Okay, Mr.

Groy, are you ready?

All right, council, let's get me out of business.

Um I need a motion to approve the agenda.

So move.

Move by Mr.

Creel.

Second by Mr.

Tisdale.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Those opposed.

Motion carries.

Mayor's report.

Okay, we'll start out with the community development, and then we're gonna go from there.

All right.

Thank you.

Council reports.

No.

No.

No report.

No report.

No report.

No report.

No report.

I have no report.

Citizens' comments have a total time, 45 minutes.

If we have any.

We'll go ahead and open it up.

Anybody on my left, your right would like to speak.

Raise your hand, be recognized.

Anybody on my right, your left?

Anyone in the back?

Citizen Commons is now closed.

Clerk would read the policy agenda.

Subject matter of this meeting is to discuss the fiscal year 2025-2026 municipal budget and for related purposes.

All right.

Mr.

Weaver, you can have opening remarks or over your director, however you uh choose.

Our guest.

Okay.

Um is this we're you're not on this part of the agenda, though.

He's available if there are questions about insurance, or if you want to give him ten minutes, basically.

All right, we'll we'll give you a few minutes uh kind of uh deviate from from the agenda, but sorry if you come up.

Just yeah, how are the costs going up?

Yeah, that's five minutes.

There we go.

All right.

Hey, mate.

Sorry.

Sorry.

That's too low.

We almost forgot you.

I had to look twice to see who that was.

All righty.

Uh I will be brief.

Um, I was invited by Mr.

Glavin and Mr.

Tisdale, and then they almost forgot about me, so uh I know I'm not wanted here.

Just kidding.

Um, so my name's Cy Easterling, and I am working with the insurance committee, which is Mr.

Glavin and Mr.

Tisdale and Mr.

Marshall to present you your health insurance options for 2025-2026.

We have been working on your self-funded health insurance for at least 15-20 years now.

And uh, so what I have here is I'm not gonna go into extreme detail on this.

This is a budget uh workshop, but I did want to present to you that year over year from what we had projected for this year, which ends at the end of September, uh, versus what we have projected for next year and the reinsurance renewal and everything involved.

We're looking at basically a flat renewal on your health insurance.

Now you are self-funded, okay?

You pay the claims, you pay an admin cost, and you pay a premium.

And this uh the sheet I gave you will break down everything that I just mentioned briefly.

Your administrative cost of the TPA remains the same.

Your specific stop loss premium did increase.

That's the only increase that we had.

It was a 17% increase.

We have a reduced population this year on a snapshot in time, so that ends up being about a 14% dollar over dollar increase just on the specific premium.

So that amounts to about 250,000 is what the increase is on the specific premium.

Your aggregate stop loss premium did not change uh at all.

Your estimated claims costs.

So what we do is we get our actuaries to look at your population, look at your plan, and make projections on what we think you're gonna spend in claims in any one year.

Your projection for claims did not go up, it remained the same.

Why is that?

Well, there's a number of factors involved, but the main thing is you had a really good year this year.

Uh we can get into that at a different time if you want to, but claims-wise, you had a really good year, uh, and so they project the same good year for you this coming up year.

Um I guess what it comes down to is you have 14 fewer people on this plan versus when we quoted at the same time last year.

That fluctuates on a daily basis.

I understand that.

The increase in admin cost of about a quarter of a million dollars is offset by the 14 fewer people in the projected claims cost that you would have to pay of about another 260,000 dollars.

So you're paying 250 more, you're saving 260 in claims cost.

So what it comes down to, what I'm telling you today is that we expect you to pay total about 9.96 million total in admin cost and claims cost, if everything goes according to plan.

That is the total cost for the plan.

That is before you get any employee contributions, any pharmacy rebates, or any reinsurance money back on your high dollar claimants.

Last year we projected uh roughly the same number, 9.97 last year and 9.96 this year.

Any questions on that?

So do we state we got 14 fewer that you've uh analyzed at this point in time today?

However, if we're successful in recruiting and filling our vacancies, and we go 14 over that number, that's a 28 person swing based on this analysis.

So that would certainly increase our out of pocket.

Correct.

We would we project claims based on the tier of coverage that an employee selects, so employee only, employee plus spouse, employee plus children, or family.

Obviously, a family unit family unit is going to have higher claims than an employee only.

The second point, um, as you mentioned, uh part of the decrease was we had a good year, particularly the pharma, is that correct?

That's correct.

So the the use of drugs, put it mildly, uh is has been less expensive for whatever reasons.

We we're using an alternative, we're using a cheaper, we're using uh a recommended uh uh medication.

And because we're we're getting better at that, that was able to drive that that cost up to offset the increase in in the premium.

Correct.

Correct.

I'm glad you brought that up.

Through uh I have nine months of data for this plan year.

I don't have July's data correct uh yet, but through nine months through changing our pharmacy benefit manager and implementing a Canadian pharmacy program, a co-pay savings program, and a what they call a uh uh PA path where you get funding from alternative sources for high dollar medications.

You have saved five hundred and thirty thousand dollars documented that we have saved by moving PBM vendors in nine months, five hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

What other opportunities do we have to drive costs down that we haven't that's not in this projection?

Are there any other opportunities that could drive drive costs down a little bit more?

We could always look at plan design changes, we could look at at shifting money to the employees, but you've had a good year.

I know the employees pay their fair share.

We could look at uh some things offline uh this coming year, but for this plan year, I believe that we're on the right track and we don't need to make any other changes.

Okay, thank you.

Have no other questions.

Uh thank you, sir.

I don't have any questions.

I know for those employees uh annually, they look to see what what their how if their costs will increase as employees, their contributions, and right now we don't we don't anticipate those uh contributions based on whether it's the employee only, employee and spouse, employer family, or so forth.

We don't expect an increase at all for next year.

And what one uh one final point, too, and I don't have the numbers uh in front of me, but the dental insurance, the vision insurance, and the life insurance, there is no change in the rate for any of those, so that all remains the same as well.

I know that Diana has that factored into uh a similar budget line or the same budget line, so there's no change in that as well.

So I have I have a whole bunch of flat renewal conversation to tell you about.

I would think that's all I have, Mr.

Marshall.

Any questions you might?

Anyone else have any questions?

Mr.

Cruel, and you may have covered this.

You said no increase in rates, correct?

Is there an increase decrease in coverage?

Coverage remains the same.

Coverage remains the same.

There's no increase in uh rates for dental vision and life insurance, because those are we're paying a premium.

Uh, as far as the rates, you can set those based on what we project the claims to be in the fixed cost.

So when you say rates, you're self-funded, but there's no increase in cost in the medical on the projected.

And the coverage stayed the same.

Coverage is the same, correct.

David, you have is there in any way do you see any possibility of maybe even lowering the rate for the uh for our employees?

Well, from from my standpoint, what I can tell you is what your fixed costs are going to be and what we project the claims cost to be, which are variable.

I can give you those numbers and those figures.

As far as setting a budget, you know, that's where I kind of wipe my hands and let Diana and y'all take care of that.

But you know, I can tell you what the costs are going to be, but from a budget standpoint, you can really set the rates and employee contributions to be what you want them to be.

Uh we've changed that over time.

Costs have gone up over time.

We've increased increased the employee contribution to a fair percentage across the board of the total premium.

But again, that's up to y'all as to what you want to set it to be.

It's totally your choice.

When was the half-time increase?

Uh one was it last year or two years ago?

Two years ago.

It was two years ago.

Mr.

Marshall, what what uh in the past we had a two-tier structure where the employee paid one rate, and then if you had a spouse, child, or family, you paid a separate rate.

