Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This April the 7th, 2026 board of all meetings hereby called to order. I'd like to ask Pastor Jared Brooks of First Baptist Church to lead us in an invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance which I'll lead. Please stand. Heavenly Father, we are so very grateful for this incredibly beautiful day that you have gifted us with. God, your word reminds us that this is the day that you have made. And Father, we rejoice and are glad in it. Father, I thank you uh so much for our mayor. I thank you so much for this board, for all of those who love and serve our city so very well. and God over this gathering. I pray father just for each uh individual who' be sharing God just grace and clarity as they share and father for the board god as they uh discuss and share God that they will make decisions that would honor you be in the best interest of our city community and uh father in alignment with your will. I pray your blessing over their families as they serve our city in this way. And Father, we just are so grateful for this incredible place that we live, work, worship, and play. So, Father, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this wonderful place. And God, we pray your grace and your blessing over this gathering. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Amen. Salute. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all.

Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you, Pastor Brooks. Just a reminder uh for everyone in the audience, this meeting is livereamed on the city's YouTube channel and archived on playback uh for playback at a later date on the city's YouTube channel. And those of us with microphones should have the microphone illuminated to green uh when you're speaking so everyone can hear what's being discussed. Miss Stewart, would you conduct roll call, please? Aldridge here. Collins here. Dickerson here. Hart here. Gamage here. Hamilton here. Wallace.

Thank you. Quorum exist. Although Alderman Wallace is on medical leave, he's out today. Thank you, Miss Stewart. Board, you have before you the regular the minutes from the regular meeting on March the 17th, 2026. I know you've had a chance to review those minutes. Any questions, comments, or motions on them? Motion to approve. Miss Hamilton, motion to approve. Is there a second? Second second, Mr. Gamage. All in favor? I. All opposed? Abstain.

Motion carries with one abstain. Following the agenda, we have our public comments time for uh individuals that have contacted the the city and asked to make public comments. I'd like to ask Miss Jenna Kerna from the Soda County Dream Center to come forward and address the board. Good evening. Thank y'all so much for having me here. As I was driving out, I was thinking about Olive Branch and and what it meant to me. And 30 years ago, I was um building my very first home here in Olive Branch and then got married, raised my four kids here through Olive Branch Schools. And Olive Branch means a whole whole lot. And now I'm coming to you as the director of the Dotto County Dream Center. At the Dream Center, we focus on providing a hand up, not just a handout. And we do this through our four pillars: food, clothing, education, and healthcare. Our goal is to create a lasting impact by meeting practical needs, building relationships, and restoring hope. The Dotto County Dream Center has been serving families for more than 15 years in our community. And since 2020, we have been serving from our Horn Lake location. Now, we are thrilled to announce a new chapter, an expansion of our services right here in Olive Branch. We are excited to be in a growing community as such as Olive Branch um where we can provide hope for our neighbors. In Olive Branch, there are more than 4600 students who are considered lowincome. There are students who may not have consistent access to food, clothing or basic support. And that's where the dream center is coming in. We have already been in Olive Branch doing many of the wonderful things that we do. And

one of them is our really exciting Wings and Ribs competition and festival which will be this weekend at the Olive Branch City Park where families can come out for free fun just to spend time outdoors and enjoying the beautiful city park. Another way that we serve in Olive Branch is through our adopt a block program. This is an outreach in Olive Branch where we provide consistent community engagement that builds relationships and reduces isolation and risk factors right here in Olive Branch. We know that when people are seen and supported, Olive Branch neighborhoods such as Sandage Hills where we meet monthly become more stable and are safer. We also provide weekend meals to all the branch students. Some students in our in our schools only get their meals from school. So, we provide a backpack that's very discreet so they're not embarrassed so that students can get their meals through one of our services. Another one that we provide is our dream closets. That's where some of the students that come into school may come in in the same clothing every day. They may come in in clothing that's torn or handme-downs that don't fit very well. And so right inside the school where teachers and administrators can take students in there, we provide brand new clothing giving students confidence that they need. We know when students basic needs are met, academic improve, attendance improves, behavior issues decrease, and this strengthens our entire school system. These are some of the things that we are already doing in Olive Branch, but now we have a building right here to help individuals and families in crisis, which in turn helps our Olive Branch community. Helping underserved families isn't just the right thing to do. We believe it's a strategic investment in

