This is our first meeting in July.

Welcome everyone.

I'm going to uh ask Pastor Kenneth Hollins to do the prayer and Councilman Anthony Marshall to do our pledge if everyone would stand.

Rather than Jesus' name, we've come to you our thanking you for having brought us safe thus far.

Thank you for allowing us to assemble ourselves together here at this council meeting.

We pray she will bring us together on a call.

Amen.

So moved.

Moved by Mr.

Creel.

Second.

Second by Mr.

Tuesday.

Any discussion?

No.

All in favor?

Those opposed.

Motion carriers.

Clerk would read the revisions.

The chair entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

So moved.

Second.

Moved by Mr.

Creel.

Seconded by Mr.

Tisdale.

Any discussion?

No.

There being none.

All in favor.

Those opposed.

Motion carries.

Go ahead and open the meeting.

Mayor's report.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

President.

And I hope everyone had a happy 250th birthday on the 4th of July.

It was good.

I think uh PD uh sounds that everything was quiet as normal.

So it's uh it was a great uh great pleasure to welcome everyone to our meeting.

And uh I'll be brief.

Um so I conclude my report by saying asking the council to spread the expenses of the Biloxi travel expense card to the minutes.

And that concludes my report.

Thank you, Mayor.

Any departmental reports?

Yes, sir.

I would ask uh Director Labata to come up and kind of give an update based on all the flooding and the other issues from the uh storm that we had.

Thank you.

Okay, I wanted to get up here today and uh give uh Mr.

and Mrs.

Valexi a quick little update on where we are with our uh with the storm response and with our grass cutting because we know I know y'all are probably hearing it, we're hearing it.

We are in fact behind schedule on our grass cutting.

We have a lot of streets that are looking pretty rough right now.

But I wanted to let you know that um we've had our crews like our major grass cutting crew, they've been going around, they're the ones we're putting rocks in all the potholes.

We got asphalt delivered last um Thursday afternoon, so yesterday morning, they're out putting cold patch asphalt in those places for temporary patches.

Um as you know, we have lots of potholes that are still popping up.

So hopefully they'll be done with that.

Uh hopefully today and tomorrow they will start um back on their grass cutting.

Again, this is the major road um on uh this side of town, division uh Kivet, Father Ryan.

Actually, I think they got back on Father Ryan today.

So uh you'll start seeing them back out and about.

We do have one one uh actually, two of those people on that crew will be going to make another round for debris.

We've got a couple more streets that have some pretty heavy debris.

Um so we're we're working our way around there for that.

Now our park grass cutting crew, they were able to get all but two parks cut before the fourth because as soon as the rain was over, we got them back cutting that because it was a major holiday.

Um they've got all the parks cut, they were finished up the last two uh today.

So now we're there back kind of in their routine schedule.

Um should be able to that should be caught back up.

Um and then we'll go back to our routine cemetery crew.

I know y'all probably have gotten lots of complaints about the cemetery.

Cemetery looks really rough before all this uh rain started and before the holiday, they were able to get to the north of the railroad tracks.

So they have now we've got them, they have also been um between the two arraign events, they were out flushing drains.

So that when we had that first rain event, we knew tropical storm Arthur was coming, was gonna jump a lot of rain.

So we had them going around town flushing drains.

They are finishing up a couple areas that they weren't able to do just so that we have that all done in all of our trouble areas.

They are new now moving back to the south side of the cemetery.

Uh that crew only has a handful of people.

Usually we would take when our cemetery gets this bad, we take kind of all hands on deck, move everybody to cemetery, do a clean sweep.

But because we've been so spread out, we're not able to do that.

But there is a crew heading back over there.

Um they've got three employees, five or six temps.

So hopefully you'll start to see the cemetery uh looking a little bit better in the next week or two.

Um market crew, they're out there, they they're actually back to cutting ditches.

Uh, mainly all they do are cut ditches and um and the edge of the road, tractor work.

They're back out there cutting.

Um, just so people know, just to kind of um give people an idea of how much work that we have done over this past two weeks since this storm event.

Uh just two weeks, we've done 157 work orders just that are basically not all of them, but most of them are all storm related.

Also, in that time frame, we had two special events.

We had scraping the coast that we had to set up barricades for, and we had Fourth of July that we had to do set up barricades for, and we had to go back and recut things like Town Green, the lighthouse, uh park, those types of areas.

So I just want to let everybody know and remind everybody that those employees that set up barricades are also the same employees that cut grass.

So again, another reason, not that we not that we're trying to get out of grass cutting, but the other reason why we're kind of behind on grass cutting schedule between the two major rain events, the Fourth of July holiday.

Um, and they've been spending a lot of time cutting down limbs, picking up debris.

Uh I think we were in the middle of cutting Irish Hill and Father Ryan, and we went and picked up Floyd Drive for you, you know, or for or in your ward, not for you in your ward.

You know, so there's a lot of things that they've been doing.

They've been out there working.

These are all the same guys that are cutting grass.

So I really just wanted to let y'all know and let the public know that we're not neglecting our grass.

We're trying to get caught up by the end of this week.

We should be finished with our kind of debris response, not debris, storm response, rain response, and get back on our routine grass cutting schedule.

So let me know if y'all have any questions.

Thanks.

Thank you, ma'am.

On that, and I'd also like to take a moment to say thank you to all of our first responders.

They have not only done through tropical storm.

Arthur, also the fire department was involved in the uh search over this weekend.

Um Public Works and Parks and Rick have done an outstanding job along with all the administration and executive too.

So thanks completely to team Barroxy.

They've done an excellent job to where we're at right now, and we'll continue to push forward.

So that completes the director's report.

Thank you.

We'll move on to council reports.

Uh we'll start with Mr.

Gray.

Christy, can you I'll try to catch before you get down.

Um asphalt patch.

There's asking about around Bloor, when you're gonna try to finish that.

I say you did some over there by Dewey and State Street.

Some of the people they was happy to see that, but they have a lot more over there.

They're trying to see when they can get when they might be finishing on that.

Okay, I'll I can get an update for you on that.

I don't know off the top of my head, but I'll check on it.

And on um the Harrison Williams Road, that ditch down by Keysler.

That's behind the not sure we we we talked about it.

But you ever quenton looked at it, and um, I think that that is uh we we probably I need to go out and look at it with you because I think that it's not there's a pipe underneath there, and there's a lot of stuff that's grown up, but I'm not sure that adjacent business owner probably may not want us to go in and kind of clear cut that area.

So we got to come up with some sort of plan and maybe maybe talk to that adjacent property owner um and see what we can do in that area.

Well, if it's flooding flooding everything, we have to get with them on that.

I mean, yeah, I mean whether they want it cut or not.

I mean, if it's flooding our neighborhoods, we have to look at it because they would like to look at seeing hopefully somebody could reach out to Keithler and check their stuff also right in that area.

Yeah, and we actually we did reach out to Keysler on some of that other area that was flooding back there, and uh we got permission to go on to their side and flush the drains from their side.

There was a lot, lot, a lot of debris, which is what contributed to the drainage and the flooding that happened back there and that all of that area, that whole neighborhood back there, uh John Adams and all that.

So we were able to get with Keysler, get on the Keystar housing side and flush those lines all the way through.

So I rode down um James Buchanan, there's only one drainage on that whole road, and it runs all the way to the back.

Yes, and it runs for property.

That was one of them that we got we were able to flush.

By the time it hits down there, eight, four foot of water down there.

So um that that's all I'll have for you.

Thanks.

July 11th, Bluxy Beautification Commission and the City Council is teaming up.

We're gonna do a cleanup on the new walking trail.

We'll be meeting at your George Lawrence Pavilion.

We know they have an event that day.

So we probably once we meet up there, we'll probably move everything in another parking lot, but that's where we want to meet up at.

Bring your trash grabbers.

Uh city's gonna provide garbage bags, and we'll meet there and try to get everything cleaned up down the new walking trail.

Hopefully, the uh beautification commission, we got a map for everybody to walk it so we can see where we go.

And I would like to close this meeting out in honor of uh the Mr.

Noel Wells, the young man lost his life on the 4th of July.

We all know our community is big.

So prayer for everybody.

Um I like to close it out, Mr.

Robert Johnson.

He's the owner, owner of uh Johnson's diesel.

Um he worked hard.

He he skilled diesel mechanic, dedicated, many shrimpers wouldn't have gone out and worked and fed their families if it wasn't for Mr.

Robert.

Great man, his his legacy lives on by his children and his grandchildren.

Um and I got one more question for I don't know, maybe Rachel, the policy on the non-departmental.

When is everything supposed to be turned in for that?

Does anybody know?

June 30th.

I thought it was June the 30th, June 30th.

So anything after June 30th.

It's not on there.

Okay.

And it's not favored.

I know I mean flooded phone calls from the library with false accusation, accused me of wanting to close the library.

That's false.

If everybody heard that meeting, they heard what we talked about.

We said look into everything about cutting the non-departmental.

Look at everything.

Yes, the library was brought up, CTA was brought up.

When the city is is looking at cut budgets with the fire department and a police department, yes.

The library can also look at their stuff to see what they can do to see about cutting budget.

They get over three million a year.

So yes, they can look at cutting their budget also.

And I know the rest of the councilman's been getting flooded with calls too.

So that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Gray.

Mr.

Marshall.

Come back to me.

Okay.

Um Mr.

Neil.

Um I just want to thank uh public works for getting out to Floyd Drive and cleaning it up as quick as they could.

That was that was pretty good.

But we still have a ditch problem on Floyd Drive behind between departments and Floyd.

I mean, do we have any kind of timeline where we might be able to get in there and because we could have another rain and you never know.

So right now there's no timeline on that.

That's a gonna be a major ditch cleaning project that we normally would reserve for the winter time or under our replay replaced contractor, but right now there's not a timeline for us to go in and do that.

Um we've got it on our list to look at, but right now no definite time.

So what if we had somebody that would go out there and do it for us?

Um like me.

That's not an I got a I got a track home.

That's not a question for me.

I don't know how Yeah.

I mean, because I don't think we can wait till winter.

Well, we don't have wait you know, it's it's one of those things that we have we we have to schedule things out.

We can't do everything.

No, I'm talking about me.

I can schedule my time.

Yeah, that you that's not a I'm that's not a question for me.

Yeah, we'll look at it and see.

Okay, all right.

Because these people really does need to get that ditch clean.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, we we're aware we have quite a few ditches like that on our list of all over the city of things.

So y'all need people like me too.

Yeah.

All right.

You should come work for us.

Yeah.

I see it.

But um and then um I guess my bathrooms at Hill of Park's never gonna get done.

I'm kinda giving up on those a little bit.

I'll give up.

I'll give up.

You know, do we have any any kind of uh unless a year now right now?

Hopefully within the next two weeks I'll have you an answer.

So give me a meet out there and and look at them, but I said we were gonna meet out there and look at them, but I guess we never got together, me or you are our schedules.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Have a good day.

All right.

And uh and then the prompted on broad water.

When are we gonna write these people up?

I mean, really get the grass cut.

We're writing everybody else up, but we can't write the broad water property up.

I think we check uh uh uh uh every uh pretty much on a weekly basis on what is the violations you used to have you heard of any uh very specific violations on your effort to keep it uh we haven't received any specific complaints, but let me just tell you we're not allowed to go on to the broad water property.

Anything from the road that we see, we can write it up.

If the police go in there to investigate something and they report something back to us, then that gives us probable calls to go in, but we can't just randomly go into the middle of the property or any other property in town.

Um like a backyard or something, unless we know there's something there.

I mean, they were cutting like a hundred feet.

No, they just quit doing that.

They don't do that no more now.

They just quit.

The past roadside was cut.

Uh no, no, man.

The broad water, the people that owned the broad water were cutting with a big tractor.

Every once in a while, and they just they don't do it no more.

Okay.

We'll we'll get with them and see what the schedule's saying.

I'll give them a call.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

That's it.

That concludes my report.

Thank you, Mr.

Nell.

Mr.

Crewe.

All right.

Uh if I could, I'd like to start out.

So we got uh a young man in here tonight that is uh getting his uh or preparing to get his citizenship award for for his Boy Scouts.

Um he's a member of Pac 271.

Uh in order to get his citizenship award, he has to meet with the city council, and I sat down with him last night and had a had a lengthy discussion with him, a smart young man.

But in order to proceed and to finish it, he has to attend a council meeting.

So he and his father are out there tonight.

So if I could get Mr.

Colston, Thomas Warner to stand up real quick.

This young man right here is uh pursuing his uh Eagle Scout right here in Boy Scouts.

So we uh we appreciate your interest in government and uh thank you for being here and for showing showing the interest and look forward to seeing what you do uh as you get your Eagle Scout.

Um I wanted to thank the entire administration from Rachel Quave to from the mayor to Rick, um Parks and Rec, Jamie, your your staff, um uh uh assistant chief uh your staff right there with the assistance of the Fred Hayes dedication.

Um you know it's amazing when you when you have a party and you you you don't know how many people's coming, and so you you you try to uh play for the best.

But I'll tell you that the turnout for that Fred Hayes landing dedication was uh outstanding and um it it couldn't have been done without the teamwork from you guys, everybody working together.

So uh the fire department was there as well.

So thank everybody for for and that was the beautification commission's first stab at doing a project, and I think they uh knocked it out the park.

So I'm looking forward to see what the next project they were doing.

I know Councilman Gray brought up the walking trail.

That was something that is some low-hanging fruit that we can devise a trail to put on the Mississippi Heritage uh Association's website uh in their southern region.

So it would be a different trail than what they normally have.

Uh for example, Natchez Trace, but this would be a gulf trail to where it's along the water's edge uh up and across over an ocean springs.

Councilman Grace met with uh the mayor over there to see if they were willing to pick it up from Ocean Springs and bring it back around to Fort Mary Plaw.

So that's a work in progress, and so that's why he's uh organized this cleanup.

So I I appreciate that.

Uh so Christy, um just a few things.

I know you had mentioned the uh debris pickup and uh we had talked.

I just wanted to make sure that the the Green Leaf Subdivision, Whitney Drive was was on made the list.

Yes, they and they should be out, I believe tomorrow.

Clee and I Cleo and I actually talked about it this afternoon.

I believe tomorrow they're gonna try to get out there if if not for sure by the end of the week.

We've had a lot of more street people are continuing to put debris out, so we're trying to catch up to all those places.

So we kind of let them put out, let people start putting out, let it sit for a few days so we make sure everybody has as much out.

But one one got you.

It's on our list this week.

Uh and also on the uh I know you had mentioned Timps earlier.

How are we working on the inmate work program?

Are we still uh is that still a work in progress?

Are they still coming in working or um you know what?

I don't know how many we've been getting lately, to be honest with you.

Uh Jamie, do you know how many?

Have we still getting inmates?

Have you been getting inmates?

No, I didn't I didn't think we've had any lately either.

Um we get over there, they just don't have any to give us.

Okay.

All right.

I would just wanted to follow up on that, especially when you mentioned the temp thing.

And then um, so just a question.

So Pops Ferry Road, once we touch highway 90, the will oh, do we have plans of paving from Pass Road to the bridge?

No.

Because right now it's becoming patch ferry road.

Yes.

It's it's like player and frog or driving down the road.

Jump in a little bit, Tom.

There's a problem with patching over that because of the the location of the sewer main.

That's right.

In the wrong spot, and it's a major uh, you know, once we apply for uh, I think uh state aid road situation, it puts us in a better, you know, especially with the cost of things that need to be done.