We moved that to a four-tier rate, which is more common now.

Employee, employee plus spouse, employee plus children, and family.

And uh as we made that change, the percentage of the total premium versus what the employees were paying per tier got a little off.

So what we did was we figured out what the total premium would be, cost variable cost plus you know, uh premium costs for each tier, and we we benchmarked it across the national average and said, okay, if the employee paid eight percent of the total premium per tier, what would that number be?

And that way, no matter what tier you're on, you're paying the correct percentage as a part of that tier.

So we made that change two years ago, and that's how we've come up with the employee contributions today.

So in essence, the city pays 92 percent of the plan cost.

That is correct.

Okay.

That's correct.

Mr.

Tusdown, um, Side, just touch briefly on the lasers.

That's what's printed in red because we've got new four, we've got four new council members.

Thank you.

So uh what the reinsurance carrier does is you have two levels of reinsurance.

The main one is what we call your specific stop loss.

That's where you're paying the majority of your premium.

What that says is that you, the city, you're gonna pay the first 125,000 of claims per person.

Anything over 125,000 goes into a bucket, and when that bucket gets to 150,000, reinsurance pays everything over and above that.

All right.

So when they know about a high dollar claimant or a potential high dollar claimant, somebody that might have cancer, might need a transplant, whatever it might be, they can project those costs.

Let's let's take the first one over here.

It says 350K plus 100K.

Uh this particular individual has something that reinsurance knows about, and they said that, hey, we project their cost to be $350,000 for next year.

And if a certain thing happens, it'll be an additional thousand.

So they are setting that person up a separate deductible.

So instead of you paying the first hundred twenty-five thousand on them, you're paying the first $350 or $450 or whatever that number is.

Now, these are not final.

Uh, these are kind of our initial lasers.

I do anticipate two of these coming off because we get our clinical team to verify with the reinsurance and the underwriters and make sure that everything is fair and is right.

And we don't think two of these are correct, and I do think one more could be reduced.

So this is not final, and I'm hopeful that we get two of those off.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sai.

And uh the other thing is thank you for for meeting with us.

Uh and now we've been doing this, working with with you specifically for I don't know, 12 years or thereabouts.

So uh we appreciate all the time and effort you and your staff put into this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Tuesday.

Anyone else have any other questions related to this?

Uh Sa, you're always available if somebody wants to pick up the phone, they they have a thought or a question.

Absolutely.

Always uh available if you if any of the council members have have a thought or y'all want to uh reach one of the members of the insurance committee.

Okay, thank you, sir.

All right, Mr.

Weaver, your share.

All right, sir.

Um well I just want to let you know that I have uh Ani Gaso here who is the uh hospitality manager.

She runs the visitor center and is over the rental also of the old brick house.

Also have our historic administrator Mandy Horns be here today because there might be some questions about the old brick house, and she's been involved in the the detail work on the contract for some of the work that we're doing.

So if we get into those details, uh I'll call them up.

But for the most part, uh we're asking for a uh 298,000 dollar increase.

Uh I'll tell you right up front that a big part of what we're asking for has to do with um the chiller system at the visitor center is gonna have to be completely rebuilt.

And there's work that has to be done uh before they can start on the chiller system.

We've been informed it's gonna take about five months to build that system over there, and there's about twelve thousand dollars worth of work that has to be done before they can even start to work on the chiller system.

So that's a big part of the increase that we're we're asking for.

Community development has just before you asked, we have 32 uh positions uh full-time, all full-time in community development.

Four of those are at the visitor center.

We have a hospitality manager and an event coordinator and two center supervisors over there, and then we continue to use some temp employees over there.

Uh we currently have 21 vehicles out of those vehicles that we have.

Um is 22 years old, two are 21 years old, one is 20 years old, one is 19 years old, six or seventeen years old, and one is 12 years old, and we do have some new ones that we've been able to get in the last few years.

So part of what we're asking for also is to get uh at least a couple of new vehicles into this budget so that we can get rid of some of these that are eating up our our repair funds for over there.

Um the only vacant position I have available right now is the city arborist, and we've all heard uh a lot about that.

The um the salary that we're offering right now is 56,000.

The national average is $65,000 a year.

We're asking that it be increased at least to $60,000 so that we could at least try to find a qualified applicant to take that position.

Uh they need to be ISA certified and track certified, which is uh uh tree risk assessment qualified in order to fill that position.

But uh you'd be surprised at how much time is taken up.

I've gotten at least eight calls today about trees, and this is an ongoing thing where someone needs to be available to meet with these people to look at their trees to evaluate them to determine what's going on.

We had a meeting this morning at the uh Church of the Redeemer site again.

I had to call in the consulting arborist to come over there to make sure that uh our consulting arbitration agreed with the contractor's consulting arborist, you know, on what was being proposed over there.

But this is something that we really need to have someone full-time to to take care of.

Um as far as our department goes, some of the some of the big ticket items, of course, is uh, you know, our employees and their their benefits, that takes up a large part of ours, but we're basically service oriented.

We don't have to have a lot of heavy equipment or anything like that.

We do have to have vehicles that we can depend on from time to time.

And uh we also you know sometimes have to have office equipment like copying machines, and a lot of those are being done on lease agreements now.

So you'll see that in here.

But again, like I said, the uh the uh chiller system that's gonna have to be rebuilt is a big part of what we're asking for as far as the the increase goes.

Um I did get a cost estimate and I shared it with Rick earlier today.

Uh he had asked me during our initial budget hearing to take a look at what uh would uh the cost be or or an estimate would be on farming out the entire arborist uh system, you know.

And again, we'd have to have somebody that was Johnny on the spot that can meet with these people and talk with them and go over all the details about what they needed.

They would not have any enforcement authority.

The enforcement of the ordinance would still fall on our department as far as making sure that people were complying, but the initial cost that I got from Fuljums, who has the uh experience and the qualifications to do all of this was 180,000 a year.

Now that might sound reasonable for the first year, but I can almost assure you that for next year after they see what all they'd have to deal with that that cost would be a lot higher than 180,000.

But I did get that today from them.

Um that's pretty much it.

Um we have we have exactly the number of employees it takes to run our department efficiently.

Every every position over there is a necessary position.

It's it's not something where we have duplication, although we do have people that automatically fill in.

If our commercial building inspector is out on vacation or out sick, the residential building inspector immediately picks up his tickets and goes out and takes care of it.

So we do have someone to fill in whenever someone is is out.

But uh again, we have just exactly the number that we need.

Uh 68,000 of what we're asking for in that um that uh 298,000 dollar increase is for the audio visual system at the visitor center, which has gone out and uh cannot be repaired.

We've had sky frequency to look at it, and they've told us that it's it's beyond repair, it's gonna have to be replaced.

So when you add up the 174,000 for the chiller system that we got to build, and you add that $68,000 to it, you know, that eats up a good bit of what we're asking for in this increase.

Um if you have the budget in front of you and you see that as far as supplies go, we only have 260, I think 264,000 worth of supplies to get us through the year.

And a lot of that has just gone up based on increased cost for those supplies, and also for uh the increased need for some of those supplies.

Director, I'm just looking through um the summary here.

Where what category is that audio visual in?

It's in uh the proposed budget.

If you'll I'm assuming that they have this sheet in there, they have this sheet in their packet.

Okay.

It's listed under 6800.

Six sixty eight hundred, which is capital.

I'll see it.

And the audio visual, just so you'll know, uh that's that's the program uh a couple of programs.