the strength and safety and future of Olive Branch. Thanks to a generous donor, we have purchased this building in Olive Branch. Opening the door to our increased impact. A dream center in Olive Branch means families will have support right in their very own backyard as construction begins to transform this building into a place of dignity and hope and opportunity. We are inviting all of you on this journey with us. When we help underserved families, we strengthen schools, reduce strain on city services, stabilize neighborhoods, and invest in the future workforce of Olive Branch. We believe this isn't just compassion, it's smart community development. Building on our proven success at our Horn Lake location, we're going to start with food assistance and educational support. But more than anything, we want this to be a place where our neighbors know they're not alone. They can find practical help, encouragement, and people who truly care. Stabilized families stay employed, contribute to the local economy, and require fewer resources. Healthy, stable families are the backbone of a growing economy like Olive Branch. and we're asking the city of Olive Branch to partner with us as we launch this location, expanding our vital community resources as possible because of ongoing generosity of donors and our faithful volunteers who serve alongside of us. I passed out a packet earlier. On the left side is our impact statement of some things that we've done last year to impact our community in a great way. And then on the right side, it tells a little bit about our specific Olive Branch location, what we're doing in Olive Branch, why we're needed in Olive Branch, and some needs that we have as we're coming to Olive Branch. We're asking the city to partner with us

because as we help our underserved neighbors in Olive Branch, we are helping them to dream again, which is the vision of the dream center because we know when you're in crisis, dreaming and thinking about wonderful things is the last thing on your plate. Opening our dream center in Olive Branch is so much more than a building. It's an expansion of our investment in the next generation. Thank you so much for partnering with us.

Thank you, Miss Kern. I know the Dream Center has been so effective countywide and I've been a part of some of those programs and I'm just very thankful that uh the Dream Center is located relocated a location here in Olive Branch and very thankful for that. Look forward to working with you to find out what we can do, how we can partner to help help make it a success and just very excited about y'all being here and thank you very much. Wonderful. Lord, any comments? Thank you so much. Thank you. Following Miss Kern, Mr. John Wilson from Light the Way would like to address the board about our upcoming July the 3 Independence Day festival and celebration. John,

good evening. It's always exciting coming to Olive Branch. Uh some of the new faces I'm not familiar with. My name is John Wilson, founder and CEO of Light the Way Ministry. Uh we're housed out of Springfield, Missouri, about five and a half, six hours away from here. Um it's hard to believe that this is our fourth year coming to this amazing community. Uh when we started, I was just thinking earlier, our very first year when we came in June, when a tornado basically wiped us out the first day, I thought we were done. I thought typically in a instance like this in other communities we've been in we would have just packed up and went home but not here in the city of Olive Branch because you want to know what happened. I've never seen so many city crew people with their yellow vest and blue long sleeve shirts. And I didn't know the city owned so many squeegees or brooms sweeping and pulling the water off of the field, helping our production team get the screens up and literally get our festival back up and running in little as two and a half hours after a major storm like that came through. It was at that moment that I knew the city of Olive Branch was going to be a new home for us because this community has welcomed us. We go into other communities all around the world and in the communities we go into we brag about the city of Olive Branch. We tell that city that we're in, come with us to Olive Branch to see what a community really does when they practice what they preach to reach the community. Our hearts and our goal is to bring businesses, leaders, people, community all together for a greater purpose. And we made the decision three years ago to collab with

the city in the Fourth of July celebration. We have seen a dramatic increase in our attendance. Even last year I think our peak attendance was around 14,000 people that attended this event and we are anticipating that if not more uh this year as we keep going people get used to hearing about it. They come for the uh artist, the concert, they come for the inflatables, the the vendors and then of course the fireworks to close it out. This festival is the only festival that we do fireworks on. So, it makes me even more excited to be able to do it and do it this year, which is again our fourth year, but in celebration of the America's 250th celebration. And we have a lot of cool surprises that's going to be in place, a special ceremony opening up. We always honor veterans. We honor the mayor and few others that come. We we just love this community so much. So, I'm here today just to thank each and every one of you for allowing outsiders to come into your community and not treat us as outsiders, but treat us as one of your own. And I can tell you that we don't get that in many places we go to. This is our second home, and we love it very much. And I'm excited to show a brief 30 second promo video of what is entailed for this year's festival. Take a look. whole family to Freedom Fest. Light the ways free Independence Day celebration in Olive Branch. Join us from 3:00 to 10:00 p.m. for live music from Jamie McDonald, Band Reeves, and more. Plus plenty of family fun with kids games and inflatables, food trucks, special elements honoring every branch of the military, and a spectacular fireworks show to close out America's 250th birthday in style. It's free. It's for