So there's some major um there's infrastructure and not just the surface.

Yeah, because we pay if we pave over right now, you're still gonna have the same problem because you're still running over the the mislocated man holes.

Okay, yeah.

No, no, I get that that's why I was asking.

Once we touch 90, is there money money that would be available?

We'll apply for a state aid road, which is in a I mean that's why it's important by the end of the year.

We're still you know uh in uh in a mode.

So beginning of the the next go around with the the stuff up in Jackson, we'll pursue that.

That that that's perfect.

At least there's a uh a light.

We have looked at it.

And it's it's it we need about three or four million to do the utility repairs.

If we don't repair the utilities, we can pave it in another year.

It's gonna look just like it does now.

And that's why you don't see us just doing a blanket paving because it's not gonna last.

Yeah, and it's just that section.

I mean, yeah, if you only go one way.

It'll be good on the way back, but not on the way over.

Drive in reverse, right?

Um that's all that's all.

Uh Jerry, real quick, if I could get an update on your uh the planning commission and their their uh progress with the uh traffic uh study on on development.

Yes, sir.

Uh we had a workshop a week ago Thursday uh to talk about the changes to the tree ordinance, but also the uh whether or not a traffic study when when a traffic study should be required.

And actually in our comprehensive plan, which is our vision document, uh it makes a suggestion in there that 90 or more lots.

If someone is coming forward to create 90 or more lots, that we should consider doing a traffic study.

So we already have language in the comprehensive plan that we could follow if that's the direction the council wants to go, then we'll make sure that uh nine ninety or more lots seems seems fair.

Uh yeah, that's that's perfect.

So no no nothing needed from our end.

It's just uh we'll just plug that in.

We'll address it at DRC.

Okay.

Someone comes in with that number.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um Rick, I'm gonna personally thank you for uh riding around with me on Wednesday.

Um followed up with everyone that we met with.

They were um uh very thankful that you took time out to come and meet with them personal personally.

So thank thank you for that.

Um also want oh Christy, one more question.

Market Sherry Roof.

I the librarian called me and told me it it's leaking or was leaking to um so right now we uh we have quotes on it.

Um I actually brought them up there in my binder.

I should have pulled them out.

We have quotes on it, but right now until we figure out um the funding for that, then that's it'll just we have to wait until we can we know where more funding because it's about oh I wish I wish I had pulled it out.

Let me see if I can find it in here real quick.

It's I want to say it's like uh 200,000 fix, but I'm I'm kind of just there's no way I'm about to find it that quickly, but I'll look at the number up.

But we do have a quote on it, it's just waiting on funding.

Okay.

All right.

And um I'd like to add with uh Councilman Gray on Robert Johnson adjourned in memory, and if I could add to it um Anthony Tony Smith, uh injured in memory of him, former commander of uh VFW on um on Howard Avenue and my uncle.

So uh that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Creel.

Mr.

Tuesday.

Yes, I'd like to echo Councilman Creel's uh compliments to the folks who all the folks who are involved in staging and uh seeing that uh Fred Hayes event uh was done as well as it was done.

It was a hot day to be out there and we weren't there, they kept the program moving, so they did a good job.

Also, I'd like to thank those who organized the events on the fourth.

Uh the company uh and the boom boom committee that uh arranged for the fireworks, the event on the town green, and the historic reenactment at the seafood museum.

That's it.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you, Mr.

Tuesday and Mr.

Schumacher.

Uh, just a couple of things.

Uh I was gonna bring up grass cutting, but Director Labata brought that up.

So she hardly spoke of that.

Uh secondly and lastly, Jim Byrd Road, you know, when the all the heavy rain recently, we had a washout on the road, and there's been a hold up on that, which is not on the county, they're helping us out on that project or with the city, it's on ATT.

And ATT has apparently repaired their fiber optics, but we're waiting on them.

Apparently, they have to raise it a little higher, their their optics or their fiber.

Um, so the work can't be completed until that's done.

They that's been reported to them.

They said it's gonna be a priority, but we can't get that work done until ATT comes out.

So I just wanted to throw that out there.

That is in the works.

We're just standing by waiting on ATT, and as soon as they get that done, then hopefully that road will get repaired, patched, and back open.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Shoebaker.

Ms.

Chrissy.

Yeah, you're on the hot seat, huh?

Jumping Jack.

Up and down, up and down.

Yes, sir.

Uh I want to thank you.

I know you've been under a lot of stress pushing it.

I know that the um the rain really kind of messed you up.

But um, I want to also, I'm gonna change the subject a little bit.

Um you guys have been out of my park for over a week now working.

Here we make part.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I know we didn't have the money some kind of way you found it.

You said you would do it.

And you think Craig in charge, is it Craig here?

No, uh no, I don't think he came tonight.

Will you give him Eva Brown if I mean?

I will.

He's been he's gonna come by my house.

He done he's been on it.

He has not stopped making sure that that project is gone.

I feel good about it.

I like it.

I like the concrete being put down.

I like the sidewalks.

I like the fact that handicap wrap is going going up in there.

I like the back boards being worked on.

All the things that for so long these days they couldn't find the money to do.

You and Craig, y'all found it, and I appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

You're very welcome.

I'm not gonna complain about anything else.

You got a slide today.

No grass cutting, are you sure?

I'm not gonna complain.

I'm not don't please, don't tell me, baby.

Don't tell me.

Sir.

Well, so I got compliments for you also today.

Um I ask that you guys, when you see homeless, uh, those that are unhoused, uh, we cannot help the city's not in the position to to help their situation.

I we do have an obligation to our citizens to make sure that our sidewalks are safe and that our city is presentable.

And uh I ask that you and uh Chief uh Chief DeBay uh make sure that those that are sleeping on the sidewalks out in the open like that, those that are just drinking and trashing up, but we it's not fair to ask Chris and him to go out there and pick up trash behind these people all the time.

You know, now when it goes, I looked there's a trash can literally sitting there.

They just they threw it on the ground.

But I want to thank you.

I know that you guys have been doing it.

You know, I get out there every morning and I go up under the bridge, I go to all the parks, and I I hate to say it, they begin to know me now.

And I try to wake them up and say, hey, you know, can you move on for me?

Uh and I know that your officers have been doing it, and I want to say as you see your officers, you tell them that I did notice it, and I do thank them.

I appreciate that.

It makes our community look a lot better.

When someone gets off of I110 on Division Street, and there's four people laying out there on the ground on the sidewalk.

You know, we don't want to make the people think that we're not sensitive to their situation.

But for those that are we're trying to build this city up, and there's places that they can go.

We do know that there's a place right under the bridge on the back bay part that has a facility for them to go to.

And I asked them to go on, they already know to go.

But I think I really want to say I thank your officers for what they do.

I appreciate it.

I see the difference, and my citizens that live over in East Bilexi, they see the difference.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

On the agenda today, there's gonna come an item that I'm gonna address real quickly, and I'm gonna finish addressing later.

Um, in reference to a bond.

This has been an ongoing, ongoing uh task for this council.

Um we've gone through some things.

Petitions were out, people signing signatures trying to stop it.

Uh the mayor has expressed that we do need these funds, unless he just changed his mind in the last 10 minutes.

We do need these funds because there's so many things that need to be fixed.

Things that have not been fixed in 15, 20 years, some of them in this city.

And right now, you guys are warm here right now because the air conditioning is out, and that's just how some of the stuff is over.

And also, I'm to the I'm of the belief that just spending money to fix stuff.

We also got to spend money to invest into the needs of the people.

So you're gonna hear talk for me today on East Biloxi development and the fact that East Biloxi, according to the EFDA is a food desert.

And for every council member up here, if I'm wrong, correct me.

Every since the day you put your hand on that Bob, East Biloxi has been a food desert.

And yet it has not been addressed, and it has not been fixed.

You put your hand on the Bob to uphold and to do right by the citizens of Biloxi when 20% of this city is living in a food desert.

So you're gonna hear us calling for you to honor your word.

I'm gonna ask that Ms.

Hope come up and I'm gonna yield just a few minutes for her, and then I'm gonna turn it over so we can get going with the meeting.

Good evening.

Can you hear me?

Well, even mayor, councilman, and residents and community.

My name is Hope Spencer, and I'm a proud returning resident of East Bilexi.

After spending many years away, I've returned to the community that helped shape who I am.

As a child, I remember walking with my grandmother to the neighborhood grocery store.

It wasn't just a place to buy groceries, it was convenient.

It brought neighbors together, and it was part of everyday life in East Bilexi.

Today, many of our seniors and families have to travel outside their neighborhood for basic groceries.

Bringing a grocery store back to East Bilexi would make fresh food more accessible, especially for seniors, by giving families the convenience of shopping close to home.

I'm here tonight because I believe in the future of East Bilexi.

I am asking the council to invest in that future by making a grocery store a priority.

A grocery store creates jobs, keeps more local spending in East Bilexi, and attracts other businesses to invest here.

That is the kind of investment that creates opportunity for East Bilexi and benefits the entire city of Bilexi.

East Bilexi has tremendous potential.

We have hardworking families, dedicated residents, and a community that is ready to partner with the city to make this vision a reality.

Tonight, I respectfully ask you to make East Bilexi a priority by supporting the funding and partnerships needed to bring a grocery store back to our community.

An investment in East Bilexi is an investment in the future of Bilexi.

When Bilexi Biloxi grows, Biloxi grows.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you for your service, and thank you for considering this as well.

Anyone else that wish to speak, there'll be a time after the council has spoken, can be open for citizen comments if you wish to speak on behalf of any audio things.

If you come here because of the grocery store, then you will have a chance to speak then.

And your time will be limited to three minutes.

Mr.

President, I yield.

Thank you, Mr.

Marshall.

Got a few things.

I want to start off with our condolences to the Nolan Wells family.

It was certainly a tragic event.

And I think our thoughts and prayers are with uh his family and their needs, and our community embraces them and focuses on their wishes.

And um, so keep them in your prayers over the coming weeks.

It certainly is going to be a difficult time for a long, long time for that family.

Um couple other things.

I want to uh single out Ryan Bradley again.

Uh Ryan is with uh Commercial Fisheries United uh this past uh weekend.

Uh he collected all the billfish um and he actually uh filleted them, chopped them up in stakes, packaged them with the help of Back Bay Mission, and distributed them to food banks.

Uh Ryan is engaged with other billfish tournaments.

In fact, on July 7th, I believe it's July 17th.

I'm going to make a trip.

He kind of uh bent my arm a little bit, but he's the the next billfish tournament that concludes is in Orange Beach, uh, Alabama, and he's uh kind of persuaded me to go help him uh collect those fish, uh get them all filleted up and stakes.

We're actually soliciting some uh uh kids in the community.

This qualifies them for service hours, they'll help package and uh distribute the the fish to uh food banks.

If anyone would like to help with that, we've got room uh for you in the truck, the Orange Beach, hop on in and we'll go over there and uh collect some fish and bring them back here for a good cause.

Um got a uh another thing uh I want to follow up with uh Councilman Creel's report on the beautification uh commission.

They did a public service announcement of we cannot sweep our problems down the drain.

I thought that was a clever uh catchphrase, if you will, pardon the pun.

Um but that's so true.

So uh encourage your neighborhoods uh if you can.

I know uh we got a lot of active council members that walk uh their wards.

Uh kind of talk to your uh neighbors uh about that.

It really does help if the neighborhoods understand bag bag those leaves and branches and everything up, put them by the curb, uh we'll collect them, but it really keeps our drains flowing a lot better when when they're not clogged up with leaves and and debris.

Um I reported, I think I reported this uh Christy, uh Lick Skillet, Oak Ridge.

Uh there's a deep trench that was dug right around the curb.

It's kind of deep and it's holding water.

Uh I had uh concerned citizen.

Uh he contacted me and and said it it may be uh holding mosquitoes and everything like that.

If we could maybe call for a spray in that area and and if can we do an assessment, look at that trench.

Uh he said it's either the trench is too deep, this is his opinion, or there's a culvert nearby, and the culvert's either too high or the the trench is too deep, and he thinks if we can kind of solve that problem, maybe it will go away.

Um, I want to apologize, it's a little warm in here today, but I got good news.

Um I spoke to Jessica Hart Parker.

Uh if everybody knows Jessica, she's with the scoop ice cream shop, and she said she feels for everybody in our community.

So get the word out.

This Thursday, she's doing a special.

You get one free scoop.

Uh you if you buy a scoop of ice cream, you get the one free scoop for free.

And but there's a catch, you got to mention a password.

And uh she sent me the password.

The password is saltwater councilman.

So this Thursday, go to the scoop, mention saltwater councilman, you get an extra scoop for free.

Let's support that uh business.

They're really entrenched in the community.

They do they work hard and they they do a lot for our community.

We appreciate you, Jessica, and and your family uh for everything you're doing down there in that that ice cream shop.

Okay.

Um gardens, I do want to highlight them again.

Uh, I don't know if the manager is here tonight.

If you're here, raise your hand.

Uh she may not have been able to make it.

She actually broke her foot uh when she was helping uh people in and around Belmont Gardens during the flood.

I've reported this numerous times about that property floods.

It's been doing it for quite some time.

This is one of the priority requests on the bond uh list uh to give them people some help.

But here's another thing that's uh developed recently.

There uh everybody knows there's a lot of uh development in board six.

Uh the developer that is uh due south of Belmont Gardens is developing uh significant amount of property, and they are willing to work with the city uh to use some of their land uh for additional drainage that kind of would take that uh flood from Belmont Gardens from the canal into that natural basin and then over to Birdie Road and uh let it go out through the storm uh drains.

So um if we can engage with them, uh Christy, if it I don't know if y'all had any conversation as of yet.

Okay, I I do have some contacts I can get to get with you afterwards.

They they are interested in being a good neighbor and uh probably providing some uh you know land that could be quite useful in our efforts.

Uh also uh requesting a waters view uh update on the drain that was coming up out of the uh ground.

Have we done anything with it or is it working its way to some resolution?

Okay, yeah, it's on the list.

All right, good.

Okay.

Let's see.

That concludes my report.

Thank you.

We got a real uh big crowd here tonight, so we're gonna hold strict to the three minutes.

So when you come up and talk, uh sign your name on the list at the desk.

Uh state your name and your address clearly for the clerk to record.

When you hear hear the bell, please be respectful.

We're gonna try to get as many people uh to speak as we possibly can this evening.

Um so with that I'll start uh with the lady in the back.

Yes, that's you.

Hello, so prior to coming here, I had a long list of things to say.

This uh is my first time attending anything like this.

Uh my husband is active duty Coast Guard.

We were stationed here a year ago.

We purchased a home on Floyd Drive with the little information that we had, it was a non-flood zone.

June June 19th at 11 12, uh no, June June 19th, Friday, June 19th.

Um, my daughter started screaming that there was water in our home.

Um, the water was over our outlets.

Um my oldest son, his bed is a bunk bed, and had my daughter not woken up, he could have drowned.

And so I could have been standing here with a completely different story.

We did not get an alert.

Nothing.

And I'll make it very short because there's a lot of other people.

Beluxe fire department.

There they when we called uh 911, their engine washed away.

That is that is how high the water was outside.

My husband had to, we couldn't open doors.

My husband had to climb through the back uh patio and get us to our backyard to the highest level we could so that my children would not drown.

The fi the Biloxi Fire Department claimed that they were coming back on a boat to get us, they never came back and got us, and marked us evacuated.

And it should be uh recorded through 911 that that is exactly what happened.

If this was due to weather, Arthur, specifically just water rain.