It's the program inside of the museum over there where people walk in and they stand in front of one of those exhibits and the history of whatever they're looking at comes across, but also uh part of the theater as well that shows the history of Biloxi and the the uh event, Hurricane Katrina and some other events that have happened here.

So that's that's our budget.

The 60 68, you're saying 68,000 is for what?

That is for the uh audio visual program system that's inside of the Vista Center.

Uh it's gone out and it can't be repaired, so it's gonna have to be replaced uh if we're gonna continue to to use it.

You know, we uh in the museum we have these stations that you walk into if you're familiar with it, you walk into, you walk up to one of them, and you push the button, and this tape plays that tells you the history of uh Biloxi or whatever it is that you happen to be standing in front of, and it's just it's beyond repair now.

So it's gonna have to be.

How long it's been out.

Okay, we know it's been out since February.

So any complaints about it?

Oh, yes, we get complaints about it.

We also get a lot of complaints about the air conditioning being out over there because we've been having to to deal with that, but we knew that budget was coming up and we've just tried to get by the best way we can until the the budget went into effect and we could make a presentation to you.

Could you could it would it be detrimental if you didn't get that 58?

Uh well it would be embarrassing at to say the least.

We have a a system in there that tells the history of Biloxi and people come in from all over the world and step up to it thinking they're gonna hear uh something about Biloxi and when it's not working, it just makes it look like I I know a little bit about it.

Uh a lot of those videos and it might be time to update some of them, but uh there were and I think it uh some of it was filmed at different locations, but even in here.

So we we hired a marketing um uh marketing uh team or whatever, and they came and they videoed different aspects of Biloxi, the history, the attractions, the different events, uh the different locations, restaurants, et cetera, and the kiosk at the visitor center, you can go and choose different ones that perk your interest.

You can watch the whole film of everything, or you can choose different segments, and there's it's done pretty good, and it shows cruising the coast, it shows different restaurants, it shows a little uh bit of the history, and I think it just brings people in about hey, we we want to go see that, or we want to see more of the visitor center because it's kind of a walking uh museum in there a little bit, and you've got the is the IMAC still working.

I hadn't been in the IMAX theater.

Is your your IMAX is still working also the big big thing.

So uh and I'm in there a lot because I change our brochures from several of our properties, so I haven't pushed any of those buttons lately, but I have in the past just to get familiar with what our visitors are are seeing.

And Councilman Gladvin, that's an important point, and I'm glad you brought that up because uh it's not just informational purposes, but it is a marketing tool that supports other businesses in Biloxi to let you know that there are other businesses that you can go to.

Uh and and listen, we get this question all the time.

People who walk in there just want to know where do we go to get the best seafood on the coast, you know.

And we've got brochure racks in there, you know, that we can hand them about all kinds of different attractions in Biloxi that they can go to.

And sometimes it gets busy in there, and and most of the time you got three people, three or four people manning the whole area, and when you're jammed up like that, I do see people over there listening, you know, to the audio.

And I think you have a volume control on there too, so it doesn't blast anybody out.

So anyway, that's my two cents, Mr.

Marshall, of what I know about it, you know.

So I'm not saying we we have to spend that amount or or we can't shop at more or whatever.

I don't know that answer, you know.

So I got a question.

On this uh on this arborf $60,000 a year.

What would he be doing if he wasn't looking at trees?

Is it full time?

Uh yes, sir.

It is absolutely a full-time job if you're focused on what you're doing, because it's not just that.

Number one, you have to we get calls every day to come out and examine trees that people are needing to take down, wanting to take down, or having to take down because their insurance company has told them to take them down.

They have to go out and evaluate it.

They have to meet with the tree committee every month and go over the uh permits that have been issued for that.

But also another part of what's going on, and I have a list of all the activities in here that we sent to um fully gems to look at uh in order to put together that price.

Uh whatever we have a development that comes in, and part of the requirement is that they're gonna have to plant trees.

The arborist is responsible for monitoring those trees for three years to make sure that they're uh uh that they live through that three year period, and if they don't, then we have to start enforcement action to make sure that that they'd be part of his job too to do all that.

Absolutely.

There's there's no question this is a full-time job that demands your full attention on it.

It's not something that can be done part-time.

And Councilman Nell, if I may, uh I give Mr.

Krill significant amount of credit.

He has actually even reached out to Mississippi State and trying to get some of the future graduates try to take a look at first jobs.

So we are we're marketing everywhere when we're possible to do that.

Yeah.

So we're looking at different venues.

How do we make sure that we're able to do those?

Uh probably hit you up later on for a uh change in one of the ordinances.

Yeah, we might be able to tap into some additional funding on some other stuff that me and Mr.

Thank you for bringing that up.

Mississippi State is actually advertising nationwide.

But another another major thing that uh that happens that some of you are familiar with, Councilman Shoemaker called me recently about a route that needed to be cleared.

A part of what the Arborist has to do is to make sure that the streets all along the streets, that the routes are cleared, uh, all the time to make sure that fire trucks can get through, school buses can get through.

Uh, some people have oversized RVs that they need to be able to get through, and they're damaging some of these vehicles whenever the limbs get too low, so they constantly have to monitor it.

But this is the list of responsibilities that we put together from the job description that uh the arborist has to follow, and it's extensive.

I'll be glad to provide you with a copy of it if y'all need that.

So that's it.

I know you have a lot of things that's allows.

I know you have to do a lot of the sum of the Rs.

We need somebody doing the Free or buy whatever something.

I'll be contracting that out of this.

We ever at the beginning of every month, we issue a purchase order to Brad Manis.

He has a company called Mansworth LLC.

He's our consulting arborist, and we kind of use him the same way that we are or uh have him on the retainer, whatever you want to call it, like we do some attorneys that we issue them a purchase order at the beginning of the month.

Um for example, David Wheeler.

Uh we're constantly having to go to David Wheeler to do a title opinion on a piece of property for code enforcement because there's a question about who actually owns that property, and we always have to deal with the owner.

Well, in a way, we do the same thing with the arborist.

We issue him a purchase order at the beginning of the month, and we call him whenever we need him to come out and give us a professional assessment of something that's going on with the trees, and then he sends us a bill, but we don't pay that bill until the end of the month.

We we pay that purchase order and then we issue a new purchase order for the next month.

But the longer we do that, we're we're still paying.

I'm sure it's costing us.

His fee is three hundred dollars an hour for what we're what we're having to pay.

I don't know about the president here.

That's a hard position.

How do we know?

I mean 60.

Yeah.

I mean, obviously make it more markable for somebody to apply.

Well, again, that's the that's the national average, and and the expectation is that this person would have the education and the experience, and someone with that kind of education, you know, uh, I mean, we got a great set of benefits here with the city, and we really appreciate that.

But if you combine the salary with the benefits, we think we'd have an attractive enough package.

But that job is a lot like mine.

You're constantly gonna make somebody mad.

Oh, yeah.

And you know, that in itself, you know, kind of discourages somebody from wanting the job unless the compensation offsets that if you understand what I'm I mean.

Oh, yeah, yes.

Go ahead.

I was just gonna have one more last question, unless you two visitor center and anything that Mandy's got going on.

I know we went over the 298,000 and some of the other numbers, um, and the sixty-eight thousand, but does that pretty much get the visitor center or everything with I'll say y'all's departments back where it needs to be.

Um I want to say yes, it it it would it at the very least it would solve a major problem at the visitor center.

And I mean, you know, we've we've talked about the visitor center, that that that's the diamond of the city.

When people come there, that's the impression they get of the whole city when they go to the visitor center.

