside agency will do that. I don't think this is the proper audience or the proper environment for us to discuss the qualifications of our auditor. So what we'll do as a board is just direct staff. Do we…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:30:08
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:58:46
“I did want to make a comment about the speaker. If the board could entertain me for just one moment. If I could have Director Neiman come to the front, please. There were comments made at previous meetings by staff, employees came to this microphone and concerns. And I believe there was a concern with a specific employee. Director Neiman, the employee stated that they weren't given an opportunity. In March of this year, was there an email sent out to offer an opportunity for the employee that spoke in the microphone?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:59:18
“And was that an acting role to help with assisting with training and elevation of that employee?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:59:26
“And they're currently employed. So residents, when we hear certain narratives or people come to the microphone, let's get the entire story before we put or chastise a director, an employee, or anybody within this community. This is also a message for all of our employees. This is an organization where we're trying to be as transparent and honest as possible. So I need my employees not to come to the mic to have discussions and issues that cannot be resolved with their staff. or handled within administration. As I say in every agenda review, let's keep the business of the city underneath the…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026