County Commission - Regular Meeting

Good morning. Welcome to our new commissioners to your first committee meeting on September 9th, 2026. Welcome aboard. We're going to call to order the first committee, committee one, budget and finance. Parliamentarian, please read item one.

Item 1 is a resolution approving contract for banking services with Regions Bank for custody and deposit of county funds for the period upon execution through June 30, 2027, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods in an annual amount not to exceed $400,000. The county will fund the annual contract amount with compensating balance on deposit with Regions Bank. Sponsored by Chairwoman Shante K. Avant, Commissioner Henry E. Brooks, and Commissioner Erica Sugarman.

I have a motion by Commissioner Sugarman, a second by Commissioner Billingsley. Trustee Lee, how are you? Welcome to your first presentation as our new trustee.

Thank you, Chairwoman Avant and commissioners. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here with you this morning to present the first item of my trusteeship, and I'm delighted to be here. I'm joined by our manager of banking and controls, Ms. Leslie Pannell, and we do have representatives here from Regions Bank, and we can introduce them at an appropriate time. What we are requesting this morning is a continuance with Regions Bank as our depository custodial bank. We've been with Regions for quite a few years. This particular renewal is based on a request for proposal that was submitted. This resolution will approve a contract for the banking services for Regions Bank for custody and deposit of county funds for the period upon execution through the end of this fiscal year, June 30 of 2027. And it has an option to renew for two additional one-year periods. And this amount will not exceed $400,000 and the payments will not be based on an invoice but based on a compensating balance. So it will basically be paid for by the funds that we will have at the Regents Bank over a period of time. Pursuant to the contract, payment for services again would be deducted from the county bank reserves. This contract again provides for the banking services that we are required to have and the trustee is required to have these at the start of a new trustee term. This is the start of a new trustee term being me, Joseph Lee, and I respectfully request approval of this item. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Commissioner Sugarman?

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I just have a few questions. I was going through the documents and this was out for bid, is that correct?

Yes, Commissioner Sugarman, yes, ma'am.

Okay. And so I guess this is maybe a question for the purchasing department because I was going through here and I did not see a scorecard.

We do have a scorecard that's available. Since you mentioned that, I will go ahead and say that we only had two respondents for the bid. The respondents were First Horizon Corp and Regions Bank. The total score was Regions 93 and First Horizons 88. We had six scores, and these are finance professionals that were on the evaluation team. I was not on that evaluation team, but we did have six very strong financial competent reviewers that was on the team. And also I should tell you that the proposed cost for regions was $369,000. And First Horizons was 427,000. And, of course, we're requesting not to exceed 400,000. So Regions was head and shoulders above First Horizons. We did not get any other respondents.

Okay. And so a question for Parliamentary. Isn't it part of our rules that the scorecards be in our system so we can look at it for ourselves? And the next question, there were any nonresponsive... Were there any non-responsive vendors? I guess that's for the purchasing department. Is there anybody from purchasing here?

Good morning, commissioners. James Gloss, the administrator of the purchasing. For this particular bid, there were not any vendors deemed non-responsive.

Okay. And whose responsibility is it to put in Granicus or on board, on base, the scorecards and all the documents necessary?

James Gloss Administrator, the person, the department. The person department provides all the documents to the department to load into on base.

Okay. Can you please provide that for all the commissioners?

Go ahead. Okay.

I'm Leslie Panna with the trustee's office.

I'm not staying on. There it goes. I'm Leslie Panna with the trustee's office. The scorecard is actually in your documents. It's part of the mayor's approval and purchasing approval. I believe it's one of the exhibits in exhibit one, I believe, in your documents. The scorecard is in that document.

Okay. Thank you. I see it now. Okay. And so the next question, is there an urgency? I'm just wondering, okay, as far as the contract goes, is there a sense of urgency? And if so, what is that urgency?

Yes, ma'am. There is a sense of urgency. First of all, the previous contract ended on June the 30th, and we came back to the body of the county commission for approval for a 90-day extension. And therefore, it's important that we have this contract executed prior to October 1st so we can have continuation of services and that's very critical because of course we deal with millions of dollars on an annual basis at quite frankly billions of dollars that flow through cumulatively across the year. So this is very important.

Okay, and so I don't know if my time is expired or not. I don't see the time, but I have one last question. And this is for the banker. The question is, as far as community service and giving back to our communities, I know that the former trustees sent us a list, and I just want to know going forward, what is the banker, as far as community service, give back, especially since they're the only banker for the Shelby County government?

Okay, we're going to be joined by Blake Elliott, who's one of the corporate executives for Regions Bank. He's a senior VP with Commercial Banking and Lending. Mr. Elliott, you can reply to that question.

Sure. Commissioner Sugarmon. Blake Elliott with Regions Bank. I lead our commercial banking efforts for regions in Memphis and West Tennessee. And to answer your question about community service, we have logged in the last year nearly 2,400 volunteer hours by our associates. Of those hours, about 1,500 of them were in areas of homebuyer counseling and financial education for youth and adults. partnering with 27 different organizations across Shelby County. Our bank staff volunteered about 45 hours to support the VITA initiative providing free tax preparation services for low to moderate income individuals in Memphis. Few other examples included 489 hours of board service for 13 different nonprofit organizations. And then in terms of financial commitment, I have a number of examples as well. $9.8 million in the current period for low to moderate income housing tax credit investments for the creation of 60 units of affordable housing in Shelby County. $2.3 million current period allocation to finance a small business. $2.4 million current period investment in a local CDFI focusing on financing affordable housing. Three donations, $115,000 each to an organization providing free tax assistance to low to moderate income households. Two donations totaling $200,000 to an organization providing job training to low to moderate income individuals. I could state more, but Regions is very committed to this community. And we do give back in a very broad sense through a number of organizations, both through our associates time and volunteer and board service hours, as well as through financial commitment to the community.

Thank you so much. I just sent us a copy. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. And, Commissioners, if you would, I'd like Mr. Elliott just briefly to introduce his team that's joining him today. Absolutely.

Sure. If you'll just stand as a part of our team, I have J.P. Hickey. J.P. Hickey is the Commercial Banking Relationship Manager responsible for the Shelby County Government Relationship. Mary Gillum actually works in the day-to-day operations for any treasury management needs, depository needs for the county. Audrey Derone is our treasury management specialist. She works to implement treasury management services for the county. And then Rashera Jackson supports her as a treasury analyst as well, also working on all of the treasury functions for all aspects of county government. And all of our associates are here in Memphis working out of the Memphis office, so it is a local team that's supporting the county.

Thank you. Commissioner Brooks.

Thank you, and good morning. Just a couple of questions, and congratulations, Mr. Trustee Lee. I am happy to be a co-sponsor on this piece of legislation. Just a couple of questions here, and I appreciate you sharing your community benefit contribution. We appreciate that, I'm sure. One of the things that concerns me The first thing has to do with small business lending. So I'm not sure if that was on the scorecard or do you have a separate scorecard for that? Can you share some information about your small business lending? Just so that we'll know whether or not you are doing small business lending.

Oh, absolutely. Yes, ma'am. So my team consists of seven relationship managers for regions in this area. Three of those relationship managers are committed to serving the small business space, which we would deem businesses between $5 million and $20 million in annual revenues. We also have a channel through our branch network where we have over 40 branches in Shelby County that serves companies with revenues between $1 million and $5 million a year. Additionally, we have an SBA originator in our office, Art Ritchie, is a part of our team and he does nothing but focus on small business administration lending.

Can we be just a little bit more specific? I understand commitment and I understand working on, but can we be more specific in terms of numbers? Can you just take the last year or maybe the last two years and focus in on the number of small business loans that you have have actually been executed?

Sure. Okay. I don't know if I have that data with me today, exactly a number. I'll be glad to provide that to you as a follow-up. Last year in Memphis and Shelby County, we did over $15 million in Small Business Administration guaranteed loans, but we also did a number of loans that were not guaranteed by the Small Business Administration to small businesses. We have a number there as well. Okay.

So if we could share that with the entire body, that would be great. And if you could share that in terms of you can break it down by commission district. or you can break it down by address, but some ways that we can focus in on those demographics. And so let me go back up and say this. I'm not picking on you. No, you're fine. But you all have billions of dollars, right, Mr. Lee? And we've had a long relationship. Sure. And so what I'm looking for, I'm looking for a benefit for the community. If we're going to continue this partnership, I think it should be a win-win for both sides. Okay. Sure. So just two more things. Sure. I got 10 minutes, 10 seconds. In terms of benefits, what about consumer friendly products and specialized checking accounts? And of course specialized checking accounts would help us in terms of increasing taxes. So do you all have anything that looks like what I just said?

I'm not exactly sure I understand the question about specialized checking accounts.

I'm out of time. I'll get back in queue and we can come back. Okay. Thank you.

And just so it's clear for the team and new commissioners, because we are in transition, those that were a part of leading committees, I'm serving as ex officio for the committees until the new officers have been named, just so that it's clear for everyone. Okay. Commissioner Brooks, would you like to be recognized again?

Thank you. So, when we talk about friendly, consumer-friendly financial products, again, maybe no fee checking accounts in certain areas that we know have been historically poverty-stricken, those kinds of things. And then free checking accounts, low banking fees, just a benefit for the community as a whole, which, on the banking side, which would lower the taxes and increase... money for us. And then I just provide goodwill for the bank and then show that we have a two-way working partnership.

Sure. And just to make sure I'm clear, you're talking about consumer checking accounts for residents in Shelby County, correct?

Consumer checking accounts for residents in Shelby County. Right. That's where you're located. Yes, ma'am. Okay. You have all of our money. Yes. Sure, absolutely. All of our accounts are deposited with your bank. So again, we go back, we have consumer checking accounts, looking at small business loans and incentives, particularly in Shelby County. And I'm focusing in on, I know you know how there's a struggle with small businesses here in Shelby County. So what are we doing, Regents, to number one, comply with CRA. Yes, ma'am. And then number two, just be a good partner.

Absolutely. So great question. And I understand exactly where you're coming from. Regions, first of all, our branch network is 41 branches across Shelby County. We are in all aspects of the entire county. We are everywhere. We are not just on Poplar Avenue and We're in South Memphis, North Memphis, Frayser. We're in Arlington. We're in Collierville. We're in East Memphis and Midtown and downtown and everywhere in between. So we do have a commitment to the community and to serve all of Shelby County. I think that's been demonstrated by our long history here in all of those locations. In reaching out to the community, we cannot provide... free checking accounts for any particular census tract. That's actually not legal for us to do in certain areas. So we have to provide a broad spectrum of financial services to communities, whether you're in a wealthier community or not. That being said, we do have a wide array of accounts that do not have fees. We offer direct deposit, we offer free online banking, mobile banking on a phone that is at no cost whatsoever. All of those services are complimentary for our customers. There's also services for people who are trying to build their credit score. We actually have a program in our branches called a green print where we walk through what is the most suitable product and service for a particular customer. I hope that helps.

That does, and I'm out of time, so maybe we can talk offline because I want to see how some of the other community benefits show up. Thank you.

Commissioner Billingsley?

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I'd like to call the question.

Second.

Can we do that without objection? Seeing none, please prepare the screen for a vote. Please report the tally.

Thank you.

We have aye votes from Commissioners O'Dell, Mills, Dial, Billingsley, Avant, Canswell, Brooks, Richardson, Streeter, Rudd, Sugarman, Hewitt, Garcia. We have 12 aye votes.

This item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Parliamentary in item two.

Item two is a resolution approving vendor contracts for consulting services related to the trustees tax collection system for project management services with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, PLLC in an amount not to exceed $277,500 and FinHealth LLC in an amount not to exceed $91,200. Both contracts will commence upon execution and continue through June 30, 2027 with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods. The Mergers Acquisitions Divestitures PLLC contract will be expended against the Capital Improvement Program, CIP Funds, and FinHealth LLC will be expended against Trustee General Fund. These items require the expenditure of CIP Funds in a total amount not to exceed $277,500 and Trustee General Funds in a total amount not to exceed $91,200. Sponsored by Sharewoman Shante K. Avant, Commissioner Henry E. Brooks, and Commissioner Erica Sugarman.

I have a motion by Commissioner Sugarman and a second by Commissioner O'Dell. Trustee Lee?

Thank you, Chairwoman Avent and Commissioners. Joseph Lee, Shelby County Trustee, 157 Poplar. We are requesting approval of a resolution for vendor contracts for our Trustee Tax Collection System. Again, this contract is a continuation of services with mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, PLLC and Fan Health LLC. This contract is not to exceed $368,700 cumulatively, and these professional services are important to us as we continue to enhance and build out new modules in our current property tax collection system. In fact, as of the 15th of this month, that would be the first year that we've been on the new system. The system thus far has served us well. If you recall, we've collected current year taxes for the last, the 2025 year. We collected 97.69% of those current year taxes, and we're continuing to do that. And that was done on the new tax system. So we're requesting these funds so that we can continue that effort on behalf of the citizens of Shelby County. Thank you.

Seeing no commissioners in the queue, please prepare this. Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I just have a few questions again for Persing. I see the RFP and I was wondering if there were any non-responsive.

James Gloss, Administrator Perkinson, for this particular RFQ, no one was non-responsive, deemed non-responsive. Thank you.

And I'll be asking you throughout this session, so stick around. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Chair. Please prepare the screen for a vote.

Please report the vote.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Odell, Mills, Dial, Billingsley, Casswell, Richardson, Streeter, Rudd, Sugarman, Hewitt-Garcia. We have 10 aye votes.

This item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Parliamentarian, please read item three.

Madam Chair, may I request? We did have a short three-minute presentation. We can do it now or at the next opportunity. It was just an overview of the Shelby County Trustee's Office.

We have a pretty lengthy agenda with the interviews today, so if we could schedule that for part of our discussion at the next meeting.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Item three is... Oh, let me read the original version. Okay, item three is a resolution creating a special revenue fund and appropriating funds for the sexual offender registry created pursuant to tenancy code annotated section 40-39-201. This item requires the expenditure of Shelby County Sheriff's Office special revenue funds in the amount of $15,000 sponsored by Commissioner Erica Sugarman. This item does not meet requirements of the permanent rules.

I have a motion by Commissioner Sugarman, a second by Commissioner Hewitt-Garcia. We will need a motion to suspend the rule. So moved. I have a motion by Commissioner Sugarman. Second. A second by Commissioner O'Dell. Can we do that without objection? Okay. I think there's a substitute before us for this item. Parliamentarian?

The proposed substitute for item 3 reads resolution to amend the fiscal year 2027 operating budget to expend special revenue funds in the amount of $15,000 from proceeds of revenue generated from sexual offender fees. This item requires the appropriation and expenditure of fiscal year 2027 special revenue funds in the amount of $15,000. Sponsored by Commissioner Erica Sugarman and Commissioner Rhonda O'Dell.

Okay. Is there a motion to accept, well, is there, does the substitute meet the permit rules?

There is a rule pertaining to substitutes. It's item 6C, and it states that if an item poses an amendment or a substitute, a marked-up copy that clearly delineates what was changed from the previous version shall be provided. The marked-up summary shall reflect when the change was made and who was seeking the change. Microsoft Word's review feature or similar tracking method should be used. We could just...

I'll make a motion to suspend the rules.

I have a motion by Commissioner Sugarman. Second. A second by Commissioner O'Dell. Can we do that without objection? Is there a way that we can have the marked-up coffee?

Yes.

And you can email that to commissioners so they can see the change. Done without objection.

Done without objection. All right.

CA Lindsay. Thank you, Chairwoman Avent. Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Basically, the entire document was struck and a new document was created that I'm happy to provide. a red line version to you guys. So the purpose of the item is to amend the fiscal year 2027 operating budget to provide In order to amend and appropriate $15,000 of recurring special revenue funds for the sexual offender registry, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office receives special revenue funds from offenders annually. And of that money, we send $50 to the TBI and the other $100 we keep for the purpose to operate that program. And so in fiscal year 26, this body, via resolution, created that special revenue fund. Unfortunately, we weren't able to include it in the fiscal year 2027 operating budget, which is why this resolution is necessary. So the Shelby County Sheriff's Office recommends approval of this item, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Commissioner O'Dell. Good morning, Chief Lindsay. Thank you. Do we need to push this to the heel of the meeting? No, we're good?

We're good. No, we're good. I was waiting on staff. There was a last-minute change this morning, and the warrant paragraph was missing from the body of the resolution, and staff has now passed out that copy. So you have everything. So thank you for your indulgence. Thank you.

Seeing no other commissioners in the queue, please prepare the screen for a vote. Please report the vote.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Odell, Mills, Dio, Billingsley, Cantwell, Brooks, Richardson, Streeter, Rudd, Klaibib, Sugarman, Hewlett-Garcia. We have 12 aye votes.

That item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Parliamentarian, please read Item 4, which is an add-on.

Item 4 is an add-on item. Item 4 is a resolution to amend the FY27 budget to appropriate an amount not to exceed $6,134,386.81 in County Clerk Special Revenue Funds for the Stabilization, Modernization, and Operational Improvement of the Shelby County Clerk's Office, excluding County Clerk Electronic Data Processing Fund 10010-255. and for related purposes. Sponsored by Commissioner Shante K. Avant.

I have a motion by Commissioner Sugarman, second by myself, Chair Avant. Dr. Hall, would you like to present on this item, please? Good morning, Commissioners.