the whole family. It's the best way to celebrate. Get details at ltwfreedomfest.com. As you see this festival, we have turned it from being a paid festival in our very first year due to a lot of support in this community and ministry partners right here in Olive Branch. We have been able to make this festival for the last three years completely free of charge. And again, once again this year, that's no different. We will be free again this year with Bigger Entertainment. I wish I can tell you who our headliner is, but because it's a public meeting and people are watching, I'm not liable to say. But please watch our social media. And if there's any questions or anything that we can do to continue to be a blessing to you guys as a community, as you're a blessing to our ministry, I'm open and all ears.

Thank you, John. We're appreciative of Light the Way Ministries. And uh definitely don't want to not mention the donors that do make it happen. And free means free attendance, but it sure doesn't mean free to get these great artists in Olive Branch. And very candidly, north of $200,000. And we thank the donors that step up and pay that. That's not paid with city dollars. And it simply could not be done without those donors. So, we're most appreciative and thank you for partnering with us. And we look forward to a long relationship and many more years. Board, anything for Mr. Wilson? Thank you.

Thank you. Following Mr. Wilson is Miss Lisa Clark representing the Windshape camps in Olive Branch. And any other Windshaped team members feel free to come forward. Got the chicken man. Bring this 14. Hi y'all. Hello.

Um we're excited to be here. If you are if you're not familiar with what Windshape is, we've actually been in Olive Branch for this will be our ninth year. We're very excited to um sponsor this camp. It's a it's a program that's part of the Windshape Foundation and supported by Chick-fil-A. Uh and what with what they do is they bring camp to our community. uh everything that's needed is brought to the campus here and then we can bring the kids to be able to experience uh camp the day camp where uh they get an opportunity to see God glorified and all that's that's done and but but it's full of activity. It's full of um just uh games and ro rotating through stations of science experiments and athletic things and it's an entire 8 to5 dayong camp where they send in the people and we provide the volunteers and the kiddos. So we this will be our ninth year in uh the city of Olive Branch. Long View Heights Baptist Church and First Baptist Church Olive Branch rotate locations. We've been able to partner for the eight last eight years with both churches working together as well as our local Chick-fil-A which uh comes alongside and make sure everything gets done. So, um, we have had the opportunity to scholarship in over the eight years 438 kids who would not get to have a camp experience any other way except for to come um to this camp. So, we want to build on that. We want to be able to make that bigger every single year. And every single year, it has grown. So, we're excited about that. What we're asking today is we'd like to

ask the city of Olive Branch if you would come alongside us uh by using your social media platform and your digital media platforms to be able to help get the word out even further. We hope we're excited about the fact that the first year that we started we had to do a lot of explaining about what Windshape is. Now most of the time people will say when is Windshape rather than what is Windshape. So it's a it's something that's looked forward to every year but even more people could hear about it if we had the opportunity to use the platforms through digital media and your social media platforms that through the city that would allow us to even grow the camp bigger. Um this year our camp camper maximum is 300 kids and we already have 123 kids signed up. The camp is in July, the first week of uh the dates are June 29th through July 3rd. Um and it's just a great opportunity for the city. We've been able to scholarship in through the police department for families that they sponsor through trailer park uh organizations that allow kids to come that can't go to just any any camp out because this one's in their city. um they can actually come and the parents feel comfortable with them coming versus an away kind kind of camp that's an overnight kind of concept. So, we're excited about being able to reach kids in a way that um other camps may not be able to do and to provide that safe environment and we're hoping that um you guys will come alongside us with those digital platforms and social media platforms. Miss Clark, I know you have the two main host churches, but what uh what are the age brackets and if I understand right, these children don't have to be from either church or any church, but they can attend this. Is that right?

That is correct. So actually most of the people the kids who come are not part of our church which is the part that I love about Windshape because we're reaching the community of kids who won't darken the doors of a church

but will show up for this camp and for one week we I can give you an example of a of a family that I know personally who they we've tried and they won't come to church. That's just not their thing. But every year they're going to bring their child to this camp and every year I'm going to scholarship them in because if at least one week a year they get to hear about God and the love of God for them. What an incredible testimony to be able to do. But the age of those kids are completed kindergarten through completed sixth grade. And we have an additional program for some of the kids that once they've completed sixth grade, they actually get to come back and be volunteers under supervision and continue the Bible study through a program, a middle school program that we allow.

