Council Committee - Regular Meeting

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okay we're going to begin good evening and happy New Year to everyone happy the regular meeting of the mayor and the city council city council Fort Allen Wednesday January 8th 2025 council chambers each person must decide before entering the chamber which agenda item they wish to comment on if they are not seated in the chambers when the agenda item is heard they will be notified by an officer to enter the council chambers to address the agenda item agenda please silence all electronic devices call to order please stand for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America the for it stands God indivisible withy and jusice for all thank you let be seated um at this time before we start with the approval of the minutes I ask for a moment of silence for um the New Orleans victims um and their families in the tragedy New Year's Day thank you can I get a roll call Mrs Joseph M Gordon here hub here miss King here M pay here he approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of December 11 December 11 2024 make a motion okay it was motion by councilwoman Garden second by councilman Hubble any comments from the or from the

audience on the minutes hearing none can we get a roll call M Joseph Gordon yes Hub yes King here P yeah yes public comments from the public are allowed in accordance with L r- s-42 colon 11 section 2 through 34 and specifically limited to an agenda item to be considered during the meeting 3 minutes per per person and 15 minutes per topic okay we have no one that signed in consider the appointment of Miss Rose Rocher as municipal clerk r- s-33 col 386 um I ask that the council do a vote on this we didn't have to open it up for um to open it so the mayor has uh is nominating Miss R so we'll need a a motion a second and a i motion second okay it was motion by councilwoman Garden second by Mr Hubble can I get a roll call Joseph G Miss G yes Mr Hubble yes Miss King here P okay motion passes yes yes okay also the consider the appointment number eight consider the appointment of Hammond seals attin guys Noah oh I'm sorry okay number seven consider the appointment of Adrien dagel as tax collector r-

s-33 386 um and what this is um normally in the past the CFO has been the tax collector in the past not anything set in stone um the past Mr dagel has helped get the taxes together um he's done the tax sales with the parish and I just think um you know he should be the person nominated for this position um also with the theill yes and he get the millage with the legislative auditor uh so I'll make that motion I'll motion by councilwoman Gordon second by councilwoman Joseph hear can we get a roll call is Joseph Gordon yes yes motion passes okay number eight consider the appointment of Hammond seals Atkins G Noah and Perkins LLP as the municipal attorneys um r- s-33 386 um I that's what we have now yes that's us I know anymore I think done a great job so yes I most plan to keep the same if I made that motion okay I so motion by councilwoman Garden second by councilwoman Joseph anyone from the

audience wish to say anything okay and I get a roll Miss Joseph yes Gordon yes Hub yes King yes yes motion passes okay thank you number nine um it's the election of the mayor Pro Temp uh r- s-33 405 Alvarez uh yes Council uh the mayor protim the job of the mayor protim essentially uh runs the meetings in the absence of the mayor uh so this is a position uh that the uh council is required to vote on uh it does come with an addition uh I guess salary on top of the uh the salary that all Council meet uh council members receive uh what we've done in the past uh Whenever there was a new Council uh is we do a nomination process and and how we requested that the council do it in the past was essentially any council member can nominate uh one of their fellow council members uh to be uh mayor protim that nomination doesn't require a second you know you can have as many nominations as once are done uh then then the council members vote uh not by yes or no vote by just saying the name of the person who they vote for uh to uh serve as mayor count um we would ask that prior to doing this that you you vote to approve that procedure um if that procedure is not used uh then it would come down just to a uh somebody would have to make a motion and then in a second on the motion and then if somebody wanted to nominate somebody else and it' have to be a uh an alternate motion and then need need a second on the alternate motion and then vote on that motion before you go back to the original motion and if you have multiple

secondary motions uh this could get uh pretty confusing pretty quickly so that's why we favor the uh the first process which is just a simple nomination process once that nomination process is done the council members just vote by name uh for the council member uh that they want to serve as mayor forend um so if the council will vote on the procedure that it wants to use first uh that would be that would be advisable motion how motion I'll second and is that a just to be clear that's the motion to use a nomination process right okay okay roll call vote Miss Joseph yes no this is just on the process on the process Miss Gard yes Mr Hubble yes m p yes I mean I'm Sorry Miss pay Miss King yes pass all right so the process is adopted uh so now it's time to actually do the uh selection of Mayor protim so U I guess the floor will be open for nominations again any council member can nominate any other counil member uh no second is required on the nomination and once everybody you know all the nominations are are done um then we'll have a vote and you don't have to nominate anybody if you don't want to I'll nominate Council G any other nominations okay so there would be no for further nominations U we would ask that a v a vote then be taken on uh M Gord has been nominated as mayor protim so to report that in a vote uh somebody would make

that motion and second I we need a motion all right we have a motion for uh councilwoman Gordon as mayor protim and a second by Council Joseph makeon okay roll call vote I mean Miss Jon Miss Gordon can I vote for myself no she vote for in the past I can tell you four years ago council member Brown did not vote for him he he okay Mr hu no Miss Kenny yes and Miss P yes pass counc woman congratulations thank you all right number 10 consider introducing an ordinance to increase the 20242 general fund budget 525,000 to cover the cost of restrooms to be located at the base of the levy this amount was included in the 2023 24 budget but was not carried forward for the 2024 25 fiscal year um so I think what this is uh it was brought in the December meeting and it was voted down um I think the Assumption was still that the bathrooms were behind this lady's house right here uh off of a Chapala uh the bathrooms will be at the levy facing River Road um against the bricks that's already um at the levy um so I'm I'm just asking um for this to be approved U I know the mayor brought this up like I said in December

