Mayor and Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. I'm now calling this meeting to order.

Please stand with us. We'll be led in prayer by Alderman Gallagher. After that, please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance that will be led by Alderman-at-Large George Payne.

Heavenly Father, we love you so much, and we're so thankful for all that you do for us, Lord. Day in and day out, you're forgiving to us and you show your love to us and your mercy to us, Lord, even though we don't deserve it, Lord. We thank you for what you've done for us, giving us a way to salvation, Lord Jesus. And we pray that we would do things that are pleasing to you, Lord. Lord, I... I want to take time to ask you to watch over our kids as they start school, Lord. Just keep your hand over them and keep them safe from all that try to harm them. In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, first on the agenda this evening is the approval of minutes for the July 21, 2026 meeting. So moved. Second. We have a motion by Alderman Hoots, second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hoop. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is a task order from Urban Arc for the indoor tennis concept development. I know we have Ryan Morris. Thank you for being with us tonight. If anybody has any specific questions. But after our last meeting, we were reviewing our parks enhancement plan. We left there with the idea of designing an indoor tennis complex. And so that's where we are now. So we're asking this task order is... is in compliance with all the other master task order contract that we've used in the past with them. So we're just asking to approve this task order so they can get busy designing an indoor tennis complex. I'll make that motion. Second. We have a motion by Alderman Wheeler, second by Alderman Gallagher. Is there any discussion?

Are they going to have both designs? I know you've had a more conservative one, and then there was the bigger plan. Is it going to show both?

We met since the last meeting to discuss that. So after talking to everybody, Wes, our parks director, talking to Michael Johnson, tennis director, all of us, we also went to visit – I can never remember. Leftwich. Leftwich. We did a tour of Leftwich, which is the University of Memphis center, which is beautiful. It is super nice. And so we believe that if we want it like the instructions when we left, let's build this thing right. So we believe if we're going to do it right, that we ought to do a freestanding building. What that does allows us to move our pro shop and other things into the center of the complex. Maneuvering with the other layout, you would have it kind of off-centered and then have your tennis courts separated from that. Doing it this way will allow us to have things more centrally located. One of the coolest things we like about it is it has like a... overhang where the visitors can walk and they can look at both sides of the court from the top, which we wouldn't have had that in the old design. So, long way to answer your question, we think it's better if we demo the current facility and build a brand new facility. And then same, go ahead.

The amounts it's going to be

I'll just tell you up front, I'm hoping that we get good numbers like that, but just being realistic with everybody, it's probably not something that we could get 12. It's probably something that you're looking at probably 8 to 10. because we're already going to have to tap into some general fund money to do it. My recommendation, well, again, we'll see what it is. They're going to draw it multiple ways so we can have options, but I don't want everybody to get their hopes up that we're doing 12. It may end up being 8, 8, maybe 10.

But it was 8, 10, and 12.

Oh, yeah. We'll show you the numbers on 8. When we talked to Brian, he was going to draw it and have it where it's 8, 10, and 12.

That's correct. So this concept will include the demoing of the existing facility, putting in the base of eight courts, and then again, we'll get the pricing updated to show it at 10 court max or at 12 court max. Present that all to you all and let you all make a decision if you want to move forward with eight, 10, 12. I mean, we can put in as many as you have space for. Okay. Or money, right? That's right. One of those will be the limiting factor.

Yeah. Okay, good. Any other discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hoops. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is a resolution to amend City Ordinance Title 13, Chapter 16, Sections 13 through 16. City Attorney, Mr. Nick Manley.

This ordinance, Mayor and Board, is just more of a clarification. Under our current ordinances, we authorize a registered engineer to provide a survey. And we were contacted and reviewed that. And it just needs to be a registered surveyor and not an engineer. So all this ordinance does is clarify that it's a registered surveyor. and not a registered engineer who can certify and test boundaries as part of a PLAT or certify the survey. So it's a technicality, but just need to reflect that in the ordinance as the revision.

I'll make that motion. Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Jerome. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne.

Yes.

Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hughes. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler.

Yes. And that motion carries. Next on the agenda is resolution for sole source purchase for utilities.

The city utility department, they utilize a trio vision robotic camera for various tasks. They need a new crawler cable for the camera. And ICM is the only entity that sells the crawler cable for that specific camera. So we need a sole source purchase and resolution for $9,500 with ICM and $925 for the installation as set forth in the resolution.

Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Gallagher, second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hood. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler. Yes.

And that motion carries. Next on our agenda is a ratification of a contract with Mid-South Environmental Services.

Yeah, this contract is just the ratification of the contract with Mid-South Environmental Services. They had to remediate and clean a police car that had been contaminated with drugs. So did he authorization to ratify the contract?

So moved.

Second. We have a motion by Alderman Hoots, second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hoots. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler.

Yes. That motion carries. Next, on the agenda is a resolution for authorization to file liens and assessments.

These liens will just be filed for those properties that were cut in accordance with 21-19-11. They'll be then refiled or canceled the lien and then be assessed as an assessment as part of the property tax. Just need authorization from the mayor to sign that resolution.

I'll make that motion.

Second. We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Hoots. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hoots. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on the agenda is a resolution to clean private property.

Mr. Mayor, I move we adopt a resolution granting authority to clean private property as presented on the statement.

Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Hoots. Is there any discussion? Is there anyone in the audience who has a financial interest in any of these properties who would like to speak? Hearing or seeing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Jenkins? Yes. Alderman Hoots? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes. Alderman Wheeler?

Yes.

That motion carries. Next on our agenda is our planning agenda. Our planning director, Ms. Whitney Cook.

Yes, sir. Our first application, well, the first two applications are associated with the same project. If you will recall, back in 2024, we had a conditional use permit request to do the towing facility right there at the State Line and Airways Boulevard. Tabled once, and it came back up, and we put some contingencies on it in terms of what the design review was to look like, and How many they were allowed to store and so on and so forth. So what you have in front of you tonight is first the subdivision application. It is a single lot subdivision request. It is 1.83 acres. It is still located in an M1 zone of the city. Everything they've submitted to us from the standpoint of a subdivision is compliant with the ordinances and the bulk regulations set forth in those ordinances. So it was voted unanimously to approve the single lot subdivision application for it.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make the motion that we approve item one as presented. Second.

On item one, we have a motion by Alderman Jenkins. Got it right. And second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Jenkins? Yes. Alderman Hughes? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes. Alderman Wheeler?

Yes. That motion carries on one.

So the second part of the project is the design review application. And as I stated before, some of the contingencies we put in the minutes for the conditional use approval was that it had to be masonry materials. They had originally come to us with a prefab building that we're going to bring out from another site, put it on the ground, wanted to use gravel. Wanted to do just a wood fence. And those conditions were quickly knocked down by this board. And some of the stipulations they put in there, it had to be brick and mortar buildings. It had to have decorative fencing on the front. We did condition it to 12 vehicles only. It had to have 24-7 security. Landscaping was supposed to be beefed up. So what you see in front of you is their proposed building, which does meet the guidelines that we put forth, not only in the conditions from the conditional use permit, but also with the standard guidelines that we put for planned business park and light industrial areas. It is a metal building that is covered with a brick and stone veneer. It is grayscale. It does have a high height limit because it does have where they will work on some trucks. They do have the decorative fencing added to the front. We have heavily souped up the landscaping on it. There were no further comments by the planning commissioners to add anything additional than what they'd already submitted. Very much an improvement from the previous submittal they had proposed to this board, so it was recommended as submitted.

Mr. Mayor, I would like to make the motion that we accept item number two as presented tonight. Second.

On item two, we have a motion by Alderman Jenkins, a second by Alderman Hoots. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That motion carries.

The third application we have is for a mixed-use building, well, two mixed-use buildings in Silo Square. What you've got is just a carry-on of the buildings that are already there, the materials that are already there. One of them is commissioned for a bank or slash realtor and mortgage financer. It does have the loss... located upstairs. This is going to be north of, I guess, north of where Lucky Dog's corner is. There's now the mixed-use building next to it. It's going to be that lot just north of there. But it will mimic a lot of the other buildings that were there. Same materials, same kind of design factors. There were no comments associated with it. The landscape plan has already been submitted and approved through the PUD text, so it was voted unanimously in favor of.

Mr. Mayor, I move we approve item number three on the planning agenda. Second.

On item three, we have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Wheeler. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne?

Yes.

Alderman Jenkins? Yes. Alderman Hoots? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher?

Yes.

Alderman Wheeler?

Yes. That motion carries.