And if a person wished to sponsor a child, what's the cost and how would they go about doing that if they hear this message and feel led to sponsor a child?

I'm so glad you asked. Am I allowed to give you these? These are um information. It has a QR code. Um it's it's $225 per camper. Um that QR code will allow you to personally sponsor, but we also reach out to businesses and attempt to get uh businesses to sponsor through uh we we then do publicity of who has sponsored so the businesses can get that um that recognition of what they've done. But you're um for sure allowed to come alongside. The more scholarships we get, the more kids that we can reach out and bring in who may not have that opportunity financially.

Good deal. Well, thank you, Mr. Pollson or Pastor Jax. Any anything to add?

Um I would like to add just to say every year we go to what's called a host rally that is held in Atlanta. uh that is provided for by one of the Kathy, one of the owners of Chick-fil-A, uh Bubba Kathy, and all of the churches that host this rally, they're there. We just kind of meet together and just kind of go through different things and um just encourage one another. But one thing that I think stands out, especially for Olive Branch, u we're just kind of a different bird. We're kind of a hybrid, I guess to say, because most of the churches that are there, they are there independently. It is just their church that is hosting it. But Olive Branch is two churches. And I think that is the heart of what uh was started nine years ago. That it's not just a church thing. It's not Long View Heights. It's not First Baptist Church. It is for Olive Branch. Uh it's two churches coming together, not competing against each other, but working together to reach out into the community. And that's not something that many churches that and there's well over 400 people and it's not only just the United States but in South America, Central America that they host these camps. So Olive Branch is kind of known in that group that we're two churches that work together not just for the church but for the community and that stands out. So I just wanted to share that u that's just a great week. It's a great time and opportunity to have these kids come in and just love on them, you know, provide safety for them, a safe environment for them to come in and be in uh, you know, encouraged, equipped, and reach their families and uh, just share God's love with them as well. So, that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Pastor Mr. Paulson. It's been an honor to work with these two churches. They've been a a great partner uh, as we've tried to bring this into the community and uh, really help people that wouldn't go to a church. Um, and so I want to thank them for what they've done and uh how it's grown. So we'd love to have your partnership and uh trying to help promote this so we can hopefully continue to grow the camp and uh impact and influence all the branch. So thank you. Thank you all very much for the update and for putting this on for the last nine years and hope it continues successful. Thank you.

Bear with me one moment. I'm going to relocate to the microphone on the floor. This is one of the more fun duties of the mayor is I get to do the monthly mayor's award uh which comes about by department heads and co-workers, peer employees nominating a person that has gone above above and beyond and done some things to serve our city. Our citizens are just humanity in general. Uh thankful for the businesses that donate to the mayor's award because cities obviously cannot take money and give money away. But this is a $250 monthly award to the employee that is selected for the mayor's award. And trust me, the list is sometimes lengthy and sometimes very difficult to choose from. Uh but again, it's one of the more fun parts of the job uh to make this award possible. And I would like to call forward Miss Terry Green. Miss Green is one of our utility customer service clerks and she was nominated not by her boss, her boss's boss. She was nominated by a peer employee, which is always a great award as well. Miss Lisa Dawson, our business license clerk, nominated Terry for this award. And her nomination reads as follows. I'd like to nominate Terry Green, utility customer service clerk for the mayor's award. On Friday, March the 27th, 2026, at approximately 10:20 a.m., Terry was assisting a customer at the drive-thru utility payment window. Terry noticed that the lady didn't look well and she was having problems counting her money. Terry went outside

to give the lady her change and noticed that the lady appeared to have had a stroke. Terry has seen this type of illness within her own family and knew what it looked like. On her way back inside, Terry asked Officer Kerr, our law enforcement officer, to go check on the lady. It was at that point he called an ambulance and they transported her to the hospital. If it wasn't for Terry noticing the signs of a possible stroke, this lady might have had a totally different outcome. Terry, in my opinion, probably saved this lady's life and certainly was good that she didn't drive away on the street. And I don't want to embarrass Miss Green, but I know you do a lot of good things for our employees, sometimes even transporting some that have vehicle problems to work and do some things. And I certainly appreciate that. And it's my pleasure to give you 250 crisp dollars. Congratulations, Next, under recognition, I'd like to recognize uh two different competitive teams from our high schools, the Center Hill, the state soccer team and the powerlifting state champions. They're here with us today. They won their championship uh in their arena and I've got a large group and I want to recognize them all, but I don't want to butcher your names because it's such a large group and I sure don't want to make the power lifters mad because I know y'all are strong. But let's start out with the Center Hill State soccer team. And I'm going to divert over if Alderman Dickerson has anything to add. I know Alderman Dickerson's one of the top athletic supporters in this whole city. Wherever they go, he goes. basketball, baseball, football. Mr. Dickerson, anything to