it was voted down but I'm not sure if it was clear on the understanding of where it was actually moved to when take four years to Bill like they did the last B I think they're ready now even if the item is not uh pass tonight we have invoices but this is already in our budget it's in the budget it was in the budget it just wasn't transferred to the new budget okay correct and to further uh I guess pigy back on that yeah so this was a project that the uh prior Council had approved and budgeted and work actually commenced in terms of you know architectural plans and specifications were created uh the general contractor that got the job has actually you know began incurring calls they appeared their uh performance bond and have submitted invoices for that uh so when the uh payment yeah there was an agenda item last month for the payment of those expenses and that agenda item failed uh which kind of put us in a overall position that needs to be decided you know is the council going to continue on with the project uh which you know that was only called into question by the fact that that motion failed last month uh if the council does not want to continue with that project uh those bills that you've incurred still need to be paid because at the end of the day those people were hired you know they did perform work point in time we'd be losing out if we don't go AFF well you you would you would avoid the future expenses but you still got to pay for the services that were performed up to date uh that's if you don't want to do the project if you elect to continue on with the project uh then obviously you would pay those invoices that you're that you have right now and you know you would just continue on with the project as it was original planed I'll make that motion and that's a motion

to to move the 125 yes and to continue on with the project okay I'll second so is uh motion by councilwoman Garden second by councilwoman Payne anyone from the audience have a comments he hearing none can I get a roll call M Joseph yes Mrs Gordon yes Mr Hubble no Mrs King yes yes a call consider approving a final payment of 18,000 500 to J&G construction for railroad Pump Station Mr the a call thank you mayor coun congratulations um essentially um this is the final pay app for the railroad Pump Station uh rehab where actually two contractors are working there uh one is completing their part right now this one was complete a couple uh uh months ago you can kind of see by the uh by the date if you look to the attached page they provided the clear Lo certificate so that means essentially they um no one filed any leans against the project in the courthouse so we recommend that um this payment uh be made to J&G Construction in the amount of 18,500 okay I I do have a question I remember the mayor saying uh former mayor about the walkth through was the walkth through completed and the yes and and there's um uh there's some confusion on because there's two contractors

working in the same place what one of the things we're waiting on to be complete is actually the other contractor's responsibility we did do a walk through I did a walk through on the parts that this particular contractor did I'll tell yall right now essentially they have to finish um putting in some seal water and uh I think make a maybe a connection to the um uh to the controls and then the second pump and the whole thing will be running y'all notice right now obviously they have that five pass pump out there that's been out there for years and hopefully uh By the time your next meeting or at least um uh by next month that'll be gone and you'll be running off of a totally new station Mo okay um can I get a motion I make a motion nobody to make a motion got the pay motion by councilman Hubble second by councilwoman Garden anyone from the audience wish to be heard Jose yes yes K yes yes pass right item 12 consider approving pay application request number one for MTR LLC in the amount of $ 28,730 76 cents for Road rehabilitation program phase 13 ER call yes mayor council this is um uh you know obviously

your 13th phase of the road program the contractor is is um we actually have two pay applications this particular uh uh Road program covers portions of Michigan Oregon and Avenue a um this was obviously the contract amount was $334,800 73376 and we recommend payment of it counc councilman Hubble made a motion can I get a second second okay councilwoman King anyone from the audience wish to be heard can I get a roll call this is Joseph yes this Gordon yes H yes King yes p no no okay item 13 consider approving a pay application request number two for MTR LLC in the amount of $2,958 for 2024 Road rehabilitation program phase 13 uh this is just the continuation um again the contract is 334,000 this represents uh completion of up to 266 47660 um of the total work I'll say that right now all they have left is patching and of course they couldn't do it this week because it's too cold for that asphalt plant to run so we recommend that um yall approve the payout in the amount of

21, 95 and uh $958 I will note that like all of these um uh construction projects you all have it's got a retainage amount which is um essentially 10% of the of the project and that they we don't release the retainage until they provide us the clear lean certificate and once and y'all will also have to formally approve it as substantially complete and once you approve it as substantially complete then their warranty oneyear warranty period stop question maybe Mr have some questions I have questions true um in some of the roads we might have some dips in it we got go back and come and overlay because we have cuddles of water that we have never had that's just settling in the road uh I will say that obviously um we haven't punched the job out it's not complete so if there wasn't something if a problem was created by the construction then certainly they'll have to fix it you know well it'll basically be a punch list and you'll say and I'm just making up it's station 173 y'all need to you know repay this area put a patch over that area or something those ons and again um when I we bring yall substantial completion it'll be with uh preliminary punch list and certainly if there's additional things you want to add to it or want to discuss prior to the meeting we can always do that because the last thing we want to do is uh complete a job without J being okay I know I was so that uh it was

brought to the attention that some of the roads had dips in in them so uh do you have those noted or is there something I need to get to to make sure those get done I know some some of them were in Westside Village that um the um I'm not in the field so I don't personally know uh we should have them noted but I will say that obviously we'll take care of it if it was you know uh if it's created by the contractor one thing I'll say is y'all's projects are not complete reconstruction so if if there are dips in thead Ro already there basically all you're doing is peeling off the existing asphalt and putting back the exact same amount so whatever the slope was or or whatever it's going to be that again now if there wasn't a puddle there before and then all of a sudden you have a puddle that's a totally different animal obviously and I did bring that to Mar Le attention in front of M there was not a there and now water just and that's uh I would appreciate you know y'all certainly hopefully everybody has my contact information if not I can make sure y'all get it um please uh call me text me email me and I can certainly you know obviously take the information or I can meet you out there what whatever y'all want this is y'all's money and we want you to be happy and if something nobody knows your roads better than you if you drive on it every day if there wasn't a hole there that those road yeah I guess um mayor this is not the final pay request and I guess what you may want to do basically your next pay request is going to be somewhere on the order of about 80,000 that may be