I would be I wouldn't be here because that is something you guys cannot control.

But the day after I tried to go save everything, mind you, we lost completely everything.

My children have nothing, completely nothing.

We have zero family here.

We are a military family, hence why they are here.

And as you can tell, well behaved, making sure they're not talking and giving and being respectful because that is who we are raising.

So we are here now with completely nothing, and I know it had to do with the sewage and the drainage because when I went to the day after to go collect the clothes that I could save, I was at the laundromat with clumps of feces because it was coming out of our toilets.

Again, I am not a Biloxi native.

I know nothing about Biloxi, other than I my home that we purchase is not in the flood zone.

Did not flood in Katrina.

Besides that, we have two neighbors that are completely blind.

That did not get any help.

We have another neighbor who had to be turned over to the state because she had dementia and was evacuated by Biloxi and left at the post office where they know she's a current rudder, but we're constantly keeping an eye on her.

I would come here and say that we live in a city in a in a in a street where it's minority.

It is not minority, it's poverty.

We live paycheck to paycheck, even though he's active duty, and now we have lost everything, all our vehicles.

Ma'am, we sympathize with you.

Your time is up.

Your promise expired.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Come on, let's go.

Ma'am, could could we get your name for the record, please?

I'm sorry.

Myra Bryant.

Thank you.

Where was the address?

Did he get it?

Okay.

All right.

Anybody on my left, your right, raise your hand to be recognized.

Yes.

My name is Kenneth Myers.

And I live in the corner of Honeywood Drive in Floyd in Tanglewood shopping in Tanglewood area.

And was victimized by the by the flooding.

I've lived there for 30 years.

And I'm telling you and submitting to you right now that work on that ditch cannot wait until winter time.

It should have already been done.

It has been neglected over the years.

And in my view, it was one of the major causes of this flood.

The water had nowhere to go.

It's supposed to go south and then east on that ditch.

It does not take an engineer to walk that ditch to know that it is totally inoperable, that it cannot do it.

It can't take the water south and go east the way it is.

So it had no other place to go but go north.

It rolled over my house and every house that's on Floyd Drive.

Up and crossed Floyd to the other side of the street.

There are dozens of families there that were totally ruined.

And we cannot rebuild and sit there and try to live with this sort of damp tree shutting over our heads while somebody waits until the winter time to come there and do something that automatically should have already been done over the years.

In 1994, the city was sued for this exact same reason, and it was a court mandate and a court injunction that stated that they had to maintain that ditch, and they have failed to do that.

I'm asking you to do it now, not wait until the winter time.

But if we've got to sit there and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild our homes with sitting there and waiting that the next Arthur or the next rainfall, the water's gonna flow off of the top of the apartments next door down into that ditch which is not working and flow directly into our homes.

My home took uh almost a foot of water.

It is totally dirty now and devastated.

A week before the flood, my wife had just been accepted with hospice, and I had to sink her to Montana in order to get care from another part of the family.

This is totally ridiculous because it the flood was definitely due to the neglect on that drainage ditch.

We got not a drop of water in Katrina, not a drop of water in any other rain there or hurricane.

And I know how the ditch was supposed to work because I've lived there for 30 years, and it is simply because over the years it has been neglected, and is now no more than just a curve.

Thank you, sir.

State your name and my name is Wendy Myers.

I am his daughter.

That house was bought in 1986 when he was still active duty Air Force.

That flood in 94.

He's right.

But what he failed to mention, and because of his mother, his wife, stage six dementia.

For safety reasons, my sister and my nieces took her out of state for her safety.

So my father, myself, and my two dogs are currently living in a Coleman camper in our backyard from a cut in.

Got in the house.

Tell me how that fits in your winter schedule.

That drainage that should have been fixed 30 years ago.

Tell me how that maintains and fits in your beautification project.

When your residents, your retired military, your active duty serving this country are displaced because your beautification tax dollars cost more than the residents that live here.

Anyone else on my left, your right?

Raise your hand to be recognized.

Anyone on this side of the room.

Good afternoon, councilman.

It's a hard pill to swallow to come behind all of that.

But I'm here today because I want to talk about uh the economic development uh councilman Marshall spoke about.

I grew up in Belux in East Bluxton, and I can recall Miles Grocery, Lyman's Grocery, Brothers Grocery, Leo today, Joe Tadario, Peach Grocery, Miss Mandy, Levine's, Brothers Grocery, Fayo's Grocery, all of that was in this little area.

And this community was thriving.

I used to call Main Street, uh, more or less uh like New Orleans over there in the French quarters.

That's how that's how vibrant Biloxy was during during this period.

I mean, people all night long with up and down the streets, all kinds of little restaurants and blocks was thriving, Point Cadet.

I didn't name all those that was out there.

Those of you who live in Point Cadet or Ward 3, you know, all the stores that was out there as well.

And since that time, we got nothing on this side except the dollar store.

If it wouldn't be not for the dollar store, these people would be hurting because uh the other cultures that have stores, their people support them, and they don't carry a lot of food that we eat.

So let's face it.

And just think about the area that we were talking about, and counseling bring that up to you.

Once something goes up there, that other end of carbon all the way to Baby down to the casino gonna grow because it's gonna be an incentive to somebody to buy those properties and to build there some type of business.

So I'm here today, and I hope that you all would find it in your heart to support counseling on this one.

Uh Marshall is working hard, he's trying to get something done, and I hope you all see fit to make this happen.

It is doable.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

I'm gonna go one more time on this side of the room on my left, your right.

Yes, ma'am.

Let her go first, uh, if you don't mind, Pastor, and we'll get you next.

Good evening.

I just like to say, I've been here before, but what I wanted to say is very important.

I like to thank Mr.

Marshall for coming in trying to help walk two and one, and I like to say that I remember like the gentleman just got up corner that we had everything that we need from the bay, division to the track.

We had stores, wash a cherry, restaurants, all kind of stuff.

We had children that could play, they had football stadiums, they had gym, they had everything they needed, even stores.

We had not just one store, we had two or three stores.

Now we don't have any.

We have to go across the bay to get everything that we need, but it's wrong.

And I like to say that, you know, when we got children, we need bread, and you're trying to go to the dollar store and get bread, and everybody going to the same place, and they didn't sold out.

You don't have a car.

I felt for the lady with the children.

You know, we need to have our own.

We help water six, one five, one four, three.

Well, what about your ward right here?

We need help.

And we are asking that the councilman, all of you guys.

I remember when Mr.

Tearsdale used to work at the school down here.

I remember all this.

I'm 75 years old.

I know what been done, have been done, and not being done.

Even at Park Diamond, where the lady died that was had all that money.

She had that, and they had kept that yard clean down at the Roadwater, back over that way.

But now too needs help.

One and two.

I'm not saying don't help the little gentleman.

That needs help.

We all need help.

Don't keep it in one pile.

Spread it abroad.

And then we'll be blessed.

Amen.

And on Evangelist Kemp on the main street Baptist Church.

Amen.

Do I need to sign this paper?

Because I didn't sign it.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

Could we also get your name for the record, please?

Okay.

Angelus.

Our children don't have nowhere to play.

Now we have we have back part, but the thing about it is we don't the children is not men attended to.

That's why so much killing going on.

So we got to pay attention to our families.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor.

Good evening.

We had a meeting with Mayor Gillich on yesterday along with Councilman Marshall and several other local pastors in the city of Biloxi in the Biloxi area.

We talked about the grocery store that you've heard mentioned.

But we also talked about a recreational facility for our youth.

And as Sister Kemp mentioned our youth are at risk.

And I'm on their side.

I think we ought to invest in our in our youth.

Mayor Gillich and Councilman Marshall gave us a seat at the table.

And we talked.

We're all in the same room.

We talked.

And the mayor is on fire for that recreational facility.

And I think y'all ought to support him.

I think every councilman up there ought to support him for our children.

It's for our children.

I know that there may be money associated with a grocery store, but our children are worth more than money.

Say that again, Brother Hollins.

Our children are worth more than money.

Now I've said it like this.

Let me say it like this again.

And I'll go to my seat.

Money spent on youth is more than money spent.

It's money invested.

And when we invest in our young people, I promise you.

The grocery store can come later.

I promise you.

You'll pay off some high dividends.

God bless you.

Sir, can we get your name for the record, please?

Thank you, sir.

Kenneth Hollins, Pastor, we built a missionary Baptist Church where I've been for 27 years.

Thank you, Pastor.

Yes, ma'am.

Hand up.

Yep.

My name is Carolyn Wilburne.

Can you say it into the microphone, please?

Carolyn Wilburne.

All right, your address?

Hello.

Your address.

I wasn't gonna say anything.

My address.

If you could just you can just write it on the paper.

Okay, Carolyn Wilborn.

Okay.

Show it.

People got reason to live too, then.

All right.

Bring my glasses.

My name is Carolyn Wilborn.

I live at 242 Lemute Street.

I wasn't gonna say anything this evening.

I was like enough people have spoke.

I wasn't gonna say anything because I figured it was running late.

But when you tell me, excuse me, Pastor.

I bless you.

I love you.

I love the word of God.

These children are not that no recreation.

They own their cell phones.

Feed the children.

We need food.

We need real food.

We're sick of the garbage that's being pumped into us.

Have you ever went to food giant and bought what you thought was catfish?

I'm just telling the truth.

We need food.

I've been in this community 36 years.

I am an implant from Gulfport.

I love Biloxi now.

Hated it when I moved here.

I don't want to go back to the hate.

I don't want to see my grandchildren steady running around here buying popsicles because there's nothing to eat.

They noodle job.

Kids going home eating noodles.

Maybe that's all mom can afford, or maybe that's all she trusts.

Please help us.

Help us get some food in Biloxi so all of us can thrive, think, and rest better.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your comments.

All right, we're gonna move on.

My right, your left.

Gentleman in the back had his hand up first.

Good evening to the uh the mayor, city council, president of the students, uh the council.

I just want to take a few minutes of your time and discuss the grocery store initiative that needs to go into East Biloxi.

As we continue to sit here and we continue to talk about the needs of Biloxi and the renovations that need to go through, we need to talk about how do we sustain what we already have.

Sustaining what we have means investing in our community and investing in our citizens.

And in doing so, that means investing in a grocery store in the East Biloxi area.

We talk about the budget deficit and how much money we're losing.

Well, how about the money that we aren't trying to actually invest in so that we can pull money out of the city?

You have 20% of the city that is not being utilized to its fullest.

East Beluxie is an area that is an untapped potential.

You have casinos on either end of the community that could draw not only our visitors into that grocery store, but the community itself.

There should be no reason why the citizens of East Biloxi should have to travel across the bridge either to Diabreville or travel over into the other wards to be able to go get fresh food.

Food is a necessity.

As a prior military service member for 22 years, I served in Iraq, helping build communities.

And by building those communities, we had to focus on three things education, sustainment of food, and we had to put fresh water in those areas.

Because what you're doing is you're neglecting us.

You came to our community last October, and you all said in our churches and our community centers and said that you were all about taking care of East Biloxi.

Well, now is the time to put up or shut up.

It's time for you to speak up and say, hey, we need to invest in that community.

Mr.

Tinsdale, I've known you for so many years.

You were an educator.

You and you inflicted it to us to let us know that hey, we could all be somebody we could do something positive.

Well, I've come back home after being around the world, and I'm trying to do something positive in my community, and I'm asking you specifically to help second war.

East Baloxi First War, however, we want to say it.

I'm asking you specifically to lead the charge.

Mr.

Marshall, Mr.

Gray, Mr.

Nail shouldn't have to do it alone.

You know us.

You've seen us grow up.

Don't neglect us now that you're sitting on the council.

Thank you for your time.

Good evening.

Thank you for inviting me to address you today.

My name is Joseph Lesalvia, and I'm a resident of Biloxi Ward 1.

As some of you may know, there's a train that runs through the heart of Biloxi.

That is what I'm here to discuss.

This rail line produces accidents with cars and pedestrians on a monthly basis.

The most recent such collision occurred just a week ago, a block from where I live, injuring two.

While occasional crashes could be blamed on lousy drivers, the disturbing frequency of fatal collisions suggests a systemic safety issue, which this very council has failed to address.

Moreover, the proximity of many crossings to densely populated residential zones presents an even more insidious threat to public health.

Multiple trains passing through every night, blasting their horns at over a hundred decibels is not a mere nuisance.

The threat of chronic noise exposure is well documented in the medical literature.

It is a recipe for hearing loss, not to mention sleep disturbances on a population scale large enough to produce traffic accidents, loss of productivity at work, and health complications such as heart disease, depression, and early onset dementia.

All of this affects thousands of residents and active duty service members living near the tracks and will affect many thousands more who will live here in the future.

Fortunately, I have a solution to propose.

Supplementary safety measures installed at railroad crossings.

Supplementary safety measures are most commonly four quadrant gates, but road medians can be a more cost-effective alternative.

Either way, these measures can improve crossing safety and qualify as quiet zones in which trains are not required to sound their horns.

This addresses both the collisions and the noise problem.

As for the expense of these safety measures, the rail operator may be willing to negotiate sharing the cost of safety upgrades with the city and the county.

Collisions don't just affect Biloxi residents.

They also cause damage and delays, which affect CSX rails bottom line.

Furthermore, noise mitigations would be a boon to local businesses and property values.

Over time, expenses could be recompensed from increased property tax revenues.

For the sake of the people of the city of Biloxi and of Harrison County, please consider this proposal to mitigate rail crossing collisions and noise toxicity.

I will be available after this meeting to discuss further.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else on my right, your left?

Raise your hand to be recognized.

Yep.

Yes.

My name is Janet Kavanaugh, and I'm back.

But I'm here to tell you thank you so much for those scoreboards.

Those kids have thoroughly enjoyed it.

The 12-year-old youth just won their district championship.

And so this weekend we're headed to Cosiesco, Mississippi to win for the state.

If we win that, we'll be going to the World Series.

But on top of that, I want to say thank you to Ronnie Seymour, who was out there calling those ball games for those kids.

He made a said you got out, but what a great hit that was.

Those kids really enjoyed that, and the parents enjoyed it.

The music playing, it's the best season we've ever had.

And I just came to say thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right.

Anyone else?

Yes.

Hello, my name is Nia Sche, and I am currently at 217 Keller Avenue.

I was a resident of Biloxi, Mississippi.

I returned here after graduate studies thinking about this being a place for me to rebuild my life.

One day I decided to take a walk around Biloxi.

I saw beautiful shops, libraries, all these wonderful things that can benefit a city.

Then I started getting hungry, and I'm like, mm-hmm.

I'm sure I'll come across a grocery store.

30 plus minutes of walking, not a grocery store in sight.

So then I think to myself, maybe it's the direction I walk.

A quick Google search let me know that the closest grocery store was more than a mile from my house, which meant I was living in a food desert.

Which means that if I chose to stay in Mississippi and really build my life, I would be choosing to live in a food desert.

My grandmother currently lives in a food desert.

And I asked myself, can Biloxi be the place where a young professional like myself rebuilds their life.

As an educator, I know the power in investing in communities and investing in our children.

I know when we provide communities with a grocery store, we're providing them with a place to get nutritious meals.

Getting nutritious meals affects our mental and physical health.

That affects how we decide to show up for work, for school, for our community, for our cities, and for our families.

Many of us, seniors and people who don't have a car, are forced to go across the bay.

And that can be a hassle, that can be a struggle.

And from a financial standpoint, bringing a grocery store will bring viable businesses.

Because for me, a millennial, it's I like convenience.