add? I will add my congratulations. This is Senator Hill's first state championship in soccer. Glad to see that gold ball in the city limits. Congratulations, guys. Soccer team, come forward. Let's get the soccer team uh in up here with the board if that's okay. Uh so we'll get a picture of all of you. So, where was the championship? Where was it held? Come on up. Come on up to the Where was the championship? The finale.

Outside of Jacksonville, Madison. Come on, boy. Y'all stand up with them.

All right. Come on down. Hey, congratulations.

Congrats, soccer team. Thank you very much, coach. Thank you. Thank you very much. You know the challenge. Now, here's next year, right? Got to go for two two for two in a row. And how about our powerlifting state champions? Come forward, please. Congratulations on your championship. Where did your last competition take place? Where did you uh finalize this award at? Was it all local or did you travel?

Coliseum Jackson. Coliseum Jackson. Okay. And you competed against all kind of schools, right? Okay.

Wow. Awesome. Well, congratulations and thank you, coach. Let's let's uh Jay, whenever you're ready. Congratulations. Thank you athletes, coaches, and parents that are here with them tonight. Thank you very much. We're proud of both teams. Continuing on the agenda board, you have the consent agenda before you, items 1 through 25. Any questions on those items one through 25? Comments or motions? Motion approved.

Motion to approve by Mr. Collins. Is there a second? Second. Second, Miss Aldridge. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed. Motion carries. Under old business, consideration of bids received February the 23rd, 2026 for the Oldtown Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project. Is Mr. Smith here?

Come forward, please. And any other team member if if you'd like. Good evening.

Thank y'all for being with us. Board, just to fast track this, they are the absolute lowest bidder uh for the job. They are very candidly, they're $800,000 lower than the other second bidder. Mr. Smith and I had a productive conversation about the amount of time that they remained in other subdivisions. Pleasant Hill, Rolling Hills, Eastern um Eastern Drive, also Stanley Thompson. It just took too long. Y'all got calls. I got calls. I don't want to rehash that, but I just want to share you to share with us what steps y'all have taken to get the project completed. We stayed supposed to have been completed on original completion date was May the 16th and uh now we're 11 months later total of should have taken nine months has taken about 20 months. I don't want to rehash that but just let them know what steps y'all are going to take to make sure we don't get those phone calls again with this particular phase of the project. Well, we've learned a lot in addition, you know, we've done branch for years. We like working for Branch. Uh uh like I said, we've learned a lot of lessons in order to handle the neighborhoods and uh so we're going to take the new issues we've learned and move forward with this this new job.

Thank you, sir. Anything else to add? Uh basically the same thing. We've just um gone through some issues with some of the initial fake factors of the job. Uh we did learn some things about, you know, try not to start too much at one time. We probably got too much going at one time. So, we're going to try to minimize that and keep it uh specified to a certain part of the project.

It was very rugged terrain. I know that the topography was horrible in places you went. I know that it was in areas that we inherited that was not they were not in the city at the time these pipes and previous pipes were laid. There were no markings. Things got hit. It was just uh challenging to say the least, but with the renewed commitment and very very honestly you and I met we we met maybe five weeks ago and y'all have done some awesome progress since then at my request and I appreciate you doing that. Uh you've moved the project forward and I think if we can keep that kind of momentum I think we'll be in good shape. Uh but I want the board just to hear the renewed commitment. It is a lot of money, but it's also a lot of savings compared to the next bid. And I'm sure not one to waste any dollars uh and throw an extra $800,000 in because one project took a little bit too long too long to accomplish. And if we've learned some lessons, I think you told me you just put one utility in at a time. Is that what you do over with again this? Yeah, if if we had had it to do over again, we would have installed the water system first because the there was no no way to locate the old system and and that's why we were hitting utilities and and we all met. It was a joint idea from from Andy and Neil Schaefer and we all decided the best thing to do was to focus on the water system and once we did that way we knew where all the water lines were and we were able to lay the sewer from then on. So, uh, that's that's that's the kind of stuff we learned from those other jobs. And like I said, we completing the airport job now, and we're completing uh the other sewer job we have with y'all. So, we're kind of on the downhill stride now.