the one you want to make contingent on I mean it's y'all's called but this work has been done now whether or not you're going to ultimately accept it that's a whole different thing you know um I'm just saying and obviously if uh something happens after the warranty period Then and how long is the warranty period one year okay I get a motion okay so motion by councilwoman King second by councilwoman Joseph anyone from the audience wish to be heard Joseph yes no yes King yes no can you tell me which street street was it Harry Brown Harry Brown yes he number 14 consider author authorizing mayor pan to advertise interview and hired to fill the position of pay payroll clerk um I resign my position um to each of the council council members um so I couldn't do an emergency hire without the proper protocol so I will be advertising but I'm asking the council for the permission to adverti uh to get a payroll Clerk and HR Director Council this would this would normally be something that mayor P would have brought to the Personnel committee first before it reaches the regular council meeting but as you aware uh the regular uh committee meetings for this month were not had because I'm probably on New Year's Day so those committee meetings are being P by pass and it's

just being brought straight to full Council um to go ahead and get those authorization so that position can uh they can move for make a motion okay motion by councilwoman G second second by Council Hub anyone from the audience Mrs Joseph yes yes H yes Mr P yes pass hey number 15 cons consider authorizing mayor pan to increase the number of full-time cashiers in the utilities department from 2 to three um in my years here we've always had three full-time cashiers uh we have one part-time cashier that has been asking to become full-time um from my knowledge it was put into this current budget that we're currently in um funded so no extra funding needs to be put in it it's already funded um according to the budget that I copy that I have um so I'm just asking is this the parttime work there they we have now yes but we'll have to advertise and open it up can I get a motion motion by councilwoman Garden second by councilwoman pay anyone from the audience wish to be heard get a roll call yes yes kiding yes pain yes

okay okay uh 17 consider authorizing Chief Mitchell to hire and fill to positions for police officers in the P Allen Police Department first but the police well I got I'm pretty sure a lot of yall already know who she is she used to work with before um unfortunately we lost she had supervisor of her experience and I like to bring hand uh she can immediately come and assist our police department and I our community um me personally I really believe that everything that she can do and will do it will benefit all of us so how many officers do you need to hire oh as as of right now uh I need seven I got two I got Latrice here today and I have Ronda cam unfortunately he wasn't able to make it here uh but I've spoken with both of them and um that's I due to um already having the adti um the um everything was already preset um we had the advertisement already putting emotion um I was able to go interview them talk to I'm looking for uh to bring them on so how many officers you have now six now six CH no I have six officers and I have seven vacancies seven

vaces how many on a normal sh ship on a normal ship do you do you have St yeah two two yeah I got two I got a A and B Shi have two on two on there and we got half our personnel and admin detectives everybody filling in RS working over time to F CD rotation that's how SHP it is and what's optimum number for sh um based on the current budget it's four um but uh we've been working with three so um my new plan is to implement three on on each shift with two swing officers to so no matter what we can always have coverage no matter what when you when you say swing when you say a swing officer is that they're going to take part of a week and the other one's going to take part of a week yeah so let's just say uh one of the work Monday um there it'll be a four 10 hour Shi that work oppos to in Sher coverage eight one to work um a straight on and six off um and based off of I I did left my calendar I had to set up he can explain it to you a little bit more complex he brought it to my attention and I like how he explained to me so I first of all good evening how you guys doing um just just to bring a little Clarity to it so we want to make sure and ensure coverage you have coverage anyway but the swing shift will add additional officer to the short shifts

already we have officer made call out s on Quest lead we can still Grant um grant that officer the si le or vacation we still have an additional person that that will be out the four 10 shifts we getting out work opposite that's how you get your seven day coverage so if you have the weekend officer they'll work on month weekends and start Friday Saturday Sunday Monday um the other officer will come in Tuesday and work Tuesday Wednesday Thursday both work Fridays the reason has being from the B Police Department we used to do something similar to this um to Ure coverage coverage on a very busy day which is Fridays in R but similar around other municipalities still busy on Fridays and you get a lot high call volume a lot of movement in the city helps with crime reduction answering calls course there you know the bridge with Rex and the coastal um we have that extra officer to help couples so um just from RE reorganization standpoint we think that that's the best option that we have right now until we can start filling those extra positions so Chief what are you asking us now is to Grant you the permission to hire these two new off officer correct correct so you did interview with them yeah I did okay I was able to interview with both of them however like I explained before H one of them in Council U you yeah this this agenda item is authorization to advertise interview and hire to fill two of your vacant police officer positions it's my understanding that uh the prior Council had actually authorized you know the hiring I mean the U the advertisement and the interview of these positions so really what you're here for tonight is to actually do the hiring uh to fill at least two of those

vacant positions uh so the chief has identified the two individuals that he wants to fill those positions similar to the last agenda item normally that's something that would have gone to the Personnel committee last week but again we didn't have that meeting so that's why again it's just coming straight to the council members so the chief does have one of those individuals uh here tonight unfortunately the other one wasn't able to be here if uh Chief you want to bring him up so when would cutting him be able to start working um he's he got a couple things he got to iron out with the curent administration inste do his a official two weeks so probably up there you can wait that long yeah I mean we've been getting it all this time a couple more that you're hiring are they going to be considered the swing officer no no just regular yeah it's number three yeah not let be know that they used to work in the city of P before so good evening all right my name is lrice um stre Garden I have nearly 7even years of law enforcement experience um immediately after graduating college getting a degree in criminal justice 5 months later I started working with Port Allen I worked with for Allen for 3 years um left and went to America worked for America for three years and now I am ready to return home are you GNA stay with us I am I am I in Latrice defense uh she left because she had Child Care issues at the time and they weren't working with her um we tried to to keep her here um when she did her exit interview with me um you know so I I came about she she really didn't want to leave but she didn't have a choice at the time come first so definely

okay make a motion for is that a motion motion for congratulations welcome back home anyone from the audience have any comments okay Mr Mr Gord yes Hub yes King yes yes motion passes thank you congratulations announcements he 18 consider the introduction of an ordinance to sell the municipal property located at 605 North 15 Street also known as 9108 AC in section 67 t75 r12e design a lot C C and D p2- 85 Mr Joseph good evening good evening uh it is my understanding that uh all of you members of the council we can't hear you it's my understanding that all of you members of the council have been in contact with Mr David strange of a development company that is interested in acquiring the city property located at 605 North 15 Street it's roughly 9ine Acres that we refer to as the garden Le it's it's it's currently being used as a waste area uh for mostly uh materials left over from construction project Road and the like um the the property is