I am Dr. Lasagna Hall, your newly elected Shelby County Clerk. Chairwoman Avant, thank you so much for allowing us to speak with you today. Commissioners, it's my pleasure to be before you. Chairman Avon, thank you for your steady leadership and your continued service to Shelby County. And to our newly elected commissioners, congratulations. I look forward to working collaboratively with each of you. We may serve in different roles, but we share the same constituents and the same responsibility and that is to move Shelby County forward. Before I begin my quick remarks, I would like to introduce to my right Dr. Nicole Austin, who will serve as my chief administrative officer, and Candace Wright, who will serve as our special revenue officer. And we have team members in the back. We are committed to making sure that the county clerk's office is reimagined and that we provide optimal services. My team and I have now completed our first week as your county clerk, and I come before you with a straightforward request. Allow us to responsibly reinvest legally available county clerk special revenue funds into stabilizing and modernizing the office that serves the people of Shelby County. The resolution before you requests an appropriation not to exceed $6,134,386.81 from special revenue funds $287,000. 286 and 278. Let me emphasize that this is not, this is a ceiling. It is not a spending target. Every expenditure must address a demonstrated need, be legally permissible from the applicable revenue source, and comply with Shelby County's financial and internal control requirements. During our first week, commissioners, my team and I visited each of the county clerk locations. We began assessing the operation as it actually exists. We found aging technology and equipment, inconsistent processes, customer service challenges, and opportunities to strengthen financial and inventory controls. But we also discovered something that demands immediate attention. There are 34 crates of unprocessed automobile dealer packets, which include 260 packets. So when you're looking at the 34 crates, in those are 260 packets. These are... When we talk about wait times at the county clerk's office, we usually think about the lines that you can see, the citizens standing in our lobbies. But these 34 crates represent a completely different line. They represent an invisible line. These are citizens who purchased new vehicles or used vehicles through dealerships and may never walk into our offices. but they are waiting. They're waiting for their titles, they're waiting for their registrations, they're waiting for their tags. Their line may be invisible to us, but their weight is very real. That is why this backlog is not simply a paperwork problem, and not a dealership problem, but it's a customer service problem. And we are going to address it. Our approach is simple, stabilize, strengthen, and modernize. The exhibits before you, and each of you have them, identify both the legal use framework and the modernization priorities for these special revenue funds. For every proposed expenditure, we will ask, is it necessary? Is it legally eligible? Will it measurably improve service? If the answer is no, we should not spend the money. We've talked to the county finance department and we've decided not to include the EDP electronic data processing in this request because we have intentionally wanted to make sure that our discussions with the county finance team, information technology, and county attorney has had before we come before you. Commissioners, modernization cannot simply mean buying new equipment. It must mean building stronger systems. So we need to know what we have, where it is, and who's responsible for it. We need stronger reconciliation, inventory controls, transaction accountability, and management reporting, because speed without accountability is not modernization. If you approve this appropriation today, you should expect measurable results. You should see the dealer backlog decline. You should see stronger financial and inventory controls, and you should see more reliable technology and improved transaction processing. Most importantly, our citizens should spend less time waiting for government to work, whether they are standing in a line we can see or waiting in a line that we cannot. This is not simply a request to spend money. It is a request to responsibly put existing county clerk resources to work. for the people that we are intending to serve. Our commitment is modernized service, stronger systems. I respectfully ask for your support of this resolution. Please give us the tools, hold us accountable for the results, and let us work together to move Shelby County forward. Thank you, Chairwoman Avant, and thank you, Commissioners.

Thank you, Dr. Hall. A lot to absorb for one week of work. Appreciate you taking the time to explain in detail. We do have commissioners in queue. Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And congratulations on your win, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Commissioner. And I'm excited about this Chick-fil-A service. Yes, ma'am. And so as you went through and saw all the antiquated systems and processes that we've seen, as well as commissioners who visit on a regular basis. address complaints. I think it's a breath of fresh air. I have a few questions. With the $6 billion that you're going to assess the process, the procedures, and look at the outcomes, I was just wondering also, are you going to look at the kiosk? Because a lot of people have been saying, we would love the convenience of going to the grocery store, et cetera, et cetera, to be able to renew our titles and things like that. And then the next question I have as far as A timeline. When do you think that you'll be able to assess and analyze and go through and make recommendations? And then last, I would like for you to come back at the end of the fiscal year and give us an update.

Absolutely. Kiosk, that was something I campaigned on, and we are already looking. In fact, we have a meeting at 1 o'clock today with the I3 vertical team. which is the company that manages the kiosk all over the state. So we're meeting today from 1 until the afternoon and then in the morning. So we are committed to ensuring that kiosks are distributed throughout. And we'll just say in each of your districts, we're going to make sure that we place kiosks all throughout the county so that it does create better access and efficiency. Your second question was regarding timeline. So we do have a timeline. This is the first of our 180 day timeline. The first thing we need to do, though, is get money in place so that we can hire consultants. I've campaigned on a Lean Six Sigma model. In order to have that, we have to have money to hire those kinds of consultants and experts to come in and look at our workflow. So that is a part of our larger 180-day timeline, and we've already got that embedded in there. And I'm going to do you one better, Commissioner Sugarman. We're not going to wait until the end of the fiscal year to come and report. We fully anticipate bringing you a quarterly report of our progress. And you'll see on our website and our social media channels, we're going to put performance metrics, because we want to demonstrate to all the commissioners our commitment to accountability and transparency. So we'll be making sure that we post where we found ourselves on day one, 901, but then we will start to then track the progress that we're making. Yes, ma'am.

Commissioner O'Dell.

Claire Call. I stepped out of the room for a minute, so I'm not sure if we've already addressed this, but happy birthday. Oh, thank you.

What a wonderful way to spend it with you all today.

Yes, yes. That's all I have.

Thank you.

Commissioner Billingsley.

Dr. Hall, thank you so much for your report today. Typically, I would object to an add-on, especially for $6.1 million. But what you are addressing is an emergency that this county has had for eight years. And I just want to make a couple observations. Your report was led with transparency, candor, passion. addressing a systemic issue that has really hurt our taxpayers. And as someone who recently bought a car, the frustration of having to go back and go back to the auto dealer because they weren't being processed. I'm very sad and disappointed to hear you're dealing with the amount of back issues that you're having to deal with. But I really appreciate your sense of urgency. I appreciate your measurable results, the controls you're putting in place. And this is how government ought to operate. And I'm just so grateful for you and your department. As a customer who's come in and out at different times, I've just said over and over, this can be better. And with the diligence and the timeliness that you're doing, it's incredible. Thank you. So I'm so glad to support this item today. and job well done already as you begin a very difficult process. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. And if I may, Chairwoman, just to add for the record that this special revenue fund does not reflect a tax increase. This is not a fee increase. These are funds that are already in our coffers, and it doesn't affect the fund balance. So we are being very mindful of the overall financial health of the county. And we're being partners in that process. So I just want to make sure that that's also stated. Dr. Hall, thank you so much. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Commissioner Caswell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Dr. Hall. Happy birthday. Thank you. And I just, again, congratulations on the win. Again, appreciate your expedience to get in there and found out what we need to do to move the clerk's office forward. I know I spoke with you, and that's one of the things, just all what we have done, we've dealt with the last few years to talk about just that office in and of itself. I was just wondering, as a new clerk there, are you looking to do a financial audit of that office to see where you are?

Well thank you for that question Commissioner Caswell and that is why I have Candace Wright who many of you may know Dr. Austin because she's worked in support services. Candace brings a wealth of knowledge from the finance arm of the county and so we will be looking at all of our fiscal controls. We're actually looking at them now. We're looking at all of our revenue streams. And we're taking account of the audits that have already been produced previously. So we will use that as our baseline, but then we will rely on Candace's expertise to determine whether or not we need an additional audit on top of that that we've already received. All right.

Thank you. And I appreciate that. And just thinking about how we're moving forward with this, I know you made it pretty clear. I thank you for what you just addressed about where the dollars come from because the people out there, they hear $6 million and they know where we are in trying to make sure this cash flow is where we need to go. Could you just say again like the fees, where these dollars came from and how they just connected to your office and this is not money that can just come to the general fund. Absolutely.

So these are funds when you conduct business with the county clerk's office, you are typically paying a fee. So if it's for your title, if it's for your business license, if it's for your marriage license, you pay a certain amount of money. Built within that charge is a fee that then rolls back to the county clerk by state statute. This is not something, and let me be clear, this is not something that the county clerk established. This is by state statute. funds that can be assessed on those transactions, and they, by law, are supposed to be rolled into a special revenue account. And so there are multiple streams of revenue accounts for driver's license, for titling, for business license, for insurance. And so that is the fund that we are pulling from. We are not pulling from the county's general operating budget. Okay. All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Thank you.

Commissioner Clay Bibbs. Thank you, Madam Chair. Welcome, Dr. Hall. Thank you, Commissioner. I'm so excited to be able to see you in this role. I know the wealth of knowledge you bring to this role. My question today is, because it wasn't addressed, but I know that you're looking at all of the things. For me, it's also... We had a lot of chatter and fodder around locations and what your offices look like. So can you kind of walk us through what you're going to do regarding locations? Like, you know, there was a lot of back and forth around rent being paid, all of the things.

So thank you, Commissioner Clay Bibbs. So currently, the county clerk's offices are located in Millington. We have an office off of Austin Peay in the Raleigh community. We have one in, we have our Mullen station. We have one in Whitehaven. We have the downtown. And then we have one. District 11. In Riverdale. Thank you. District 11. How did I forget? I should have started with Riverdale. So we have six locations. And our complement currently, our personnel complement, is 104 people. So if you can imagine trying to staff six locations with 104 people to provide titling, to provide tag issuance, marriage licenses, business licenses, it is a heavy task for a small group of people. Our satellite offices out in Millington and Riverdale and Austin Peay and Whitehaven have anywhere between three and four people working five days a week all day. We don't have a lot of floaters and so we are trying to, and these are our observations, and so we will possibly be coming back to look at how do we improve our staffing, our personnel complement, but one thing we can do is improve the technology. And so we're hoping that that will help us with the staffing. So you mentioned the locations. We are already negotiating and renegotiating leases for Millington, our Whitehaven location, and our Austin Peay. Those leases we found were either expiring very soon or we don't have a lease. So we are already on top of that, working to do that. We have heard from the community in Germantown that they want that location back. We've heard from a lot of citizens that they want the Poplar Highland location, which is centrally located. So we have gotten that feedback from citizens across the county. We will be challenged in order to open up new brick and mortar sites with staffing. It is just supply and demand. We just really right now can't entertain a new building. But we can, to Commissioner Sugarman's point, put technology, the kiosks, in those communities, thereby providing access for citizens all across the county until we can revisit what we do about a brick-and-mortar solution.

Thank you for that. In my last 20 seconds, just when you come back, when you mentioned staffing, that always was another question that we often had around what was the number of people who have been hired, what was the number of openings, and really paying attention to what's the hiring cycle around that. We'd love to. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Commissioner Richardson?

Thank you, Madam Chair, and congratulations. I know everybody said it, but it's always good to hear that when You worked so hard to get to where you are. Thank you. And I remember on the campaign trail when we were talking about the importance of really dealing with the issues that we had before us. Yes. And to see that you're here today with a lot of those issues already being addressed and having a game plan that addresses those issues is truly exciting. And I know it gives the constituents really a lot of relief knowing they voted for the right person to be in this position in this season. My question is, of course, with the backlogging that you have at the other facilities, What will be your game plan as it relates to staffing and getting that addressed and still delivering the services that our people need in the community?

So that's a really good question. And the answer is, you know, we are already looking at ways to address the backlog. And so the same 104 people that I shared with you, we're having to reinvest their work requirements. So we're looking at perhaps working on weekends, but that requires overtime. So we have to make sure that we're balancing our financials with the needs of the community. So we are contemplating a once a month diversion of our employees so that they focus on the auto dealer backlog. And so we will not close. That is not a word that we will be using. But what we will do is take our employees who are processing the in-person line divert them on a specific day and perhaps we're looking at next Wednesday to have them specifically focus on the motor vehicle backlog. There are several reasons that this is good economic development. We all understand that it generates more revenue because we now have packets with cash, not cash, checks and or credit transactions waiting to be processed. So that money is not captured in our revenue right now. But it also assures citizens who are sending their kids to college that they don't have to go to college with those paper tags. So it's a safety issue. And from our law enforcement, it actually helps law enforcement now actively stop folks for the right reasons and not for the wrong reasons.

That's very refreshing. And, you know, like I said, I'm super excited to be working with you. And, yeah, happy birthday.

Commissioner Hewitt-Garcia.

Thank you. Good morning. Welcome. My first comment is welcome and congratulations. Thank you. From the 11th floor, the 6th floor. Thank you. Looking forward to working with you. Everybody has praised you in the way that I'd like to praise you for this effort. I do have one specific question. Sure. In that audit, you mentioned consultants. and that controls piece, is it going to be, is part of that process, is there going to be an official audit and will you have any estimate of what recovered funds are, whether it's people who have delayed getting tags or maybe been charged something, maybe there have been system errors. Will there be some sort of total of what revenue was generated for Shelby County by investing in that modernization?

Commissioner, I will commit to making sure that we are transparent in our findings. So we will, after today and after Monday, after this is approved, we will reconvene and figure out what our next steps should be. But we are using the most recent audit that was conducted as our baseline. And then if we conduct another audit, we'll be sure to bring all of those findings before you. Many of you know I campaigned on efficiency, transparency, and accountability. So we have to be as transparent as we possibly can be. So you will hear as we learn those findings because we ultimately want to improve all of those things for citizens.

I appreciate that. And for you and the rest of the listening public, urgency is my love language. So thank you. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Thank you. Commissioner Dowell. I just wanted to say congratulations. Thank you. My fellow commissioners have already addressed some of my questions. I'm anxious for those crates to be gone through because there's probably a packet with my name on it in that from purchasing a car in the month of June. Yes, ma'am. So I am very encouraged by your strong start. Yes, ma'am. You have hit the ground running with a positive trajectory of the business at hand. Yes, ma'am. And I commend you for that. Thank you. Happy birthday.

Thank you.

Dr. Hall, I think that's all of the commissioners in the queue. I want to echo what others have said, which is we're really excited that you are in the position because any of us who have been on this body, know well your body of work and that usually when people need something cleaned up, you're the person that they call. And so I'm glad that the citizens of Shelby County have realized what a jewel they'll have in you in this position. I think my one, if anyone has their microphone. if you could turn it off. Dr. Hall, just if you could share maybe even in the next 180-day plan because you have this special revenue fund that you're able to do a lot of the modernization. what the plan will be if there's a spend down of X amount of those dollars. I know we didn't share what that amount is, but I think you said this is only 25% of what's even in the special revenue fund. So we would just like to know how, if there is some revenue that you'll be keeping over the next couple of years to address things as they come along. Right. maybe just what the spend down plan would be for that special revenue fund.

So we're working with the county finance team as well as the county attorney's office on the understanding of how these revenue funds are collected and the authority with which we have. to access those funds. So we will start with this tranche, recognizing that this is a one-time, so we don't want to put, and we have to be careful about putting salaries and salary increases because those have recurring implications. So we will be strategically looking for things that we can purchase and access that are one-time so that we get the best value, the best bang for the buck. As it relates to additional revenue that we are generating, we will continue those discussions with the finance team to make sure that we're all lock and step. Ultimately, we want to protect the county's assets. We want to protect the county's financial position. So we will be willing partners, and that is something that I've committed to with the finance team, the mayor's administration, as well as this body.

Thank you. Like Commissioner Dow, I'll patiently wait for my tag that's somewhere in that crate. for the car that I purchased also in June as I went to go get another drive-out tag the other day. So appreciate. I'm patiently waiting because I know it's going to get done. So we appreciate the diligence that you've taken in one week on the job to assess the needs of the county. So, Commissioner Caswell?

Yes, I would like to be added as a sponsor. Second.

I have a motion by Commissioner Caswell, a second by Commissioner Sugarman. Can I do that without objection? Seeing none, so moved. Please prepare the screen for a vote. Please report the vote.

We have I-votes from Commissioners Odell, Mills, Dio, Billingsley, Avant, Caswell, Brooks, Richardson, Streeter, Rudd, Claybeb, Sugarman, Huey-Garcia. We have 13 I-votes.

This item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you. Commissioner Sugarman, if you'd like to call to order law enforcement.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thought you were going to do all of them. We're sharing. Okay. Let's call and order the next committee, law enforcement.

Chair, may I have a moment of personal privilege? Yes, you may. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Before we start our committee, I just wanted to remind everyone that this Friday, September 11th, we will take a few moments to remember the events of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2, the Pentagon, and the heroes on board Flight 93. This is 25 years later. We should realize that anyone younger than about 26 or 27 years old don't get teary-eyed and get that feeling in the pit of your stomach. or have ever heard the unusual sound of no planes in the air. Many citizens in Shelby County may not know this, but our very own Tennessee Task Force One deployed 71 members consisting of doctors, nurses, canine search teams, heavy equipment rescue techs, firemen, and hazmat specialists to the Pentagon. They arrived at the Pentagon on the morning of September 19th, 2001, after an 858 mile drive from Memphis with a 16 vehicle convoy. When they arrived, they could see the debris still burning and the smoke still rising from the ashes. They spent nine days on site shoring up damaged structural elements, searching through wreckage, recovering victims, and supporting the multi-agency public safety group. A patriot from District 1, Millington School Board member and retired Memphis firefighter Cody Childress was a member of that Tennessee Task Force 1 team. Cody has never sought recognition for his bravery and service, but he is an American patriot and I thank him and the 70 other heroes of Tennessee Task Force 1 that sacrificed that day for all of us Americans. I'd also like to thank Mayor Lowry for what he has planned to honor 9-11. And I ask each of you to join me in a moment of silence as we honor all the Americans we lost on 9-11. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner O'Dell. And I'm sure we can all remember where we were. I was in the classroom. I had 30-something kids looking at me and didn't know what to say. And so I'm sure all of us can remember where we were at that time. And so thank you, Commissioner, for remembrance, especially those that are locally but throughout who experienced individuals who have been impacted. And that is something that we shall never forget. Thank you. Okay, so again, I would like to call the order. Committee number four, law enforcement. Parliamentarian, please read number one into the record.

Item 1 is a resolution approving a contract between Shelby County Government and Landmark Construction and Emergency Services for the purchase of two contract welders for 12 weeks for the main jail located at 201 Poplar and jail east located at 6201 Haley Road on behalf of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office in the amount not to exceed $117,120. This item requires the expenditure of fiscal year 2027 Shelby County Sheriff's Office general funds in the amount not to exceed $117,120. Sponsored by Commissioner Erica Sugarman.