Well, and the board knows these are massive investments, even in some of the smaller communities that had concerns and legitimate concerns about the roadways being torn and torn up and taking too long to fix. Some of those subdivisions received $4 million investment, $5 million investment in these new utilities and it'll benefit them in the long run. It'll increase the value of their homes, but at the same time, people want as as minimal inconvenience as they can have. Obviously, that's human nature. Mr. Swims, anything to add to this?

Well, we'll have a preconstruction um meeting with Enscore if they're awarded the project. Um, we we have an opportunity to to start with this project, go over very specific details with it. Going through the Oldtown area is an area that we want to make sure we're getting this right. We're doing it right. So, um, I agree with Jeff. We did do a lot of um um I guess learning through this project, which was a challenge simply because it was such an an older subdivision with a lot of utilities that we didn't see. But I think that there were things that we can uh do better. We we're partnered with Neil Schaefer. Neil Schaefer is going to has a contract with the city of Olive Branch for construction engineering and inspection. And so they're very much a partner in and everything that we do with this project. And uh um Vince Edgars is here as well. So he he's representing them. So we're um we're recommending that we move forward with it and we're hoping that it's going to be a successful project.

And I would think it would default to just we treat it like it's our neighborhood, like it's our home. I think if you do that, you get done and get in and get out and and move forward. Are you recommending this bid? What What's time limit on this on on this current one? Yeah. On this fe and when's the completion date? We have a completion date on I don't know that off the top of my head, but I'll be glad to get it for you. I apologize, but I don't I don't know the exact completion. I don't know the completion. This is around the schools in the old town, so it's going to be real visible. True. And we don't want businesses shut down.

It's going to be it's going to be very visible. We a lot of this project is going to be um rehabilitation of the sewer lines. So, a lot of it will be uh relining of the sewer lines. That's going to make this project a little bit different from the ones that we've seen in the past. There is quite a few sewer lines that are going to be new sewer lines. We'll be going through a lot of um backyards and so forth. Uh there will be a number of streets, but the sewer will not be as deep. Um I think that's one thing that's going to help the project. Um the last one was was considerably deeper than than this one will be. So So some of it will be relined and some be replaced. That's correct. I think behind my house, it was relined years ago,

right? But I think all of it's supposed to be replaced. But it is behind your house. And there's a there's a number of places where uh the sewer line would we we came it all. I think public works was involved with a lot of that trying to make determinations about where we would go with relining the sewer and where we would go with replacing the sewer. So, okay. And this is legacy pipes and some of them 70 and 80 years old possibly. It's some of the oldest infrastructure I think Olive Branch has. Is Neil Schaefer here? Okay. Neil Schaefer, do you remember the length of the contract, the time frame for this to be completed?

Gota and Enscore, you don't remember the length of the contract? I do not. Okay. I mean, we're voting on it tonight. We don't know the length of it. Yeah. Y Yep. It need to be tabled until I mean 800,000 sound good, but how long is it going to take? We don't need this to drag out because 800,000 saving 8 800,000 may not be the best thing at this point. So if it drags out like it did in the past when we when we try to make determinations on the number of um calendar days that that we're going to do on a project and that's it's probably a year you think or

No, it's going to be less than a year but I don't remember exactly what the dates were. Um, we do try to make determinations on a time frame that's reasonable. We consult with Neil Schaefer. We uh we look at the number of linear feet, the depth of the sewer, all the different things that are taken into consideration and we set those dates that it's we're we're very careful to make sure we're not throwing out long periods of time. We want to give the contractor ample opportunity to get it done, but he also has the opportunity uh when going through that and then it's been brought up several times with different projects about the length of time that we put in for projects. So, this one is no different. I wish I could tell you the exact dates, but uh um it is I think a reasonable time frame and a time frame that he can can meet those dates.