So when I have to go across the bay, I'm not just going to spend my dollars at a grocery store.

I'm making all the stop stores, gas.

So then the bay is but excuse me, across the bay is benefiting.

Versus over here, when people see a grocery store, they teach themselves how this is a viable aspect of community.

And so they choose to create more businesses.

And so in route to the grocery store, which is a necessity, I stop and get all the other things I need.

And being a grocery store will not just be beneficial from a financial standpoint.

We will allow people to continue to show up and do their best in every space they occupy.

Because receiving nutritious meal is quintessential.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

President Grabman, Alessandro Smale, Councilman, citizen of Biloxi.

My name is Luther W.

Fairley Sr.

Pastor of the Main Street Missionary Baptist Church.

I've been living in Biloxi for 70 years.

I was raised in East Biloxi, played football.

1974 to Biloxi Indians, Junior High.

Sports did all I could to help to make Biloxi what it is.

And whatever decision you all make in the bond money.

That y'all would help us to bring back and restore life to the city.

All of us don't gamble.

Most of us are law-abiding citizens.

But we need something that would draw citizens back to Biloxi.

Someone once said, anything did needs to be buried.

But I beg to differ.

Anything did needs to be resurrected.

We need to restore life back to East Biloxi.

And whatever we can do, Mr.

Mayor, to help you in your decision.

Main Street has a piece of property.

And Massafand desires to build a multipurpose facility.

We just don't have the wherewithal.

But we're willing to work with this city.

And if we can share a piece of our land to build us to build a community center for the city of Biloxi, we don't mind sharing.

And my last words is Main Street is a community church.

And whatever we can do together to help restore, revitalize and rebuild and give life back to the city of Biloxi, Mr.

Mayor.

We're willing to do that.

May these words find you well.

Thank you, Pastor.

Anyone else on my right?

Your left.

Yes.

Mayor, consuls.

My name is Jenny Mustikawadi.

I live at 27 through Hopkins Boulevard.

I moved here five years ago.

I built my home here.

With all of this, they said, oh, grocery will be here, grocery store will be here, park will be here.

Okay.

Park is done with the disc off.

And then the grass about this high.

What happened?

The light is out.

That was before the storm.

I call and I call.

The traffic from I 110 to Hopkins Boulevard, as you know.

Bad.

There's no street line.

There's no designated parking area.

About two weeks ago, my neighbor carr got hit.

Parking front of his house.

He's an old man.

He doesn't have any money.

He only have two weeks' rental car from the insurance.

He couldn't buy another car.

It just needs to be before somebody get killed.

Please look into it.

I'm not to be selfish, but the grocery stores number one, yes.

But also safety.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else on my right, your left?

Anyone on this side of the room?

I'm gonna go back on this side.

Raise your hand.

Yes, ma'am.

Good evening.

My name is Phyllis Bullock.

I am a citizen of Ward II.

And I'm grateful to be a citizen of Ward II.

I've lived in Ward II pretty much my whole life.

And so my concern is a community center.

And I recall growing up.

We had two community centers.

And so now I want to pose a question to all of you all.

What if the shoes on other foot?

I'm wondering if the outcome will be the same.

So I'm asking you all.

And I'm asking each of you, when you make this decision, think about your own children.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Good evening.

Um my name is Deborah McGee Ward II, and I'm here speaking on behalf of Eric E.

Dickey.

He just sent me a something he wants to say.

He is uh district meeting tonight, so he's unable to make it.

So a vote in favor of the Biloxi bond issue is a vote to invest in the future of our entire city from West Biloxi to East Biloxi.

The investment will strengthen neighborhoods, improve public infrastructure, and create opportunities that benefit families, businesses, and future generations.

When every area of Biloxi moves becomes stronger, more united, and better prepared for tomorrow.

Let us stand together and vote in support of the bond issue for the good of Biloxi.

Just a moment.

From Eric Dickey, former council member and pastor of the historical First Missionary Baptist Church of Biloxi, 180 years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Good evening to the City Council and to our mayor.

We thank God for you.

I'm Reverend Cordell Sims, Pastor of New Foundation's Church Biloxi and GovPort.

I want to say that I believe in our children.

I believe that in investing in them, but I want to make sure we feed them first.

And so the grocery store, I believe, will be a help to East Biloxi to help us and help all children stay strong so that they can play the sports and all the things they need to do and attract people back to East Biloxi.

Thank you.

Thank you, Pastor.

Anyone else want to be recognized?

Raise your hand.

Yes, ma'am.

Got right in under the bill.

Good evening.

My name is Lenora Ralph Walton.

I'm a resident of Biloxi all my life.

Periods where I left and came back.

And I've been here.

And I have heard on several occasions where if I understood correctly, they said that the recreational center had been approved.

And didn't they have a ground?

Breaking on it.

Could you share with me what happened?

Okay, since I have no answer on that at this time, I have another question.

Okay, we've discussed this grocery store matter for several years as well.

Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to ask Mel Gillich about a grocery store in this area.

When are we gonna get a grocery store, a new grocery store in our end?

Unfortunately, the sad thing that was shared with me was we have a new grocery store.

We got a losses going on right over there.

Yeah, that's right over there in your neighborhood.

You work over here, majority of you work over here, but majority of you don't live over here.

So it's like we don't care because our area is being developed very well.

But we are the city.

We are in the crown of this city.

Everything that goes down goes down right here.

You stop when you get to that railroad track.

Why?

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Raise your hand to be recognized.

We have time for about two more and uh our allotted time.

So raise your hand if you want to speak.

There being no one, uh citizens' comments is now closed.

Uh we'll move on to the policy agenda.

Resolution to appoint pre appoint Paul A.

Tisdale as president of the Biloxi City Council.

I'll move it.

Second.

Second by Mr.

Creel.

Uh I think Paul is going to do a great job.

He's got the experience uh sitting in the seat.

Uh it's not easy, but our job is never never easy uh to take charge of some of the uh difficult challenges that we have as a community and a city.

So I hope uh we can affirm uh Paul Teesdale uh unanimously.

Mr.

Creel.

Nothing further.

All right.

Call for the question.

All in favor?

Those opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

Mr.

Tearsdale.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Glavin, for the kind words.

And thank the council for your support and encouragement.

There you go.

Fix that, would you?

There you go.

You're good, ma'am.

Okay.

Okay.

If the clerk would read the next item, please.

Resolution to appoint Jamie Krill as Vice President of the Bloxy City Council.

Is there a motion?

A motion.

Second.

Motion by Mr.

Nail.

And a second by Mr.

Glavin.

Mr.

Nail, any discussion?

I think Jamie would do a good job, Vice President.

Thank you for your comments.

Okay.

May I may have any words?

Uh no, I think so too.

I think these are uh uh two good choices.

Uh but one thing, uh let's let's have a little bit of applause, uh at least for Mr.

Creel and for Mr.

Tuesdale.

Is there any other discussion?

No further discussion.

We'll call for the question.

All in favor.

Any opposed?

Where are you on that?

Yeah, I'm for it.

I didn't know that.

Okay, yeah, that's all right.

Thank you.

That brings us to item C on the policy agenda.

If the clerk would read that item, please.

Resolution granting conditional use approval to authorize the construction of two multifamily buildings located at 245 Porter Avenue and 1088 Judge Sequel Avenue.

I'll make a motion.

All right.

There's a motion by Mr.

Gray.

Second.

And a second by Mr.

Creel.

Mr.

Gray.

This is growth.

This is a not I know this this area is right by food giant, but this is more residents.

It's gonna be coming down to it's gonna travel across a bridge to spend their money on a grocery store.

This is why we need to look at a grocery store here in East Biloxi.

So I'll I approve this.

So I hope the rest of my councilman vote with me.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Gray.

Um, Mr.

Creel.

Any comments?

Uh Sir Jerry, is there any um around this?

Yes, sir.

The at 245 Porter Avenue, which is one of the properties we're talking about, there's already an eight-plex there.

What they plan to do is they'll bill 12 on the property that faces Judge Seaco, which this is an L-shaped piece of property.

And once those are built, they intend to go back in and completely restore the eight plates that's on uh border.

So that'll put it up to 20 total.

20 total, yes, sir.

Okay, thank you.

Nothing any other discussion.

There being none, we'll call for the question.

All in favor of the resolution is presented.

Any opposed?

It's a 7-0 vote for the clerk.

You're good.

Thank you.

All right, if the clerk would read the next item, please.

Resolution authorizing and directing directing the issuance of a general obligation bond and the total amount not to exceed 13 million dollars.

All right.

I sponsored the resolution.

I'll make the motion.

Is there a second?

I'd like to make an amendment.

What can I do that?

We need to get it on the table first.

So is there a second?

I'll second it.

Second by Mr.

Gray.

Discussion for discussion.

Okay.

And Mr.

Gray, I'll get to you in just a moment for any any discussion or any comments you have, and then we'll open it up to everybody.

Um we almost had a 16 and a half million uh bond issue passed, and then in and looking uh we didn't proceed accurately procedurally, so we came in the next day and it was defeated.

That being the case, I realized there's a lot of work to be done in the city, a lot of work.

And working off an original list, we could easily identify about 28, 24 to 28 million dollars of projects.

If we had the money now, we'd love to do it all now.

But we're narrowing that down because we've got to borrow money to do some of these projects.

And some of these pro and what I've done is narrow it down.

In fact, I'll give my council members a copy here.

Take one, Jamie, and pass.

And Mr.

Shoemaker, if you don't mind, there be a couple of copies, leave one for the clerk and then the rest for the administration over there.

So in looking at this list, there are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, sixteen projects that total 11.7 million.

And then we had talked about it a previous council meeting, a contingency fund, because although we've estimated that the engineering department has estimated what the cost of these projects will be, uh the general rule for contingency funds is to add an additional 10 percent.

So if the estimates come in a little bit above, or what the bids come in a little bit above what's estimated, then you can fund those projects.

Having said that, uh, and there are strong, I say strong opinions, passionate opinions up here, I think all of us uh shared on this topic.

Having said that, these are projects, some of them have been discussed for almost a decade.

The work still needs to be done.

One that's gotten a lot of uh attention in the press recently is the roof on the public safety building.

It's got to be fixed.

We have generators have to be fixed.

We have roofs, have to be fixed.

There are a lot of roads that need to be fixed.

It's tough for us to keep up with the grass.

We'd love to have more employees.

Um the tax levy has not been raised, your tax rate has not been raised in a generation.

It's 30 and one-tenth mils.

Okay.

I want you want you to think about just for a moment, inflation.

How much things have gone up in the last four years, the last six years, the last eight years.

Also, uh, we learned uh in discussing this bond issue at a previous meeting that I think it's 85 percent of the uh of the bond has to pretty much be spent.

The project's not completed, but the money committed, there's another fancier term for that, but that's basically it.

So if this issue is passed, 85 percent of 13 million, I don't know, 15 percent of 13 million is let's just call it a million.

We have to spend 12 million in three years, have it committed in three years.

So there are a number of factors here at work.

Having said that, uh, and I I expect some amendments, and we'll we'll see how it goes.

Uh but in in looking at this figure of 13 million, it can be amended tonight if the votes are there.

If the votes are there.

I would like to I would like all of you to think what you think the biggest obstacle is to a grocery store.

Some of you might say, well, it's a council.

Some of you might say, I don't have a problem with it.

I I live west of White Avenue in War II.

I just go down to Walmart, the local grocer there by Fatima Church on Pass Road.

Um might say, you know, the biggest obstacle is how many people are living in East Biloxi.

I can't I can't tell you compared to pre-Catrina, but my father grew up on the point, my grandmother lived on the point on Fowler Street, so I'm familiar with the area there by Coon Street.

My grandmother lived on the point on Fowler Street, so I'm familiar with the area there by Coon Street.

And what I would tell you is there you could graze cattle in East Biloxi today if you drove down there.

And probably 150 years ago, they used to graze cattle.

They had a dairy farm on the point.

But the point I'm making is if you were Mr.

Walmart or Mr.

Rouse, and you were looking to construct a grocery store somewhere.

What would what would you see as the biggest obstacle to be overcome in East Biloxi?

So one of these big factors is just population.

That's it.

Population.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

We you had an opportunity to comment, and I'm just, you know, don't mean to be rude.

But the but the other thing is the city can offer incentives to encourage grocers to build come and build a grocery store in Biloxi.

Now, when we offer incentives, there's a cost to the city in that, not just a present cost, but a future cost.

To help with infrastructure, we could do a tax increment financing, a tip bond.

We could use to some extent, not much, I don't think, and Mr.

Marshall and I have talked about this.

I don't think MIMA would help much other than maybe widening a road, as Mr.

Marshall pointed out.

So there are a lot of challenges if you were a grocer or over a grocery chain coming to Biloxi, what would it take to get you to build a grocery store here in Biloxi?

Just think about that for a moment.

What would it take for you to invest your company dollars in Biloxi?

Now, and I appreciate the comments that I heard tonight.

And I know some of I know some of you who were in my school as students at one time.

I didn't have much more hair than I have now.

So I'm familiar, I'm familiar with East Biloxi.

I'm familiar with not all the challenges, but some of the challenges.

So I'm I'm A, I'm encouraged to see all of you here to be heard, and that had an opportunity to speak.

But the other thing also is that the list we started with, with everything we were looking to try and get done, not just what the mayor wanted done, but things that we've been trying to get done in our wards, Mr.

Glavin and I, for years.

So that's where we started.

We've narrowed it, we narrowed it down to 18 million and said not to exceed 18 million.

We ended up at 16.5.

I thought we had ended up at 16.5.

Turns out we weren't there.

And now I put this on the agenda.

I fully expect it uh to be amended in some manner.

It may not be.

I'd be surprised if it's not amended.

But whether that amount is going to increase or decrease depends on everybody sitting on this side of the table tonight.

So having said that, those are my comments for the Oh, I do want how many of you remember Pigley Wiggly grocery store?

And Castleman's Big Star.

I think I think it operated for seven or eight years.

And my my guess is folks were glad it was there.

But I also know that the Castlemans, I think they ran it for seven or eight years.

I may be off by a year or two.

They couldn't make a go of it.

And that was before Katrina.

So there are a lot of challenges here to work through, and it's going to take a little bit of time if something like this is going to get off the ground.

I know Councilman Marshall has worked night and day.

I know that because he sends me text at 4 o'clock in the morning, 1 30 a.m.

in the morning.

I don't know when he sleeps.

Okay.

I'm sure he must sleep, because he's not angry.

But I know that he has worked on hard on this.

And he and I see eye to eye on some things, and some things we don't see eye to eye, but I I respect him in what he's trying to accomplish in his ward, which is what every man, every councilman up here is trying to accomplish in their ward.

We have needs just as well.

So having said that, Mr.

Craig, and after you, we'll open it up to comments.

On the last bond, we we discussed.

I seen all the needs that need to be done throughout the city in every ward.

So I fought, trying to get everything as much money as we could get to take the needs of everybody.

But after that failed, I want to, and and this is just discussion.

Like Mr.

Tisdale said, you can graze cattle down there.

But right now we have 200 and something apartments that should be coming down there.

We have over 32 houses being built down there right now.

Excuse me, we have about 36 houses being built down there and more empty lots that are for sale, and people are talking about wanting to buy.

So we're throwing money away when we should be spending it, keeping it right here in our own ward.

You know, we we have so much people that that come here.

We have what's 6,000, 7,000 hotel rooms.

So those people is gonna come down here and buy stuff.

They're gonna forget something at home and want to come down here and buy stuff for their trip back.