And uh when you have to explain to somebody why the air conditioning is out, I mean, even the employees can't stay in there when the air conditioning system's out.

Uh we do have some other things that we need to upgrade.

You know, we've talked about the the old brick house, right?

Uh we we got a grant last year and we had to add some money to it to get the roof done on the old brick house because that was the first priority, and that's supposed to start very soon.

Right.

Good deal.

So we'll get the roof out of the way, and then we're gonna work on the the part of the problem in there.

We talked about this a little bit last year, is that the old brick house, which is one of our big historic attractions in town, the brick when it was built actually is sitting on the the ground at ground level, and it's like a sponge.

It sucks water up into that brick, and the walls on the inside of the old brick house are plastered, and because that moisture is sucked up in there, we can't keep the plaster dry.

So, Frank Genser, we got with Frank Genser, the architect, and he found a contractor that has a system where you can go into the brick joint and install a moisture barrier in there that will stop the water from going all the way up into the walls, and uh and part of the money that's in there is is for that to help pay for that.

Now, once that moisture barrier goes in, we're still gonna have to wait a year for the plaster to dry out before we can go in and do it.

But the more that we uh go in and make these repairs every year, the closer we get the old brick house back to being rented all the time because it's very popular, even it's in its condition that it's in now, it is very, very popular for people to have weddings or receptions or something like that over there.

Uh and they continue to do that on the grounds out there.

So and that money now is included in some of what you've got here.

It is, yes, sir.

Okay, good deal.

Good deal.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

I just want to follow up on councilman shoemaker's uh thought on the arborist.

So this arborist will be able to sign off, certify, stamp certain uh reports or you know, whether we we have trees that are in a certain condition, or they'll they'll be able to certify that as a certified and they will not that's no extra fee that's included in the 60s, 65,000.

No, no, it's not included.

No, if if we if if you approve the 65,000, okay.

Right, if you approve that, this would be a city employee.

And they wouldn't be able to come back and charge us extra fees on top of that.

They yeah, that's what I was asking.

Right now, so any any certifications he certifies a document.

That's our employee.

There's no extra fee he's gonna charge, or it's in the fine print.

That would be a that would be a conflict of interest if we were just have to ask.

Yeah.

So thank you.

I got a couple questions.

Mr.

Tuesday.

Mr.

Um what are we paying the arboris now?

I mean, no yearly.

What what are we trying to?

What are we the last Arborist we had, we were paying a little over $50,000 a year.

We don't have an arborus right now.

What happened is that uh we had Eric Melan here for over 30 years.

All right, and then uh but Eric Eric was not just the arborist, he was also a network administrator.

He was like our computer guru over there.

So he got a larger salary than normal.

No, no, that's not what I was asking.

What are we paying a contractor now?

300% hour.

I mean, I know what are we paying them a year?

Do you know?

We haven't had him for a year yet.

Um what do you think year to date since we've been using him?

It it would just be a guess based on what we've done because we're calling him in.

I guess be fine.

My my guess would be is it probably over a hundred thousand dollars a year based on what we're doing?

So that's just that's just a guess, you know.

That's just a guess.

And I got a couple more questions.

We got small equipment on here.

What what's eleven thousand dollars last year?

Y'all needed 5200, now it's eleven.

I mean, what what is the small equipment that y'all would be using?

What is the account number on that, Mr.

Uh 6204?

Okay, sorry.

Send supplies.

Um this is the uh additional cost covering.

This is uh additional to include covering the cost of the NVR security system at uh the visitor center, what it is at the visitor center, we have some areas in there where we don't have security cameras right now.

We need to put security cameras in there so that we can monitor every part of the visitor center.

That's what this is for.

Okay.

And one more.

Um we have $73,000 on trees.

I mean, what what are we buying trees for?

Well, what that is is whenever uh someone takes down trees in the city, um, there's a mitigation requirement.

They either have to replant two trees for every one tree they take down, or they have the option of paying money into the tree bank.

The um sometimes there's just not enough room for them to plant trees on that same site because you get into root competition and those kind of things.

So what happens is is it uh some people would rather just cut a check and put it in there.

Now, the ordinance says that that money can only be spent on replacement trees, and in order to spend that money, we have to come to the city council to get it released.

So what that's for, our tree committee, a part of their responsibility is to seek out sites around the city to plant replacement trees on city property, whether it's a park or a cemetery or whatever it is, and the tree committee is is working on that to come up with a plan for those locations.

So whenever that plan comes up, we would come to the city council and get your approval to release X number of dollars for that particular park or or place.

So one more I got it.

Let me just follow up with that.

So what what that means is even though this is showing an increase in the expense, there's an offset and a fee that we charge the developer to put that money in a mitigation bank that we're gonna draw to ultimately pay for this.

Yeah, it's accurate.

Yes, it's their choice about what they want to do.

That I understand all that, but my my point that I'm trying to connect this expense is that we had a funds in a mitigation tree mitigation bank, and when we issue this contract to go plant new trees, those funds are gonna ultimately be used to pay for that expense.

And I is that accurate or not?

But that's far, yes, sir.

Okay, okay.

I just wanted to tie that in.

That is not us asking for an increase in that line item.

That particular line item only increases if somebody pays into the understood.

That's the point I wanted to make for the council.

One more.

Um clearing.

Um 110,000.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

What what was that again, Mr.

Uh let's see, it was sixty-six eighty-four.

115,000, 38,000 more than it was last year.

I mean, what what are we is that right-aways and stuff that we're clearing?

No.

What this is has to do with code enforcement.

In other words, uh, the land clearance is whenever we have a code enforcement case that we bring the aisle and we have to go out and hire a contractor to go clean it up.

Um, that's where the money comes from to pay for that.

Now, one of the reasons that you see that there's a big jump in that from last year to this year is that most of last year we only had two code enforcement officers to cover the whole city, and now we're fully staffed for the first time in a while.

So you're gonna see that increase.

The good thing about that money though is that we get that money back because uh through a state law change that we we requested and got several years ago.

Whenever we spend money out of that line item to go clean up Jerry Creel's property, you know, because he's not taking care of it, it's put on the tax rolls as a special assessment.

And next year when I go to pay my taxes, I have to write one check for my taxes and for that special assessment.

So that money is basically going back into the general fund after we collect it back.

Right.

That's it.

That's all I have for now.

Follow up on that.

Uh the special assessment.

If the person don't pay their taxes, the special assessment also has to be paid the same time, or do they lose the property?

Well, the the way that it works is that if somebody doesn't pay their taxes, that special assessment is still there plus their taxes.

Now I can tell you in Bloxy what I've learned, somebody's gonna pay the taxes on that property.

There are people that make a living by watching the tax rolls to see who doesn't pay their taxes, and they will go pay it.

They become the first redeemer on that particular taxes.

All right.

All during that year, if the owner actually goes back in and pays their taxes, then they redeem their their property back, and that person that had paid the taxes gets a um interest off of whatever they had put on to it.

But after three years, the if the taxes are not paid, then uh the first person that paid the taxes on there has the opportunity to go in and request a deed on it and uh and could get it from the county.

So can a person pay the taxes and not the assessment?

No.

It the state law, the way the state law was passed, they have to pay both at the same time.

Mr.

Crew.

Mr.

Tuesday.

Just a couple questions here.

Let's see, 6244 signs.

So uh is that is the the increase um I think I think that was partly because the signs were being taken out of another area.

Mandy's more familiar with that than me because a lot of this has to do with historic landmarks and those kind of things.

Yes.