Is it fair to say the contract with the exact dates in your office? Yes. across the parking lot. Yes, sir. Okay. Y'all don't have any idea what the contract would bid on? Well, I mean, I remember I remember 300 days is what I remember. Everything on the agenda for the next 30 minutes is engineering. So, can we have somebody else volunteer to go get the contract if you tell them where it is in your office? I I need to There's no sense in tableing it two weeks if we can in fact find out tonight and the board make a decision. Yeah. So, Pam, would you do that? The I don't know if I can tell her if I can put her in touch with Jonet,

she's going to know exactly where to go to find that. So, that may be the that's best way to go about doing that. It's going to be in the bid documents. Gentlemen, if y'all want to be be seated, we'll let him get that and then call you back up.

I've seen his desk. Don't y'all get hurt just like mine. All right. Yeah, we'll just we're not going make we're just going to go forward and we'll come back to that. Okay. To the Let's take uh the craft road raw water production facility and talk about that, Mr. Swims. So, um on this particular one, we were going to ask to table this one. Um we're we just opened it last week. So we're um we're anxious to get this one moving as well, but we are asking to able table this until the the next board.

The bids just came in the tail end of last week. So y'all analyze the bids and put it back on the next meeting and the board's familiar with that land that was purchased by the fire station for this water well. And it's going to give a lot more capacity for that water tower and keep it filled up. And so we'll table it and review those bids and have a recommendation the next meeting. That's that's correct. Okay, we need a motion. Is there a motion to table? Motion to table. Miss Hamilton motion. Is there a second? Mr. Collins. Second. All in favor?

All opposed? Tabled until the next meeting. Consideration of recommendation to authorize amendment on the contract for Renaissance Group in a not to exceed amount of $3,000 for additional engineering services increasing the contract amount from $238,000 to $241,000 for the project referred to as OLI branch fire station number six. These are telkcom items if I remember right dealing with cameras and different things that need associated with design for it. And so it's just a small amount of an increase for the contract and we are recommending uh approval for that that additional.

It's 3,000 but it's small amount compared to the overall project scope. Yes sir. Any any questions on that board or any motions? Motion to approve. Mr. Dickerson. Motion to approve. Second. Miss Aldridge. All in favor?

All opposed. Motion carries. Number two. Consideration of recommendation to approve change order number C0126 on contract with Lehman Roberts Company in the amount of $2,100,000 and $842 for the project referred to as the term bid contract for annual surface treatment. The board's familiar with the roadway service treatment. Uh anything to add, Andy, on this one?

Um no, sir. In your packet you will find the list of roads that uh we've been determining over time. uh for for y'all's reference, I guess. Uh and this is this these next three items all pertain to the the overlay. And so this one we're recommending uh that we do do the change in the amount of 2,100,842 for the overlay portion.

Do we know when that paving project will start this spring or summer? So, the some of the last conversations that we had, I think we were looking um hopefully uh sometime in May. Um but that's that's still up for kind of discussions. Um but that's, you know, we we tried to get some of the answers on that and I think they're shooting toward that, but that um is is going to be I guess up for more discussions before we know the exact date. They're trying to get to us as quick as they can, I think. Any questions, board, or any motions? Approve. Mr. Collins, motion to approve. Is there a second? Second.

Second, Miss Hamilton. All in favor? I. All oppose. Motion carries. And Mr. Swims, these go together. Basically, correct these items that we're going through now for roadway resurfacing. They they tie into each other, right? the ones we're going through. We just left the uh annual service treatment and now we're at the markings on the street $111,393.77 for the annual striping and pavement markings after the pavement gets

resurfaced or microsurf or whatever. Is that that's correct? And I didn't really make this kind of clear, but this these are term bids that we've had with Leman Roberts for the last four years. And so these these individual items are just uh uh change orders to add the additional work for this year's overlay. So this particular part is just for the striping portion. And we do recommend that we move forward with that. And the striping is just only on certain streets. It's not on every street. Yes. In this particular instance, there's not a whole lot of it because a lot of it is local streets. Any additional questions? Approve.

Motion to approve by Mr. Dickerson. Second, Mr. Collins. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed. Item four, consideration of recommendation to approve change order number C01-26 on the contract with Lehman Roberts Company in the amount of 2,148,682.50 50 cents for the project referred to as term bid contract for annual full depth reclamation and asphalt overlay. These are the streets that engineer's been working with the board on to address. Is that is that correct?