You know, we all like to eat fresh vegetables.

I mean, yeah, yeah, we have Lee's grocery, but Lee's grocery is a Vietnamese grocery store.

You know, we know that.

I go in there and look around too.

We have to look at the future.

If we put a grocery store where we're talking about doing all the updoor empty lots on Kyvet Street, could feed off of it and start growing.

We have to look at the future and invest in Bluxy.

Not just keep shuffling everybody across the bridge to buy stuff.

We have to start looking at us.

The bond that I was I was looking at since the first one didn't pass, I was somewhere around three and a half million.

But listen to it, a grocery store, we probably gonna need uh probably three to four million to be at land acquisition to buy the property and and get it ready.

Everybody wants a shovel ready piece of property.

They don't want to have to buy something, clear the property off.

They want to come in and start building.

So we have to look at that point.

Right now, with the flooding going on, we need we need money for to pay the for the ditches to get cleaned out and drainages to get clean.

So I mean, I would be willing to look around nine million.

But it's gonna it's gonna go for getting the roofs on the public safety fix, all of our all of our buildings that need to be fixed, generators, things that has to be done.

And yes, the police department is in ward one, but that is a city of Biloxi police department.

We don't have one in no other ward, but that is where everybody goes first things.

Fire department.

You know, we have multiple fire departments with the same problem, gutters falling off of them.

They need maintenance.

It's the same song and dance, no matter who you talk to.

So I'll be open to listen to other amounts, but at the end of the day, if we can't come up with an amount, I encourage my councilman to look at doing what needs to be done in the city, not not projects in your ward, the roofs, the generators, things, air conditioners, things that need to be done.

And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Gray.

We'll open up the discussion.

Mr.

Creel.

So the original if we go back to our original budget that was passed by this body, the bond that was included in the original budget was up to 10 million.

If you take Councilman Tisdale's project list and you look at this, he's got it at 12.8 million, right?

So that's why he's up to 13 and 13 million.

However, if you subtract the MIMA funds, the the projects that are eligible with MIMA funds, if you subtract those out, that takes 5.5 million out.

So now you're back down to the up to 10 million.

Um the MIMA money we know we're getting.

So I'm still with the up to 10 million that this body passed in the in the in the uh budget when we did it back in in October.

First of all, second of all, I grew up on Back Bay, right?

So and the the street that you're talking about vacating was my address in Glad Alley.

So I I know exactly where.

Uh when I was fortunate enough to be represent you guys in Jackson uh in the House representative, I I represented East Biloxi.

District 115 was the peninsula.

We didn't go across the bridge back then.

So I I know the need and feel your pain that what you need in your area, no doubt about it.

My my opposition with the bond is and or let me rephrase that.

My opposition with borrowing money that you guys will have to pay back is not project based.

My opposition on borrowing money that these citizens of Biloxi are gonna have to pay back is based on an amount.

We passed an amount that was up to 10 million dollars in the original budget.

You our grocery store, it's not your grocery store.

This will be our grocery store.

Our grocery store, as Councilman Tisdale uh mentioned, could be done with a TIFF bond.

It doesn't have to be done with the general obligation bond.

One question I have with uh with the administration is have we in in in the history or previously, have we used GO money to buy property previously?

Maiden, I don't I don't think so for project of this nature.

I'm I'm not sure.

Okay.

So so but but there are other financial means that we can use that we can to to pursue the grocery store that is needed in this area of Biloxi.

No doubt about it.

It not necessarily with this with this bond money.

There's so much more to do with land acquisition, imminent domain appraisals, land uh uh buying the property from the homeowners, vacating the street.

Whatever by whatever amount we pass with this body, we have three years to allocate.

So with land acquisition, uh I mean I I don't know that GO money is the right tool to build what is needed here in Biloxi on this end of town.

I know you need a grocery store.

There's there's no doubt about it.

No doubt about it.

You had um Lee's grocery wasn't always Lee's grocery.

It was it was food center when I was a kid, and then it went to Jitney Jungle.

So it I I know the history of of this area, so I I know we need another grocery store.

There's no doubt about it.

I just don't know that this GO money is is the right tool to to get where we need to be.

There's other ways to get where we need to be, and I support that 1,000 percent to get what you need in this area, because as you said, this is the city of Biloxi, it's not just Ward II.

We we we are team Biloxi as as Rick uh goes to say.

So with that being said, please keep in mind up to 13 is what's on the table here.

My fellow councilman, if you do subtract the MIMA eligible funds, we're back down below 10 million.

Now, another thing on this thing, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, even if it is up to 13 that passes this body, please understand some of this bond money is match money.

So this match money will yield us in excess of 20 million based on the money we're gonna borrow with with grants that we're gonna use.

So it it is an investment.

Some of this bond money is an investment to obtain more money to do a larger scale project.

That's that's what bond money is for.

Bond money is to get out there and and use your money to get the federal government's money to help us get a larger scale project done rather than using all of our money.

Old adage is you use the bank's money and not yours, right?

So I'm open to discussion.

However, I am still uh with uh the the thought of what we originally passed of the up to 10 million, and as I said, I'll say it again.

My opposition is to an amount, not to a project.

Thank you.

Any other discussion?

Ms.

Mr.

Glavin, Mr.

Shoemaker, you're next.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um I want to talk a little bit about Jamie and his theme about we are Biloxi.

I grew up on Oak Street and Crawford Street, born and raised on Oak Street.

My mother was born and raised on Crawford.

That's where I grew up with my grandparents when they watched me.

And it was a thriving community, all the way in as East Biloxi as you can get, you know, all the way into uh, you know, downtown Biloxi uh was thriving.

Uh you know, we got uh several ways we can uh kind of meet our goals, and we certainly hear you.

The grocery store is certainly a major, major need.

And I don't know if anyone up here would not support the demand for a grocery store.

If we rule a grocery store here and they're serious about relocating here, we're gonna find a way to make a grocery store happen with or without bond money or whatever other resources or whatever we need to do, we will make a grocery store happen.

Um just as we have with RAS's, just as we have with neighborhood Walmart uh uh in my ward, which we use some TIF TIF phones associated with the sales of that uh to make other improvements to infrastructure.

It takes time, it takes leadership, it takes that vision uh to make those things happen.

We can't divide ourselves here and say it's us versus them or this ward against that ward.

We should take best practices and apply it.

We should be marketing uh to whoever uh is out there, a grocery store that a name grocery store that's gonna benefit our community.

We should be marketing ourselves to them, and if they won't come see us, we need to go go see them, and that's for sure.

So I want to be clear.

I I'd be remiss if anyone on this council would uh be against a grocery store, but saying you're gonna solve it by allocating a bond or a portion of a bond, and that solves it, we we're gonna automatically get a grocery store that may not happen.

It it takes time for these things uh to develop.

Um getting to the bond.

Here's the fundamental problem because we debated this last time it it was presented uh to this council, and there was 18 million, people were talking about 20 million.

Uh we said 10 million.

That's the number we said when we were we were here a year ago, and we were putting our uh budget together.

We talked about the bond.

We said 10 million, we didn't say 10 million, we didn't say 18 million, we didn't say six million.

We said it's gonna be necessary probably to pass a bond measure of ten million dollars.

And so I'm sticking to that.

How do we fit the round peg in the uh square hole?

I think we have worthy projects uh that are of needs in each of our wards.

I think we've put that priority list together, but I can't be guaranteed that the priority items I got Belmont Gardens on here and I got uh fixing some of the uh uh uh police and and uh uh offices, the the roofs and and generators, that's certainly a necessary item, but it's not guaranteed.

These are priority items and things could change.

You saw the flood and you heard the emotional pleas of some people uh up here during uh public comments, that could change priorities.

We're right in the middle of hurricane season.

Doesn't mean we'll have a Katrina, but we could have a storm that could change priorities on what we need to use bond money for, and that's why we don't guarantee any of these council members any projects.

We say they're a priority, the mayor.

If we pass the bond uh proceeds and it goes forward, the mayor will pass a resolution on to this council, and if it's not on that list, this council needs to decide to reject it or approve it.

Is that a higher priority than what we originally commuted our needs uh to be?

So um I'm sure the leadership uh with this council will work hard to solve this issue, hopefully tonight, and we can't don't delay the progress of Biloxi and we can get started.

We can roll up our arms.

It wasn't that long ago, six months ago.

I was pleading with this council, let's go ahead and get this mama money spent.

Let's not uh debate seven different pockets of money.

Let's roll up our sleeves, let's let the administration put forward these resolutions, and let's let's go.

Let's get started.

And I hope that's the uh vision we have going forward.

We we're just concluding this first year this new term.

What have we accomplished?

What have we learned?

And if we learn to be better leaders based on our first term, I think there's a lot we can accomplish and we can meet the needs of our constituent uh constituency and you that have taken the time to come attend this meeting tonight.

Those are my comments for now.

Thank you, Mr.

Glav and Mr.

Schumacher.

I uh I had decided I wasn't gonna speak on the bond tonight.

We've beat this bond horse to death, and I've spoken the last few times.

I've had a lot to say about it.

I've had a lot to say about it.

But listening and listening to everybody and all the comments tonight, I felt that that maybe I will say something.

I was elected by Ward 7, the residents of Ward 7.

However, I do represent the entire city as well.

We originally started out with 10 million dollars, and that's for the entire city.

That's buildings that need roofs, that's generators, that's air conditions for the entire city.

I don't care what ward you're in, at the end of the day, we all represent the city of Biloxi.

I'm in Woolmarket.

We have a lot of I could spend the next hour with the issues we have since we've been annexed.

However, I understand that the city of Biloxi as a whole has issues that we need to address.

I would be remiss if I didn't say a few things, and I what I'm gonna say is absolutely not gonna be um positive in this room tonight.

However, like I said, we are the city of Biloxi, and there are things that need to be accomplished and repaired and done, and I I'll support 10 million all day long, up to 10 million like we originally started.

However, we have needs in the city, needs.

I understand, and I support a grocery store any way we can or any way I can, and I agree, East Biloxi needs a grocery store.

However, the city's not in the business of buying, developing or building grocery stores.

We don't have any idea what it's gonna cost to acquire the property needed to make land shovel ready, even if we acquire that, which we have no idea today, as far as I know because nobody's told me a price, so it could be a million, it could be 15 million to acquire the property.

We have no idea, at least I haven't been told.

But even if we acquire that property, that doesn't mean a grocery store is coming to East Biloxi, unfortunately.

We need rooftops, and I think the 36 houses that Councilman Gray mentioned and the 200 and some odd apartments that are coming are fantastic, and that is a great start.

However, I'm a realist, it's hurricane season.

What if?

I hope it doesn't, but what if a hurricane strikes the coast and then all that is pushed to the side and we don't have a apart complex, or maybe it's postponed for two years because of the damage.

Who knows what happens.

I just think that trying to put money towards a grocery store now, and I understand that y'all want a grocery store, and I understand that.

However, there are two grocery stores in East Biloxi that I understand y'all don't want to shop in, and I'm okay with that.

And here's where I'm gonna be remiss when I say this if I didn't say this.

Ward 7.

I don't have a grocery store in Ward 7.

And I don't have one anywhere close.

So all of my residents in Ward 7 aren't anywhere within miles of a grocery store.

I don't have a recreation center, and there's not one anywhere within miles.

I also don't have public transportation.

So my people that don't have cars can't take public transportation miles away to go to a grocery store or a rec center that we don't have.

We don't also don't have paved streets, curbs, sidewalks, and new drainage.

Again, I could beat that to death, but my point is originally we started at 10 million dollars for a bond to fix and repair roofs, air conditions, and generators.

If a hurricane hits tomorrow, we're gonna have to take some of that money, I would assume, and do other things with it.

So as of now, I can support the 10 million, and that's all I have for now.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Schumacher.

Any discussion?

Mr.

Nail.

I'll support a grocery store, but I just don't think 10,000 uh 10 million dollars is gonna work for what we need.

Uh I need things in Ward 3, nothing's on here on Ward 3.

We need to get ditches cleaned out.

We need to, you know, do things all over Biloxi, and I just don't think I think we're gonna pay 18 million.

That's what I'm gonna support.

That's all.

Thank you.

Mr.

Marshall, you ready?

Any go ahead.

All right.

First of all, let me just say talk is cheap.

Twenty years of talking is all we've ever gotten.

Twenty years of promises.

Twenty years of saying we know you need, but we can't continue to sit back as citizens of East Belux and get jerked around, pushed around, ran asunder, and then expect you to put your money in on your taxes, and give you and support everything in this city.

As far as World 7, I hear what you're saying.

And I don't think you can tell me one meeting that we've had that I have you felt like I'd be picking on you.

But I always talk about what you need in Ward 7.

No matter what it is.

We support it 100%.

You've never had any of these three of these, these three say no.

When it says that the money is tight, we don't.

You tell us we need it, you need it.

I don't care.

We're gonna get it.

Every ward here that's asked for anything, as a representative of East Biloxi, these three right here, have said yes.

We know you're not gonna come to us and lie and say you need something and you don't need it.

You say you need it to free your citizens, or I put my hand in that Bible just like all of you did.

It was to help the citizens of East Biloxi.

That was our oath.

If you've been in this council for 14 years, 15 years, that means that the day the first time you put your hand on that Bible, you didn't keep your promise to East Belux because East Biloxi was a food desert then.

The United States government been telling you that for over 20 years.

20 percent of your city don't have a place to go and get fresh food.

20 percent of your city don't have the possibility and the luxury of going to get a place within walking distance, driving distance that's reasonable.

But yet you want to sit around and you say, I feel for you.

My father was a pastor, and he used to say the worst thing a minister could ever say was at two o'clock in the morning, he get that phone call, and they say, Mama's having a heart attack, we can rush into the hospital.

That's an emergency.

My father was the worst thing man could say as a minister and say, I keep you in my prayers.

They call you because you're the leader.

Get up, come to that hospital.

Many times my father walked to that hospital house shoe zone.

Bare the head time put on the shirt, beat the ambulance there, because that is what leadership was about.

Now look at these ministers right here.

You know who I who I am, what I really do for a living.

I've been to a many houses at two o'clock in the morning, and each one of these ministers has been sitting there with their family because that's when the need was.

Right now there is a need.

We're not asking you for this because we want something.

We're asking you this because it was a need.

But I'm gonna address all your concerns.

You're telling me that we don't get a grocery store because the city can't afford it because of the bond mail.

Mr.

Jason, are you here?

Can you step forward?

Well, he's coming forward.

Let me explain to you.

We've already voted prior to this to borrow, and we've been approved, I believe, for up to 18 million.

That's correct.

Up to 18 million.

We've been approved for this already.

Yes, you still have to go through credit approval at the development bank uh tomorrow if we proceed.

Uh, but it'll be approved for that for 18 million or lesser amount.

18 million by borrowing 18 million.

What is our capacity to borrow?

Well, your legal debt capacity is is much much greater than that.

Uh, but that would definitely cause an increase in taxes if you you know took it to the extreme.

The uh the max is 15 percent of your assessed valuation, and which is about 118 million based on the current value uh assessed valuation of the city of Biloxi.

So we can technically we can borrow up to 118.

It would not be a good idea financially.

Okay.

So we got we're going from 118.

We could probably borrow 60,000 without hurting the city very much.

Well, I've modeled up to 18 million.

Uh yeah, she could do more, uh, much more than 18 million.

Uh, and that by the way, would include using MIMA money uh for some of the projects up to about six million.