Thank you so much. And we have a comment card, but if you would like to speak before, state your name and position for the record. This item has been moved by myself and is seconded by Commissioner O'Dell. Would you like to speak first or would you like to wait after this comment card?

I can wait after the comment card. Okay, thank you.

Okay, and we have Wheeler. Okay. Spickler? Two? Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Please state your name and position for the record, and you may begin.

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Thank you, Chairwoman Sugarman. I have with me Mr. Matt Robinson. He's our Jail Maintenance Manager. So the item before you, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office is requesting approval for a contract with the Landmark Construction and Emergency Services in an amount not to exceed $117,120 for 12 weeks for two welders for both of our facilities, 201 Poplar and 6201 Haley. welders to work on repairing various items at those two locations. The services are necessary to address immediate safety, security, and facility maintenance needs within the two detention facilities operated by the Sheriff's Office. The welders are needed to perform various variety of projects including installing ligature and resistance shower hooks, making welding repairs, installing metal windows, protectors, securing desks and stools, walls, constructing needing desks, fabricating or repairing other metal items throughout the facilities. Some of these repairs have become necessary because of the vandalism and damage within the facilities. Damaged and unsecured fixtures can create potential damage hazards for both detainees and employees and Addressing these items are important to maintaining the health and safety and security and welfare of everyone within our facilities the Shelby County Sheriff's Office submitted an emergency justification to our County Purchasing Office and based upon these reasons. The purchasing department approved the emergency procurement on July 8th. A purchase order was subsequently issued on July 13th. And pursuant to the purchasing policies, regulation RR200, it permits the purchasing department to issue the emergency purchase orders. But the rules require that we must bring the resolution before you to ratify the purchase and approve the contract. So that's why we're before you. And Mr. Robinson can address any other contextual or technical issues or questions that you may have. But the Shelby County Sheriff's Office recommends approval of this item. Matt, do you have anything you want to add? So we're happy to answer any questions that you may have at this time.

Thank you. And we have Commissioner O'Dell in the queue. Commissioner.

Good morning. I would like to make a motion to amend this resolution as a scribbler's error. In the caption, we need to remove the words, the purchase of. We don't purchase individuals, so if we can just remove that error in our caption so that this can remain on the consent agenda if it's approved. Thank you.

Is that a motion?

Yes, that's a motion.

Second. Respectfully, Commissioner, if it's okay with you, we'll just, instead of doing it as a formal motion, we'll just do it as a scrivener's error so it doesn't have to be removed from the consent agenda. Perfect. But that's up to you. That is fine. Thank you, ma'am.

And to the commissioners and the public, I would like to transparently disclose that I work for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office very proudly. I've been advised by the county attorney staff that it's okay for me to vote on this item. Thank you.

Thank you, and that was one of my questions, but I see Commissioner Richardson in the queue. Commissioner Richardson.

Thank you, Chairwoman. Will Richardson. I just wanted to ask the question about the actual cost. It's $117,000, and that's for two welders over 12 weeks, which roughly breaks down to about $2,400 a week in pay. Did we look at other avenues or... Was there a lower cost available in this matter, or how did we come up to the agreement of adherence to this amount?

Matthew Robinson, General Management Manager for the Sheriff's Office. I sent out three bid requests to three vendors, and if I'm not mistaken on this one, only Landmark replied back to the quote request.

I know we also have a maintenance team on staff. Is our maintenance team not equipped to do welding at all? And if not, then can we look further to getting those people in that building who are willing to be certified to do these jobs that may lower our costs as well?

Matthew Robinson, jail maintenance manager for the sheriff's office. I have one welder on staff, but he cannot handle the workload that we have right now.

So this person that's a welder on staff will be in conjunction with the other two welders to assist in this matter? Yes, sir. Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. And that's a good point is to maybe we have, you know, tuition reimbursement available. I know the Sheriff's Department also looks at helping individuals with not only tuition but as well as trade. And maybe that's something that we can do, expand certification on our staff. As we go forward, as people know, we are in a situation where we have a tight budget. We have a lot of people on payroll. We're top heavy, so maybe that's something you all can consider going forward. Thank you, Commissioner, for pointing that out. Next, we have Commissioner Mills.

Good morning. I am Commissioner Mills. I am also an employee of the Sheriff's Office and have been authorized to vote on this for disclosure.

Thank you so much. And seeing no other Commissioners in the queue, let's take this item down for a vote. Can we have a tally?

We have aye votes from Commissioners O'Dell, Mills, Dio, Billingsley, Avon, Caswell, Richardson, Streeter, Clay Bibbs, Sugarman, Huey-Garcia, Commissioner Rudd, Epstein. We have 11 ayes, 1 Epstein.

Thank you. This item goes down with the recommendation. Parliamentarian, please read item number 2 into the record.

Item 2 is a resolution to approve a contract between Shelby County Government and Wexford Health Sources, Inc. for the provision of health care services to inmates and detainees for the Shelby County Jail, Shelby County Division of Corrections, SCDC, and the Youth Education and Justice Center, YJEC, in an annual amount not to exceed $37,982,899 to be prorated for the initial contract term from October 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, and with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods. This item requires the expenditure of FY27 county general funds in an amount not to exceed $18,936,000. $182.25 for services to be provided to all jail and YJEC facilities and FY27 enterprise funds in an annual amount not to exceed $9,550,992. Sponsored by Chairwoman Shante K. Avant and Commissioner Erica Sugarman.

Thank you. And this item has been moved by myself and seconded by Commissioner Caswell. And juvenile court judge Tarek Sugarman is my brother. And I have been informed that I can and I will be voting on this item as well. We do have a speaker. Please state your name and position for the record and you may begin.

Chairwoman Sugarman. Yes.

Yes.

Before they begin, can I, Chairwoman Sugarman, I want to recuse myself on this item out of an abundance of caution. I feel like I should recuse myself. I am the executive director of the Alliance Foundation. While I do not work for Alliance Healthcare Services, and I have a separate board of directors, a separate 501c3, my work day-to-day is to raise money for people with mental health issues. I believe at some point, over the next couple of years, Alliance Healthcare Services may contract with this group potentially as they did with WellPath. So again, Chairman, out of abundance of caution, I'll be recusing myself from discussions or a vote on this item.

Thank you so much for that. Commissioner Caswell, would you like to speak before or after the speaker? Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Good morning. Please state your name and position for the record.

Good morning, Commissioners. Anthony Alexander, Director for Corrections. I have with me Jonathan Russell, the Administrator of Finance for the Division of Corrections, and also Latasha Palmer, who's the Administrator of Healthcare Compliance for Shelby County Government. Again, good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to present this item for your consideration. The contract before you represents one of the county's most important operational responsibilities. providing constitutionally adequate, clinically appropriate, and fiscally responsible healthcare to individuals housed within our detention and correctional facilities. Our recommendation was not based on cost alone. We evaluated the vendor's proposed staffing, clinical approach, ability to provide medical and mental health services across multiple facilities, correctional healthcare experience, and overall capacity to meet the county's operational requirements. We also considered the risk inherent to correctional health care, including staffing, chronic disease, mental health needs, emergency and hospital care, litigation exposure, and continuity of care. Just as importantly, the county is not turning over its responsibility for healthcare to an oversight private contractor. Our healthcare compliance department will continue to independently monitor the clinical indicators, staffing, contract performance, corrective actions, and other areas of compliance. The objective is to establish a partnership in which the vendor provides the healthcare services while Shelby County maintains meaningful accountability and oversight. Based on the evaluation process to propose staffing and service model, the financial proposal, and protections incorporated into the contract, we believe the recommendation before you provides the best overall value to Shelby County while maintaining our obligation to provide appropriate care to the population entrusted to us. Commissioners, with your approval, Shelby County will transition to a new healthcare agreement effective October 1, 2026.

Thank you so much. I'm going to go to the appearance cards first. I have Wheeler, if you come before us and just state your name and zip code for the commission and you may begin.

Good morning. My name is Laramie Wheeler. My zip code is three eight one zero three. I am the communications and advocacy manager at just city and I'm also the vice chair of the newly formed clerk committee that's finally going to be gathering. Um, I have concerns about this contract. Um, For those of you who don't know, Just City runs a bail fund, an expungement program, and a court watch program. And we believe that freedom should be the default, not the exception. Here are some examples of some people that we have paid bail for who all would have been impacted by the healthcare system inside of the jail. A 59 year old with COPD and congestive heart failure. A man who suffers from seizures and recently had a stomach surgery who was not receiving his medication while in jail. an 85-year-old man with heart failure and a leg infection that had entered his bloodstream. He relied on a wheelchair and did not have access to medical care while in custody. And I have also personally sat with someone inside of the jail who had open wounds and was bleeding internally during our visit. He was supposed to be receiving wound care every 24 hours but was not, and he was only given one diaper about every two weeks for his internal bleeding. From just a cursory search, anyone can find that Wexford Health has outcomes very reminiscent of WellPath. Jail deaths, lawsuits, negligence, it's all there. And I know that budgets fluctuate, and I don't know the situation right now, but Medeco, who ranked first in 2023, WAS NOT CHOSEN PARTIALLY BECAUSE OF COSTS AND THEIR COST WAS $36 MILLION. SO I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF WE POTENTIALLY HAD THAT MONEY AND I KNOW THAT MEDICO LIKELY DID NOT BID AND I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THEM HERE IN THE FUTURE. Since 2018, under the care of WellPath, we have failed 68 families. 68 people, all connected to families and communities, have died inside of our jail in the last eight years. Healthcare is a basic human right. Each of those people needed a healthcare provider who could do more than just call 911, and they are your responsibility. And a higher responsibility, I believe, belongs to Commissioners Mills and Odell, since you represent the leadership that is supposed to protect these people. Night nurses not answering sick calls, nurses who don't know what meds they're giving people. I am very concerned about the similarities between Wexford and WellPath. I would love to know what the requirements are because WellPath also met the requirements, as did Wexford, and people have still been dying at a rapid pace. So do you have a mechanism to honor and oversee the outcomes from this provider is my main question. Thank you.

Thank you so much, and thank you for the work that you do. Again, those same sentiments and concerns, I also have those same concerns as well, so thank you. Next up, we have an appearance card from Josh Spickler. Please state your name and zip code for the record.

Thank you, Commissioner. I'm Josh Spickler. I'm at 38103. First, I want to say that I have no problem with the company of Wexford, and I appreciate Director Alexander and his team's work on this, but I do have some concerns as well, like my colleague, about why we can't get more bidders for a contract that is this important. Why does it feel like we don't have a choice? Is it because of the conditions in our jail that are born of years of neglect and mismanagement? Is it because of the inefficiency there? Is it because we don't have an infirmary even though we've been told for a decade that we need one? Is it because we have a culture that can't hold people accountable for use of force even when that results in murder? Why do we think we're gonna get different results from a new healthcare provider when the circumstances otherwise are the same? Again, the public might not know how we got here and how Wexford arrived as our contractor of choice, but let's talk a little bit about Wexford and their recent work in Illinois where a review of 107 deaths in their facilities found nearly 900 mishandled cases, including patients malnourished at death They found that their dementia care was so poor that court monitors compared it to elder abuse. A federal judge ruled that their prison health care in Illinois was unconstitutional and appointed a monitor. They paid $20 million plus in more than 200,000 confidential settlements between 2011 and 2020 in Illinois. And Illinois finally canceled. its $4 billion contract with Wexford last year. So that's Wexford. You know about WellPath, our previous provider, because you've approved multiple costly settlements if you're already on this commission. If you are new to this commission, you will approve some more soon. Wexford and WellPath are two of a small handful of companies that dominate the correctional healthcare industry. and both have long histories of lawsuits and health care failures. So it doesn't feel like a choice sometimes. But I'd suggest that you do have a choice. You can choose to protect our community's most vulnerable. You can choose to ask questions. You can choose to implement oversight. I would encourage you to ask questions of Director Alexander here and the staff of the Sheriff's Office. I believe that they want good results just like you do. And I believe that they know how to get better results. But you have to ask and you have to make the choice. Insist on reports from the contract compliance monitor that Director Alexander just mentioned. Don't let the artificial urgency of this contract distract you. Don't forget what lies beyond its approval, beyond your vote, and that is the lives and well-being of thousands of your constituents who won't have the choice that you have today. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Commissioner Caswell?

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Josh, for sharing that as well. I have the pleasure of serving on the Justice Transition Team for Mayor Lowry to look at things like this in our systems. I know yesterday in our meeting we went deep into how do we correct some of these issues that's happening. Directly, if I may ask, I do have a couple of questions just thinking about First of all, is this for 201 Poplar as well or just the correction center?

So this contract is for the Shelby County Jail East, Shelby County Main Jail, Division of Corrections, and Upe Justice and Education Center.

Okay, and I know that we have had some of our constituents come throughout the year to talk about issues both in 201 Poplar and that jail. My other question is, when we look at the penalty form, could you tell me how many deaths we may have experienced in the last, I guess, three years thereof? and if they were connected to mental health issues that you may know of.

I don't recall if any, so to answer your question first, I think maybe three. I'm not exactly sure if one was related to mental health. I don't believe it was, but I know three, approximately three.

And so I also know that one of the concerns, and it is a very concern when we talk about the ratio, I think at 201 Poplar, I don't know if this is what you deal with at the Pentafolk, two is like one therapist to 1,400 ratio. Is that what we're looking at in this contract?

This contract strengthens, and I don't have the exact number before me, the numbers before me on the staffing. We know the staffing has increased. We were deliberate in making sure that we had more mental health services provided, both at 201 and at Shelby County Division of Corrections, and for Youth Justice and Education Center. So that's something that we have strengthened in this contract. I do not have the exact number. I'll get that for you.

If you get that, I appreciate it. And I appreciate that it is being that that was something that was looked at in this matter. When you when we look at the ideal and I'm sorry to it, I couldn't pull my documents up for some reason, because I wanted to point out something that I thought I saw here. You might can help me that is stated that it was going to be a focus on small businesses. organizations to offer the therapies or therapy, not big, it wasn't something to the effect of a big organization. So I was focused on smaller organizations, which I'm okay with thinking about those small therapies and opportunities and getting those opportunities to serve. Yet, when I think about the continuing occur of many of those people who return back to our community, what is the plan on supporting them as they return back as returning citizens to our community?

Anthony Alexander, Director of Corrections. Yes, sir. So we have discharge planners that will be in place to work with our medical department for those individuals returning back to the community with mental health disorders to work with them to make sure they receive the appropriate medication and counseling upon release. We even try to find proper placement for them upon release. As far as small groups to provide the services, I know that Wexford will provide their own services in the beginning, but they may look at Alliance, you know, depending upon the capacity of the need, they may look at Alliance and other organizations out there to help provide those services to meet the LOSB requirements.

Thank you, and I just got back in the queue.

Thank you. And so I just want to put this out before going to the next commissioner. I'm looking at concerns as far as the low number of individuals that responded to this RFP. And so the question is for, well, it's a directive, rather, to... I would like for you all to submit. We do have some non-responsives. And I would like, let's see, two non-responsives. If you could give me the reason why they're not responsive by Friday, this Friday, so I can look at that. And then I'm going to go to the commissioners in the queue. We have Commissioner Richardson.

Thank you, Chairwoman. Good morning. A couple of questions that I have as it relates to the overall contract is I know we spoke and I know Commissioner Caswell asked a question about how many people you have on staff to facilitate these services, but we did not get the answer that was actually asked, which is what are the required physician, nursing, behavioral, and dental staffing ratios per inmate that we have in our facility currently. And I'm hoping that you do have that information.

Good morning, Commissioners. Jonathan Russell, Administrative Finance, Shelby County Visitor Corrections. If you could restate your question. You're saying what's the staffing?

What is the required ratio for physician, nurses, behavioral and dental staffing for our inmates? Now, I don't know.

I'll have to ask my compliance team about the required staffing. I do want to mention that we do have 213 FTEs that have been assigned across the facilities for our capacity. Now, that's not based on the number of actual bodies that are here. That is based on the capacity, what the potential might be. And the respondent responded with 213. That's of all kinds. That's doctors, psychiatrists, nurses, RNs and LPNs. as well as administrative staff.

But I know, because I'm in health care, and so I know there's a set ratio that has to be met, and I need to know what that number is, and making sure that we're following protocol with that and seeing if we need to change that ratio based upon the actual events that are occurring in our jail and the response times that's required to get those people in need of help.

Thank you, Commissioner Richardson. Latasha Palmer, Healthcare Compliance Administrator, Division of Corrections. In corrections, there's actually not a ratio, say a 1 to 12, like you're speaking about maybe in the hospital, 1 to 6, 1 to 12. There's not a set ratio within corrections. The standards do not call for a specific ratio.

Okay. Who audits the deaths and the serious injuries and hospital transfers, and do we have access to that information?

So thank you, and if I might, Commissioner. So I am Latasha Palmer, a health care compliance administrator, and I have a health care compliance team. We provide oversight for health care services and detention in Shelby County. We have clinical nurse monitors that are onsite at each detention facility. They audit key performance indicators each month. We also have a mental health and risk minimization monitor who conducts a mental health services audit monthly, risk minimization at the sites and facilities quarterly. So that is the oversight. We also have a contract compliance monitor who ensures that the vendor is performing the way the county wants to see them via contract.

Thank you. I'm out of time, but I'd like to have a report or some kind of relationship where we can have communication on what those findings are.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you. And also make sure that you send it to all the commissioners as well. Commissioner Caswell?

Commissioner Rudd? Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Alexander, can you please tell us about the IRC building, ECO, and Juliet building? What does that look like staff-wise? And staff-wise, and are we able to tour that facility or that particular department?