So uh I requested an increase in signage.

There's two reasons.

Now we have several signs you'll see that are historic markers around the city of Biloxi.

There is two types.

You'll see the huge ones, those are archives and history signs.

They have like a whole good paragraph on them.

We have two that are busted, and then I've had a request for residents for two more added.

They are about two thousand seven hundred and eighty dollars apiece to replace.

Uh that would be four.

And then our overall landmark markers, which are made out of bronze, there is a monopoly on bronze casting.

They have gone up from when Bill is here from about $500 apiece to eleven hundred dollars apiece, and that is if I order them in batches.

I've assigned we've established three local landmarks since I've been here, and I've also had requests because properties have had them removed.

We've had this program a while, so sometimes the like the property sold and someone takes it with them.

So I I think I accommodated for five or six of those.

Okay, perfect, perfect.

Also, where uh the wool market sign that we're replacing now, uh, this is where that money would come from as well.

Oh, okay, great.

Money well spent.

Well, I we can decrease that then, right?

It looks good plastic signs, you know.

Legos, Legos are uh really inexpensive.

No, so hey, sixty-two fifty four uh more trees, I'm just looking at no that we we've discussed that right.

No, it was hold on, there was all right.

Let's see, sixty-four thirty-two other professional services.

Other the the bulk of other professional services are the temps that we use at the visitor center.

That's where most of that money goes.

Uh, you know, those people that work over there are full time.

One of the good things about using temps is that if they don't work out, unlike employees us having to go through civil service and everything else, if they don't work out, we just basically send them in and have them send to somebody up that's effective.

But we also pay, like uh our attorneys out of that, David Wheeler is paid out of that.

We pay the uh uh yearly uh fees to back bay mission comes out of that line item uh express, which is one of the temp companies.

But that's basically where it is.

We always run out of money in that line item.

Matter of fact, uh Danielle and I were talking today that when we pay this next bill to uh the uh camp service, then I'm gonna have to move some money from somewhere else to cover them to get us through until the end of September.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Um Tuesdale, and then I'll come back to East.

So uh 6602 real quick, you're saving us money there.

What the 119,000 difference.

That is uh I believe that is money that was moved to uh another location.

That was for the old brick house, the visitor center, community development, um, the lighthouse, which I'm still trying to get estimates on.

Our our lighthouse, the roof.

If you've noticed the the roof on top of it, the white covering has peeled.

We also have uh uh some repairs to make on the inside.

But we've got uh Frank Genser doing an evaluation over there right now, so as soon as he gets that estimate to us, we'll be bringing that to the council to to take a look at.

Um part of that is the um, you know, the the roof.

Um if you look underneath that at 66 uh two uh grant 200, all right.

What that is is the 20,000 that we got in a grant last year, but we had to match that grant for the roof repair and some brake repair over at the brick house.

So that's where the bulk of that's going.

Okay, and then I'm assuming that the um the what's that 6616, that's the chillers.

Yes, sir, it is.

Uh um, and Patter Patterson has given us the estimate on that.

And uh I had them, I had him on uh uh speaker phone with the mayor and and with Mr.

Weaver and them to explain about the way that process works.

This is not something this chiller is not something that you can just order from the store and install it, it has to be built from scratch.

And that's when he told us it would take about five months to build it.

So you can't get that at LZ's, no, sir.

No, okay.

Um tree maintenance 6681.

There's nothing last year, but then it's 30,000 is I think that that's a uh newly created line item because whenever we plant trees out there, there's an expectation that we're gonna uh maintain those trees to make sure that they survive.

We've had a request already to plant some trees at the dog park to provide some shade out there, and part of that is uh to make sure that uh that they don't die on us and that if we need water there, we can get water to it somehow to to make sure that they have a water source.

Okay, and then uh let's see.

One one last question is on the the purchase of your vehicles.

I'm assuming that that 6830 to the 80,000 is the two additional vehicles that you were looking at.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

So those would be in addition to, or they would be in replace in lieu of and pre in replace.

Well, we're we're hoping that when we get two in that we can get rid of two.

Okay.

What we've had to do in the past, though, is because we have one to go down, you know, if for whatever reason we have to send one into the shop, we've got to have something to rely on.

But eight of those vehicles that we had over there, uh, and we only have six now, were actually given to us by MDA after Hurricane Katrina to make sure that we still had a means of transportation, and they're just worn out.

I mean, there's no other way to put it.

We've run them to death, and we've had to rob parts from one to put on another to keep them going, and they've just added.

I got you.

All right, thank you.

Okay, Mr.

Tuesday.

Yeah, um, Jerry, just a thought with Mississippi State and uh would they allow a student to intern at no cost in in some capacity?

Um, and that would allow you to take a look at them, see the quality of the work they do, and and maybe just slide them into that position.

Just I would think they would be willing to do that.

Uh we we caught them at a bad time.

We caught them right at the end of the semester where everybody had graduated, and she said right now I just don't have anybody because they all had jobs to go to.

There's a nationwide shortage on Arborist right now.

But um, she did say that for us to check back with them at the end of this next semester if we could do it.

But I would think they would be open to that, Dr.

Tisdale.

Okay.

Did I understand you to say that you have 32 full-time employees?

Yes, sir.

Okay, Diane, I'm looking at the mayor's summary.

And he shows for fiscal year 26, he's looking at 47 employees there.

And I'm thinking 10 of 10 of but 10 of those positions would be the planning commission.

15.

15.

15.

Okay.

Just on the planning commission.

That accounts for the difference.

Thank you.

Let me mention one thing on that.

Uh David Washer retired this year after 40 plus years of being on the planning commission.

And he was one of the ones that had not taken the per diem that's that's offered there.

Uh but I would expect that the new planning commission comes on wood, so we added that to the budget this year.

Okay.

Um so you're looking at 32 positions next year or 31.

There are 32 positions.

Right.

Again, four of those are at the visitor center.

Gotcha.

So no change there.

And those are full-time positions.

Oh, full time.

And I'm I was looking at the um, I think we get our Timps from Express Employment.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

And typically in any given month, you have about five part-timers out there.

It may vary a little from month to month, but okay, that answers that question.

Um just for your information, the the visitor center is booked through.

I'll let her run out.

Book solid all 2026.

Right.

And uh item 6672, line items convention conference training, it's increasing by 13,000.

Just and I'm assuming that's for certifications or for something if you it is, and also to participate in uh the uh uh conferences that concern uh American Planning Association.

We're we're just like the fire department in that sense.

You have to go back every year for so many hours to maintain your certification.

Okay, thank you, Jerry.

One other item we're uh increasing software licensing or maintenance is increasing 38,000.

It's I'm sorry, that's line item 6689.

I I could tell you where the bulk of that is.

We have uh we have asked for a floodplain management program called Forerunner, and uh this has many advantages.

I had Mr.

Weaver come over and and go through the the uh PowerPoint transition, but a lot of the things that we're having to do for our floodplain management, which we absolutely have to do, we have to comply with FEMA regulations.

We have a flood ordinance, and we have to do it.

A lot of those things we're having to do, we're having to do manually now.

And what this would do is allow us to uh basically digitize what we're doing.

Um I have a list here, I'll be glad to provide to that.

That's fine.

That explains the the significant increase there.

That's all I have, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Tuesday.

Mr.

Neal.

Hey, when you get these uh two vehicles, let me tell you what you need to do to them.

If you I don't know if you ever seen the code enforcement cars in Gupport.

They got code enforcement on the doors that looks like a police car.

That is show when you go up in front of these people's houses, you ain't playing.