Well, the this portion is the patching part essentially that that's associated with it. It's generally higher the the odor a street gets. There are uh a few streets in here that were part of the overlays that we did last year or the patching rather um that um are included in um that I guess what this was reduced because of that. For the most part, there is a considerable amount of patching that's associated with this project and that's what this this portion of the change order does cover. We are recommending that we move forward with that. So, this does include the streets that we picked out. It does. Okay. Yes, sir. All three of these items pertain to those same streets. Okay. Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by Mr. Gamage. Is there a second? Second. Second, Mr. Collins. All in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. And at the end of the day, all this accumulative and it ends up being the approximately $6 million that we're going to spend overall on street resurfacing and roadway preservation this year. This portion is for the overlays, but not the pavement preservation. The We get it all collectively. That's part of We'll be bringing that as a uh as a separate bid um probably at the next board meeting. Thank you. Recommendation rather.

Okay. Item five is consideration of recommendation to accept proposal from Pickering Firm Incorporated in the not to exceed amount of $45,000 for professional engineering services to develop a water system facilities plan that meets that beautiful acronym whatever that is. Mr. Williams.

Yes, sir. This is something that is is I guess needed for the um city of Olive Branch to have in place. It basically takes a look at our overall system and makes a plan for how we intend to grow and so forth. Um this is kind of something that is required to be in place for us to move forward with trying to get um um additional um I guess loans for the project. And so you have to have this in place for um some of these low interest loans that we look forward to to moving forward with the project. So we are recommending that we do put this in place and it'll be a benefit to the city of Olive Branch to have this in place as well.

So loans or especially federal grants that we go and ask for. We we get asked to see our overall water plan. We know how many plants we have, pump stations, water towers, etc. But they want to see it analyzed and on paper is basically what this is and to make sure we're proceeding in the right direction and that's what they want when we go to Washington and ask for money for water systems. They want to see the big plan. So any questions of engineering or any motions and this would involve wastewater treatment plants, water towers, flow, the entire water system. It's going to be it's going to be dealing with the water system but not wastewater.

Okay. And I do believe we already contracted with Pickering Engineering for the wastewater treatment plan like this water plan. It's just a separate plan that's that's needed. I make a motion to approve as presented. Mr. Earhart motion. Is there a second? Second. Second, Miss Hamilton. Any discussion? All in favor?

All oppose? Motion carries. Let's wait just a moment. Yeah, think we'll ever see Jason again.

We'll wait on him a few minutes. I don't want to go into executive session and go back out and Oh, let's give him a few. Let's give him another minute or two. Watch pot never boils. Need some Jeopardy music. just don't hand them over.

So uns on score 240 days is a link to the contract. So is it a fair statement that unless there's severe poor weather that would prevent you from completing it on time, that's a target date you can hit? Is that is that doable? Okay. 240 days. 240 days. Okay. When will the project start roughly? Start date if you if approved. Sir, start date. We haven't issued the notice to proceed. That'll be the next step as soon as we get approval for the contract.

How about an approximate start date once we issue the notice to proceed? If Jeff wants any comments on it, we really haven't talked about it a lot, but today is April 7th. by the end of the month. Could Enscore meet that by the end of the month start if the city can get the notice to proceed in place? Sure.

Awesome. I want to be punctual, but at the same time, I want to respect these Oldtown businesses and if the water is going to have to be cut off for a short period, they need to know that. We just don't want to put them in a bind because we are in a hurry, but we want their businesses to be able to operate. If we have to do some at night, so be it. Because the businesses need to be able to keep operating if they can. An hour outage is one thing or two hours is one thing. But if you have a restaurant in Oldtown, you don't want to be shut out all day long because of this project. Okay. Does the board have enough information to make a decision on the contract recommended? So roughly $800,000 savings, eight month 240day contract and rough start in the month first of May.

Yep. I make a motion to approve. Motion to approve by Mr. Hart. Is there a second? Second. Second, Mr. Dickerson. Any more discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you gentlemen for being with us tonight from Enscore. Is there a motion from the board to leave regular session with the intention of going into executive session to discuss items 1 through 11? So move. Second. Hamilton Gamage. All in favor?

All opposed? Motion carries. Is there a motion to go in executive session with the intentions of discussing a personnel matter in the airport department, personnel matter in the ambulance department, personnel matters in the gas billing department, personnel matters in the gas maintenance department, personnel matters in the water maintenance department, personnel matter in the general services, personnel matter in the police department, personnel matter in the park department, personnel matter in dispatch department, acquisition of property, discussion with city attorney, and pending litigation discussion with city attorney. Is there a motion to go in executive session for those 11 items? Move. Mr. Collins. Motion. Second. Second. Mr. Dixon. All in favor?

All oppose? Motion carries. We are in executive session.