Anthony Alexander, Director of Corrections. I'm not sure exactly the question you're asking, what does it look like? It's a normal housing unit. The RRC, Intake and Reception Center, is where the new arrivals for the Division of Corrections, with the exception of the U.S. Marshal detainees, are housed. We also have all of our state sentenced residents in that facility. We have officers and counselors assigned to that area. We have some programming assigned to that area. The Echo Building is more of a controlled housing unit. Juliet Building, the same. That's where we have some of your segregation housing, your protective custody, and our female United States Marshal Service. And yes, upon request, you're welcome to come tour. Just send me a notification and let me know a date and we can look at it and make sure we can get it scheduled.

Make sure we get your information before you leave. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And Commissioner Castle, I'm going to go on to the other speakers first and then come back to you since you've already spoken once. Commissioner Garcia, the other floor.

Thank you. I have a very long list of questions, but something that was just stated honestly surprised me, that there is no ratio. When we think about health care professionals or mental health professionals for children, that every state has that, right? We know it's hard to staff. There's a lack of humanity and no ratio is that we do not care how many people you have to serve. I know we are all operating under fiscal constraints, but that was actually shocking to me. Have you looked at what other counties maybe similar to Shelby have done in terms of staffing or low number of mishandled cases or deaths related to healthcare? And if so, what does that staffing ratio compare to what is being proposed here?

Anthony Alexander, Director of Corrections. So yes, ma'am. I'm a part of the National Institute of Corrections committee, large jail committee, travel across the country, meet with my counterparts and peers across the country on this matter. What Ms. Palmer was referring to, NCCHC and ACA or TCI does not establish a ratio for correctional officer staffing, nor do they do it for a medical component. They just want to make sure that you meet certain requirements as it establishes timely care for residents. I want to go back and address one question, if I may, though. Something we've established, we noticed because of the deaths at the jail and the few deaths that I had at my facility yesterday, One of the things I want to establish in this contract, and we were able to do that, is called an intermediate medical care unit. What this unit, and this unit will be not only for my residents, but for the residents from 201 Poplar as well, both male and female. And what it does, it establishes a unit, housing unit, where these residents that are being discharged from the hospital immediately after surgery or someone who has chronic conditions, someone who needs wound care, instead of having that individual in general population, that individual will be in an intermediate medical care unit where we will have nursing staff directly assigned 24 hours a day to care for those individuals. And so it's more direct care for these individuals instead of, because they don't qualify necessarily to go into the hospital or to remain in the hospital, but they can be in a hospital bed, we can have CPAP machines, we can have oxygen, IV fluids, and something you just cannot do in general populations. So that's something this contract establishes, and that's something we chose to put inside this contract to help address those needs. Secondly, we're also introducing telehealth for the residents. Every resident has a tablet, both at 201 and at my facility, and so what we wanted to establish was a way and a mechanism for those residents to communicate directly with the physician. What we heard previously in the past is that it was hard for them to get sick call because it was relying upon the staff member to put that sick call notice in a box. Well, now they can directly communicate with Wexford, who the new provider will be, about their needs to see a medical physician, medication, their medical records, any information such as that.

I appreciate that. I'm trying to pick up my next best question. A comment similar to Commissioner Sugarman. You sent this to 110 vendors and you had two responses with four We did not respond. That is, was there a cap on our contract limit? What do you think the reason for that was with the direct solicitation to 110 vendors?

I'm going to defer to purchasing on that question.

Okay, thank you.

James Gloss, administrator of purchasing. Yes, this was sent out to 110 different suppliers. We only got six responses and four deemed unresponsive. I don't think I can answer why. My department, we just make sure it gets solicited to everybody with their particular commodity code that can do the services. But of course, we can't make people bid on the particular bids, but I don't have an explanation on why.

Do you have any concept of what the average contract similar to this is for counties? What do other counties typically pay for these services that are doing well? I think I'm going back to like, do we understand what we really need to spend in order to deliver high quality care? And is this part of it? I don't know if there was a threshold in the RFP in terms of finance or...

I don't have that answer, but I would defer to the department because it's their budget and they knew their budget prior to the actual bid being put forward.

Anthony Alexander, Director of Corrections. It's going to be based on the capacity of the facilities that you're contracting with and how many facilities is within that contractual agreement and the required services. Different municipalities, different jurisdictions require different services, and so the rate can vary. But we're similarly in line with other facilities out there.

I know I'm out of time, so I'll get back to you.

Thank you. And Commissioner O'Dell?

Yes, good morning. Ms. Palmer, I've got a quick question for you. So I don't know if, because I'm not an expert in this field at all, So is there a difference between intake for 201 and intake for the corrections? And I'm specifically asking because I believe there's a federal law or a state law that says how soon after an inmate is taken into intake that they receive a full physical. Is there a time frame on that?

So Latasha Palmer, Health Care Compliance Administrator, Divisional Corrections. So to your point, at the jail intake, that's more of a transient population, but the intake itself, they have 24 hours to complete per the vendor policy. for the other option that you're talking about, that's the history and physical. Yes. Yes, and so the regulation that you're talking about is 14 days.

Okay.

So 14 days for jails and seven days for prisons and youth facilities. Okay, thank you.

You're welcome. So for the public, when their inmates come in, they are addressed by a doctor for these, and these are very, in-depth physicals from what I understand. The intermediate care step-down, that is a great idea. I don't know who came up with that. And the sheriff's office is on board for the 201 side. That is fabulous. I love it. Telehealth, I love it. Is there a way to track the telehealth to see how many are requested, how many are fulfilled, how many are handled over telehealth versus actually have to go physically in with a doctor?

So Anthony Alexander, Division of Corrections. We have not rolled it out yet. This is something we established. We just signed that agreement with our board. and so we're putting the processes together to roll that out, but there will be reporting mechanisms in place.

Wonderful. That's fabulous. That will be really, really good for transparency with our public. So I like that. My only other question is... Um, the, the contract is going through the, the mayor's administration. How does, um, the Wexford contract, um, deal with the sheriff's office in that they're not the oversight for, or, or are they, or how does that work? Because if the sheriff doesn't have authority to direct them to do whatever, how does that work?

Latasha Palmer, Health Care Compliance Administrator, Division of Corrections. So the Sheriff's Office, this is a collaborative effort. The contract itself sits under the Division of Corrections. However, every month we have something called an MSRT or Medical Services Review Meeting. And in that meeting is the health care compliance team. It's required. It's the vendor health care compliance team, a member of the sheriff's office, if that building is what we're meeting about, and corrections. So they have input. They provide feedback. We provide them with feedback for them to make the best decisions for whatever the facility needs are, if there be any. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Streeter.

Thank you so much. And this question is for the entire team. Was there any consideration given to kind of sectioning out this contract like for making it different for juveniles and for adults or taking out the behavioral health part in order to attract more qualified bidders in this process?

Jonathan Russell, Administrative Financial, County Vision and Corrections. No, we did not. Well, we briefly discussed internally. I'll be honest about that. But no, we didn't because we really want to have one vanity, one accountability, one turnkey operation that both gives the best shot at giving our patients the best care and then also provides the best protection to the county as far as any issues that might arise.

Can you further explain why you believe that, that only one, having one supplier would make it better?

Jonathan Russell, Shelby County Division of Corrections again. And it just, I mean, there's both sides of the argument, right? But one thing that does make it is that we do have people who transfer from facility to facility, 201 to corrections, right? U.S. Marshal to Tennessee status, right? And so we want to make sure that we can have one vendor, one system, that we can track that person, right? So we can make sure that we stay whole on their, health status. There are some times where somebody comes in and we have to reassess them, right, based on a variety of factors. And so when you have one electronic health record system, which is next gen, and we have one provider, whoever that may be, you can have a better shot at tracking them and keeping their health status whole.

Is there any chance that you may consider that in the future or even for this contract since there was such a small number of qualified bidders? Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

Thank you so much. And this is the second round for these commissioners. Commissioner Caswell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the questions asked by my colleague because that answers some of the questions that I had kind of going forward. I was just wondering why no one from Wexford Health was here today to speak.

Anthony Alexander, Director of Corrections. I believe they will be here Monday.

Monday, okay. And so when we look at, Director, some of the things that we had that happened over the past few years that bring up a lot of concern about what happened with WellPath, have we taken that into consideration? How do we correct? It's been said, again, to my colleague, Commissioner Richardson, about the audit. Have we seen where those mistakes were made? How can we correct it? Do this new company have that vision in place going forward?

Anthony Alexander, Director of Corrections. And that is why we have the health care compliance team to model the key clinical indicators around problems that we've seen in the past to make sure we strengthen those to address those needs. And also I go back to the intermediate medical care unit and the telehealth. That was derived out of that. issues that have occurred in the past. We saw that was a necessary need. We had a young man who was discharged from the hospital, had staples from his neck all the way down to his navel. He was placed back in general population, should not be in general population. So this intermediate medical care unit will address those type of needs.

I appreciate that. I appreciate this last body commission that pushed forward with the Mental Health Justice Center that's getting built out there. And I'm hoping that that would help mitigate a lot of this as well as we make sure these individuals get the full care that they need because many of them, as you said, don't deserve to be in there. They need to be getting the help that they need. With that being said, I was just wondering around the protocol when it comes to providing a medicine to those individuals who just coming into the system. They got diabetes, they got, because I know, and I said this on record a few times before, we know many of these individuals are sick from the environments and communities they come from before they get into 201 Poplar. How are we making sure, because I got that call from constituents several times, my son needs his medication. How do we make sure that they're getting that in a timely manner so we won't risk losing their life.

Latasha Palmer, Health Care Compliance Administrator, Division of Corrections. So that is part of the intake process and that history and physical process. If that is divulged, if that person has a history of a chronic illness and we are made aware or the vendor is made aware, then that is then sent to the doctor and the doctor will order those medicines.

Okay, and I'm going to get these two in so I won't have to get back in. Just one, Director, when it comes to all of your officers, are they trained in CIT, the deal addressed that you know what I'm talking about, the CIT training, one. And two, especially around our youth that's at the educational center, are your officers there trained in adverse childhood experience and understanding that level of trauma that many of these children are coming into that system with and how are we addressing those issues?

Anthony Alexander, Commissioner, CIT training, not all officers as of yet are CIT trained. Every officer that is assigned to the Youth Justice and Education Center has received the Handle With Care training, the Adverse Childhood training as well. We're doing round two of the Handle With Care training, and we're constantly looking for additional training avenues and resources that we can implement at not only Youth Justice and Education Center, but the Division of Corrections. Because we are a partner with NRC, the National Institute of Corrections, they're sponsoring CIT training training. locally for our officers as well. And so we will continue to increase that training.

Thank you, Commissioner. And Commissioner Clayton has not spoken yet, so I'm going to let her go first.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning. I want to talk the numbers and sense of this. I think this may be a question for Sean Baum or maybe Mr. Collins, because I think we talked about this. as we closed out last fiscal year around the main difference of cost and what do we have as a line item moving into this year's budget and what are we paying for as the difference. I do recognize that this is significantly more, but I just want to make sure and then back to Director Alexander about what's the difference of what we're paying for. I know there's kind of a loaded question, but I am asking because as we were doing the budget for this year, one of my questions to you was, not necessarily an estimate of what we thought this number would be, but knowing that we would have a larger number for this line item as we move to this conversation. Just want to make sure, not only for us as a commission, but as to the listening public, understanding why it costs so much more and what exactly are we getting more for our, regarding the dollar amount.

Harold Collins, Interim Chief Administrative Officer. Commission, I want to make sure I understand your question. The first part is what did we pay in previous years? That contract over the past years with WellPath was around $28, $29 million a year. This particular contract, as you all see, is near $37 million a year. Although two months of that or three months of that contract, because it will not hopefully be executed until October 1, so we'll have a three-month leeway on that contract. Cost of living, cost of expenses, cost of personnel are drastically increasing, as you well know. And so therefore, the county has to continue to eat or pay that cost. We have budgeted for this amount. Thus far, as you well know, when the budget was passed on June 23rd, I believe there was some funding available for the contract to go into the inmate health care contract along with other resources that the county has available to it.

Okay. That does answer my question. I wanted to be on record regarding that, though. I think, you know, coming here today, I heard the number mentioned quite often on the news as to this is what we're going to be talking about. But sometimes that can be sensationalized without understanding as to why things cost more than what they used to cost. So I wanted to be very clear that we put that on the record. as well as if there are some things that we are getting different. Sounds like we are, but I want us to be very clear to the listening public, as well as to my brand-new colleagues here around what it is we're exactly paying for with the hope that this contract moves forward.

If I may, Commissioner?

Yes, sir.

Just want to remind the body that we are in a temporary contract with WellPath And that contract expires 9-30-2026. And so that's why we're here today before you to ask you to review the documents that we presented to you so that we can execute a contract and have a little leeway time so that the transition can occur before 9-30-26, if that's possible.

9-30 is in a few days.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. And I see Chair Avens in the queue, so she has not had an opportunity to speak, so I'll allow her to speak first. Chief Collins, I'm sorry.

I wasn't quick enough on the draw before you had to switch seats. I just want to piggyback on a very important point that my colleague Commissioner Clay Bibbs was making about where we are as a budget line item. We have a balanced budget. That balanced budget unfortunately included a tax increase this past year in order for us to balance that budget. And now we're talking about an additional 10 million possibly annually for the inmate contract. And so I just think it's really important for us all to understand where we are as a county, the fiscal responsibility that we have, and that as we're reviewing each and every one of these contracts, which we know this is a very, it's an important one. I'm urging my colleagues to move in the affirmative because having the WPATH contract in on September 30th and not another vendor in place would obviously cause a lot more problems if we have no care at all in place for those that are in each of the different facilities that will be covered by this contract. So I think this, we talked about the other issue with Dr. Hall and the county clerk's office being a matter of urgency. I don't think that there is more a matter of urgency than the contract that is before us today. and the significance of the decisions that we make if we are not thinking about another vendor who can take care of the services that are being provided in the contract. I look forward to seeing really the way that you all are. There's bifurcated services to address needs at an intermediate level. As Commissioner Caswell's point is very well taken that we're hopeful that some of the work that we've done in putting the new mental health facility in place helps us to bridge what we know are gaps in services. But I think from all of the very intentional and thoughtful questions that have been asked by colleagues today, We really need this relationship to be one that works well for the citizens because they are citizens of Shelby County who are in each of these facilities who deserve the best care. And so I think it's important for us to have the best relationship moving forward and I think there's been some intention from this body saying that we're putting that onus on the administration to make sure that that happens.

Harold Collins, Interim Chief Administrative Officer. Madam Chair, our team has been told and shared with that we to make ourselves available to this commission at any time. As you all know, we work at the behest of the mayor. He's made it very clear that he wants our relationships with the county commission to be clear and transparent, and we will do that even today. Commissioner Streeter raised some good questions and so we're going to go back and see why what might be the best way to do new contracts if we can bifurcate them to use your term and so we intend to be visible we intend to be available and we intend to be helpful to this commission

Thank you. And so on that note, Chief Collins, I would just like to say that we would also like an update on the mental health facility, number one. And then also, Chief Alexander, I'm going to send you a list of questions, and I'm going to copy all of my colleagues so that you can address, because we're looking at the expense side, but the revenue side has not even addressed about what we're getting per federal inmate, et cetera, prisoner, et cetera. And so I have a list of questions. If you could get that back to us prior to Monday's meeting, like Friday, that would be very helpful because there needs to also be some accountability from the state and the federal government as well. The burden should not just be just on Shelby County taxpayers. So I'm just going to put that out there. And I'm going to go to Commissioner Mills because he has not spoken yet.

Good morning, Director Alexander. Looking at this contract, Well, Pat, if you can refresh the memory here, was it a three-year contract that we had prior to this?

It was a three-year, one-year contract with two-year option to renew.

Okay. I'm glad we have the option here. I know time is of the essence with the October 1st deadline on having medical care. I do hope, and if you can tell this body, Director Alexander, I know you're going to constantly reevaluate this, and I'm sure if we're going to change this in the future, you'll have several reasons why And we can plan on that earlier than having such a tight crunch right here to make a decision. I'm sure your staff is going to be on top of this because this is a huge issue for Shelby County. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Richardson, this is your second time in the queue.

Thank you, Chairwoman. I just wanted to address a few things further before we make a decision on this, because this is something that is impacting so many lives, and so I want to make sure that I'm confident in the vote that I'm going to give. I know in 2023, MediCo also did a bid for $36 million, which was $8 million higher than WellPath, but we turned it down, even though they had the highest score. And now here we are looking at Wexforth, for 37 million, which is a million more than the current bid from Medeco. I also know that WellPAP is willing to stay and assist until we get this thing right. And I mean, we have to get it right. And so my question is, are we willing to reconsider and look at Medeco for an offer because of their score quality? And I don't think that we need to focus more on just the dollar amount than we do the actual care that's going to be given.

Harold Collins, interim chief administrative officer. Thank you, Commissioner Richardson, for your question. The short answer is we couldn't and we would be in violation of the county's policy. Should we try to reopen the bid, then that means we would have to reopen the entire bid. And which means that we would have to do another solicitation, the whole nine yards, which would take anywhere between four to eight months. And let me be very clear, this practice began in early spring knowing full well that we would have to provide another vendor to this body to choose from. And so we would definitely have to go back to square one to do that. So the short answer is no, sir.

Thank you for that. I guess that answers my question on how we need to move or how I'm going to move, rather. Thank you.