We code enforcement.

We just pulled up.

I think that I think they know that we're code enforcement.

A lot of them don't answer the door.

Yeah, so we wind up having to do it through uh either through certified mail or through coming to the city council to get approval to get it.

Yeah, they're pretty intense.

It's a good dial, thank you.

Look at one of them.

Okay.

All right, final scrub, Mr.

Marshall.

Yeah, what kind of file?

Income.

From renting the facilities.

Do you have any facilities are you got directly?

You're in charge of how many facilities that are renting out.

The facilities that we're in charge of, of course, the community development building, um, but the the two that we rent are the Vista Center, and you know we have multiple rooms at the Vista Center that we rent, and then we also have the old brick house.

Uh we're not over the civic center, and um or Donald Snyder, any of those, those fall under parks and recreation.

So you have just those two.

And you're saying one of them is down.

Is are you still written in Old Brick House How?

We do, we do occasionally get a rental over there for a wedding or something out on the grounds because the grounds are beautiful.

And uh, and again, we've got one of the most beautiful trees in Biloxi and back of the the old brick house.

We're trying to have that uh esta uh uh designated as a majestic oak tree for the city, which would give it additional protection.

Okay, that should be double majestic.

And you know that is that is a magnificent trees I've ever seen.

Top seek.

So do you did she call the income?

How much we making off of it?

Losing, making that I would like to if you don't mind making sure that I do get that.

And Mr.

Creel, you can email that to me.

Sure.

And so we're not so is there is some income.

No question that there's income coming in on it.

And I think you'll be surprised by the figure that you're gonna say.

Of course, we get a lot of people now, you know, they're requesting waivers or discounts or something like that.

But uh you'll be surprised at how much we're we're making off of uh the visitor center.

So those are requiring that are asking for a waivers or things like that.

Are you in a position to try to show us a dollar value?

So if someone asks for us for a waiver, we don't put a dollar value, so we didn't it's like we didn't donate anything.

But you are you in a position to even give it to us in that kind of way?

Well, what would happen is that we would we would tell the people what the charge would be, and then they would have to write a letter to the mayor, and the mayor would have to present it to the council saying here's how much that they would have been charged for renting that facility or having that event, you know, same case, and then y'all would have to vote on whether or not to approve that that discount or that waiver.

So I guess the question needs to come to you.

Anyway, we can get a list and when someone says to us, hey, we want to if you can donate this facility, there's a dollar value.

Can we file or keep it running total of how much we're we're we're donating now?

We're losing Rick, you want to speak to that?

I saw y'all I saw y'all kind of motioning over there.

You want to speak to what Mr.

Marshall is asking for?

I was gonna answer the rental income so far for the fiscal year.

Okay, and what is that?

That's it.

It's about 63,000 through July, and we're forecasting 80 for the year.

Okay, and I believe Rachel Quave tracks the kind transactions that appear on the agendas.

She gave it to me.

Oh, you got it, you see sharing about it.

Okay.

And our business.

No, no, we're good.

She was supposed to give it to all of us, correct?

Oh, yeah.

And and two, our busiest times a year for renting the visitor center is Christmas and Mardi Gras.

Uh, that's a lot of the times where it's just absolutely booked out, and there's no extra extra openings over there.

Do you market it any kind of way besides just on the website?

See the website?

Well, it's on the website.

We have a again, we have an event coordinator that does promotional uh information for the visitor center, yes.

You have an event coordinator?

We have an event coordinator there who takes care of all the reservations at the visitor center.

Whenever someone calls in, it goes to Angie Ladner, and Angie Ladner lets them know uh she goes over with them.

Okay, we do have that date open, we don't have that date open.

What do you need?

How do you need the tables to be set up?

How many people are you gonna need there for that event?

And then she uh gives them the price of what it was it's gonna cost for that particular room.

Each room over there has a different cost associated with it depending on the size, and then of course, uh how much of our equipment they're gonna need to rent as far as tables and chairs and those kind of things.

Okay.

So we so we have no marketing of it's a beautiful building.

So we have no marketing to get people know, even if you look on either YouTube, TikTok, or something that says, you know, about the beautiful building you can rent this for uh weddings, receptions, and things like that.

Well that attorney uh waiting on Mary and Christmas, we can all uh oh no no, I I mean to indicate that that's the only time that we're busy.

I mean, you just heard we're booked up to 2026, you know.

So obviously the marketing is working that we're doing because if people call now, we wouldn't have anything to uh open to offer them.

Okay, and lots of time multiple events going on at one time at the visitor center, not just one, so I'm good.

All right, that's good.

Anyone else?

Marshall you still need that information, or are you good with what Anna said?

Okay, she's uh she gave me a number of sixty-three thousand dollars as the income up until when was that well?

July.

Okay, and we also have he's sitting on information that I need about what we are donating now.

I'm good.

Bringing it up.

Huh?

Would you are we we got an uh alternative report for you?

Okay, no charge.

No charge.

I don't get up now.

All right, everybody good with this.

Okay, we're gonna go good.

Thank you, director.

We'll go into ports.

Right?

Are they right now, Mr.

Guy?

So we owe him nothing.

Right now.

I want to make sure that we're tracking whatever Mr.

Marshall needs that we're able to provide to the council.

All right.

I think I'm good.

Uh we're gonna go into uh parts on ports and harbor.

Welcome.

Hi.

Hi.

Yep.

There it is.

All the way to the back.

All the way to the back.

I'd I'd just like to make an opening remark.

Um I I just want to kind of give you credit for some leadership.

This is not a very easy job.

Um you don't get a lot of accolades uh kind of trying to keep everything uh part of the punch ship shape.

Um, but I got to say that you've brought some cohesiveness, and I I'm down at the end, and I'm sure Mr.

Gray is down there a lot and some of us um uh I hear really good things.

There's a lot of work to be done for sure.

Uh there's still some grumbling about some policies, but overall, I think uh everybody recognizes that uh you're giving it you all to make it the best it can be.

So I just I just wanted to give you those kudos as we get started today.

Um our budget is pretty similar to last year.

The large differences um we're requesting three replacement vehicles and um a replacement lawn mower, and everything else is pretty similar to what it was last year.

What's your name?

If I can, I'm gonna make sure that she brags a little bit on the tour she's used.

Excuse me, what is your name?

I'm sorry, state your name for the councilman.

Christina Johnson.

Can you tell us your uh job duties?

My job duties, yes.

So we're Christine if it's the first time in front of us, so okay.

Um Christina, if you you need to pull the mic just a little closer so the world can hear you.

I apologize.

A little closer.

I want to wake up Craig High back there.

Okay, there you go.

All right.

Um I oversee the four municipal harbors, um, all of the boat ramps, fishing piers, um the city.

Uh uh, just take care of everything day to day, make sure everything's running smoothly, release all the boat slips, the fishing tournaments, and just make sure everything is clean and working properly.

Okay, do y'all bake shop?

That that following you too.

I can't hear you.

I'm saying we got a base shop down there.

Um we have two bait shops, one at the small craft harbor and one at Point Cadet.

And their income comes to their income, uh their rentals come to us, yes.

Do you know how that works that her?

We rent the buildings, okay.

So we receive just the monthly building rental.

Okay, what how much is that?

Um at the small craft, the total of $2200 a month, and I'm not sure about point cadet because it's a little different right now.

But Sam, they don't they have a credit or uh it's Gordon Flows bait shop.

Any other income coming in?

Uh we have all of our slip rentals.

We have to do that.

So what's the total?

What's the what's the total for both?