If you go much more than that, you'd be looking at most likely having to do an advalorm increase for debt service.

Okay.

So we're in the safe zone.

You're in a good place.

So we're really not stretching this.

We're not putting stress on the system on our county.

We're at that stress.

We're at the 18 million, we're good.

18 million using uh six million of that, up to eight million actually for MIMA projects.

We could probably squeeze more in for non-MIMA projects, but so far I've modeled up to 10 million in non-MIMA projects without raising debt service knowledge.

But we're still talking 10 million.

So we're leaving 8 million on the table because you usually mama money would be the best way to do that.

I think we estimated the debt service on 18 million to be 1.4 million annually.

Yeah, so that's right.

Uh right now for 10 million, based on you know the current market conditions.

Uh I estimate starting off, uh, your combined debt service would be about 6.6 million.

You do six million in minor projects, I would boost it to about 7.2 million overall.

But yeah, we modeled up to 18 million without raising debt service.

That was using the minor monies to supplement the debt service millage.

Okay.

So basically, the point is if we go to 18 million, we're not buying, we're not hurting the credit of the other of the city.

If we had a storm, uh hurricane come again, we can still go back and get more money and fix that.

We can address that issue.

There are other mechanisms to uh for emergency borrowing that don't involve geo bonds.

Okay.

So these nice of that, so the reasoning of uh saying that we can't do it because what if we get a hurricane?

That really doesn't apply as as much as we're making out.

Well, you know, like I'm saying, there's other mechanisms for that.

Uh ultimately you hope you get get grants for hurricane recovery, but to handle short-term cash shortfalls caused by natural disasters.

Uh you can do there's two other mechanisms you can borrow for that aren't geo bonds.

Okay, so we can scratch that off the list.

We're not gonna have all these excuses that they're giving you, the citizens.

We're scratching them off one at a time.

So our capacity, borrowing it the way we're borrowing it, we're below that.

We're not going to help to hurt the city.

We just automatically just go on just lowering it.

Thank you, sir.

Next thing is someone mentioned households.

We don't have enough people.

I'm taking one one at a time.

So this is these are the excuses that we we're having to deal with whenever we come to what we need.

Before I go there, uh, how much you say eight million of this is their projects?

Nine million of this.

Is just is their projects.

Not us, they don't they left us out.

So yeah, they're comfortable with that.

Households.

The city of Wiggins has two grocery stores.

The city of Wiggins only has a population of 4,328 people.

Walmart sitting there.

We could right around right around from there.

Two grocery stores.

Now we won't come on down to the coast.

Bay St.

Louis only has 10,900 people in it.

Well, over there, you see the Walmart sitting there.

You're gonna see uh as uh I can't think of the name of the grocery store.

I can see it now.

There's it's it's it's three grocery stores sitting over there.

Waveland, seven thousand people, and you can see the grocery stores sitting over there.

Then Cleveland got five thousand people, they got a grocery store, grilled grocery store sitting there.

So let's talk about what Biloxi got, East Biloxi.

This barren land is a bunch of crap.

Each of our wards are equal in population.

You don't have any more people in your ward than I got in my ward.

You, Mr.

Glad just as many people in your ward as he got in his ward.

It's 7,000 people each of our wards.

Divide up the way the federal government said to do it, equally.

So to say that I got less or he got less or he got less.

We are by law equal in the amount of citizens in each ward.

Mr.

Mayor, am I lying?

Seven times seven and 49,000 people.

There's us.

7,000, 7,000, 7,000.

That's 21,000 people.

I think that's all these people right there equal together.

Now let's talk about.

Y'all got excuses because I'm full.

Diaborilla takes all our money.

Go to your house right now.

Each of you.

In your closets.

Everything in there just about came from Diaborville.

Go to your groceries.

Go look in your in your cabinets in your groceries.

The Ivorville.

Open your refrigerators.

The Iberville.

That's wrong.

There's no right in that.

There's no way you can put your hand on the Bible and say, I'm from all of Biloxi.

And the federal government is telling you.

These people are not being serviced properly.

You have the power to fix it.

The man we pay our financial advisor, you got the money to fix it.

You got the money to fix it.

The Ivorville only has 13,000 people in it.

That's it.

Seven, seven, seven.

That's 21 all day.

Black J.

We are sitting here looking at the people who can make a decision today to fix your problem without causing any financial harm to this city.

And I'm understanding there's a couple of them plan to be the mayor of the whole city.

But remember them.

Remember them today.

When you came to them in need, they knew you not.

When they came, when you came to them, they said, please.

They gave you excuses.

Excuses that you now find out are not truthful.

East Biloxi.

Mr.

Mayor, how many people fill the East Bilexi up on the weekend?

Well, we have 7,000 hotel rooms, and based on place of AI, which is a sort of a market counting.

We've had as many as an additional 50 to 75,000 on top of the 50,000 population.

When they come to town, they need a place to go.

Business got so good, they filled the whole lake up.

You got an academy sitting there, you got a loans sitting there.

It started off with none of that.

None of that.

Build the anchor, and they'll come.

13,000 people didn't stop target at all.

They came right on the way to their grocery store, and they're doing good.

That's okay.

Walmart got so good in Overville, they built another one right up the street.

They still have a 13,000 people.

We're being lied to.

We've been given excuses.

I remember seeing the wildmark going up in Mr.

Glavin's area over there on that pad on Paz on Post Ferry Road.

Go over there now, look.

All types of business.

They took they tearing down businesses and building up better business on the same lot.

Matter of fact, Mr.

Glad, I believe your company is expanding over there by their Walmart too, right?

Yes.

Thank you.

You don't have to say nothing.

They know who you are.

They know about your company already.

I love to talk about rouses.

We put rouses.

Of your money.

Your sales tax money.

They could be going to cutting our grasses that's not getting cut.

Fixing our drainage that y'all know we flooding houses because it's because of the rain.

None of that dollars goes to us until rouse is get five million dollars off the top.

We send the money to another organization.

That organization cuts that money, that sales tax money back to Rouse's developer.

Your money don't come to you.

It goes away from you.

$15,000 a week every week.

For a rouse is right up the street from Walmart.

You can walk, a 90-year-old mother can walk up there.

That's how close they are.

But look at our look at their rouses.

Yeah, a Chick-fil-A coming around it, build it, they would come.

Some way to remodel their store.

New coffee shops.

Businesses are coming around that grocery store.

I see housing coming through here.

We are approving around that grocery store.

That we're paying $15,000 a week to be sitting there.

But we asked for something.

20 years asking.

No.

I was putting up only uh W L O X.

They even went out there and did a video of uh uh uh Mr.

Uh Mayor, am I you remember?

They went out there and didn't think about that grocery store coming on that corner.

That was about nine years ago, and then we just cutting grass, we just cutting grass.

So the financial part.

What the kids say now?

Cap.

I call that cap.

Old folks say they're just a lie.

Next thing I'm gonna talk about is I think somebody else was saying that uh we ought to find a developer to go there.

Oh, what the heck y'all think I've been doing for the last year?

I don't know, Louisiana, Alabama, I'll be down in Florida talking to developers, talking to grocery store owners.

I've met them here, Mr.

Mayor.

Have we not met them here?

Anybody can sit and Google.

What's the average size lot you need for a small to medium-sized grocery store?

Three and a half acres.

We have 1.3 acres.

In order for us to get the grocery store, we gotta acquire the rest of the land.

No developer is gonna come in to this area without incentive.

Our incentive, in case you guys didn't realize, is the land that they can build it on.

That is the incentive that we're building.

That is why we need the money to accumulate the lots to offer them our land base to build the store.

They don't mind building the store, but they're not gonna go knocking on people's doors.

The rouse is built there because the building was already there.

It was ready to go almost.

The investment they put in there was worth it because they didn't have to go out and cut down trees and find the property and work.

It was there.

That was a part of the incentive.

As I meet with the different grocery stores, I asked them what do I need to do to make you come to get you here.

Everyone has told me the same thing.

They gotta have a place.

That's what they do.

If you go on to Williams and shut those stores down, we just would be a food desert.

If you go to Van Cleave and shut their grocery store down, it would then be a food desert.

What is it that they can do to get them to come to our food desert?

This thing.

If they can go to Van Cleave and make money, and we got eight of the most beautiful casinos full of people.

And we got 7,000, 7,000, 7,000.

We got everything.

It's a lie.

I don't want you to sit here and keep getting lied to.

They're gonna do something, they would have done it already.

Just remember who's telling you no.

Remember the excuses.

We asked them for a chance.

Will the developer come?

If we got the location, Mr.

Mayor, am I lying?

We've been doing work.

We've been working on this.

We're at the point now where we gotta have some money.

The money's on the table, the money's been approved.

We're just asking you to give it, put it to where it needs to be.

If you look at where Ross is sitting, there's a on Pashro, there's a Walmart, go across the bridge, and you're there's another Walmart.

Go past the mall, there's a super Walmart.

If they can make it, we can go on down, huh?

There you go.

If they can make of all their own competition and competing against themselves.

Are you just saying out the back?

You're not a developer.

We don't, you don't give a chance.

These people ask you, give them a chance.

Don't say you can't afford it.

You're all man that we pay, Mr.

Jason.

Are you qualified to give us Mr.

Jason?

Are you qualified to give us financial advice?

Do we pay you to give it to us?

Yes, you do.

I think we're getting our money's worth.

So why are we looking for these excuses?

Why are we listening to these excuses?

Finding a way to tell you no.

If you subtract out the projects for the awards, I think you had the number you were talking about, three million, right?

3.4.

The problem with the list is one, two, and three are not in it.

So somebody got together, picked out a beautiful list, serving only one part of the luxury, and they're gonna take your tax dollars, your tax dollars, your tax dollars, and take it over there.

Why are we letting ourselves be bamboozled?

BS is just BS, I don't care how you look at it.

Those are the facts.

Yes, this list only serves that group.

That group can say yes, and you can be served too and not hurt the financial situation of the city.

So it's not that it can't be done.

Simply put, they don't expect you to retaliate, they don't expect you to remember that they did this to you, not just today.

But they've been doing it to you for the last 20 years, 14 years.

Someone's been sitting here for 14 years, knowing you would have a food desert.

When my mother was a my mother, I called my mother, my mother-in-law was alive, Myrtle Davis.

She was my heart.

We would go over to the Walmart, but at nighttime, mama wouldn't go across that bridge.

No matter what she needed, what medicine she needed, the authorized was hurting, mama don't go across no bridge.

She had to sit there and suffer and wait till daylight to come.

I'm looking in this room now, and I see some senior citizens at nighttime, they don't drive across that bridge.

When they need something, they have to sit there and suffer.

Wait till daylight comes.

Many of them who do drive don't drive across the bridge in the daylight, they have to call somebody to help them get across the bridge.

I'm asking you, each of you, knowing that it doesn't cost the city anything, knowing that it's not gonna hurt the city's credit, knowing that the capacity if a hurricane hit tomorrow, we're gonna still be able to handle that.

The man that works for you, you pay him your financial advisor.

Oh yeah.

We good.

There's no excuse to keep hurting the people that you swore on that Bible to protect in him.

There's no excuse for that.

The mayor has told you we need to get the other lights together to develop their life so that we can offer it to someone to come and build the store.

We're not building the store for them.

Whoever came up there and told that lie, just to we're not building the store.

We're accumulating and making the lights available so that they have a place to put it.

That's all we're doing.

So that the people that's sitting here asking you for help can get the help that they need.

And they shouldn't have to beg you.

And this stuff about I remember I grew up.

We can't I bet you right now, we couldn't pay you to come back.

Because you don't want you well, I know there's no grocery store.

The thing that you're in charge of putting there.

The thing that you're in charge of making right.

You don't want you don't want to be over there.

But you look at them, and you don't understand that they're asking you, they're begging you.

I need to know one thing.

What do I need to do to make the to ask to amend it for 18 minutes?

The reason why I say that, people is this.

You want him to have it too.

You don't want to sit there and say, just give it to us, give us our grocery store.

You want him to have his roles paid, you want him everything that he needs.

The list includes if we go to 18 million, everybody gets what they want.

No one walks away empty-handed.

All seven, not four, all seven get what they want.

That's fair.

And we're not hurting the city's finances to do it.

So I want to make a motion, amend the motion for 18 million.

And I also said we'd like to have a voice vote so we'll know who's who.

Sure.

Let us, as a matter of procedure, let us finish discussion, Mr.

Marshall, and we'll come back to your motion.

Thank you.

Mr.

Creel.

All right.

So a few things here.

Yeah.

Right.

There's a little speech.

It's on.

All right.

There you go.

First of all, back to my original comment.

First of all, I haven't lied to anybody.

I've been here just as long as you have.

So for you to put that on me, shame on you.

All right.

So yeah, but gentlemen, let's keep it respectful.

So here's what I'll tell you is you brought up the city of D'Aberville and how they're flourishing and how they're doing with retail and all the things, right?

That's perfect.

Absolutely there are.

You know how they did it?

They did it with TIFF bonds.

The Alvareville was built on TIFF bonds.

That's what I mentioned to you earlier.

You could do your grocery store with a TIFF bond.

You don't have to use general obligation money to do a TIFF bond.

I mean, to build your grocery store.

There are other financial avenues that you can use in the TIFF bond being one of them.

The Iberville is a prime example of TIFF bonds and what they can do.

So I'm charging you to research the TIFF bond revit and revenue and the avenue to proceed and see if that's not a better venture for the grocery store that is needed in East Biloxi.

Number two, as far as me being against the grocery store, that you alluded to several times that this body was against the grocery store for 20 years and all the things.

Here's what I'll tell you.

There is no resolution that has been put before me for a grocery store in East Biloxi for me to vote on.

So for you to tell me that I I'm lying and that I'm not for a grocery store in East Biloxi is simply unfair.

If there's a resolution that's put before me for a grocery store, then file the resolution.

You have that option.

You have that.

You can go downstairs, get with the council clerks, come up with the resolution, draft it for a grocery store to be put in East Biloxi, and then it's put it signed off and it's put on this agenda.

As you can see, this doesn't say the mayor's agenda.

This says city council agenda.

We determine what's on this.

So all you have to do is file the resolution, put it on the agenda, and then we got to vote for it.

Then it's up to them.

Then you charge them with the task of finding the money, acquiring the land, and building it and finding the grocer.

It's for you for you to say that this council has let these people down.

It doesn't rest easy with me because I assure you I have not voted against a grocery store since I've been sitting here.

No one has put it before us, including your councilman.

He can file the resolution, he can draft it with the council clerks, put it on our agenda, and we can vote for it.

Once we vote for it, that resolution, and it passes, which as you can see by the comments, it will pass.

Then it's charge on this administration for them to find the money, for them to acquire the land, and for them to build the grocery store.

Number two, mayor, whatever amount of money that this body passes, whatever amount of money will you be in favor of taking some of it to acquire this.

It doesn't have to be on this list.

This list is not attached to the resolution.

This list doesn't mean it's not worth the papers written on when it comes to this resolution, because it's not an exhibit.

If it was attached to this resolution, then this list would would actually carry weight.

But these projects are proposed by a council member that we all we all put lists on there.

I this is the first time I've seen this list since when I got here today.

So here's what I'll tell you.

Mayor, whatever amount passes, would you be or would you commit any amount of money for the acquisition of land?

Well, the whole exercise is to figure out and when Jane and I go to the uh land bank tomorrow.

What is the number?

Each and every project that is proposed and brought will be passed by you.

So on this list or not.

So that that's a yes then.

Every project is approved by the council, every contract is approved by the council.