Thank you. And so I'm going to go to Commissioner Brooks. This is her first time speaking.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Director Alexander, I have a couple of concerns. And I appreciate my colleague, Commissioner Streeter, and her mentioning the bifurcation, particularly about mental health. But this last round of questioning really, you know, just kind of has me a little concerned. Well, just a lot of concern. The fact that we are moving fast on this, and I know it's not fast in that we have a contract that's about to close out. But we have an issue here that is very important. I mean, this is an important issue. And I'm thinking back now to, you know, back in the old days, there was a company here I forgot the name of that company, but it had all kinds of ‑‑ well, I researched it and found all kinds of federal violations. All kinds of litigation. You name it, from product to human, you know, resources. This refrigeration company, some of you remember over here ‑‑ but anyway. It was haste in that case because we wanted to go ahead and move this contract. We thought even though this company comes with a bunch of baggage, a whole lot of baggage, it would be worth our while in terms of time to go forward with it. Make a long story short, well, we got a bad deal, a really bad deal, and we're paying for it right now. So I'm saying this to say Haste makes waste, of course, but we cannot put what we need, the needs of the inmates over there, ahead or behind, if you will, some expedient contract conditions. And I think we do need to rethink. It may take eight months, Chief. It might. But it's worth it in the long run because we're talking about public dollars. And I think if we would, you know, maybe have a different mindset and rethink it. I mean, let's not put up just have a no, no, no. Let's open our minds to see if there's a possibility because certainly mental health is important. And then you've got children's mental health. You've got adult mental health. Uh, so I believe we need to go back to the table and, uh, we could bring in a different, uh, a bid, put out a different bid and get more solicitors. But I do believe that there's room for improvement here, not passing judgment, not pointing fingers, but I think that we can do a little bit better. Thank you. Madam chair.

Anthony Alexander, Director of Corrections. Commissioner, the problem we have is as of September 30th of this year, WellPath will no longer provide services for resident medical care, and we will be without a vendor. And so unless we find a vendor that will provide emergency services for us, and that's going to be hard to do between now and September 30th and transition to that emergency provider, we will be facing a serious obligation problem in not providing medical care to our residents at any facility.

A point of order, no, point of information to the county attorney through the chair. Megan Smith, could you help us out? Attorney Smith, I'm just wondering, I'm not sure, I'm just wondering, since we have a situation here where we already come in with a load of conditions, a load of things that need to be taken care of, is there a provision that we could exercise that would allow us in this existing contract with WellPan to put them on an interim for a certain period of time? Well, for an indefinite period of time.

Megan Smith, County Attorney's Office, while there might be a procurement solution to that particular time, like the end of a contract, emergency or otherwise, there will not be an extension with this vendor. They have made that abundantly clear. It will not happen.

Because the vendor does not want to participate anymore. That's correct. So in that same space, in that same space, is there an opportunity because of that from the procurement side and the legal side to have another vendor, healthcare vendor serve until we can resolve this on a permanent basis?

Megan Smith, County Attorney's Office. Right now there is a contract before you, and the commission is in the position where it has to vote that item up or vote that item down. I believe that Chief Collins just walked through what happens if the item were to be voted down. There is a timeline to that for two, eight months, depending on how we are able to produce a new RFP and get vendors in. I have no way to guarantee that there would be a solution October 1 other than the item before you.

Okay, just to the attorney. Madam Chair, if you would indulge me, I didn't get an answer. I'm asking the attorney for legality. So would we be in violation of the contract if we went to another attorney healthcare vendor since a wealth path is not willing to participate. I'm trying to find an opportunity for us to continue to provide inmate healthcare and then, of course, give us an opportunity to do a better, put out a better RFP.

Megan Smith County attorney's office. There is no legal barrier to approving this contract for October 1st at the end of the well path agreement. Um, and of course the administration of that agreement would fall to the division of corrections and how long that would last.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you. Chief Collins, do you have a comment? And I have a question before you make that comment, okay? So along the lines of Commissioner Brooks, is there an opportunity for us, since there's a one-year renewal at that point in time, or prior to that point in time, Can we, number one, can we either delete, just have one-year renewal, or can we reassess at that time and maybe put it back out for bid? Is there any other opportunity if we go forward with this contract to, number one, to determine whether or not we want to keep this vendor, or, number two, just to put this out to bid after a year?

Harold Collins, Interim Chief Administrative Officer, Commissioner Sugarman, Commissioner Brooks, I was going to remind this body that you are voting on a one-year contract with Wexford Health Services with the potential of two one-year renewals. And so if the, and I am sure Director Alexander and his team through their measurements and their healthcare providing team will do their evaluation of Wexford. And if such that they believe that Wexford is not adhering to the conditions and projects of the contract, They will report to the administration what steps need to be taken up to and including solicitation of a new vendor. We submit to you that They have done their due diligence and I might add that every healthcare vendor that we have reviewed has problems in their history relative to lawsuits and patient issues. We have that information on hand. And so what we would suggest is that this body vote one year contract based on what you see in your resolution and allow the team to do their part. And then if such time there is a need for something to do different, they will notify the administration and this administration will then come back with a new solicitation. And so that's what we're asking for you today.

Thank you. And so, Chief Alexander, I would just like to request on record that after, if it's voted out, this contract for a year, if you could give us a quarterly report on your findings, and therefore we won't be in a situation like we are today, if this body decides to go and solicit other vendors, if you could just give us a quarterly report on your findings, that would be much appreciated to all the commissioners, not just the mayor. I appreciate that.

Anthony Alexander, we will do that.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I'm going on to the commissioners. This is your second time as well. Commissioner Hewitt-Garcia, you have the floor.

Thank you. I've heard a lot of comments about us pausing this and rebidding it. I'm very clear that we need to vote on what is before us. If we do not have health care services for inmates starting October 1st, that will be catastrophic, that is. Coming from a previous body of not approving even a cleaning contract for 200 buildings. We went without cleaning services, which are health and safety related, but not as high as stakes of this. It devolved pretty quickly. And you're talking about taking trash out and cleaning up buildings without medical care. It's not an option. We have to negotiate what we have in front of us. To that, looking at the contract, the sanctions, penalties, and fines that are built in, what are those, how do those compare to what WellPath was paying? There's a corrective action plan that just says timely response. I think the opportunity here is accountability from this commission to say, Are we finding them if they are not meeting the established standards of care, meeting the needs that we have negotiated? How does that compare to what we were doing? What does that mean? What is the likely outcome for that? And I'm going to give an example of we in a contract, a no-show of a $50 fee. Well, they figured out that it was cheaper just to pay the $50 fee than to get a staffing agency. Do we have mechanisms in place where a lack of quality or delivery of established services is de-incentive? disincentivized. Can we get that? I'm reading the contract, but I don't see what that exchange is.

Latasha Palmer, Health Care Compliance Administrator, Division of Corrections. Yes ma'am, there is provisions in place. There is an Exhibit E that correlates with the penalties that you're referencing. It is monthly audits that occur. at each site for each key clinical indicator, and one of those is staffing for, you know, there is a percentage that they must meet. Anything less than 90%, there is a financial penalty associated with that noncompliant key clinical indicator.

How does that compare to what we've done?

So we did do that with WellPath, but we did increase the amount. So WellPath's last exhibit had the same amount. So we have increased it from earlier years with WellPath. And so I think the highest penalty goes up to around $10,000 if they're grossly noncompliant.

I just want to look at... That I would like, that is what I want to see as well because then I think we need to, we need some flexibility to adjust. What is the, I want to disincentivize bad behavior and if they're going to stand up to the quality of care, they should not worry about this, right? That having backup protocols in place because that is what we can hold them accountable to. So that will be where my questions center is. As we were for but it is very clear to me that we need to get this in place.

Thank you Thank you and Commissioner Mills. It's your second time as well. I

Yes. Thank you, chairman. Uh, let me make this recommendation to all the County people who are involved in this process going forward in the future. You've heard from our body, you've heard from our audience. What we have here is several different facilities. You've got two Oh one poplar, which is people with 2,800 inmates fresh off the streets. It's a whole different kind of medical care. You've got your facility where it's more veteran seasoned inmates that have been in the system for years. It's a little different. And then you have the juvenile facility dealing with our youth. So maybe instead of a one-stop shop, let's see, and I know it could be hard to find, but let's see if we can find specific groups that cater to the problems that each one of these very different facilities, while, yes, they are jails, they're very different facilities, and see if we can put that out there and see if there's specialists that can make our inmates the safest they can be. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Okay, let's take this item down for vote. Okay, we have a tally, please.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Odell, Mills, Dial, Avant, Brooks, Richardson, Streeter, Rudd, Clay Bibbs, Sugarman, Hewitt-Garcia, Commissioner Beasley recused, Commissioner Caswell abstained. We have 11 ayes, one recused, one abstained.

Thank you. This item goes down to a fair recommendation. Thank you all. Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you. And I see no add-ons, so this concludes committee number four.

All right, I'd like to call to order committee number five. Again, I'll serve as acting since the previous chairs of this committee are no longer on the commission. And as we go through our transition, Commissioner Caswell will do committee eight. Chair of Core City Neighborhoods and Housing, which is Commissioner Brooks, will take care of committee 11 and committee 10. just for clarification. So I'm calling to order Committee 5, Land Use Planning Training Transportation and Codes.

Please read item one. Item one is a resolution pursuant to chapter 9.6 of the Unified Development Code of the County of Shelby in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, granting a special use permit for land located at 1770 Wooden Road, known as case number SUP 2026-015CO, sponsored by Chairwoman Shante K. Avant.

Is there a motion? Motion by Commissioner O'Dell, a second by Commissioner Mills. Is there a presentation?

Jeffrey Penzis, Zoni Administrator, Division of Planning and Development. And with me to present on this item is Ms. Chloe Christian.

Good morning. Chloe Christian with DPD. I'll be presenting this item today. I'll just wait for the... All right, so good morning. I'm Chloe Christian with DPD. I'll be presenting this item. The case number is SUP-2026-015. It's located in District 5 on 1770 Witten Road, and this is a special use permit to allow a hotel with approximately 85 rooms. Next slide, please. Here's a location map and a vicinity map of the subject property. We mailed out 25 public notices on July 23rd and we did not receive any letters of opposition or support regarding this application. Next slide, please. Here's a snip of the sign-in sheet from the neighborhood meeting. There was one attendee at that meeting. Next slide, please. So the property is zoned employment currently, which requires a special use permit to be approved by this body in order to erect a hotel, which is why we're in front of you today. And there are currently two other hotels directly to the east of where this hotel would be located. So in our opinion, we find that another hotel would be a compatible use. As you can see on the land use map, it's also right off of I-40 as well. Here are some photos of the site currently as it stands. You can see the two existing hotels on the adjacent parcels.

This is the preliminary site plan that was submitted by the applicant.

I will also note that this application is in conjunction with a subdivision request to create three separate lots of record for each hotel. So the approval of that subdivision It was recommended for approval by the Land Use Control Board contingent on the approval of this request. Next slide, please. This is just a magnified view of the site plan, and the preliminary landscape plan is on the right-hand side. Next slide, please. These are the elevations of the hotel that were submitted by the applicant. So in conclusion, the applicant is seeking approval of a SUP to allow a hotel. As I mentioned before, it's in correspondence with the subdivision case to establish three separate lots for each hotel. So the proposed hotel would be approximately 85 rooms with 85 parking spaces. So that would bring the total of all the three hotels to have 236 rooms. with 239 parking spaces, which is up to code requirement. And in the opinion of staff, we do find that this special use permit should be approved. Next slide, please. So this application was recommended for approval by DPD and approval by the Land Use Control Board on the consent agenda. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you.

Thank you. A couple of questions before we go to other commissioners in the queue. This is in my district. And one of the concerns that I have is the number of hotels that we are allowing to pop up in these areas. and how constituents were notified. I know that there is in the code a certain mile radius where we need to inform residents because so much of that is industrial and you have other what is zoned employment and other hotels, my fear is that we did not give enough notice to people who actually live in the approximate area to where you're now wanting to put an additional hotel. We've seen, as a result of some of the hotels that have been allowed to come into the area, that there's been a lot of vacancy that has popped up in and around the intersections. And so I am not in support of this at this time because I do really feel like we should be going broader with the subdivisions and communities that are around this area to make sure that they're notified about this because they really wouldn't, based on the way this area is zoned, they wouldn't have gotten a notification or a lot of people wouldn't have gotten a notification. So you have quite a few subdivisions, HOAs that are in that area that we're not aware. of this proposed development. So at this time I am not in support and I do want to learn what we could do in order to go back to make sure that there's notification sent out and what those subdivisions and HOAs in that area to make sure that they are notified.

Jerry Pendous, Division of Planning and Development. So the notification area that we send our public notices to is set by the Unified Development Code. So we basically have to follow that. However, we do have an email listserv that any neighborhood group can sign up to to be notified of all of the cases that go to the Land Use Control Board.

So let me give you some pushback. If I don't know that there's a listserv to sign up for in order to get notification, how would I get notification?

We also post on Nextdoor.

Okay, so I'm going to tell you that that is insufficient. It is obviously by the Unified Development Code that provides a very basic level of what we should be informing our citizens about. So my question is, how can this particular case and you all as an office go back to go a little bit beyond what's the basic requirements? in order for us to be able to provide notification for people who would be directly impacted by this development being pushed forward.

I suppose the notification in the Unified Development Code would need to change.

Okay, so I'll follow up with Mr. Ragsdale because obviously, you know, we did some modifications to Unified Development Code, but what I'm telling you is if the people who are living in these communities are not getting the notification, then obviously we're not doing everything that we need to do. Commissioner Bellingsley?

Thank you, Chairwoman, and I appreciate the Chairwoman's comments. Many of the new commissioners just attended a CTAS meeting to try to do our very, very best and do our due diligence. One of the things they talked about at CTAS is social media is not an adequate form of informing the general public. I find Nextdoor to be pretty hit and miss and so little participation. I, if, if it requires a revisit of the code, um, but we've been appropriately notifying people for many, many years in a good way. So I don't know where this fell off. I also can only speak for myself, but I, I give tremendous deference to the person who is charged with that area. In this case in district five, a chairwoman, a van, um, no one knows their district as good as the person that lives in that district. So, um, I'm a little concerned about this one to be very, very honest. And I hope we can have a future conversation about how we do better inform because previously I, I, I was a former commissioner in parts of the area of commissioner Avance. And so, um, I think our, our citizens require train, you know, required to know what's happening in their neighborhood. So again, um, I appreciate the chairwoman's comments and, um, I really don't find social media a venue to notify our residents.

Commissioner Dowell? Yes. Did I hear you correctly in saying that you sent out 25 notices?

That's correct. So on page three of the staff report, you'll see the vicinity map. So the current requirement for public notification and the unified development code is to send out public notices to subject property owners within a 750 foot radius. So I believe where the The lower number comes from is this particular parcel and the parcels in vicinity are so large that that 750 foot number caught 25. So that was the requirement per the code for notices to be sent out.

Were signs erected in the area? Yes, ma'am. Public notice.

I was also going to mention, so there is a requirement for public notice signs to be posted on the subject property across all street frontages. So there were signs posted as well.

How far from the actual site? did you expand your reach for signage?

The sign posting is on the property itself. So just along that way in road frontage, there would be one sign required to be posted.

It would be a particularly necessary step to look at the area and see how it is far removed neighbors that might travel that road and expand your reach. I would prefer that instead of meeting the code that you go beyond the code because this is an area that has several different access points and every point needs to be It needs to have notice. So if you would expand that reach beyond 25 applicant letters or notice letters or one sign perhaps more since it's a widely spaced area as well, I would be interested to see what type of feedback you would get if you would expand that reach.

Thank you. Commissioner Brooks?

You know, I think what we're doing, and I will speak to this, we're substituting, if you will, a commission meeting, which is a public meeting, but it's not a meeting regarding the development, a particular development by four and four impacted the impacted community. So that's what we need to focus on. And I will speak to that. Uh, this is a committee public meeting, so you can present to the County commission. And if there are some residents, uh, who are impacted by that particular, uh, development just happened to be off or not working and show up that day or morning. finding good. However, our rules speak to it and TASRA speaks to it that a public meeting should be held and it should be advertised in a newspaper. I don't know if you all know about newspapers or not, but they do exist, of general circulation so that you can have adequate public notice. Now, that's two different things. Commission meeting, city council meeting, and then a public meeting within the community that is advertised 30 days in advance. The next thing is this, and I'm just saying this, but, and maybe we'll do this. We passed a resolution in reference to tax increment financing that required, that was August of 2023, it required notice be given to any impacted community within 0.5 miles of that development. And that's some tips. So I guess what I'm hearing now that maybe I need to do a resolution, put it on all development. So that way we will not leave out individuals who will be impacted. Because as we all know, our homes are our most important investment. So let's try it again.

Jim repentance division of planning development. I mean, we are going through an update of our unified development code, so we can certainly look at what the public notice requirements are in that code and modify them as need be. And that will eventually come to y'all for a vote.

Okay. And you can look at our rules. I don't have the rule, but I'll give it to you before you leave. That says makes a distinction between kind of commission meeting and public community meeting.

Colleagues, I'd like to make a motion for deferral of this matter to the second committee meeting in October. Second. I have a second. I have a motion by myself, a second by Commissioner Billingsley. Can we do that without objection? This is based on the permanent rule. Because this is a land use control, we do have, if there is no objection from the body, an opportunity to defer this issue, and so I'd like to work with the staff based on that. Appreciate your support. I'd like to adjourn. It was a second by Commissioner Billingsley. The second meeting in October. The calendar hasn't been set, so once the calendar has been set for the committee meetings, I'd like it to be the second committee meeting that happens in October to give us time in order to work with the team and notification to go out. We've done that without objection. So moved.

Madam Chairman, can I ask you for a point of privilege? Mm-hmm. And I understand why we're behind today, especially with the lengthy health care discussion. Today, Madam Chairman, as you know, under general government, we've got quite a few attorneys in front of us that actually have to go to court today. They were set to start at 10 o'clock. Is there any way you'd consider moving up general government and going to item number three, just so some of our candidates... can be heard by this body without having to leave, without being heard. I just ask that for your kind consideration. Thank you, Madam.

Yes, so I'm going to, before we get to that, I'm going to adjourn our current committee, which is we're now adjourning Committee 5, which is Land Use Planning Transportation Codes. I'm happy to defer to Chair of General Government to see if she would like so obliged.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Was that a motion? Was that a motion?

Yes, ma'am. I'll make a motion to move up general government for item number three. Second.