Do we have that?

I have 42 quid.

Yeah.

I don't have so you have it together.

You have it together combined.

Yeah, what is the total?

Because it's according to her numbers, it's about 28,000.

No, I got 40.

Wait a minute.

How much is it?

For the one for the one, 4200 a month.

So it's probably about for the for the bait shops.

Yes.

Um, it's 2200 at the small craft a month, and then the Guam Flow's bait shop is set up a little, it's different.

We don't actually receive that right now because they have a credit since Hurricane Katrina.

I'd that's Rachel that has that contract.

Have a credit since hurricane 20 years.

They've done something with fuel tanks.

It's something Rachel Quave knows the answer to that.

I do not.

Well, you probably put the fuel tanks in and then you give me credit for your tanks.

All I heard was financially.

All of that is and that's for and that's for which which point cadet.

Just point cadet.

Just we're talking about the Gordon closed.

Actually, N and J Enterprises is the proper name at least.

That's it's just that bait shop and fuel dock.

What do we get?

What's our annual rent?

In reality, nothing.

They they installed that on their dime or any okay.

So our portion of the rent is credited back.

And once that's paid off, then we'll be in the so how long we gotta do that.

Honestly, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head.

It's like an opening, no in.

No, no, we we get slip rentals.

Or what was put in that was actually installed instead of small craft harbor.

We own that stuff.

Well, it well, let's stick with the point to get first.

But there Danny paid that in.

The fallows put that in on our property.

It stays with our property.

So we're essentially paying for it by providing a rent credit.

So we had no cash outlay for that.

He did it out of his pocket.

He had the cash that's outlayed.

The city had no cash outlay.

He had the cash out.

Correct.

Okay, so do you know a way I can get those numbers?

You can email them to me.

What the credits are.

The other income is the slip rentals.

Yes, we have 425 slips between the four harbors, and then we also have building rentals um like macroys, yules, um, the golden nugget.

All right, so but I'm do the councilman's asking, he's trying to get these uh revenue generators.

I'm trying to get it.

So if you if you could, I think this is what not only put words in your mouth, but how much we get from slip rentals, how much we get from leases from yules and the different entities.

Okay, and then we have special events like the billfish tournament when they come in, they they they pay for uh boat slips when they put their boats down there, don't they?

Right.

Correct.

So those are some of your sources of income.

So that's what you're asking about.

Yeah, we're a tourism town, and uh that's a part of your income.

We need to know how we well, how are we looking?

Will it come in?

Well, we don't because eight shops are that much.

Do we lose any money on that to bill fish?

Do we lose?

Um, we do not.

Um we made a hundred and four thousand dollars, and then our expenses after expenses we made eighty-six thousand.

Let me say one more thing.

This is the this like water and sewers and enterprise fund.

Yes, so any revenue that's generated has to be spent uh for the expenses for uh the port.

It can't be transferred to any kind of other project or general fund or anything like that to be used for any other purpose.

This is one of those that is an enterprise fund.

Any revenues collected have to be spent to improve the port.

Okay, sorry, councilman step on your time there, but I apologize.

Okay, uh you see it better than me.

I just need to know where the money coming in.

And I can calculate it out, right?

So basically, this the number that you're giving us right now is just wasn't covered for your income.

Say that again, the amount that you're asking for your income doesn't help out with this at all.

I'm trying to find out.

This is what's left afterwards.

That you still gonna hold it.

She makes more revenue and it's necessary.

Right.

So you make more than you spend.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

The port gets a one mil from the county.

And that provides for port operations.

Part of it goes to debt that came out in 2017.

And then the other part goes for capital projects within any money left over after the debt, we do move move into an account for repairs and maintenance for the port as well.

But year to date, let me see.

Year date through July.

Actually, it's this is through June because we haven't posted all of July's revenue.

The port is sitting at almost $3.7 million of revenue.

Right.

This is just the expense portion.

It's not coming out of the general fund.

So I need to know.

So basically, you you're the good guy.

I'd like to think so.

Yeah.

Oh, we gotta pay.

I think spin out baby spinning.

All right, who's next?

Well, I'll start on this end, Mr.

Gray.

I have a couple questions.

And uh first of all, training for your people.

What kind of training do you uh require for your your uh harbor master guys that you have?

They have to do training for pumping out boats, um identifying how the boat needs to sit, how to tie lines on boats.

Um that's the the big part, and then all of like the office stuff they've had training on um how to use our credit card machine and do our paperwork, but the main training is the pump outs, uh the pump out stations, like to pump a boat out, and if a boat was sinking, taking on water.

So what it for that.

What is the policy if a boat is taken on water?

It we go directly to the boat.

Um, we identify the problem.

If it is urgent, we put a pump on it immediately, and we contact the boat owner to come down.

How many boats is sank in the last four years?

In the last four years, completely submerged.

Completely submerged.

Uh I would say completely one that is completely submerged.

We've had many take on water that we've saved.

Okay.

Um, because I know of three that sank down there.

Completely completely.

I don't know if it's been one is one was by the fire boat.

It completely sank.

Then you had a shrimp boat.

Yeah, the shrimp boat.

And then there was one more.

I can't recall, I think it was on down a point cadet.

The one by the fire boat, I thought was longer than four years, but it could have been.

Not not much more than four.

And not much more, but yeah.

Because I had a boat down there, and right, and the problem was the uh when somebody a boat was sinking, the harbor people would just try to call a people, the boat was listening, and I kept telling them, hey, you know, this is going on, and he said, he told me, whoever it was, that they could not get on that boat.

That is not the way we function now at all.

They are they are trained and instructed that you save that boat unless it is completely unsafe for you to board the boat.

Right, because if a boat sinks, how much does that cost the city?

Uh it's the boat owners liability, their insurance covers that it should not cost the city anything.

So if the the EPA, the water and the thing.

Responsibility of the boat owner, it's in their birth rental agreements.

Okay.

All right, that's that's all I have for right now.

I got some real questions.

First of all, your mom would be very proud of you.

Thanks.

Just one question.

You were clearing capital outlay.

Um the 134,000, if you could just briefly uh 6800, 6830.

Okay, the 6800 is for three replacement trucks, and then the 6830 would be for the replacement lawnmower.

Perfect, thank you.

Mr.

Tuesday.

Yeah, uh want to open by saying I've heard I'm not a boater like some of these people up here.

But uh I hear a lot of positive comments from folks who do have boats and slips with the city.

Um 6494 and electricity increase of 11,000.

I'm just curious.

Was is there more slips added or it's not the it's not the slips, there's more working.

And um this year it was an additional ten thousand dollars um just for the section for the billfish.

So I mean we're just just more being used.

Okay, so it's usage, okay.

Yeah.

Uh that's all I have.

Thank you very much.

Oh, wait, one other thing.

Any anything, anything in store or any not surprises, but are do you have anything in the works for this next year that's we're going to do a lot of the much needed repairs at the boat ramps and at the piers.

Um the second phase of the floating docks um is set to begin next year, and then we're gonna do smaller stuff for it, especially for the tenants.

We're gonna upgrade their laundry facilities, the shower facilities.

We need more trash cans and upgraded lighting, and just just small things to make it more functional and safer for our for our boat owners.

All right, thank you.

Shoemaker, just one question on the lawnmower.

Y'all do have a um a crew that cuts grass.

We do, and they cut specifically just the small, I mean, just the harbors, anything at any of the harbors that you're uh manage, they're in charge of cutting, weed eating, edging, and all that.

Yes, okay.

That's all I have.

Thank you, Mr.