This is just a number that is a reservoir we can actually use to fund these things.

So okay, so so basically what you said is this is not a project-based resolution.

This is just amount resolution.

I'm looking at we're looking at this.

We already thrown out a number.

We're looking for the details when we sit down in front of the land bank and that board to say this is what we want to borrow.

We'll have an idea when the money actually uh will be uh the bonds will be sold and we will have receipts of that.

And you and you'd be prepared to use that money if needed to acquire property for a grocery store.

Uh again, I don't have a award.

This is the awards collectively that you'll approve each and every dollar when it comes to contracting uh these items.

Okay, and so so again, so this isn't a project-based resolution.

What you're looking for is an amount.

No.

So a vote up or down is a vote on an amount, not on a project.

That's right.

Okay.

And that's why I mentioned to Jason, and he kind of confirmed that the debt services there would not impact to uh uh uh you know uh uh millage as well as is some of the minor funds.

True.

Now, based on what Mr.

Jason said, you know the idea is these projects are longer than a fiscal year.

There this is a 20-year kind of deal.

Payback on all these items do not need to be uh saved up and spent in one year.

It needs to be spread over the life cycle of the project.

So these are 20-year projects, maybe even 30-year projects.

Is that not right?

And we actually in the wish list that total about 40 million dollars in construction and about 20 million dollars in money, uh, it showed how many days to design, how many days to construct, estimated by my engineering and some of the consultants.

So that's the next step is to you know find out exactly.

We will have the funds and we'll be on the on the mission to bring these things to the council in order to approve when the money's hit, we'll go to town there.

Okay, so so basically, in a nutshell, what you said is general obligation bonds are used for long-term projects, 20 to 30 year amortized projects.

These were, I mean, literally, it it's these projects are not one, you know, the life cycle is not like a car.

Okay, so in your in your uh uh experience, a TIFF bond would be more beneficial for growing this grocery store than a GO.

I didn't say that.

Basically, uh TIFF, you when you look at things like infrastructure that we did on the the uh Pops Ferry, you know, we built the infrastructure using a TIFF bond, they built the building, but you know, with the anticipation of the the growth, the increase in the base value retires in the debt service after the thing is built.

But I think we were successful there.

We had uh an issue with uh a five million dollar Margaretaville TIFF bond, wasn't it?

That's right.

So there, you know, pluses and minuses, you know.

Uh it's unfortunate that it closed.

But however, when that opens back up in October, then that TIFF bond is back on track and is paid for.

It's or it's being paid back by the by the uh the entity.

Yeah, if it if it in fact lifts, you know, the the the base value.

But I mean uh basically the first question uh answer positively, yeah.

We're looking for a number.

So we can drive up and then the projects will be determined.

So whatever number passes, all councilman Marshall would have to do is file the resolution with the council clerks to put it on our agenda for a grocery store, and then it's up to us to pass it.

As far as whether whether GO money, this bond money can be used to go out and buy property for a future project, that is really more of a that's that maybe is a gray area.

There, but there are other ways to do that.

If if the mayor is charged with figuring out and presenting every possible option, that's something that could be done.

For example, we have an existing piece of property at uh division and cavet.

I think the indication is a developer may want a little extra property.

So how do we acquire that extra property?

Uh using pure GO money for that may not be within the requirements.

It's it it may not be something under those covenants, but there are other ways to do it.

We're looking at a different development authority.

We're looking at the existing land we do have.

Uh incentivizing that.

That land could be given without cost.

They could get a similar package to Rouse's.

But there are a number of incentives that we've been exploring we've been working on this for six years.

Six years.

And we keep thinking of different ways to do it.

We keep twisting it around.

What if we did this?

You know, the development authority has a new sort of tool in in the to the belt, using that to acquire some property.

So I just didn't want the mayor to be cross-examined into saying, yes, I'm gonna go take this geo money and go buy a grocery store.

Well, so so we well, and then you even went further to say that this geo money you're not sure it could it can be used for that.

So but there are other financial avenues that we can use for the grocery store.

And that was the the main point I wanted to make.

And and when you brought up D'Aberville, trust me, D'Iberville, it was built on TIFF bonds, and and that is a more reasonable way to go.

The next thing, Mr.

Jason, you had mentioned um in about the debt uh, but you said you the MIMA money using the MIMA money.

We was that committing all of the MIMA money, or was that a percentage of the MIMA money?

It's it's a small percentage.

Uh you're on track to say about 4.4 million a year based on what we think the July collections will come in.

Uh you know, you get it in January and July.

Uh what I did for purposes of this discussion was I just went up to a maximum of six billion in projects payback for minor fines over a period of twelve years because you have to kind of match the debt service to the lot useful life of those projects.

And that comes to but uh a little bit less than six hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year.

So they would so 650 of the MIMA money would be committed.

Right, and that would leave you with about three point you know that grows every year, but just assuming it didn't, that would leave you with about 3.7 million to uh to spend on other projects.

Perfect.

Thank you.

That's all you know, Mr.

Glavin.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um my colleague to my left mentioned shame on uh the councilman from uh War II trying to admonish his fellow uh colleagues.

I think it's sad that you would do that.

I really do.

It should it is beneath you to say we somehow put our hand on the Bible and we violated our oath.

Something that is sacred to each and every one of us, and for you to smear that is shameful and sad.

It's despicable, actually.

You know, uh yes, I've been a council member for 14 years, and yes, I was elected by the people of ward six, and yes, you know, I had two lanes on on uh pops ferry road, and working with the supervisors and others, we were able to make those improvements.

And yes, I had a fire station that was a trailer that was mold ridden, mildew ridden, and it was on cinder blocks, sitting there for decades.

And I rolled up my sleeves and went to work on how can I make improvements in ward six for those firemen that were in a trailer.

And we went and out to South Mississippi Development District, and we found a unique way to get a loan to build a state of the art fire station complete with a training facility that saved money for every Beluxian, improving our fire ratings and improving the conditions that our firemen and women worked in.

And no, I did not have a grocery store, but that's another thing we worked on.

And we worked on it and we looked around and we tried to find what grocery store and we talked to many, many grocery stores who would who would locate who would want to come to Ward 6, what can we do to get somebody there?

And we found neighborhood Walmart to make an investment in our community.

But it wasn't I didn't blame any of my council members.

I didn't blame anybody.

I was elected to be a leader for my ward to find a way to put a grocery store in our desert over there.

And I got the support of my colleagues.

You have the support on this council, Mr.

Marshall, and you try your best to divide us.

Don't be the great divider.

Unify with your colleagues and get some of this stuff done.

You know, I went to work year after year after year paving roads.

I didn't get all of them done in one year.

How many work orders have you put in for a pothole?

How many?

How many?

Easy.

Easy.

Can I ask you?

Easy.

If you may if you want, how many have you issued?

How many work orders are in uh B Connect?

Uh Mr.

Bate, I think it's an answer.

I'm asking I don't need questions, sir.

Gentlemen, gentlemen, let's keep it respectful.

Mr.

Vite.

Have we not you can just sit there?

You just have we not been on you about Powholes and everything.

How many of you have heard of my she can't tell us on top of her head?

Okay.

But you have what I'm saying.

No, my point is this.

Even when I knew that.

Even when I moved to the city.

Councilman.

Just let's she gave you your answer.

Wait a minute.

Let's just take a moment, take a deep breath, please.

Okay?

Good.

Okay.

Continue, Mr.

Clay.

So every year incrementally working with the supervisors, working with the city, working with my colleagues on the council, we made improvements little by little by little.

And uh after a 14-year career, you're going to smear me and say that I've neglected, I neglected a roof.

Because I built because I lobbied to improve the sports complex.

These are the very things you are are asking for.

You're asking for a rec center.

But you smear me for 14 years working year after year, term after term, trying to get improvements to our recenter.

You smear me for being successful in getting a grocery store.

But you've never, like Mr.

Creel said, you have never bought any resolution like I did to get the council to approve a grocery store, a neighborhood Walmart.

So it it's kind of hypocritical that that you would this activity that you would uh partake in to smear a fellow colleague.

All right.

Okay.

I again.

If there was a resolution that was uh going to be for a grocery store and it was a viable resolution, I don't know of any councilman like my earlier comments.

We would turn something like that down.

Bring us the resolution, Mr.

Marshall.

I don't I don't see that resolution.

As far as this bond that we're talking about, our word was 10 million dollars.

And if our word doesn't mean anything, because you got another uh spin on it, then that you're gonna you're gonna have to put that spin on it.

We said 10 million dollars a year ago.

I'm sticking to the 10 million dollars today.

That that is our word, that that means something.

If there's another amount that passes because of this majority, which by the way, we had sixteen and a half million dollars on the table, Mr.

Marshall.

Your that was your proposal, your amendment.

And we came back the next day to pass that amendment, and you wanted a guarantee, and because you couldn't get the guarantee, you you changed your vote and turned down that larger amount.

I want to let everybody know, yes, it is emotional when you have a 14-year track record of trying to do good for the people that you represent.

Yes, I will represent the people of ward six, but you all are in my heart and in my soul as well.

There's you tell me one thing I've done to hurt anyone in any ward anywhere in Biloxi.

And I I don't think any of the council members uh it would intentionally hurt anyone.

Anyone up here or anyone prior to being up here has not uh had bad intentions.

And I'll use my time.

It is an emotional uh thing when when somebody wants to point their finger instead of rolling up their sleeves and doing some good work.

I hope you don't do this another year.

Okay.

Let's let's take another breath, Mr.

Shoemaker.

I'll get to you in a moment, just a moment.

Let's stick with the subject at hand.

We're talking about we're trying to arrive at a number here.

Okay.

Everybody works hard in their ward.

Remember, everybody wants to tell you how to do your we know this.

Everybody wants to tell us how to do our job, but nobody wants our job.

Okay.

All right, and these are all good men up here.

And they're very passionate about what they're trying to achieve.

So it gets a little heated, but let's you know uh de-amplify if we can.

All right, Mr.

Shoemaker Europe.

I've got two quick easy questions and a comment.

If we acquire this property, do we have somebody that's ready to come in and build?

Okay, what is working is this.

As I talk to the uh different developers, talk to the different grocery stores.

Um I've pinpointed those grocery stores that uh used to come into what's called food deserts.

They're not they're all independent, they're not the big chains.

Okay, what they're asking for is they can't come where there's no site.

Right now, they have to have enough site.

This is what the mayor was talking about.

We have to acquire as uh what MDA asked us to do is have the site ready to go.

They would help us even help us to find what that developer or that grocery store need.

But it all starts with a site.

That's all we're working for.

We're not trying to build the store.

We're getting the site ready.

The site is there on the corner of Calvet and Division.

They've walked out there, we walked out there, they've come to City Hall, we've had meetings about this.

What they're asking for is that it'd be bigger.

Then we're gonna do the tips, and the mayor's he's on board with doing the tiffs and everything that we need to do to get them onto that site.

But we got to have the site, and they're not gonna give us the land, we have to go there and buy the land.

I would feel better if they would tell us ahead of time if we had this property, then we would build or look at it more seriously, just going into it blind.

I understand what you're saying.

We just have no idea if if someone's gonna come forward or not.

Last question.

Do we even have a number on the projected amount to purchase the property?

No, no, and we don't.

Okay.

But basically, let me say something about this whole conversation.

Things since 2021 grow cost more, a lot more.

Okay, some of these items that are on the whole purpose of borrowing the money now is to avoid an additional cost if you wait a delay a year.

So why you would Jason correct me if I'm wrong, we would probably acquire this money at 4.5% interest.

Every project we delay a year, it's gonna increase the cost by seven percent.

And we've had uh developers and contractors tell us that right now, from 21 to 22 to to the present day.

It's growing.

It makes sense, and you know, that management is a big part of business.

It makes sense to borrow this money at 4% when uh inflation is at 7%.

So the economics of just this number, we'll have that resource to do the things that we can do and we should do once the number is established.

And I think that's that's the point of why we need to borrow money now and pay and get these things going now and complete it now.

Prime example it was about four million dollars when we tried to uh uh we the delay on the Pops Ferry extension, which kind of kicked the whole thing going.

But each year delayed and probably five million dollars more than the twenty-eight million dollars that we're inflation is real, and that's the whole intent of by borrowing money now to do it at a uh you you increase your economic value of the money that you you that you have in your in your hand by doing these things.

Now I'm not any specific things, but at least you have uh a total amount that you can dedicate to the projects you deem necessary.

That's something I think need it needs to be said.

This is the reason.

It makes more money to borrow it at 4% or wait seven, wait two years to do it, and it's gonna cost you 14% more.

This is what this is the whole reason why we're doing this.

Whether the numbers 10, 15, or 18 or 22.

The idea is let's do these things that need to be done and things that should be done, you know, in order to make you know the bottom line uh easier 20 years from now.

And that's my story.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Mayor, for your story.

Uh let me go to Mr.

Gray.

I think wanted to speak.

This this question, maybe Rick or or the mayor can say how many people travel off of Keesler to hit I 10?

Do we know that?

Roundabout by 14,000, I think a day.

A day?

Yeah, 14,000 people in cars, yeah.

So they got to pass right by this store almost, or they can be able to see the store before they turn to get on I11.

Yeah, you do I don't know.

I'll come off.

Yeah.

We can we can determine those things, yeah.

Right.

I mean, I mean I'm just saying that's that's more people gonna stop here instead of getting off in Dabbville on their way home.

Um Pigler Wigley, I believe it was there for what, 25 years?

Oh, I don't know.

It's that's around about I mean as with kids and and most likely back then, they probably had how many small stores did y'all have at war too?

Maybe 10.

Uh so they probably had that many down on the point, so all of them took away from the big store.

So I mean, that's part of why a big store is hard to make it now.

We don't have no small stores, you know.

Work we're we're we need the money now to get started with it.

That's what we're asking y'all to work with us on this to work together.

We're not trying to point fingers.

We're asking y'all for y'all's help right now with this bond money to help us get started.

You know, all of us fight for anybody that wants to get something done in their ward.

We would, I mean, y'all see it time and time again.

We're asking for y'all's help right now on this bond money to help us get started down here in East Biloxi for a grocery store.

How many how many billfish tournaments?

They gotta buy groceries.

They come in by boat.

Where else they're gonna go?

Right here to our stores to buy groceries.

Now they go to Dellville to buy groceries.

We have so many different tournaments and different festivals here that will help that grocery store go.

We're asking for y'all's help to extend the bond money to help buy land and get this.

Yes, we can use the TIFF money for certain things, but we need money now to get started, not keep kicking it down the road.

I mean, it can just keep going and going.

That's all I have.

All right, thank you.

Um I'd like us, if we could, I think uh the mayor just needs a number.

That's it.

Just a number.

I had several things that was accused of I like to respond real quickly.

One thing but a minute.

Well, but you started with the comments.

So I'd if you can if you can hang on to that, we can refocus just on the number.

That's what I'm trying to get to now.

Okay.

These gentlemen are stuck at 10 million.

I think you wanted to offer an amendment.

I put I put 13 million in the resolution, uh somewhat as a compromise.

We'll see.

Whatever your amendment is, if you want an offer offer an amendment at this time, go ahead and make it, Mr.

Marshall.

I want to make an amendment for 18 million.

All right, is there a second?

I'll second it.

Second for Mr.

Gray.

Do we need to discuss anything, gentlemen?

I'd like to discuss.

If you'd like to discuss it, go ahead, Mr.

Marshall.

The only reason I'm asking for 18 million because if we go for 10 million, there's not enough money there for development.