Okay. Can we do that without objection? So moved. All right. We will now call to order committee 10, general government. Madam Parliamentarian, please read the first item. Oh, excuse me. Yeah, I like things in order. We will move to item number three to accommodate any attorneys that may be in the office and the audience that may need to run to court. Madam Parliamentarian, would you please read item number three?

Item 3 is a resolution appointing Blank to serve as judge for the Shelby County General Sessions Civil Court, Division 6, filling the vacancy created by the election of the Honorable Judge Lonnie Thompson to the Chancery Court, effective September 14, 2026, until a successor is elected and qualified at the August 2028 County General Election. Sponsored by Chairwoman Shante K. Avant.

Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. Let's see. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman, seconded by Commissioner Billison. We have it properly before us. Let's call the first candidate. Our first candidate will be Attorney James Blunt. Attorney Blunt. Good morning. If you'll give us your name, did you press that button on your mic so that we can hear you?

This button?

That's wonderful. Give us your name and a zip code, please.

My name is James Blunt, 38017.

Second, Madam Clerk, how much time does he have? You set the clock, three minutes? Okay. Thank you.

Ready for me to go? Okay. Thank you. I appreciate being allowed to be heard today. My name is Jimmy Blunt. I'm an attorney here in Memphis Shelby County. I've lived here my entire life. I graduated from Rhodes College and University of Memphis. I've been practicing law in Memphis Shelby County since 1998. During most of that time, I've been in private practice for about 25 years or so. I do mostly personal injury and workers' compensation and general civil practice, appearing a lot in front of all civil courts here in Shelby County, general sessions, circuit, chancery, probate, federal court as well. I did that until January of 2025 when I had the opportunity to go to work for the Memphis Shelby County School Board. And I am currently serving as general counsel on the staff of Justin Bailey there at Shelby County School. I love that job. I wouldn't leave it for another lawyer job. I'm very satisfied where I am right now as far as being a lawyer goes. And mainly the reason why I love that job so much is I feel like I'm needed there. It's terrible unsatisfaction from having a job like that in government and public service that I wasn't finding in private practice. But when I saw the opportunity to at least apply for the general sessionist position in Division VI, I went on ahead and took this opportunity to put my hat in the ring and see if I would be needed there as well. And so I appreciate the opportunity to be heard today.

Ms. Boulogne, you really had me going when you said you were an attorney with school board. I'm a former teacher, retired teacher, but my heart's still there. You said that you enjoyed it, okay, and you thought that you would need it, and I'm just, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm your cheerleader. So, but... Now you say you think you want to do this position. Would you like to go ahead and try to see if you're needed here? And I'm trying to align the two.

Sure. Well, I've been in front of a lot of judges my entire life, and I've been in front of a lot of good judges, and I know what good judges do and how they act. I know the judicial demeanor that works well within a courtroom. I know how important it is to be courteous and punctual and also deferential to the parties and to the court staff. And so I have an idea of what it means to be a good judge. I unfortunately know what it means to be a bad judge too. And I've seen things happen in courtrooms that I don't think should have gone the way that they would did. So I think it's an important job and I think it's an important position and I think I have the experience and the demeanor to be able to fulfill the role appropriately. And while, again, I do love my job that I currently have, and I wouldn't leave it for another lawyer job, judge is different. That's an important position, and I would appreciate the opportunity.

Okay. Commissioner Caswell?

Thank you, Madam Chair. And my question would be to each and every one of the candidates. Again, I appreciate everyone that applied for this position and every one of you all were very well qualified in your roles and capacity that you have brought to the table. And you pretty much answered in your response. But my question would be to everyone, why this position and why now? And I know you just shared in part because you would love to be a judge and And if you was to choose anything else, it would be going there. But that would be my question just going forward. Why this position and why now?

I've been in civil litigation my entire life. And so as far as this position goes, I think I'm well suited for this particular position, civil judge, because I have had a vast experience in... basically any manner that a general session civil judge can see, from evictions to personal injury cases to contract disputes and all the range of things I've had a lot of dealings with in front of the general session civil. And now, because I'm old enough to kind of know what happens and how things should go. And I know from experience, both personally and professionally, how important a good judge is and how much of an impact it can have on people's lives and impact on the whole community in this county. And so I know what it means to be responsible for the position and to do the job correctly.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Aban.

Yes. This will just be a question for each of the applicants in just your experience. You mentioned a little bit about your experience specifically with this particular court, and if you could just elaborate on that. That's for every applicant so that I don't have to repeat myself. You can just know that that should be a part of either what you share in your opening remarks but really specifically the kind of trial experience and or experience you have for this particular division.

Certainly. I've had the pleasure of trying several cases in front of former Judge Lonnie Thompson. He was a great judge. He was fair. He gave all the litigants time to be heard and was patient and gave a fair administration of justice. And so I'd seek to emulate my predecessor. And, you know, I haven't tried a whole ton of cases in front of his courtroom, but I have tried dozens and dozens of cases in front of general sessions, judges generally, and I know how things work there. And I think I know how to work with the staff and be deferential to the staff and their experience and how things should go, but also try to make improvements along the way where my voice should be heard.

And are there any specific improvements that you think would be helpful?

Well, without having the position, again, working with Memphis-Shelby County Schools, I've learned to be respectful of the people that are doing the jobs now and how they think things should be done because they have a lot more experience in handling jobs. So I'm not necessarily one to come in with a whole bunch of brand-new ideas to force down people's throats, regardless of whether they're good ideas or not. I listen to other people and see what they have to say. But I do think that there are things that probably need to be done with technology to help improve the efficiency of how cases are moved forward in court. I know the litigants themselves, particularly pro se litigants, are utilizing AI. to help advance their cases. Sometimes that's helpful, sometimes it's not. And I think that we need to be utilizing those same tools in the courtroom to help administer justice fairly and competently.

Thank you.

Commissioner O'Dell. Good morning, if it still is morning, yes. Attorney Blunt. All right. I'm going to take this a little lighthearted. I love the questions that they have asked you, and they are all very appropriate, but I've got one for you.

Okay.

If you could wave a magic wand in the state of Tennessee and change or create any criminal or civil law, what would it be?

Okay. A criminal or civil law. Well, my experience is mostly with civil law. And if I could wave a magic wand, I would extend the statute of limitations beyond a year for personal injury lawsuits. I think it's unfair that we only have one year to sue for an injury like a broken neck or even a wrongful death. But you got three years if somebody hurts your cow. That's not fair. I don't think that's right. So if I could wave that magic wand, that's what I would do.

All right, one more question. If you could choose one song to play every time you walk in a room, what would you choose?

One song to play every time I walk in a room? Like a theme song. Any room? Yes. Or just the courtroom?

Just the courtroom. We'll stick with the courtroom.

Okay. Any room. Probably I fought the law, but the law won.

Thank you. Thank you for your willingness to serve. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Guansi and all the members in the queue, would you like to take a minute to give a wrap-up?

Thank you, Commissioner. That's really all I have. I appreciate the opportunity to be heard, and I appreciate the opportunity, if I were selected and had the honor to be served as a General Sessions judge, I would love to have that job. I think it's a fantastic job, and I would be an enthusiastic judge and hopefully a good judge and hopefully would be able to convince the Shelby County voters to allow me to remain in that position after 2030. Okay.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Our next candidate is Attorney John Cameron. Attorney Cameron, come forward, please. Good morning. Good morning. Would you press the button so that your microphone is on?

Am I on now? I think I'm on.

Madam Chair, if he could just cut the other mic off next to him.

How about now? Okay, I'm on. If you could give us your name and then a zip code for the record, please.

John Cameron, 38117.

All right, Mr. Cameron, you're on.

Okay, well, I'm John Cameron. I'm a lifelong Memphian, graduate of White Station High School, and went to the University of Memphis Law School. And for the last 20 years, I've been an accounting employee working in the environmental court. For 19 of those, I've been a referee of the environmental court. To answer Commissioner Caswell's question, why this position, why now? Well, I just spent the entire summer running for General Sessions Division II. I've always thought, since I've worked in the environmental court, that the most logical place other than the environmental court for me to work would be in general session civil. The environmental court does have some criminal jurisdiction, but it is primarily civil law that we hear. And the types of cases, and why and how, well, I did not win this summer, and I did well, and I was very happy with the work that I put in, and so with this opportunity available, I'm taking another shot at it. The subject matter in General Session Civil is different remedies, but similar types of things come before the environmental court. We don't do evictions or FEDs, but we do deal with cases involving landlords and tenants. working in the environmental court hearing cases for Judge Larry Potter and now for Judge Patrick Dandridge. I've seen the very worst that a landlord can do. I've seen the very worst the tenant can do. Traffic tickets come before the environmental court. Traffic accidents come before general session civil. Cases where people's dogs are getting loose and biting people come before the environmental court. They might also come before in a personal injury situation general session civil. So, you know, I've put a lot of work in to running for office. I feel like I'm I'm getting better and better at it. Um, I ran in 2022 for a city court judge and came in second in the field of nine candidates. Uh, I ran for general session civil in 2026 and came in second, uh, by about the same amount of votes, 3000 votes and, uh, in a group of three candidates. So I feel like I've got good momentum and, uh, really enjoy serving the public. I know how to run a courtroom. Um, Many of the cases that come before the environmental court, most people are unrepresented. That's often the case in general session civil as well. And that takes a special way of looking at things. You cannot advocate for the person who doesn't have a lawyer. That would be unethical. That's the wrong thing to do. But you have to be mindful of people in that situation. These are very traumatic events in people's lives that they're going through, eviction, debt collection. personal injury, and I try to be very mindful of that and make sure I listen to everyone.

Okay. Mr. Cameron, Commissioner, are you banned? Thank you for that.

Thank you, Mr. Cameron, for sharing. Thank you for offering yourself up for public service, not an easy feat. And you shared a lot about really building momentum and really running for these positions. But if you could share more specificity, just your experience with civil law enforcement.

Yes. Oh, so as referee of the environmental court, um, I basically hear, um, dockets for the judge of the environmental court. And I've done that for, for 19 years now. It's really just about all that I've done is hear cases in a courtroom wearing a robe. Uh, this is the same, same rules of procedure and evidence apply in a environmental court as they do in, in general session civil. So, um, know and as environmental court judge I've actually heard court cases not just in the courtroom we have currently three community courts we've had as many as five throughout the city currently we're in Hickory Hill Fraser and in the Crosstown building but in the past we've also had a court in Orange Mound in the medical district in Cordova and so I've heard court in a gym, I've heard court in an old church, in a room. So the idea of being in as beautiful a building as our county courthouse is appeals to me, but the pageantry of it, If I felt that, it's long past. This is just what I do. And I feel like everyone should have a chance to be heard. Everyone should have a chance to feel heard. And I look for win-win when I can get it. And in environmental court, that's a little bit easier. Most of the time, when people get all the stuff cleaned up out of their yard, they're better off. It's going to be harder to do in General Session Civil because there's going to be more clear winner and loser sometimes. And I hope that the win I can give to any party before me is that they be treated with dignity and respect.

Okay, thank you for that. Commissioner O'Dell. Good morning.

Good morning. Attorney Cameron. Before I forget, thank you for your willingness to serve. And I love your last comment. Okay. So here's your question. Because of your work in environmental court and your yappy hour animal law class with Memphis PD, if you had a magic wand, what law would you change or create to help animal control in Shelby County and or Memphis?

So the most complicated law that we currently have on the city of Memphis books related to animals is the dangerous dog ordinance. And it used to be called the dangerous and vicious dog ordinance. And thankfully they took off the vicious part because everybody wants to come in and say, you know, my dog's not vicious. Look, here's a picture of a baby sitting on top of my dog's lap or, you know, and, and Changing it to dangerous, it's a lot easier for people to understand that it's about a particular incident, not about the behavior of the dog in a given situation. That law requires that anyone who wants to keep a dog who's been declared dangerous to get an insurance policy to have the dog muzzled and controlled by an adult whenever outside. It's a very difficult law. Thankfully, Memphis Animal Services has gotten to the point where they're being a little more discretionary when they apply it. The way the law was originally written, it could apply to a chihuahua or to a cane corso if it caused injury. And that created some really serious, sad situations where people basically had to give up their dog rather than keep it. Right now... the dog has to have a bond paid of up to $2,000 just to have the opportunity to to keep the dog. And so I don't know exactly what I would do to make that better. Um, I think maybe making the bond a little more discretionary and, and given the circumstances and the person's ability to pay might be something that I would look into. Uh, because right now a lot of people are having to get their dogs without the chance to have the evidence heard.

Yes, I understand that. All right. One last question. Cause we got to keep it cool around here. If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

If I could have a superpower, I used to think that it would be if I could just stop time and think about what I'm going to say in any given moment. And maybe I've done that already, and I'm about to give a great answer. But I suspect that would still be something I would want to do, just so I could think things through a little more.

All right. O'Connor? Is that the right name? I'm sorry, Mr. Cameron. Attorney Cameron. Yes, ma'am. Seeing there are other members in the queue, would you like to take a minute and give you a wrap-up?

Sure. So this appointment presents a very difficult situation for normally what judges have to go through. You are running... for appointment, you'll have two years appointed, and then you have to run, then you get two years. And then after that, if you can win a third time, the first win would be the appointment, second would be winning in 2028, and the last would be in 2030, then you get eight years, which is a typical judge term. So I'm well aware how difficult it is to be running all summer long in this heat. I raised $20,000 in two months in 2022. I raised $30,000 in five months in 2026. Basically, you're becoming a congressman here. so I don't relish that idea, but I kind of like going around the community and speaking to people and and I feel like I want to keep that momentum going so I Imagine I'll be at every event from here into 2028 and maybe one way or the other All right, thanks so much

Our next candidate is, I hope I get your name right, Davinus Foster? Attorney Davinus Foster? Is that correct? Oh, good. Good morning. Good morning. I think it's morning. Is the other microphone off over there? It's off. It's off. Okay. If you'll give us your name and a zip code for the record, please.

Yes. My name is Davina Foster, zip code 38018. All right.

Attorney Foster.

Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. As I stated earlier, my name is Devenus Foster, and I'm a licensed attorney here in the state of Tennessee for over 20 years. I'm a graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law. In my 20 years of legal experience, I have litigated over thousands of cases. Specifically, as it relates to this particular appointment, I have defended both landlords and tenants in FED actions involving the URLTA code. For example, I have defended landlords such as in trust properties when they have tenants who have been held over in their property. I've also been on the other side and I've defended also tenants who have had complaints against their landlords for such things as rats infestations as well as mold that's been in their homes, making their homes uninhabitable. As it relates to this position, I've also did encroachments for minor children. I've also litigated automobile accidents under $25,000 as it relates to property damage. I've also defended litigants as it relates to their property as it relates to cars that were held by mechanics. I've done these things. I've defended debtors against creditors who have brought suit against them for credit card debt as well as contractual obligations. I have petitioned this court on FED actions. I am currently also right now defending an FED appeal in circuit court. I have the wherewithal in order to handle the cases that come before General Sessions Civil Court Division VI. There are, you may ask your question. Okay, Davinas, do you have, you have the experience as it relates to the legal part of General Session 6, but do you have the judicial temperament? And I come before you today and say, yes, I do. How do you have this temperament? I have been selected. Before, I failed to tell you that I have been practicing law for 20 years as a sole practitioner. I've handled cases for both General Sessions Civil and General Sessions Criminal cases. I have had the opportunity to serve as a special judge in General Sessions Criminal Court. I've been asked by judges on several occasions to come, sit in my courtroom, hear cases. I've heard those cases, over 140 cases at a time on a docket. I've had bond hearings, preliminary hearings. I've listened to evidence. I've done those things. Judges trusted me to sit on their bench. That's my experience as a judicial, as a special judge. But it doesn't stop there. Not only as a special judge, I've also had the opportunity to be appointed as a special master in Chancery Court. A chancellor trusted me to act as a special master to handle a major case here. And what I did was I listened to evidence. I listened to hearings. I made rulings and presented their documentation to the judge, to the chancellor to make a decision. So yes, I have served as special judge before there was judicial commissioners, and I've also served as a special master. I have what I believe is my experience in the General Sessions Criminal Court can definitely transfer over to General Sessions Civil Court. Why? I have the temperament. I was fair. I heard the facts. I applied the law. And the same thing that goes in General Sessions Civil, I can put it in General Sessions Criminal. It can be transferred in General Sessions Civil Court. I have that. Not only that you hear about my legal experience, but I believe there is something else outside of the courtroom. That's your character. What about my character? I always say much is given, much is required. And I believe in giving back to my community. What have I done to give back to my community? I have been a volunteer with MIFA on wheels. I have been a volunteer with MIFA on Saturdays, on weekends, to distribute food to people who are less fortunate. What else have I done? I have donated my time to the Angel Tree Salvation Army, giving out gifts, wrapping gifts, and distributing those gifts. I was involved in a diaper drive where I collected over 100 diapers for children over this past summer to give to the Father's First Organization. What else have I done? I have also been a leader at Brown Baptist Church Couples Ministry, where I am over the community project. I am not only just a person who works inside the courtroom. I work outside of the courtroom as well.

All right.

Ms. Foster, thank you so much.

Attorney Foster, I've got to get this right. Seeing no other members in the queue. Yes, we do. Commissioner O'Dell, you're recognized.

Good morning, Attorney Foster. Thank you so much for your willingness to serve, and I love your passion and your character. And I believe me and you have telepathy. Wait for my question because it's bizarre that you said what you said. Okay. What did you do for Memphis City Schools, and how will that experience help you in this position?

Oh, gosh. I love my position as a schoolteacher. I taught alternative schools. I taught in an alternative school. Actually, as an alternative teacher, I came before a lot of the students now who I represent, unfortunately, in General Sessions Criminal Court. But it has been rewarding for me. Because when they see me, they know I was a caring person in the classroom. And they come to me for help outside in the courtroom. And I have made such a difference in those children's lives now outside in the courtroom. They've gotten licenses back where they couldn't even get a job. They came to me because they trusted me. And I think that's why I have a passion for being a judge. It's because I care about people. I'm compassionate about people, and I think I can be fair about that. So I love the school system, and I love my children as well. Thank you.