currently zoned I believe C1 which permits uh residential development it is uh being proposed as an additional residential development within the city and the revised statutes of the state of Louisiana require an ordinance for us to sell municiple property so tonight is just the introduction of an ordinance I believe there's some other details that may need to be worked out um but at least it gets the process started and he's been in contact with you understand council members you should have a a draft ordinance in front of you and again you know just the introduction of an ordinance is really just the start of the ordinance process uh but yeah as you can see in the ordinance it's a uh it's for a what is currently a 9108 acre track of land located in section 67 Township South Range 12 ft uh the tra of land currently Bears the municipal address of 605 North 15th Street uh I spoke with Mr uh Mr strange prior to the meeting he is here tonight probably the council TR one to hear from him but they're actually only looking to acquire eight ACR out of that uh approximately nine AC tra uh as part of the ordinance the city is supposed to uh set forth the minimum price uh for the track of land as well as certain terms and conditions so in this draft ordinance we have set the minimum sales price of the property as $700,000 or the appraised value of the property whichever is greater so if the property apprais is at $200,000 they would have to pay the city $700,000 for the piece of property uh if the property appraises for $800,000 they would have to pay the city $800,000 uh for piece of property

understand appraisals are are being solicited uh currently uh the sale of the property as per this ordinance would also be contingent upon the following uh the city's future agreement to reone the property as needed to accommodate the development uh the city's future approval of the proposed construction plans prepared by the uh by the developer again this is more just you know the schematic drawings if you will I know the city isn't you know you're not looking at where I beams and stuff like that are going to be uh located you just want to see the overall layout of the property and then number three the city's future negotiation approval and execution of an active sale with a developer uh so again this is just the uh draft ordinance uh that we you would need to uh introduce in order to start the process this ordinance would have to be uh publicized uh three times within a a 15-day period in your official Journal uh should you uh V introduce it and I believe uh Mr strange is here to uh to speak to the council about this property ma'am okay we'll see David strange uh here to discuss our proposed development of the a the city has um in discussions with the the previous mayor and and the current mayor I understood that the city wanted to retain about an acre to an acre and a quarter of the frontage of the property to continue to use that for purposes of of a lay down yard or storage of extra materials uh so when we ultimately get a survey done it'll just be of the 8 AC

portion and we will provide a DAT access and fense for the municip retained portion of that property um speaking with y'all um you know our proposal is to build uh 44 uh housing units on that property under the Community Development block grant program I brought some some uh last time when we spoke I I was feel prepared with some some photographs so I did bring several photographs of a couple properties that we have finished uh here in the last couple years we've done 50 of these over the last last 20 years we do a lot of disaster recovery and things of that nature affordable housing projects um the funding mechanism on this particular Housing Development is part of a disaster Grant the state of Louisiana got of about 1.2 billion doar for Recovery efforts under hurricanes uh Ida Laura and Delta and one of the things that uh the funds one of the restrictions on the funds is that any Housing Development uh be built uh as flood proof disaster proof and hurricane resilient so like the doors are still framed the windows are all Impact resistant uh there's tie down Hardware all the houses come with already built-in backup generator powers and all that kind of stuff so so that to the extent possible uh that they can weather the impact of of Storms and things of that nature uh the total development cost is $15 million and that includes the $700,000 that that we would would pay for the land uh it would put a you know fairly significant uh valuation on the the city's property tax roles uh it would generate you know some sales tax revenue for the city we bu all the the materials he loly and things like that and the construction company uh that builds

these projects for us uh they do not self-perform on their contracts so they retain uh local subcontractors and local material uh that they're a paper contractor if you will but and so there'll be lots of uh job opportunities uh once the development is completed uh since we retain control over it uh there will be full-time employment positions for uh Community manager uh and uh Community supervisor maintenance Personnel things of that nature uh to make sure that the the houses and Lawns and all that kind of stuff are maintained by us uh uh we I I things up I can just aou okay give you a second I'll keep keep keep talking um one of the things that that the state considered in making these grants to the different municipalities uh and parishes around the state were under a housing need commission that that was done as as part of the allocation of these disaster funds and West excuse me West Parish uh had depends on the the phraseology a low but yet high score meaning that uh that by putting these number of housing units on the ground in West batt Parish it would satisfy less than 1% of the demand in the parish for affordable housing of this nature um and so there was tremendous demands into the market study which is one of the re things large things the state took into consideration when they were handing out uh these Federal grants uh yeah there you go uh so that's the side of the property right there on Street n I'm sorry we didn't hit the prison

just tell okay you can that's just a excuse me I'm sorry no problem that that's just a rough draft of a site plan that just shows on the upper right hand corner the acre that's being left out and the the gray shaded areas uh are areas that are are being undeveloped and left for the potential of retention detention as needed for storm water management uh it'll be all underground utilities and all cured and guttered uh and so but there is plenty of of excess Green Space for for that kind of stuff um so d uh and then the the houses yes ma'am and so it's currently Z commercial but we we think that R3 is in in my reading and and uh speaking with Mr Alvarez and Mr Jose the the zoning that we would need which operates kind of like a a PUD in some other bigger cities where you can have mixed use housing different size housing different variations and under yall's R three ordinances it allows us to do that uh versus getting a plan unit development and because under y ordinance that that takes a much larger piece of property so it's a way to kind of accomplish that goal on a smaller piece U as were just some of the numbers I talked about on the the the cost there uh the whole development is is all Ada accessible um there's you know Green spacing the Community Center perimeter