Shoemaker.

I I got a few questions.

So uh you just touched on you got a list of small things that are big actually.

Um is that a list that if this budget is passed, those are going to be put into effect?

Absolutely.

Yes.

Okay, the garbage cans.

Uh we talked about fish grinders.

There's some proponents that that like it, there's some that don't.

Right.

Where what is our position on uh the the fish grinders or whatever?

Grinders um the grinders that they come in and it's a it's a liability of we kind of looking into how we could do that where it would be safe.

Um I think it's needed.

I think we need to do something with the disposal of fish carcasses, but we want to make sure it's safe for you know the boat owners and the public and stuff to have there.

So that's something that's kind of still work in progress, would you say?

Okay, I'm I'm happy to hear about lighting.

Uh I didn't hear much about uh more cameras.

We are when I do walk around, that's one of the big things.

I've got this stolen off my boat, or and we have a harbor master, and maybe if we had more cameras, we could we we could right now the cameras um at Poincadet and at the small craft, they cover almost everything.

Um we need probably five or six more just to cover um just for better coverage of some areas because that helps a lot for you know when people wait for the harbor master to go one way and then they'll board the boat and take something.

Um just a couple more things.

The restrooms, what is the restroom policy as far as it being accessible or uh right now there are codes on them?

Um we we don't turn down anyone to use a restroom.

I have cameras in our building.

I run down all the time and let people in the bathrooms when they were just open, they were being vandalized, and all of our toilet paper was being stolen, and people would lock themselves in there, and so the codes helped.

I don't know if it's something we need to continue to have there.

Um, but right now, you know, it's it's working, it's working fine.

Okay, and this may be a little trickier question.

Um doesn't it be intended to be?

So particularly at the small craft harbor.

If I have a charter boat, what is the required signage?

Is it in all the leases or the agreements?

What am I required as far as signage or what am I not allowed to do as far as signage?

For signage, they um almost is there a policy on the signage or that that's either required or you can't do this?

Yeah, there is a policy.

Um it's in our charter boat rules and regulations that they are required to have a sign at their slip.

Um, just having you know their business name and a contact phone number.

Um what if I put walk-ups welcome?

Is that allowed?

Yes.

Okay.

And if somebody is getting different information, they should come directly to me.

Good.

And we will sort it out.

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

I got another question.

Mr.

Well, and those questions wasn't mean, you're doing a great job.

You really are.

I I mean I see a big a big change in the harbors.

I really do.

We just want to make sure that you have the tools that you need and your guys to make sure that no boats sink.

Absolutely.

Yeah, because we all know what kind of mess that is on the other boats whenever oil and diesel is getting splashed on your boat, you just spend a bunch of money for it.

That that question was not meant in no no bad way.

You're doing a great job.

You really are, and you guys are.

So I just want to make sure, you know, if we don't bring these questions up, you know, and bring light to them.

That that's what the questions was really meant for.

So we just want to make sure that they have the training that they need to get these things done.

A lot of training.

Right.

So we that's the last year.

And I just want to clarify that.

I didn't mean to come across in no mean way or anything like that.

No.

Right.

I got a question.

Is there a fee to launch or pull your boat up at any of the harbors?

No.

There's no fee to launch.

Okay.

You have both slips.

What percentage are already leased?

Um I have that breakdown.

Good question.

So I have it.

Um the percentages by each harbor.

Um, I don't have a total.

Um, so at the commercial dock, we're 88% um lease, point marina, we're at 57%.

Sherman Cannon dock, 92%.

And the small craft harbor, we're at 90%.

So there's no like waiting list or anything?

Um no, there is not a waiting list.

Well, if you lent of your leases.

I'm sorry.

You live for your leases one year, two years.

Um, and they're 90 days, and then they're month and month until they decide to cancel.

Do you and do you foresee any increase in slip rental fees?

No.

I do not.

Okay.

Good question.

Well, I know you'll had a uh fishing tournament down there this weekend, and one of the biggest people was complaining about was the air conditioner was out in the bathroom.

Can you give us an update on that?

Absolutely.

I spoke to Patterson's yesterday, the part we ordered the motor three weeks ago, and he told me that it came in yesterday, so it will be installed.

By the end of this week.

We've been waiting.

Okay.

Now, do you see yourself needing a committee down there?

I know I know somebody was mentioning about a committee.

Do you see yourself needing a harbor committee?

I don't believe we need a committee.

Um, I'm always welcome.

Like if somebody wants to have constructive criticism or give ideas and speak to me, I'm very available.

Um, as far as a committee, I mean, I mean, anything positive I'm for.

Um, I don't know if we necessarily need a committee, but if they want to have a volunteer group to, you know, give ideas or anything like that, or you know, give a different perspective, I'm very open to that.

Okay, and one more question.

If let's say there's a tournament and a boat pulls up to tie up to go to the because I truly believe if you know Danny puts on a big tournament every year, but no boats are allowed to tie up.

And I understand you can't tie up in a and somebody slip they're paying for, but if they tie up on a wall and but they're not allowed to.

During just regular tournaments or the billfish.

Right, no, not the billfish, just regular, like Danny puts on that two-day shootout.

We we have spots where people are able to pull up to go eat at the casinos or just come in to view the tournament.

We do, we have locations for that.

Because I pulled up to go to Danny's tournament because I truly believe we should support anybody putting on a tournament.

And I got ran off.

I was told to leave before they called cops on me.

So that and that and that was me and additional training and instruction to the harbor masters will happen.

Right, because I mean, and that's why they don't have a big turnout.

That's because you talk to anybody, they'll tell you that they're not allowed to tie up.

Really?

That's why they don't go to them turnouts.

That's why there's not a big turnout.

With the exception of the billfish where we lease every square inch of the harbor, I'd anybody pulling up with a boat should not be turned away to go view or participate in a tournament.

Right.

I mean, because like say they pay, you know, the harbor, I mean the bait shops, and you know, I guess Danny is still on his, you know, special contract.

But anyway, I mean, we should be able to support somebody like that.

Because after all, he does have a uh he still sell beer and coats and ice, and that's tack dollar tax dollars for the city.

Yes, sir.

So if you I mean if you can maybe let your guys know we will, yeah.

Yeah, so all right, that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We could after this, if you could get with her and let her know what the time frame was and some other things about that, so we can address that within the book.

That's fine.

I mean I'd say I guess if they all just know from here moving forward, because I mean I have lots of friends that are on boats and they don't go because I how come y'all didn't go because we're not allowed to tie up because when I have my boat down there, I could never figure out why they all tied up to my boat, you know.

I mean we can do that and we'll also address that through.

Did they vote for you?

Did they vote for you?

No.

Okay.

They don't they don't live my board.

Anything else?

Anything else?

Uh we'll go ahead and uh bring this to a close.

We want to thank everybody for this review.

Uh any other closing.

None at this time, sorry.

All right.

Uh chair entertain a motion.

Uh, but before we do, uh I need uh uh next workshop.

Yeah, I need a another workshop.

So I make a recommendation for the next workshop.

I'll make uh motion that our next workshop be next Tuesday, which would be August 12th at 130.

Okay.

Everybody have a conflocal that everybody good?

Okay.

All right.

Any uh that's a motion to have a second.

Mr.

Gray.

I'll second it.

Um any other discussion?

All in favor?

Those opposed.

I think motion was unanimous.

I didn't see everybody's hand.

Okay.

Unanimous.

Uh need a motion to uh adjourn.

So moved.

Do I have a second?

Second by Mr.

Creel.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Those opposed?

Motion carries.