Okay, last question. I'm sorry. This is where I think we have telepathy. If I gave you $50,000 right now to start up a nonprofit, who or what would you do to help? What direction would that nonprofit go in?

I have so many. I have so many. Recently, I think what I would do is start up a nonprofit for young mothers, young mothers. I have seen young mothers have been my clients. I've seen them railroaded, especially in positions like this. For example, I had one client who has four children, and we tend to judge Just because they have four children, she's 24. And it's so many like her that do not have any wherewithal, where to go, what to do. How do I navigate this system? I'm in debt. What do I do? My thing would be to start an organization for young women in that particular area and kind of guide them on landlord-tenant actions. Where are their rights? Guide them as to where you need to go for child care. Because a lot of them do not know. They just do not know. And I think we need to reach the community more. I think that's the part. That's why my passion has always been community service. And it starts with us on the bench as well. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, thank you, Attorney Foster. Would you like to take a minute and give you a wrap-up?

Yes. THANK YOU AGAIN, COMMISSIONERS, FOR ALLOWING ME TO SPEAK ABOUT MY LEGAL EXPERIENCES AS WELL AS MY CHARACTER. I THINK IF YOU WERE, AS A MATTER OF FACT, I KNOW, IF YOU WERE TO SELECT ME IN THIS POSITION TO ALLOW ME TO WEAR THE BLACK ROBE, I WILL PRESENT TO YOU A LEADER WHO HAS INTEGRITY, HONOR, AND THAT WILL GIVE THIS ROBE, THIS COMMUNITY, JUSTICE. I THINK YOU WILL BE PROUD. I THINK YOU WILL LOOK BACK AND SAY, WE MADE THE RIGHT DECISION. No, I do not have all the judicial experiences of 20 years, but what I do have, I have compassion. I have a love for the law. I have a love for this community. So I think if you say that yes vote to me, you will not regret it. Thank you, commissioners. Thank you.

Okay, our next candidate is Attorney Marcy Ingram. Attorney Ingram.

Good morning.

If you'll give us your name and a zip code, please.

Yes, ma'am. Marcy Ingram, 38017. Okay. You're recognized for three minutes. Thank you. As I stated earlier, my name is Marcy Ingram. I'm a native Memphian. I graduated from Fraser High School. I'm a mom, a foster mom, and a mentor. A few of my friends call me the alphabet soup lady because I have five college degrees. including a degree in psychology and mental health counseling. For the majority of my career, I have been a public servant. I started working for the county over 20 years ago as a judicial law clerk for the honorable Judge Rita Stotts. That was my second year of law school. My third year of law school, I started working for the criminal court judges because I wanted to get a real-wounded sense of the justice system. So I clerked a year on the civil side in circuit court and a year on the civil side on the criminal side for the criminal court judges. Less than a month after passing the bar, I was hired as an assistant county attorney. I worked in that position for about four years before I left and went to the private sector. I came back two years later as the Deputy CAO for Shelby County Government. From there I was promoted to Deputy County Attorney and then Interim County Attorney, not once but twice. I was the ethics officer as well as the legislative director for the last 10 years, i.e., the attorney for the county commission. Before being appointed to the bench last year, I had the honor of serving in general sessions for just one day shy of a year. And as a judge, I help people resolve disputes involving evictions, debt collections, car accidents, dog bites. I even got to preside over an engagement case, an engagement ring and pet ownership. who gets the dog when we split up. So it was not unusual to have 150 cases on just my morning docket. And just that one year on the bench, or 364 days on the bench, I heard over 12,865 cases. And 75% of those cases, people were representing themselves. They didn't have an attorney to represent them. So what I did was I set up an information station in my courtroom. It told them about the courtroom rules and procedures. what they could and could not do, what their expectations were, what they were supposed to do to provide evidence to prove their case. I also provided handouts on legal aid, whether you were a plaintiff or defendant, where they could go, like the Community Legal Center or West Tennessee Legal Center, and I also provided them with information on how to avoid garnishments. So I would like to continue that role. I have a lot more work to do to help the citizens of Shelby County.

I'm trying to get out of here. Commissioner O'Dell, you're recognized.

Attorney Ingram. Good to see you again. Good to see you as well. And thank you for your service to this body for so many years. We really did appreciate that. Um, okay. So while you've been a judge, you have heard 12,894 cases. What change would you make to hear even more? Well, um,

I think increasing the amount of jurisdiction, general sessions, predominantly we hear cases $25,000 and less. There are a couple of exceptions to that rules, such as if it's a repellent action. I had the pleasure of hearing a case where an attorney came in for a car that was $250,000. And I couldn't wait after that case to go to Google to figure out what kind of car costs $250,000. But it was an 18-wheeler. So the person had financed the truck and did not get insurance on it. So they provided the bank, came back to the courtroom and said, hey, we just want possession. We're not asking for the money, but They're driving a $250,000 car without insurance. So that's what I would change to see more cases is increase the jurisdictional amount.

Okay, next question. What actor would play you in a movie about your life?

Oh, wow. That's a good one. My favorite actress is Essence Atkins, so I would hope it would be her. I had the opportunity to meet her and she's very smart, independent, and real big on community service. So I think she would do a good job playing me.

Thank you. Thank you for offering your service. My pleasure.

Judge Ingram, just one question. I was reading an article the other day about civil court and it was made some interesting observations. And so I think I will ask you this question. Having served in General Sessions Civil Court, you have gotten that experience. You have got 12,000 cases, case experiences. Tell me, what would you recommend as new partnerships, changes, and advice for nonprofits that work with individuals, Shelby County residents, taxpayers that come before you with these civil court issues?

Well, a couple of the organizations that I know that work with litigants is, again, the Community Legal Center and West Tennessee Legal Clinic. I think it would help to the extent that they are able. to do more advertising for their services, because a lot of people don't know. So they come to court and didn't even realize that those services were out there and available. So to the extent they could do more maybe social media marketing, maybe even collaborate with the schools, Because a lot of times, I can't tell you the number of people that came to the courtroom that were parents and had to bring their kids with them. So if they could even have some sort of collaborations with the schools to let them know that those services are available, I think that would be a great deal to help.

Okay. Any further? Seeing no other members in the court, would you take a few minutes and give us your thoughts? Final remarks, please. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. I think it's important for judges to work on and off the bench. While I was a judge, one of the things that I loved about that job was going to the schools and doing mock trials with the students. So I would let someone be the plaintiff's attorney, the defense attorney. Someone would be the sheriff. Someone would be the court clerk. And the remainder of the class would be the jury. And I let them actually role play real cases in my courtroom. And I was so proud when they came back and they made their rulings. And they had ruled the same way that I did. Because I feel like justice should be just as simple that even our students understand. So even with our kindergartners, I would go to career days and let them pass around my gavel and bang it on the table and say, all rise, or order in the court. And one of those schools is Delano Optional School. And my mom worked there. And she said, every day to the end of the school year, those kids said, when the lady with the hammer coming back. So, again, I would like to continue to make improvements to the courtroom. I started a podcast to help people understand what the civil justice system was. Lots of times I had people that came to court late because they went to 201 Poplar. They didn't know that they were supposed to come to 140 Adams. So I would appreciate your support, your vote, your consideration for that so I can continue to serve our community in this capacity. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Our next candidate is Attorney William Larcher. Ms. Attorney Larcher. All right. All right.

All right. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is William Larche. I go by Bill. I'm currently a senior assistant city attorney and have been for the last 25 years. I've been practicing law over 30, three years in the city of Memphis. Most of my practice has been in General Sessions Court. I'll address the chairman's question about experience. Well, that's my middle name, experienced in General Sessions Court. I don't think anybody in this county other than the judges that are currently in General Sessions Court have said as a special judge more than I have. In fact, I was just there last week sitting as special judge. which tells you that the judges trust me to run their dockets and to run their courts in all six divisions. I've also set a special judge in mental health court, which many people don't know that the General Sessions Court is responsible for involuntary commitments in mental health. And I've sat there countless times over the last 25, 30 years. So I can see around corners in that court. I know the courtroom. I know every type of case. I've tried them. gotten the litigants in and out of the court from landlord and tenant stuff to car wrecks to torts to collection cases. I've done it all. And, you know, my experience is just impeccable and probably just, you know, not... is just not exceeded. So that's what I have to hang my hat on, is my experience in the courtroom. So I'll take any questions you may have.

Thank you. Thank you, Attorney LaCher. I'll tell you what, I like a person who has that really, really strong self-confidence, and you exude that.

Thank you so much.

Commissioner Huey-Garcia?

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

I'm impressed by the length of experience, the amount of experience. Thank you for all your service. I guess my question is with the amount of time that you've been doing this work, what perspective on what community members are facing that come before this court? has changed the most? Is there any point of view that has changed from doing this work most dramatically over the last few decades for you?

Yeah, I guess you could say that some community members are a little frustrated with the landlord-tenant type stuff. And I think the court has really done a good job of improving that. What happens down there a lot of times is people are unrerepresented and they have to take off work to come to court. And so they're already stressed out and some people have never been sued before in their lives. And so you have to exude some type of compassion for them and learn how to run the court efficiently so that you can get these people in and out and you can get the litigants satisfied. That's including the lawyers who practice down there. So from that perspective, I think that's how I would answer the question. You're welcome.

Commissioner O'Dell. Attorney Larsha, thank you so much for your service. I, like Commissioner Hewitt-Garcia, am impressed with your resume. I do have a question for you. Your experience with the Fourth Amendment, what do you think our founding fathers would think about the technology and the Fourth Amendment?

Oh, boy. Uh... I think they'd probably be pretty impressed by it, but not, you know, anticipating that it is so, you know, technical now. So I think that's the best I can answer.

Okay. What type of music do you listen to or podcast or books while driving to work?

I listen to jazz, Boney James. Yes. Yes.

Well, I do thank you for your willingness to serve and for what you've done in the past. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner O'Dell. Mr. Lachey, would you like to take a minute and give you a wrap-up?

Yes, ma'am. Like I said, I have the experience. I'm made for this job. I'm just made for it, y'all. And that's just all it is to it. So I look forward to the appointment on Monday. And I just asked you to do what my coaches used to do when I was playing ball and put Bill on the bench.

Okay. Thank you, Attorney Larcher. Our next candidate. is Attorney Aurelia McBride.

Good morning, Commissioners. Aurelia McBride, District 438119.

All right. You have three minutes. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Aurelia McBride. I'm a proud resident of Memphis, Tennessee. I've been in Memphis just about my entire life. Proud graduate of the Central High School. I did leave very briefly to attend Vanderbilt University and came back to Memphis for law school at the Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law. Since that time, I've been dedicated not only to the Memphis community, but the legal community. I'm not sure if you all know, but the Memphis legal community is very tight knit and tightly woven. And for that, I am appreciative. I made some great connections and had the opportunity to have very unique experiences. I currently serve as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Homeland Security, representing the government's interest in immigration removal proceedings. Prior to going to the federal government, I was in private practice at Glencler Brown where I did general civil litigation, but primarily insurance defense. And I also did do some personal injury while I was there as well. And I also worked for the very well-known Memphis law firm of NST where I did personal injury with them as well. And so with my time in private practice working at Glencler and NST, I I had a great deal of experience with the general session's courts, ranging from minor settlements to auto accident cases, representing clients for contract disputes as well. And so to Commissioner Caswell's question, why this position, why now? Although I may be one of the youngest candidates, I think I have a vast range of experience in my time with the federal government, especially immigration court, has really allowed me the opportunity to be able to be in a position where I have to pinpoint the law and read the law as black and white and be able to articulate their argument in removal proceedings versus private practice where your goal is to protect your client's interest. Yes, I represent the government, but the government's goal is to ensure that the law is followed. And so I believe that experience allows me to be able to translate into a judicial appointment. I also believe I answered Chairwoman's question as it relates to my experience in general sessions. And so I would gladly take any questions that the commission has for me.

Just waiting for you.

Commissioner O'Dell. Thank you, Chairwoman. Okay. Thank you, Attorney McBride, so much for your willingness to serve. Your resume is impeccable. With your experience with the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, if you had a magic wand and you could create a program to help children, what would it be?

More foster parents. Oh, yes. Just having the abilities to have more foster parents, readily available to accept placements. My time at the Department of Children's Services was a whirlwind. Just because of the number of dependency and neglect cases, they come through Shelby County and Tennessee as a whole. And I vividly remember multiple nights on call, getting calls in the middle of the night from social workers asking, are we able to remove this child? and explaining the circumstances, and oftentimes that child will be placed in a temporary position or hoping that there was family available. So if there were programs that allowed more foster parents to be readily available to accept the call for the children that are needing their assistance, that is the program that I would put into place.

Attorney McBride, that is my passion and my heart. Not a lot of people know this, but my grandparents were killed on a trip to Florida, and I was in the vehicle. I was actually placed in foster care for a couple of days until my family could get to us. So thank you for that, and thank you for what you've done for the children.

Thank you.

Okay, now let's have fun. If you had to pick one song that describes your family, what would it be and why?

Oh, my goodness. Wow thing. I am a mother of three. My oldest just turned 11 yesterday, so 11, 6, and almost 5. And so things are always hectic and always busy in my household. And so I am thankful for a supportive spouse and a family unit that steps in whenever it's necessary.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Ma'am, you have a very interesting career from foster care to Homeland Security, charter school, so very interesting.

Thank you. Would you like to take a minute and wrap up? Yes. So one thing that I failed to mention is that my passion lies at the intersection of equal access to education and and equal access to justice. I currently serve as the board chair for Memphis Merit Academy Charter School, which is a charter school in the 38118 community. It's where the old Kroger used to be. So I've been able to see that community transform due to the work that I've been able to assist the executive director with. Also previously served on the board for Memphis Area Legal Services. And so access to justice education leads to access to equal justice, because if you know more, you do better. And so that is my passion, and I believe that this judicial appointment will put me in the place to continue carrying out those goals and to make an even greater impact on the community that has given so much to me and made me the person I am.

Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Attorney? Thank you. Thank you very much. And our next candidate is attorney Mitzi Pollard.

Good morning. Good morning. Mitzi Pollard, 38138.

Okay, so if you'll give us, you just said it. Okay, three minutes, please.

Okay, all right.

It's almost lunchtime, so.

Okay, good morning. to the Board of Commissioners, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning today for your consideration of my application for general session civil court division six. For more than 24 years, I've dedicated my legal career to serving the people of Memphis and Shelby County. I am a graduate of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law. I have an extensive amount of experience. I have experience as an attorney, as a mediator, and for nearly 12 years now, and most recently, I've had the honor and privilege of serving as one of your magistrate judges at juvenile court. During my time on the bench, I have presided over nearly 49,000 bench trials and other judicial hearings. making difficult decisions that affect the lives of people who appear before me. That experience has taught me that being a good judge is more than just knowing the law. It requires sound judgment, patience, preparation, efficiency, and the ability to listen carefully while doing all of that and treating people with dignity and respect. My background has prepared me particularly well for this opportunity, Before taking the bench, I spent years, about 12 years, practicing law, handling a broad range of civil cases. I practiced in a general session civil, circuit court, chancery court, nearly all the courts in Shelby County. I even served as a Rule 31 mediator. But before becoming an attorney, I worked as an engineer in computer programming where I developed analytical skills and problem solving skills that I take with me every day that I make decisions on the bench now. So I'm seeking this appointment now because I believe I'm prepared to effectively serve on day one. I understand the responsibility that comes with the position. I also would bring to General Sessions the same principles that I've used in my career as a judicial officer now, which include fairness, impartiality, efficiency, respect for the law, and respect for the people we serve. Shelby County has been my professional home for decades and public service has been the most meaningful part of my legal career. It will be an honor to continue to serve in that capacity as judge of General Session Civil. Thank you for your time. Thank you all for your service that you provide to the county and I look forward to answering any questions that you may have of me.

Thank you, Attorney Pollard. Commissioner O'Dell.

Okay, your service within the juvenile court. What, if anything, frustrates you about the juvenile court and why?

About the court itself? I mean, actually... It's frustrating to have, you know, children in and out of court all the time for some of the same reasons. But the good thing is I've had the privilege and honor of serving at juvenile court under two separate administrations. And I can tell you with this recent administration under Judge Tarek Sugarman, he has done a phenomenal job in partnering with a lot of our communities, community partners. and being able to provide more resources to the families. So with that aspect, it's frustrating to see them come, but it's also good to know that we've partnered with a lot of agencies that can provide them with the services.

Oh, I'm so glad to hear about that. Thank you for sharing that with us. Okay. Your family's business is A&R Barbecue. It is. Give us a quick commercial. Oh, boy.

Okay. All right.

Well, I'll give you just a little bit.

Yeah. Only a few can barbecue. That's not my strong suit. You're good. Yeah. and our barbecue.

There you go. Good job. Thank you so much for your willingness to serve us. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Garcia. Hugh Garcia.

Thank you. I'm very impressed with the range of experience that you have and similar to your background of working with youth and juveniles and knowing families. Is there anything within Shelby County, you have decision makers in front of you, what sort of supports or community need have you seen increase over time that is impacting the courts? What do you think the most significant challenges in our community that is not improving that you would give us advice on?

I think a lack of resources with mental health issues is huge because not only does it affect the individual, but it affects the family as a whole. Not only mental health issues with a child, but mental health issues with a parent. So as you could imagine, if you have a parent or parents suffering from mental health issues, it keeps them from being able to properly parent their children. That leads to dependency and neglect issues. It could also lead to delinquency issues. So I think mental health would be an area that I think we need to focus more resources on. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Commissioner Richardson.

Thank you, Chair. Just a quick question. I know you ran recently. And, of course, you'll have to run if you're appointed in the next two years and then another. What did you learn from the campaign trail that's going to give you the opportunity to get over the hump if you're appointed?