There's just not.

If you tell the mayor, take the 10 million dollars, fix all the bills that need to be fixed.

And help us to get the property we need in order to get the space for the grocery store.

Mr.

Mayor, that's asking you to work.

America, wouldn't it be?

So you're saying one thing, but you're doing something else.

You're saying, oh, I'm for it.

But we're just asking for the money.

So we had the number.

If you're for it, the resolution right now is 18 million.

Mr.

Mayor, would that give you what you need to do to work on getting that grocery store going on over there and everything else?

Everybody else need just about.

That's a number.

Again, uh this is a reservoir, and how how we're gonna spend this is up to the council.

Uh 18 million is significant, and I think if we could put a dent in what we're facing, are these all these projects?

I mean, uh there's there's some opportunity that will be coming along that we'll take advantage and utilize that 18 million the very very best way we can.

Uh I I can't problem.

We've been working on this, you know, this particular problem and and other things for six and seven years.

We were successful with Rousseas because of some creativity.

Who knows what creativity we can be?

But it's certainly uh certainly uh a number that I can work with.

Okay.

So we have a number that you can work with, so everybody get what they want.

So that's the I don't know what everybody wants, but yeah, it's a number we can work with.

May it please the court.

Okay.

Okay.

Marshall.

Yeah, uh I was gonna let Wayne speak.

You got anything to go?

Go ahead, Mr.

Gray.

Maybe the other question is what what is the other councilman's willing not to get done in their ward.

We're right, we're trying to do this at 18 million to get things done in every ward that needs things done.

If y'all are willing to take it off, y'all we're here, we're we're we're discussing it right now.

Let's see what y'all willing to take off.

We're willing to take off, you know, a couple of these million dollar projects.

So I mean, what are y'all willing to take off to get this bond down?

Huh?

That's all I'm asking.

That's all I have.

Let me jump in right now.

Uh just one more two cents that I'm gonna put.

There will be, we're working some of these things that are on the 18 million dollars, that there may be some other opportunity to not utilize that chunk of money if there's a uh a better way, a lower rate or or some grant situation that will match up with some of these things.

So that's within our our scope and and understanding that if there were 2.3 or 4 point something million from another source like MDEQ at 0.8 percent, we would utilize that and then free up those funds to handle other things.

We can't promise you anything we you know there's a couple of grants to about 10 million dollars that that may be a possibility.

That's in that 18 million dollars right now.

Okay, so it's a possibility if we're successful, and you know, between you know the different sources, we may be able to free up even more money, but it would still be a you still got to borrow some money.

It would be not part of this 18 million, and that's still a possibility.

So we could extend the number of projects we could do.

Extend the 18 million by pulling some of it out and putting on other projects.

But you again you're gonna approve every one of these projects, each each one.

Okay.

We just need a number.

That's that's why.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

That's why I want to get back to focusing on the number.

If we can get the first step is to get a number.

Okay.

If we can get that done, we can talk about projects.

I think as it was made clear in previous council meetings when we were talking about this bond issue.

Uh there were comments that we're not locked into these projects.

Remember, this list that's been referred to.

Call for the question.

This list in a moment, Mr.

Glavin.

This list I referred to.

This list I referred to had input from everybody.

But the fact of the matter is we're just looking for a number.

I think Mr.

Creel, you had a question.

I just got one question, Peter.

You had mentioned 10 minutes ago, maybe that this bond money is a gray area, and there's a chance that it cannot be used to buy property.

Right.

Jane?

Comment on that?

Well, while uh she's gonna answer that.

There may be some uh again on the in you know shooting from the hip.

We may be able to supplant some things, so we could you know other budget items to do that and supplant those things with that, not so much buying property.

That's a possibility.

All right, thank you.

But the uh letter answer the question.

I didn't mean to go ahead, Ms.

Minority.

Under the statute and under the resolution of intent that was adopted back in February, you can acquire land for certain purposes.

A grocery store is not one of them.

But you can use general obligation bond money to improve streets and sidewalks and intersections and lighting and things that might entice a grocery store to come in to a particular location.

And you could do that with geo bonds, or you could do that with TIFF money.

But you can't just acquire land or a perfect.

So this money would not like urban renewal.

You could that wouldn't be like urban renewal used to be a possibility to do it.

We don't well, you might be able to issue urban renewal bonds for that.

I'd have to look at that, but not not these geo bonds.

So that yes, so so we wouldn't get to the 3.6 acres that they need, regardless with this if this money was 18 million, 22 million, 116 million.

We couldn't acquire the amount of property that's needed for the grocery store with this money.

Not for the purpose of groceries.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

Yes, Mr.

Mayor.

You will see the offsetting.

I'm sorry.

You say about offsetting using the funds?

Well, we we try to extend everything we can at a better uh situation.

Uh we're gonna do everything we can.

Right now, I just need to know a number we we're gonna work with so we can get these things going.

The whole purpose is let's get these projects going because they're grown at seven percent per year.

Uh is on the floor.

Call for the camera.

Okay, though, gentlemen, I'm calling for the question.

Uh the resolution is uh amended uh an amendment to the resolution uh for general obligation bonds in the amount of eighteen million.

All right.

All in favor of the amendment as presented.

All opposed.

The amendment fails.

Well, I'd like to make amendment.

I'll entertain another amendment, Mr.

Gray.

Five million to take care of the roofs, the drainage, the roofs, the air conditioners, and and the all the generators and stuff that actually need to be done, and uh uh drainage ditches and stuff to where people are flooding.

All right, so is there a second on for an amendment of five million dollars?

Okay.

A second by Mr.

Marshall.

I hope there's no discussion, but geez, there may be the way the night's going.

Any question?

Question Mr.

Creel, go ahead, please.

So the five million number you came up with based on the based on the roofs, the generators, and the air conditioners that need to be done.

And that's taken away all the drainages and everything out of everybody else's ward.

This is things that need to be done.

There, the police department, the fire department, community, our communication building, and all that.

I'm willing to go five million, and that'll leave about 1.5 million dollars to get other things done.

So that would so you would have excess money for the sand filter replacement and not a toy that's about 10 years to that that's included in that.

That's that's included in there.

From the discussion?

Any further discussion?

Yes, sir.

Briefly, thank you, sir.

I'm okay with that.

I'm okay with that because we can always go back as I was told before and do another bond when all these other money fall off, and then we'll have another bite at the apple.

But right now we're gonna get the main things that got to be done.

All right.

We'll call for the question.

All in all in favor of the amendment, uh borrowing general obligation bonds totaling five million.

All in favor?

All against fails.

I'll entertain another motion.

There you go.

I'll make the motion.

Mr.

Creel.

Uh uh to amend it to up to ten million, which was the original uh amount that was included back in October, and it's not project-based, as the mayor so eloquently agreed to earlier.

This is an amount.

This is not a project-based uh bond.

Um the projects are determined by the mayor and by the administration.

Can I start on it and then you can discuss it?

Sorry.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Glev.

Second by Mr.

Glavin.

Go ahead.

So so it's the projects will be determined by this council as the mayor uh files the resolutions and puts them in front of us, and then we determine if it's a viable project or not.

We agreed to the up to 10 million, so that's that's where my amendment is.

All right, Mr.

Glavin.

I have no comment.

All right.

Any brief discussion?

Yes.

We said up to 10 million.

I brought five million.

The projects that are on this list here for the 10 million is like said it's it's just there for everybody else's ward.

So but I'll be voting no for everything but the police for everything that we need.

Okay, the police department, the generators, I'll be voting yes on everything else.

I'll be voting.

Right, but all we're voting on all we're voting on now is uh 10 million dollar amendment.

Okay.

Any other comments?

Real quick.

This the two mean also would include money for match money, which is what we desperately need is match money to acquire the grants that we've applied for.

All right, we'll call for the question.

All in favor of the 10 million dollar amendment is presented by Mr.

Gray.

Excuse me.

I'm sorry, by Mr.

Creel.

All opposed?

It fails.

I'll entertain another amendment.

If there is one.

I'd like to make an amendment for 16.5.

Sorry for taking so long.

I write down notes and my papers covered, so I'm working at it.

How much Marshall 16 buys?

Move for 165.

All right, there's a motion by Mr.

Marshall.

Is there a second?

I'll second it.

Second by Mr.

Gray.

Any brief comments, one-liners, whatever.

All in favor of 16.5 million as the amended amount.

All in favor?

All opposed.

All right, it passes on a 4-3 vote.

We're not we're not finished yet, Mr.

President.

We need to do what we didn't do last time.

Yes, sir.

All we have done is amend it.

All we've done is change the number.

But now we are voting on the amended resolution or the resolution as amendment.

All right.

Uh I think we've had enough discussion on the topic for tonight.

All in favor of the resolution as amended.

That's an amount of 16.5 million.

All in favor?

All opposed?

It passes on a 4-3 vote.

That thing.

Okay.

Let's see.

That brings us to the consent.

Oh, good.

Everybody staying for the consent agenda.

So moved.

All right.

Uh first of all, if the okay, we've got a motion by Mr.

Creel to approve uh the consent agenda.

Is there a second?

I'll say uh Mr.

Creel, go ahead.

All right.

Yeah, Christy, on uh item K.

Item K, the uh supplemental.

That um did the did the sign just appear or did we not know about the sign?

That we had given the property owner the warrant the option to keep the sign and he was gonna remove it himself and then didn't do it.

So we're at a point now that we've got to move it to get our traffic signal in.

All right, thank you.

Um that's all, thank you.

Okay.

Uh let's see.

The second bar was by Mr.

Gray, Mr.

Gray.

Any uh items on the agenda to discuss.

Okay, we'll uh go down the line here.

Any other does anybody have any questions on any items?

The only one I have is on it on item R.

This is uh the resolution of beautification commission.

There's a form for somebody who wants to adopt a portion uh or a project in their ward.

And uh I applaud the effort here.

Uh the question I have is who actually approves the participants agreement?

And let me give you an example.

He comes to the beautification committee.

The process is uh Mr.

Creel wants to uh adopt a section of uh the the park in his ward, so he's he's gonna keep it clean, mow the grass, something the city won't have to do.

He'll keep that up.

He fills out the application, presents it to the beautification committee, and then my question is because I'm thinking of this like we do with the tree committee.

If you've got uh majestic Mr.

Abide has a majestic oak and he wants it to come to the tree committee and wants it to have it designated, then the tree committee acts on it, and then it comes to us.

And I'm thinking, wouldn't the beautification committee do the same thing?

They're kind of the point of contact.

They they vote on it, it comes, it would come to us with a resolution to uh approve it or well what we did when we did this before with uh like me guess park and we approve the form of these agreements, just authorizing the director of parks and rec just to sign off on it and administer it so we didn't have just multiple things coming going.

I I would envision we're we're tasking the beautification committee to take on that role, and then they will provide us reports of new people that have signed up and give us a uh copy for our file.

So basically the beautification commission, once it's approved, boom, whoever Mr.

Creel can go out and just take care of that park, but we would at some point have some sort of report to the council.

I can do that.

Right.

Quarterly report, Mr.

Creel is on the hook for that, he said.

They meet twice a month, so you probably would get more reports than that.

But that's right.

Okay, we can't uh that's the only question.

One more question.

Okay, go ahead.

Uh Mr.

Creel.

On item uh J.

Item J, it's so it's it it speaks about the shortfalls in the budget and where we pick up and it's based on number of drops per rate of percentages.

I do we do we have an audit of the number of drops in in each city to where we we see what the the shortfall may be or yes, uh we can get that.

That they have no problem sharing that with us.

It's not computated yet for this year.

Mr.

Payne up here, I spoke to Mr.

Payne before this council.

And he will be this is based on a pro rider share for each city.

So as soon as he's able to get us the numbers and he is working on that now, he will give it to us.

That will be divided pro rata based on where those were going to.

How much was Biloxi, how much was belt court.

Mr.

Creel, Mr.

Payne is here as well.

I just I I guess I'm trying to figure out why we're doing it before we get the data.

Because the MOU, well, the our local is expiring and we need to get it renewed so that it stays consistent and and stays active so that we don't have to go through the whole process all over again.

Okay, and the expiration on this one is when?

July 30th.

And so I'm sorry.

When when do we normally get the audit in the Mr.

Payne?

Um this is Ken Payne, he's the uh director of the motor vehicle for hire authority.

Yes, sir.

How are you?

Go ahead, Mr.

Creel, feel free.

Yes, I just so when if if we're renewing this contract, I'm assuming we're renewing it for a year.

So when would we it's just what I'm going into a pro rate of share, I just don't know what the what the monetary amount is.

Okay.

Um our total balance or I'm sorry.

The total money we get from the cities is eighty thousand dollars.

Pull it a little close to the Mike Lilka.

The total money that we get from the three cities is eighty thousand dollars.

How much each city gives us is based on a pro rata share determined by how many fares are dropped in each of the cities by taxi cabs in a given year.

I know that city budgets go from uh like ours is uh this one is October one, you know, till September 30th.

We do our numbers for y'all for the cities from uh July 1 to June 30th.

So I have two weeks to prepare where all those drops were.

I get that information from each of the companies.

Then I put it into an Excel spreadsheet, and it comes up with a percentage of, and I'll use a round number, it's not going to be this, but I say if there's 200,000 fares dropped in all three cities as a whole, I get I can have it figured out to how many of that 200,000 came to the city of Biloxi.

Okay.

Now Biloxi is always the largest because of, of course, all the casinos and uh things that you have here, but I don't have that exact number because I'm waiting on two companies right now.

What you're voting on tonight is the interlocal agreement between the three cities that actually formed this organization.

With the budget stuff that we talk about or that I submit to y'all is not, I don't usually do till the 15th.

Every two years, there's a sundown clause in this organizational um interlocal agreement.

So every two years, the cities, each of the three cities have to agree to continue for an additional two years.

Oh, so it's two years, okay.

So that's all you're that's all the uh vote would be on for tonight, sir.

The only uh well, well, the one one thing that concerned me was in the dissertation, it was we're pre uh the projected budget shortfall.

We have and and so that's why I was trying to figure out are we picking up the shortfall based on the 80,000 that we given or y'all wouldn't be you would uh the city of Blux would not give us 80,000.

I think last year it was 3839, yeah.

I don't think it's ever hit 40.

Oh, that's that's would be once I figure out the percentage that bullet that is dropped off in Biloxi, then you give that percentage of $80,000.

Okay out of complete $80,000.

Okay, all right.

Thank you very much.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Payne.

Appreciate you coming out and listening to the discussion tonight.

Thank you.

All right.

Um other questions on the consent agenda.

All right, we'll start with the exceptions.

We'll start with board one.

Any exceptions, Mr.

Gray?

Mr.

Marshall.

I'm good.

Mr.

Nail.

None.

Mr.

Creel, no exception.

Mr.

Glavin.

No exceptions.

Mr.

Schumacher.

Uh I miss you.

All right, and I have no exceptions.

That concludes the consent agenda.

Oh, we got a vote on it.

All in favor of the consent agenda is presented.

Okay.

Passes unanimously for the clerk.

That's a 7-0 vote.

All right, Mr.

Creel.

You know, we're happy to see you tonight.

Really happy.

It means we're getting close to the end.

I'll move as quickly as I can.

You can okay.

Uh item A, Craig B.

Upton, 1040 Division Street.

This property is still in violation.

All right.

Is anybody here to speak on 1040 Division Street, Mr.

Craig Upton or his representative?

There being no one, that case is closed.

Next.

Item B, Theodora C.