fed um go ahead this is a Housing Development that we recently did in in Jackson Mississippi uh that just shows kind of what the the the one of the housing types that we put on these Lots uh those are all free bettering homes go ahead uh this is one that we finished two years ago in baloa Louisiana and this has a mix of one twos and threes which is kind of like what we're proposing here but but Standalone structures uh that's also the the development there in Balo we finished two years ago and that's one that we just finished in in aadish Louisiana uh just actually just got finished uh end of last year uh uh that is in Tu below Mississippi um uh that was finished about three years ago that's a townhouse development uh and these are just uh we don't try to reinvent the wheel so our Interiors would kind of do the same we had a decorator and consulting firms come in on the front end so we we tend to do a lot of the same thing so that that's kind of typically what our Interiors look like on all these units okay that's and what's your price fund ma'am what's your price fund so we maintain ownership of of these units and we lease that and so under because we get that Federal grant to pay for the there there three it would be if you take 15 million and divide it by 44 you get 340,000 a house and so we would never be able to rent a one-bedroom house for enough money to to for that to make sense and so we just we set the rents at $11,200 for a one-bedroom 14

for a two and 16 for a three um and we just own and maintain that because it's because it's a grant we don't have a lot of debt service or or expense other than than the upkeeping of the property which allows us to so y maintain the property we do so you say you would be leasing it out yes ma'am and what it's a year lease or it's it's a year Le so do you renew your lease you yes you certainly have the option to to renew the lease and we find you frankly that that's commonly what occurs that that s uh moving these communities that that typically stay they're very affordable and they us see well appointed and and so we have a tremendous demand what's the requirement um a a clear criminal background report and a decent credit score I would say you know it's not 750 but it's not you know 450 either it would probably be about 550 to 575 I would think in this market um and then referrals references credit checks uh and a background check and it's no beated right yeah yes so these hous be SE I know we had the meeting um I had to leave from the meeting but while I was uh a part of the meeting I know I questioned about the um amounts and uh it was brought to my

attention that some people prefer to lease especially if they're not uh you know ready to technically be a homeowner to purchase a home and and you know be responsible for a lot of the upkeep of a home of their own um it's the same basically as um renting a apartment um but it's a a house um so I I had those questions myself uh if you remember yes um but I I like these pictures better than the pictures that I I did see I wouldn't I wasn't feeling the other ones but so we we'll see how it goes okay I don't think the requirements are bad um you know requirements like I said it's the same basically as an apartment so um yeah hopefully it attracts and we're able to be super super selective because unlike an apartment theyve got a big mortgage they got to pay and so they got to have tax and with us because it's it's so affordable and there's no debt on it because of of the grants that are involved we're able to really pick and choose the residents that we want to stay there for a long time make it okay and what comes in them um like refrigerator yes and a washer and dry they come full hookup School utilities uh and in addition to uh the impact it's called fortified housing that gets inspected and you've got to do like for instance we have to use treated lumber when we build the things instead of just regular 2x4 so it can withstand inundation from water in a flood and things like that uh but but additionally it has to be Green certified so all the appliances are energy star and all that kind so so they're they're they're also affordable to to to have the electric bill

and and you did say Stone so they have own gener in the yes ma houses have their own yes how many houses say you want to be 44 44 yes ma'am introducing so council members uh if you if you're interested uh in proceeding with this we would need uh the council to move forward um with the introduction of an ordinance again introducing an ordinance is just the start of the process it doesn't mean it's a done deal uh after you introduce an ordinance uh there's some uh particular requirements when uh municipality is selling land again it's going to have to be advertised U three times within a 15-day period in your official Journal U just like any other ordinance you EV you'll have to have a public hearing uh before any before the council votes whether to finally adopt the ordinance or not at a subsequent meeting so you know again this is just to at least move forward conceptionally uh with with this to start the advertising and all that it would then have to be a public hearing at a later date and the council would then have to meet and vote again in terms of whether to adopt the ordinance uh as we've drafted this ordinance even if the ordinance is adopted obviously there's still some other things that the council are going to have to do uh in agreement with the property owner for this to ever ever come to fruition U such as the uh you know kind of conceptual approval of the plans uh agreeing to reone the property and uh negotiating the actual accuracy thank you if anybody has any additional questions on

fav so yeah we need a motion in a second to move forward motion by councilwoman Joseph second by councilman Pang anyone from the audience ma'am can come up and St can you come up in state your name please I'm just curious uh what is your occupancy right on your property 100% 100% oh I don't believe that I have rental property some of the stuff spilling out does not even make sense with this area for one bedroom 12 and he's having all this stuff no there's no way because you can go right across the bridge and then a nice one bedon furnish for $800 what is it okay unless he's getting some other money from someone else this needs to be clear because what he's starting over here I know the market and some of y'all have property and y'all know the market what he's selling right here I am gone I'm sorry and I'd love to know how solent this company is I want to see their financial background I want to how successful they are cuz this is going to affect our town tremendously and I don't think we have infrastructure to support this so we need to do investigation on this company they may be getting Government funding but the stuff he's spting off there's all issues with DSL that's unresolved this looks like a DSL commercial I'm sorry we need to know more about the sovy of this company and the rights that he charges I

don't think I'm sorry I just don't I don't Mr St yes ma'am can you come back up sure and answer some of question uh not sure I understood the question uh you know as mentioned we we've done 50 of these developments in the last 20 years total cost of those developments is is over half a billion dollars uh we have done uh a development in New Roads and Mr ER call I think was involved in maybe looking at that City I se yeah and then one we did one across the river in St a number of years ago and so we we certainly worked in the area but we work throughout the the southeast you have a um email address that you could give Magie sure miss Magie you want you said you're not any kind of Public Assistance for the vent no I don't know how it just doesn't make sense it's because of the grant we don't have the debt that a normal person would have so you're charging 12 people for one and that get this house in B would be 25 ier yes so my question is can you come to the in stone of course I have a big issue with it we forgot that we don't have a waste water treatment plant like this land was acquired bought in 1992 and it was sold through a judgment