Our final application is a scrivener's error. This is required by the chance or the chance for Clark's office down in the county. Any type there, any type of error in the verbiage or dimensions associated with the plot have to go through. the board for a final approval to do those changes. The Centerbrook subdivision is going to be on the north side of Goodman Road, just east of Elmore, which you see right there. It's all residential lots. Initially, in the plat that we approved, it had a minimum of a three-foot side yard setback with a total of five combined between two lots. The new building codes that we've adopted now require that that's five feet. So what we're doing now is just going back, taking the three foot minimum, placing a five foot in there so that it stays consistent and compliant with the building code for 2024. So that is the scrivener's errors request. It is going to be the subdivision is already plotted in Book 159, page five. And I do have to, for some reason, get on the minutes that it is Section 30 Township one s range seven west. That way we have that document and we can get it submitted and changed by the change reports office.

Mr. Mayor, I will make the motion to approve item number four as presented. Second.

On item four, we have a motion by Alderman Jerome. We have a second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hood. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler. Yes.

That motion carries. Thank you. Next on our agenda is our mayor's report. We've got several things to update everyone on about tonight. First of all, just a reminder that we will have our budget workshop this Thursday, August 6th at 9.30 a.m. We've got a balanced budget proposal prepared to bring before the board. I'm very excited about it. I think it's a really good budget. Our finance director... Caleb Flowers has done a great job with that. He and I worked together on that, but I love it because it meets so many different demands of our operations, so I think you're going to like the budget. But anyway, what we'll do is, as we have done in several years past, we're going to bring the department heads to you, let you hear exactly what they've submitted, and we'll go through that, and then we'll summarize at the end. And obviously discuss and make whatever changes the board requests. So that's Thursday here at 9.30 in the morning. We've got a current pro tennis tournament going on. Y'all know that with all the talk about tennis and all the expansion we've done with tennis, it's enabled us to bring more tournaments, including pros. So right now we have 60 male pro players out there. and 70 female pro players. So we've got a lot of pro tennis players out there. Just a big motivation for our kids that live in the city to be able, in their own city, to go sit down and watch a pro tennis player play. It's just any time with any sport that you mix the pro players in with the kids, that's how dreams are created. They see that. They see what they want to be. So anyway, it's just a great thing going on right now. The LED lighting project that we've talked about to replace the lights at Greenbrook Park and Snowden Grove Park with LED lighting, which makes a tremendous difference in the visibility for night games, but also is tremendously more efficient from a cost standpoint. It reduces maintenance tremendously. So that project is actually underway now and will be done by September 1st. The Johns Creek Bridge project, I don't know that we've talked about this enough in recent years, but Dan Cordell and Civil Link and I have been involved in drainage discussions here going back to 2013. The Summerwood neighborhood has, Johns Creek permeates through Summerwood and it's created many drainage problems out there, a lot of erosion, it's taken away Well, with flooding, you have some overflow. It's created a lot of drainage problems throughout the Summerwood neighborhood. One of the best solutions to that is the channel goes northward. So when it goes out of Summerwood and crosses State Line Road into Tennessee, it was meandering through there, it was tight. The bridge and the culvert were small so the water couldn't get through there quicker. So this project is opening that up to allow the water to escape quicker so it's not hung up in the Summerwood neighborhood for so long. So this is something we've been waiting on for a long time and excited about it. So it's been underway for a few weeks, but the update tonight is that thing should be done sometime in October. It'll make a big difference in summer with it. Airways Reservicing, this board knows that we use the federal MPO program, Metropolitan Planning Organization, and what they do is they have pools of money that they bring to metro areas around the United States, and you have to make application for that to get the funding because there's many competing governmental entities in the Mid-South. One of the ones that we put on about four years ago was to have, they have different divisions. They have widening projects and they have resurfacing projects, pedestrian projects. So one of our resurfacing projects was airways from Nail Road North to Goodman. And if you haven't been that way recently, it's in horrible condition. It's where we have a ton of retail traffic with the mall and the restaurants there. It's a very expensive project because of how many lanes and how long it is. But the good news is we were approved for that project years ago, and it's ready to be bid and get going. So the bids should be open in September, and you should see resurfacing in that area in October of this year. And it should be done quickly, so they should be done in October, November. So that'll be big for our city. It'll clean that area up right there. And then, haven't talked about this one in a long time, but I wish I had a quarter for every discussion that we've had about this, but I-55 widening. So what has been going on for about two years The state legislature approved MDOT to have funding for the first phase of that, which is to widen the interstate from Goodman Road to Church Road from four lanes to ten. And in that project, it would also widen the intersection, I mean the underpass, make Church Road wider, also add double lanes in the ramps, and then add a loop in the southeastern quadrant. I don't have to explain that to anybody. That's one of the biggest traffic problems, congestion problems in our city. And so it's going to take them a while to do it, but the good news is the last two years we've been moving utilities, getting ready, but they're expected to open bids in November for the actual construction, and construction will start when the weather gets good in the spring of 27. So that's going to be a huge, long time coming, but a huge benefit to our city, and not just our city, but really North Mississippi in general. Last thing I'll share with you is a fun thing. Y'all may remember last year that our animal shelter was named the best of 2025 by a business rate organization, and they named us that again. So congrats to Perry Mason and Robert Booth that manages that department and all our staff for running an outstanding animal shelter. volunteers they like to you know make donations everybody involved in that you know contributes but but it's just a cool thing that our animal shelter like so many things our city our animal shelters is top-notch too so anyway congrats to Perry and Robert and the whole team and that's all I have there this evening I believe let me scan all this yep that's all I got so moving on from the mayor's report next on the agenda is a personnel docket

Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the personnel docket as presented on this table. Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Hoots. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne? Yes. Alderman Jenkins? Yes. Alderman Hoots? Yes. Alderman Jerome? Yes. Alderman Gallagher? Yes.

Alderman Wheeler? Yes.

And that motion carries. Next on our agenda is our city attorney's legal update. Mr. Nick Manley again.

I sent an email this afternoon because we had a couple things that came up and I was needing to get an approval for them. I can do them all at once or we can do them individual, however you want to do it. But the first one is, just piggybacking off what the mayor noted, was approval to advertise for Airways Boulevard. It's going to advertisement next week, so we just need to get approval on our minutes to advertise for that resurfacing. And then also the approval for the entry to contract, the mayor's noting for the Parks Department, as far as with the LED lights at Cherry Valley, so that Parks Director Wes Brown can sign. And then we can do the other one, we'll have the resolution for the termination of the lease contract with Tower Ventures. That was for the telecommunications tower to go ahead and authorize the cancellation of that contract. And we had a sole source purchase by City Public Works Department for the MRL MiniMac 400 thermoplastic detail striper and detail trailer in the amount of $377,030.73. This sole source is only Sold by Mark Wright Lines Equipment Company Inc. and they're based on the public works review and due diligence. That's the only entity that sells this thermoplastic detail striper which is needed for the striping as opposed to paint since thermoplastic withstands temperatures and wear and tear better than paint. And the last item is the MOU between Decrua, Olive Branch, and South Haven. This MOU is for the Nullahoe study for the analysis of the creek pipeline at Nullahoe. It was requested by South Haven and Olive Branch. And Decrua would be the entity that did the study. And it just authorizes the cost share between the three entities not to exceed $12,000. That study has been complete, but it now allows for the city of South Haven to pay its share based on the local and private with Decrua and this MOU. Those are all the items under the attorney report. We can do it all at once and approve it or go by each individual item.

Okay, let's make a motion to approve all. Second. Okay, we have a motion to approve all by Alderman Hoots, second by Alderman Payne. Is there any discussion about any of those?

We discussed most all of those anyway.

Anybody got any other questions or discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hoots. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler.

Yes. That motion carries. Next on the agenda is the utilities billing leak adjustment docket.

Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the utility bill leak adjustment docket as presented. Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Gallagher. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Payne.

Yes.

Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Hood. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes.

Alderman Wheeler. Yes. That motion carries. Next on the agenda is one claims docket.

Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the claims docket in the amount of $4,625,519.31, including demand checks. Second. We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Hood. Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Hayne. Yes. Alderman Jenkins. Yes. Alderman Higgins. Yes. Alderman Jerome. Yes. Alderman Gallagher. Yes. Alderman Wheeler.

Yes. No motion carries. Next on the agenda is the purpose of determining the need for executive session.

I'll make that motion. Second.

We have a motion by Alderman Gallagher, second by Alderman Wheeler. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed say no. Ayes have it. Motion carries. The needs this evening are claims and litigation involving city infrastructure. potential property easement access, acquisition, economic development within the city, and interdepartmental personnel with no action. Is there now a motion to declare executive session?

So moved.

Second. We have a motion by Alderman Payne, second by Alderman Hoots. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say no. Ayes have it. Motion carries.

The mayor and board will now enter executive session.