I think that the almost, it wasn't quite a year, but it was a long time out there on the campaign trail. I think being out there has really solidified for me that I have a true passion to expand my judicial service to the community. I have, like I said, 12 years in private practice and over almost 12 years on the bench now. I just want to take all those resources and skills and apply it to a broader community. And this position with General Sessions Civil Court would allow me to do that. So it has just enhanced my passion for serving more people.

Well, I'm glad to see that you want to continue to fight for it. Yes.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner Richardson. Attorney Parler, would you like to take a minute and wrap up? All right.

Yes. So in closing, so again, thank you all for this opportunity to appear before you this morning and I respectfully ask for your vote and I have, I'm asking for your vote for three reasons. First, I have the experience to step into division six on day one and serve effectively throughout my 24 years and last 12 years on the bench. I have learned how to manage high volume dockets, which is something that I do every day. I've learned to apply the law fairly and make real difficult decisions in real time. Second, I have a proven judicial record. You don't have to speculate about what type of judge I will be because my record demonstrates that I have a commitment to fairness, impartiality, efficiency in treating everyone with dignity and respect. And to Commissioner Richardson's point, my last reason is that finally I'm prepared to do the work to retain the seat. As you know, I did just complete a countywide judicial campaign, and although the outcome wasn't what I wanted, I am willing to do the work to build the relationships across Shelby County and earn the confidence of the voters and I am prepared to do that and will be prepared to do that in 2028. So I do have the experience, the proven record and commitment to serve and retain this seat and I am ready to serve Division VI and I respectfully request your vote.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Push for Pollard. There you go.

Thank you all.

Our next candidate is Attorney Steven Townsend. Did I get that right? Townsend, yes. Townsend, okay. Come on up. Thank you, Commissioner. You're welcome.

Good morning, Commissioners.

Good morning.

My name is Steve Townsend, 38117. I grew up as a preacher's kid living in Wyoming, New Mexico and Arkansas. I attended public schools from kindergarten through high school. After attending college in Arkansas and getting married, we moved to Memphis and my wife began her career as a music educator and I started law school, graduating from the University of Memphis Law School in 1993. I have spent my entire 33-year legal career in Memphis and Shelby County, serving 17 years, over half my career as a judge. For the last 15 and a half years, I have served as a federal administrative judge, hearing and deciding discrimination cases from federal employees. I am particularly proud that for a large majority of my career, I have had female mentors. My guiding principles are faith, family, fairness, and facts. My faith guides me in both my personal and professional life. I currently serve as an elder at my church and have served in this role for nearly eight years. I serve people through the service we provide in the community. I am incredibly proud of my family. I've been married for 37 and a half years and we have two boys, both adopted as infants. They are now 28 and 25 years old. My 89-year-old mother remains independent and very resilient despite the difficulties that life has thrown at her. Fairness, I allow both sides to be fully heard. I am an active listener and an active note-taker. My decisions are guided by facts and my commitment to follow the laws as written. Thirty years of my 33-year career have been spent in public service. Public servants do not do it to get rich, and lawyers who choose the life of public service forego lots of earning potential in the private sector. In fact, my salary as a state of Tennessee hearing officer was less than an MLGW paralegal's salary but I wanted to gain judicial experience in hopes of eventually becoming a judge in Shelby County. A good day for a judge is when both sides feel that they were fairly heard. Once after the conclusion of a case, a federal employee said that although she did not feel like she would prevail, she still said that she felt like she was fairly heard in the process. Another time in a Medicaid termination appeal, I took the time to explain the difference between primary and secondary insurance, and told an older couple that they would still have Medicaid from the other spouse as secondary insurance. And the couple left the hearing room smiling with a sense of relief after realizing that their household's Medicaid coverage was not going away entirely. I am uniquely qualified for this role as I have a tremendous amount of experience, including handling a large volume of cases from people who are representing themselves in court. I will finish with four Rs, resume, references, reputation, and respect. I have depth of legal experience, including 17 years of judicial experience. I've spent my entire professional career cultivating my reputation, and it is solid. Respect for others does not just start at the courthouse door. I treat all people with respect, learning to properly pronounce their name, asking whether last names contain a hyphen or not. People always appreciate being treated with respect, and this is especially true in the courtroom. My time is out, so I will defer to the questions and save any more for the wrap-up.

Commissioner O'Dell. Thank you, Chairwoman. First of all, thank you for being an adoptive parent. We need so many more of them. Thank you so much. Touches my heart. Can you, Attorney Townsend, briefly tell us about one case you argued before the Tennessee Court of Appeals?

There was a case involving the Memphis City of Memphis Pension Board. It was a marriage case in order to avoid younger women coming in and sometimes marrying older pensioners. You have to have the marriage license and marriage within a certain amount of time. It went up, it was I believe Stovall versus City of Memphis, it's a reported case. There was actually a first ceremony in Mississippi that ironically was conducted by a clergy member, but there was no marriage license. And then, They were trying to use that as the opportunity to make the marriage valid. Then about 10 days later, there was a ceremony with a certificate, and so we prevailed, saying that the first marriage was not valid under the law.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. What would your title of your autobiography be?

I'm a people person.

Thank you so much for your willingness to serve and how you've already served. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner O'Dell.

Okay.

Mr. Townsend, would you like to take a minute and wrap up?

Yes. Thank you.

Oh, I didn't see. I apologize. Just one second. I didn't see Commissioner Garcia. You're Garcia in queue.

Thank you. And thank you very much for being here and for submitting your name. I'm sorry, my voice. And submitting your name for consideration here. And the varying experience that you have is what strikes me the most. When you think about your... You talked a lot about your values sort of compartmentalize how you think about everything and who you are shows up. What is the... From all of the places that you've... served, what would you recommend to county commissioners in supporting our community in terms of resources that would impact this court?

As one of the earlier applicants said, mental health services. One of the Most interesting things that I did in my life that I never wanted to do was attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting with a family member of mine. You have open and closed meetings in those environments. If it's an open meeting, then you can come. They call us normies if you don't have an addiction problem. And while there with my family member who wanted me to go with them, I just developed a good rapport with a lot of recovering addicts, and that's the important word, recovering addicts. Recovering addicts have a difficult way to go in this community. They have to wake up every day and make a choice to stay clean, and then they face all the stressors that everyone else faces in the community. So I would, echoing what I said earlier, Mental health and drug court services, they're so tied together, and they impact schools, they impact the courts. Everything is affected by that, and it's ancillary as well. It's not just that person. And my wife and I have, since that time, our family members on a better path now, but we regularly still attend a NARANON meeting just for a support group to help people continue along that path.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Thank you, Commissioner Hewitt-Garcia.

Mr. Townsend, would you like to take a minute and wrap up?

Yes, thank you.

You're welcome.

I hope that the addendum that I submitted also indicated that I've sat as a special judge for Judge Sugarman in the city court, Judge Ernestine Hunt-Dorse. Judge Potter years ago. Frankly, I'm pretty sure I sat in General Sessions, but at the time I didn't jot that down. That was back during my City of Memphis legal career, and I wanted to be as truthful as I could in the application. But I do recall, I think, sitting in General Sessions Court. As to Commissioner Caswell's question about why this position and why now, I want to continue serving my community as I've done throughout my career. In my present judicial role, there's lots of motions issuing multi-page written decisions since COVID and to cut down on travel expenses. Uh, nearly all of our hitting hearings are by video. Uh, I just miss the day-to-day interaction with people. As I stated before, I'm a people person. So I would just ask for your support, your consideration in this judicial appointment process to fill the opening and Shelby County general sessions court division six. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. And we have one more candidate. Our candidate is attorney Martin Zuma. Let me know if I got that right.

Save the best for last. Absolutely. That's the thing about having Z as the last name.

Good afternoon, I think. Good afternoon. If you'll give us your name and a zip code, please.

Yes, Martin Zuma 38138.

Thank you. You have three minutes.

I won't use it all. We've been here a while. Many people in this room will know me. I've practiced law in Memphis a long time. I think Bill Arche and I got licensed the same year. The good thing about being Z at the end of this, I got to listen to all the other candidates. And you've got a hard job ahead of you. I knew the vast majority of them. I've tried jury trials. against Mr. Blunt's father, Jeb Blunt, here in town. I feel like I've lost about half the commission already, so hopefully I didn't bore them all to death. But in any event, you've got good candidates, very good candidates. The reason I want this job now, I just retired from Shelby County government. I've been an assistant county attorney now for over 30 some odd years. I stayed on with Regina Newman her last eight years just because I grew to know Regina and Regina asked me to stay on. I was going to retire eight years ago. But in any event, when I saw Lonnie's job come open when he won that race, I mean, y'all made the announcement looking for someone to fill that seat temporarily or on an interim basis, I thought, That might fit me pretty well. I've tried lawsuits in every court in four different states now. And General Sessions was by far my favorite. I'm not trying to garner any favoritism from Ms. Sugarman. However, I will tell you that I learned what a General Sessions judge is from Russell Sugarman. To give you one example, he was involved in a lawsuit. I won't tell you which side I represented, but involved a very costly, mistake made on a concrete driveway out the south wind. And Judge Sugarman, I ended up becoming a friend of his and referred to him as Russell, but said, I'd like to go out and see that driveway. So he was going to take the time in the middle of the trial to go out and see this work that was done. And, of course, he must be like me. If you tell somebody to be there at 1 o'clock, he's going to be there at 1230. So he and I stood out in the driveway for 30 minutes before everybody else showed up And I got to listen to his Morehouse stories and why he became a judge, why he became involved in the civil rights movement. And then I practiced in front of him eons, eons of times. I sat for him as special judge. That was what it's like to be a General Sessions judge. General Sessions is a people's courtroom. So many people have said, a lot of people are pro se. Well, it is, but we are there to apply Tennessee law and you're there to be fair and respectful to both sides, regardless if they have a lawyer, they don't have a lawyer. And that's exactly what Judge Sugarman did. And I learned a lot from him and there were a lot of other good ones too, but that one stands out to me. Bottom line, I'm probably the only guy or girl that came in here today that does not want to run for judge. In other words, if, if you appoint me, it's because of 35 years of experience. And by the way, I have an AV rating, which anybody that knows anything about lawyers, that's a really hard rating to get. And I've had it for the last 10 years. I'm willing to give back to Shelby County, just like they gave me for all the years I've been an assistant County attorney. I will not seek election for that job, and all these fine candidates that y'all have are then free to run for that job or any other judicial job. I don't have a campaign speech ready. I would say that you could pick the phone up to anybody you know in the legal community and say, do you know Martin Zumach, and they're gonna say yes. I've tried X number of lawsuits against him. I'm fair, it doesn't matter which side of the V I'm on, and I'd be that way as a judge. So subject to your questions, I'm here at your disposal, and that's really kind of why I applied for this job. I'm retiring from Shelby County Government, and I'm at your disposal if you want to put me in that job for two years.

Thank you. We do have two commissioners in the queue. We'll start with Commissioner O'Dell.

In your questions, I tried to write down what my answers would have been to some of your questions. So I don't think you're going to repeat them, though. That's the problem.

Yes, I know. It's tricky that way. First, thank you for your service with the Army. Thank you very much. Okay. Please tell us your American Jurisprudence Award. What is that and how did you get that?

What's funny is, and that was in, I actually got two. One was in conflicts of law and one was in ethics. And people that know me well and know my sense of humor, they all think it's a big joke that I got an Amjur Award in ethics just because they know how I am. But the Amjur is, and I graduated number two in my class too from law school. I don't think I put that in there. But bottom line is the Amjur award is based upon your academic grade, writing, that kind of thing. And so in conflicts of law, which takes the laws from the other states and tries to, for lack of a better word, coordinate the differences of how is Mississippi law different than Tennessee law when it comes to criminal law, civil law, whatever. That's what conflicts of law is, and that's what an Amjur is.

Oh, wonderful.

That and ethics. Who can figure that?

Okay. What is your favorite sports team?

The Atlanta Braves.

Atlanta Braves.

I sent my daughter out to SMU only because it had an hour and ten minute flight from Memphis to Dallas. what a way to spend money. But she was an Atlanta Braves fan, so much so that she went to the final game in Texas in 2018. She called me, she goes, do you mind if I buy a ticket on StubHub or whatever it is? And I said, I don't care. Go to the World Series, I mean, the last game, gotta do it. Do you know she left Dallas to go to Atlanta with no job because she wanted to work for the Atlanta Braves? And that was 2018. she has been with the Atlanta Braves ever since and has moved up through the organization. So I get to go. The good thing is she gets four free tickets to every Atlanta Braves game. And so if you don't think Martin is beating up and down the road, going over there to use that as an excuse to see his daughter, you're crazy.

Well, thank you. Thank you so much for your service and willingness to serve in this position.

I'd be more than proud and more than happy to serve and would do a good job what you would expect from a judge.

Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Billingsley?

Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you so much, Commissioner Brooks, Madam Chairman. I appreciate you, Mr. Zuma, sharing that you will not seek re-election if you were to be appointed to this. I think the power of incumbency is significant. As many of us know, it's hard to beat an incumbent. Also, your reputation does precede you. And I've been in this community for 59 years. and have never heard an unkind word, an unprofessional word about you, and similar to some other candidates today. Also, thank you for your service, and thank you for your 23 years of service to the military. As a lieutenant colonel and someone who's been highly decorated over your career and service to this country, how does that military background affect you as an attorney, as a future judge? Tell me how that basis, that's a big commitment. I actually have a Marine on my left and I've got a Marine across the board over there. And I know you were with the army, but how does that experience shape you as a legal professional?

I do have the, the, a commitment in my mind to the answer to your question. My older brother went Air Force. My little brother was Marine. I started out Army. In the Army, you have to start out in the combat arms before you can go to flight school. So they have to check you out for three years as an infantry officer, armor officer, whatever, before they send you to flight school. So I started out as an armor officer. You're in a tank with three other guys. You've got three other tanks with four people in it. And my dad was retired enlisted So all those sons and brothers of mine were all officers. Fred, my little brother, and I joke about how we officers, real officers, have to be able to treat enlisted men. And women, too. But in my branch, it was all men. In other words, those people were there. It was all volunteer service. Those people were there to better themselves, and they didn't have the same breaks that I had. as a kid or a high school or college kid. You could treat them with respect, even if you had to give them bad news, you could treat them with respect and they would love you for it. After that three years, I then went to flight school and then I was a platoon leader, then two company commanders in an aviation unit. I commanded a a lift unit which had eight Huey helicopters and crewmen. Those are warrant officers, which is even different than enlisted guys. Warrant officers, all they want to do is make sure their check comes on time, the meal's on time, and the mail's on time. So you have to deal with those personalities, warrant officers. So I did that for a long time. In order to get promoted, I became a JAG officer my last two years in the Army. So I represented everything from drug separation cases to... Just all kinds of crazy cases, the JAG officer. But to answer your question directly, I think I learned better how to deal with people like my dad from 35 years preceding that. And that is everybody is entitled to respect. It doesn't matter what your position in life is.

All right, Ben. Thank you so much. Now, Mr. Zuma, would you like to take a minute and give us your wrap-up?

Out of kindness and fairness to you folks, y'all have given me more than enough time, and I appreciate it. I'm not here to give a campaign speech. I'm here that if you express your confidence in me to put me on the bench, that's good enough for me.

Thank you so much. And that will conclude item number three on general government.

May I be excused? May I be excused?

Yes, sir, you may. Thank you. Thank you so much. Do we need to recess and go back to the community services? Okay. What we'll do is send this item, I'll move to send this item down without recommendation. Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded. Can we do that without objection? So moved. All right.

So Madam Parliamentarian, would you... Well, the chair, what's the wish of the chair to go back to community service or would you like to continue?

Madam chair, I don't think the other items are going to take very long. Okay. If you'd like to finish up general government.

All right. Madam parliamentarian, please read item one.

Item one is a resolution approving the election of notaries public for appointment and a reappointment for Shelby County, Tennessee, sponsored by Commissioner Henry E. Brooks.

Thank you. That item has been moved by Commissioner Richardson and seconded by Commissioner Caswell. Do we have a report from the County Attorney's Office?

Jordan Galtelli, County Attorney's Office. There are no conflicts to report.

Thank you so much. Seeing that we have no members in the queue, can we do that? I'm sorry, did I move this? I record that's the mover and the second.

Right. I want to make sure we had it properly before us, okay?

Madam Clerk, would you please prepare the screen for our votes? Every member cast your vote. Madam Clark, may we have a tally?

We have aye votes from Commissioners Dial, Billsley, Avant, Caswell, Brooks, Richardson, Streeter, Rudd, Hewitt, Garcia. We have nine aye votes.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. That item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Madam Parliamentarian, item number two, please.

Item two is a resolution receiving and filing the oaths of office for officials of Shelby County, Tennessee, elected on August 6, 2026, sponsored by Chairwoman Shante K. Avant.

Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. That item is properly before us. It was moved by Commissioner Billingsley and second by Commissioner Richardson.

Seeing no members in the queue, we will move to the vote.

Madam Clerk, please prepare the screen. Every member cast your vote. Any member desiring to change your vote Madam Clerk, may we have a tally?

We have aye votes from Commissioners Odell, Dio, Billingsley, Avon, Caswell, Brooks, Richardson, Streeter, Clay, Streeter, Rudd, And here with Garcia, we have 10 aye votes. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

That item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Madam Parliamentarian, item number four, please.

Item four is a resolution to approve and set the salary of the chair of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners for the 2026 through 2027 term, sponsored by Chairwoman Shante K. Avant.

Thank you. This item has been moved by Commissioner Avant and seconded by Commissioner Caswell.

Commissioner O'Dell. Chair, what is the current salary for the chair?

So I think the commissioner's salary is $34,804, and the chair's salary is usually $1,000 more than that. Thank you. Thank you. I think it was $34,804.08, something like that. But we'll get the staff to email the exact amount.

Okay, I'm going to ask the county attorney. Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner Bell is on.