by the West B rdge bank so we've been having nine acres of land and we've beening around looking for property a land to build a wastewater treatment plant even to have this land utilized for the purpose of being a feeder to help take some of the strain off the plant that we have now but we looking to bring in development into the City and we have infrastructure issues we have public safety issues it's the same developers that was that we uh basically turned the away here on Court Street so now we're going to bring them to this area to use 9 acres of land that's owned by the city that we can utilize ourself I'm not really I'm not really I'll address it I I asked that question uh when the mayor took me around um to show me the different Wells and the different property that's associated in the city and I asked that question why can't we use this property for our Wastewater treatment plant cuz that would make sense um he said because of the storing of equipment that I think the maintenance department has been using and things from past that may be buried under some of the the land that that was probably not the best property for us to use for a wastewater treatment plan so that's just the I ask that question cuz it it it made sense but U you know that's what that's some of the things that he going to have to look at when he get the development some under the land and all of that but I'm saying before we look at selling property that we own we have two well

we've had property that was sold before um years ago just recently as of the four years I was on the council we had two separate properties that we looked at along I 10 if I'm not if I'm not mistaken and the sugar cane grows nothing has come of that nothing but we have land that we own and we won't consider having the waste treatment facility there or or some type of like I said a feter because would it not tunnel straight to the facility that we have now it wouldn't it be ideal I think part of it but it's still in a residential nebor to address your your concern when this proposal came about I contacted Fraser to have the property of PR because that's part of the process and in reviewing the prop the property to determine whether she was going to engagement she said she's going to appraise it from a residential use perspective because that is the most uh efficient use based on what's around it that property is bordered by Apartments already it's bordered by a nursing home is bordered by a single family residential it is not an ideal location for S treatment the main reason we are looking for new location is not only capacity but it's also location okay it's it's barded by Residential Properties as well so we are looking for a piece of property to put it in a more

suitable location so it does not border upon residential uh development past present or future that's why we're looking down in the canes because suful with that well it's a process proc Miss L as you know just like we have to uh uh introduce an ordinance to sell this property we have ways to acquire property but you have to go through the fair market first and the main obstacle in analizing the fair market process is the appraisal process cu the landowner has to agree to get to give access to the property for the that appraisal we had not been able to obtain that so we are looking at different other ways to obtain an appraisal but they take more time and you know if you want to know it's going to probably have to be aerial drone based appra because they don't own the air but but but they own the lane so you have to identify specific people to do that and it takes longer and once we get that because we because we have to make an offer before we can expropriate mhm and the offer has to be based on the market value of that appraisal and then if it's rejected then we can begin expropriation process proceedings to acquire it under state law you say with the land that you any land any land that we want to look at we have to do it a certain a certain way it takes us a little longer to move the government we have different boxes to check and D di to cross so but I'm saying based on the situation now what land do we have that we could secure or that we even could even

possibly the possibility of securing land that can also uh meet the needs as Mr Tony was saying where we have to make sure it's feeding and get into the river and all of that like what area other areas do we have available I mean even if we have to utilize what we have now I'm sure if won't be in the condition or you won't have the smells and all that that we have at this plant because it's failing so in in this area I'm sure we won't have those issues that we was looking at before of course being residential but hey those areas it Ain all the way you know but anyway it it still would seem to me a good place that's the enger standing right behind Okay he he is invol I mean I hate I hate the do it to youy have we not had this conversation about he's involved in determining feasibility right now for the the other side yeah I will say Obviously over the years we've located grass green uh treatment plants and obviously it's very difficult because of the what's it called Nim not in my backyard very people are excited about having to Tre a plant in their backyard whether it's it's you know and so most of our success in the recent past has been remote locations it's just that's just how it's it the um one we did in plaman is literally in a can fium that nobody knows it's there um you there's been several others if you can find a place that's already like refineries which this particular Canfield is near Refinery that is more ideal for a public that that that's all I mean you at the end of the day it's not an engineering decision it's

more I'm just saying Challen even we try to go into this long Dr process with and all that Notting land like that say saying they not getting up off of it like that you go a long legal negotiations with this but that is issue that that is an issue that 30 years ago or more so I'm not going to try to address it cuz I had nothing to do with all I can do is play the hand i'm dealt right now and the Hand we're dealt is saying that this property is better suited for residential and and and I'm sorry let's move on to um next topic and that's that's it you going to bring in your own SE treatment you going to bring bring I promise you the new subdivision that we are currently West viw they have their own sewer treat I know I'm asking okay West is 650 planned houses this is 44 we can accomodate 44 we could not accomodate 650 okay let's move to um real quick uh and I I don't remember again if you been a number of years but the the development that we did uh in St Gabriel uh once we got into the engineering and everything we did have to go make an improvement to the municipal sewer system for any additional capacity and we ended up spending several $100,000 U of the Project's money to to to help bolster that system and everything and so once we get into the design phase and all this that's something C and I know Mayor Johnson um

in St Gabriel so I'll reach out to him um or his clerk um she's our lambs of President and see how they came about with the project thank you hey item 19 yes to consider introducing an ordinance to sell the municipal property located at 6055 Street also known as 9108 AC in section 67 c75 rj2 e um Lot C and D um of course I just said Mrs Joseph made the motion Mr Mr Pay second we have a call vote okay Mrs Joseph yes Mrs Gordon yes m couple no this King yes Mr the P yes pass number 19 consider the introduction of an ordinance to increase the salary of City Council Members by 2600 annually [Music] Mr I was asked to put this on time that's all I'm saying I think it was brought um by the previous um administration at least the conversation I I think this was a topic that was had in December by the prior uh city council and they elected to uh defer it to uh the following month which would be this month uh Mr Joseph did put the uh agenda item as requested uh we had a draft ordinance prepared for last meeting we didn't know what the numbers would be so

we we did see the uh the agenda item and we have inserted those numbers into the draft ordinance that you should have in front of you so again this draft ordinance does uh there's really two subset of sections on it section one section two uh section one just States the what the annual salary for each council member uh Port all would be which would it would increase to $4,600 per year which of course that amount is divided uh amongst 20 26 pay periods if that's correct yeah so 26 pay periods which is what city employees their pay is divided over so 14,600 per year divided amongst uh 26 pay periods uh the uh council member serving as mayor protim shall receive an additional payment of $916 per year again that's not changing that's what it it it's currently is right now so that is not a new change that's we're just putting that in the ordinance for clarity section two of the ordinance is what makes changes to section 2-1 of article two of chapter two of your Port Allen foot of ordinances that's that that big thick binder that sometimes you uh you see me carrying that has all your uh your essentially your code of ordinances in there uh in that section it has the salaries of all the other uh you know kind of the department or I would call it U statutorily required positions uh the city has never had the uh salary of the council members in that ordinance uh for whatever reason it was done via a separate ordinance so uh for purposes of clarity uh we are also proposing that if the council is going to do that you go ahead and amend section 2- one of your code of ordinances as well to put in that same uh that salary requirement in there as well so it's up there in the same

location as the mayor uh the chief of police the court judge of board three and a municipal clerk so again the numbers are the same in both sections of the ordinance uh but you know we feel it's probably best just to have them in one tidy location uh in your code of ordinances so in case someone have a question about the P 100 it just only that be a $200 increase cor uh so the increase is uh 2,600 annually so what you would do is you would take that $2,600 annual increase and of course you would again divide that by 26 pay periods and whatever that number is that's how much each uh each payment uh would be every time but it's $2,600 over the course of the year of so again that that brings the annual salary to $14,600 and and that's how we we we we styled the ordinance based on a annual salary because that's how the other salaries are are dressed and styled in your ordinances as well that would increase $100 yeah $100 per Pur second second by counil m any comment one person here y'all just got elected is there one person here that didn't know what the salary was yeah we know what the I think this was addressed Miss uh Miss

Maggie but we're in line with everyone else okay much larger cities we have rear issues and and to come in and want a I'd rather see him get a rise you going to get one I would rather see other people get aise and not us show me something and then maybe I'll say but what I'm seeing right now is okay can we get a roll yes is excuse me preface my vote by we have ongoing issues with sewer well uh I know this is a drop in the bucket compared compared to the millions that will have to be spent on the new sewer treatment plan I don't think it does well for us to say we need any more money when we have people that have toilets that un flush we have a crumbling system I think that's where we need to focus overall on the city we want focus on it so my vote is no [Music] yes we just told you $100 yeah the motion is we're on to the next item on to the next

item to be heard this was brought up last year in December and I and I excuse me and I didn't hear anyone come and comment or say anything thing um about the EM because it has contined to this year that's why but it was discussed then and you had a chance to voice your opinion about because it was contined to this year what was the purpose yeah we just have public comments okayy item 20 presentation of the monthly financial report Mr Trina Davis good evening may your council members and citizens in front of you you have and I apologize I'm a little horse today in front of you you have uh a spreadsheet you know you been on this board long enough to be out here talking all like that I'm sorry can we get some clarity on the last Vote or whatever the decision was can we get we deserve some clarity just move on the vote was for yes seriously just yes ma'am yes ma'am that was the in thank you just the ordinance just to be clear that's the introduction of an artist that's not the final vote on just like any other this now has to be advertised and it goes to a public hearing the final vote will be at another meeting so know that it's not final tonight this was just to

introduce the ordinance thank you M Davis again I apologize I'm a little worse today I'm not feeling well but you will find a spreadsheet in front of you that looks like this and my job is to present a financial report the way I do this is if you look at the spreadsheet it's broken down into divisions within the city and if you look out well let me just go column by column so you can understand the First Column is the amount that was budgeted for the year under each category the second column is what has been spent year to dat and this would be as of 1231 the next column would be the balance that's remaining in the balance um the percent YTD is the amount that has been spent as of today or year to date um then you have something that says remaining underneath it tells you what percentage of that budget is remaining for the remaindering the remainder of the year and the total which always total 100% so if you look down you will see um Animal Control is at 50% and we are halfway through the year now so everything should be roughly around 50% give or take a couple you we halfway through the year halfway through the fiscal year year okay our fiscal year is July 1st through June the 30 so as of December the 31st we were halfway through our fiscal year thank

you and I apologize not saying fiscal year um our Protective Services um I said that all of them basically still have 50% remaining or more um as far as as the budget except Fleet land maintenance has 76% so everything is pretty much okay except the sewer system and as you have heard we have major problems with the sew system that is on page four of five so we're going to have to find some money to pay for some some of the stuff that's going on with the system you have any question coun Joseph so we have to find to the SE system we have major problems with the sewer system I'm the sewer system is right behind my house and basically we have spent all of the budget that has been allowed this year on repairing the solices correct so all the repairs not working is that what you're saying that would be a question for m

ER part of the issue is during the last budget process if you recall those of you who carried over we have added 400,000 a year for SE system improvements over the last 3 to four years last budget year that 400,000 was not appropriated in the capital outlay process I don't know if it was an oversight or how or if it was just um removed because of the how the number there so that 400,000 wasn't available to us so it went back from it came from the current regularly budgeted amounts that was 400 extra Okay Okay so we've been doing that for the last 3 years but last year it wasn't put into the budget okay so we don't so we don't have to it was in the proposed budget well it wasn't it wasn't appropriate it wasn't passed okay so I don't have access to it okay and and so those so so we're pretty much where we are on a regular Le we're not we don't have excessive expenditures we have less budgeted funds because of what happened during the budget process in before that started July I got you okay any questions I just want to ask with this budget thing can we get this here to us before meeting can we get like 2 three days before the meeting so we really can look at the budget and see your financing would need to be done or we have question to ask you yes maam everybody has a city email address yes we do everybody has one you may not know it but it will be given to you and I will start emailing those on you what you want on Fridays or

Monday you do Monday is fine Monday is fine Monday or Friday I'm trying to get the agenda out by Monday so y'all prefer to have email by Friday and Monday I me it's not just for me it's for all of us so okay I can do it and y'all can call me at any point in time if y'all have any questions I'll be than and man we still need the service of Falcon wicker since we this the TR here uh as far as I know Falcon wiler is still helping doing um certain things in in the office um again that was under um former mayor the contract um I have not talked with them since I've taken over uh I plan to have a meeting with Tommy um which is um Michelle who's here on site supervisor and go on to to see I mean I don't see fear we need be paying and Mr Davis I'm quite sure you have to speed with with u what your job title is are you still need assistance from them I will have a conversation thas 21 condemnation proceedings 22 alcohol and beverage permits Mr Joseph all right so these are the remaining permits that were not uh submitted prior to the December meeting Bros food Mar 9:30 North Alexandri Avenue Class B Liquor

Paula doing business caj and barbecue aor1 Island food Mark 141 15th Street class a liquor P Island Seafood 719 Alexander class be liquor sasco LLC Chevron food Mark class be liquor Mar Landry pick a pack 306 South Alexander Avenue Port alen Class A Beer Kamal Sala doing business as K&M 705 North Alexander for all um um I'm sorry me that's carv no that's a old quick correct and one did not make we received it at like 448 yesterday and the agenda had already been uh disseminated so um it was easy in out Incorporated 4:30 North Alexander Avenue glass B Liquor I'll defer the Miss alism I am want to handle that but I would ask that those that are listed on your agendas I'll be renewed these are all renewals so renewed in global so you want to include easy mes they do they have they have video poker machines so they they have a video permit are we saying that we are going to add EAS M to this or we have to vote on so if it's the pleasure of the council so what I would suggest is approve the if the council's pleasure approve the agenda item as is and then if the council wants to take up the one that they got in yesterday a motion would need to be made to amend the agenda to add that

um so I I would say let's take up um item 22 first and Global for all of these that's listed good councilwoman garden and then councilman Hub second Miss Gordon yes yes yes P yes okay and do you want to add easy M now or wait I make a motion to so that would be a motion to amend agenda to add consideration of the alcohol beverage permit by easy and out Inc remember council members in order to amend the agenda it must be a unanimous vote of the council to amend the agenda so the first step is we need to decide uh if we're going to amend the agenda Mr Gordon has made a motion second motion by counc G by counc Hubble a comments from the audience comments I'm sorry comments from the audience call Mrs Joseph yes Mr Hubble yes Mrs King yes P yes Mo you have now amended your agenda to add that as an item so now we're to the subsi of item about considering that permit so we need a motion to add easy mile a motion to approve to approve the alcohol okay so motion by Council Hub second by counc

Gard any comments from the public roll call Jose Mr G yes Mr Hubble yes M King yes P yes fa okay so under announcements and correspondents um because we were um um didn't have the council meet committee meeting excuse me last last week we're going to ask Chief um you doing it or yes ma'am okay he's going to present the um report that would have been done at committee meeting tonight um okay again guys good so for the month of December uh our agency responded to 242 cars to service and BR down further we had 29 alarms 11 sit with the fire department three harassment three suspicious persons miss one miscellaneous two improper telephone Communications two custody matters 14 disturbances two attended vehicle burgies three assaults five deaths get fi interview one law sustain property found property six hidden run five remain after the Forbidden three damage the property five traffic stops two silver matters one official want out to return five suspicious activities five check persons one death 53 medical calls two 911 hang up calls two fraud two traffic complaints one missing person I identity theft five animal

calls three domestic disturbances 21 informational reports and one is this [Music] person and our agency arrested 18 people two are from the disturbances one hidden the run onein two resistant officer one public bre public official two battery One telephone improper telephone Communications three from domestic disturbances one Comm Mischief one Burberry one trespass one violation protective order two crues of juvenile for Fus War arrest one city ordinance for own responsibilities of animals and one disturbing the peace by fighting also our agency investigated 37 crashes um three of those were private property and our officers issued 26 traffic citations Smith what is a fear interview so Fe interview is anytime you stop a person um it could be an anonymous complaint that comes to our communication Center um there's not enough to arise to an arrest uh traffic complaint just be a toally suspicious but you do gather person's information and that officer timately uh wrote a report for so those thank you yeah mayor if I may uh on behalf of Casey Hollands and and myself we just would like to thank the mayor and the

council uh for the V allowing us to continue on with you we uh We've thoroughly enjoyed our our our work with the city and um look forward to that relationship you okay so I have a few announcements um the first announcement uh City Hall will be closed for Martin Luther King holiday which is January 20th 2025 um also popular Gro Church which they have their annual marttin Luther King program um they've been for for years that I can remember um the service will be that day at 10:00 a.m. um also um I had an idea that I want to to bring forward to everyone um for something that we can start um I was a debutant before and something we did during Black History Month was uh get on the radio and pick a person um that we were you know trying to model or that had great you know strides in in the world basically because it was moretin Luther King and and other people so what I want to bring to the city of Port Allen is um nominating some people right here in our hometown so uh I think you know uh I would have loved to put together a prayer breakfast but because just taking office and it's next month um I just thought this would be a good idea to start and to keep the tradition up possibly um just anyone that you want to nominate uh they can be sent to myself uh mayor port island.org or tan I still use my same email as well Tan Port island.org or to Miss Rose or Rocher at Port all.org a small paragraph not a paper um but something that we can

possibly post on our website um the city website as well as our city Facebook page I just thought that would be something um you know we had a people in the community that have done great things in this community and I just think that will be a way to um you know to show our appreciation to them um again you can send the emails um to myself or Miss Rose and we'll make sure that they get on the website and the city's Facebook page are you talking about decease or living either we'll go through them cuz we may get the same one from you know a couple februaries from February 1st to the 28th so if you possibly don't see your person don't hold it you know don't hold us to it um we're going to try to go through them and post one possibly hopefully we can try to do it every day um in February but I wanted to say that because the next committee the next meeting isn't until February 5th so February have it will start already um no other comments