Okay, let's try it again.

Uh call this meeting to order of the public works committee of the city council.

Uh we have a very aggressive uh agenda.

Uh and are there any opening comments or remarks?

I'd like to recognize one of my uh one of my favorite uh neighborhood leaders, Miss uh McGrafty McDaniels in the back.

Okay, in fact to have her here listening in.

Uh okay.

Got a lot of a lot of interesting information.

Uh Mr.

Anderson, it's the public works director.

You want to turn on your mic, sir.

Uh are there any opening comments from you or the administration, Mr.

Davidson?

Anything?

You got okay.

Well, let's let's dig in.

Equipment update, purchase and delivery.

All right, uh good afternoon.

I'm going to refer to me.

Good afternoon, Lorenzo Anderson Public Works Director.

Um you're talking about the blight information uh far as equipment and scheduling.

Um I'm going to refer to uh Mr.

James Caldwell, the deputy director for that.

Yeah, uh, can we get a seat for Mr.

Carwell up here, up here?

Okay.

If you don't mind, because I believe uh between the two, we're gonna ask you you two a lot of questions, and Mr.

Carwell, we would like for you to be comfortable.

Okay, the the first uh agenda item equipment update purchase and delivery.

We've come a long ways between sitting down, we did uh a project, a pilot project in our neighborhood to find out what we would need for us clean up the size of the road and taking care of things, and now want to get an update.

Where are we?

As well as uh a couple of the ski steers we're looking at.

I think two of the three, they're being implemented now.

We had to get some um account information reset.

So it kind of took a minute, but we're getting everything now going through the process.

So I can't give you an actual delivery date because until I get the PO's to the actual vendors, I can't give a solid date.

The vendors for the truck said it may be about four weeks before they come in, but that's about kind of regular time because they're custom trucks.

Um so I don't have an actual delivery date, but about a month from time we get the PO's.

Okay, and that's on the skid steer.

Yeah.

And the trucks.

I talked to the vendor other day.

He said he can have those back in about two weeks.

Two weeks.

Yes, sir.

He said about two weeks for those.

And then how long does it take to get the decals and markings and everything on it?

Uh that's gonna be on us and our and our shop.

I have to work with them, try to figure out how long it'll take, but we can probably hopefully expand that pretty fast.

Okay.

Um other information, um, the ski, not sorry, the excavators and the roll-off truck, those will have to be bidded out.

Those can be where we're gonna be using for our um excavation or um demolition team.

But those don't have to be a bid I'm working with purchasing now and getting those beaded out because of the price of those.

So that we're going to be it for those.

Okay.

Uh you know, uh the other night I had a meeting with uh North Garden Park, Miss Uh uh Miss McDowell things on the back.

She's over that group, and it's continue a problem with bush brush and everything growing out into the street.

Do we have that capability now of cleaning up that or do we have to wait on the side cutters and uh the tree saws and so forth?

The only piece of equipment I know that could help.

There was uh a sidearm that we're inheriting back from Silent Waste, and we're is in the shop now currently looking to get fixed.

So hopefully we can.

So uh are we gonna have this by time spring rolls around and uh a lot of things are growing?

Yeah, a lot of things are growing.

You say by spring rolling around, um, it's gonna be tight.

Summer, yes, spring.

We're gonna we're trying, we're trying our best to get it, but it's coming.

Okay.

So okay.

What other equipment are we looking at?

Dump truck, sir, dump truck, dump trucks, yeah.

As far as what like using now?

Well, no, I mean or on order.

Oh, um, just see there's gonna be the roll-off dumpsters, the trucks, the the truck, the trailers, I'm sorry, for the dump trucks for the for the 3500 pickups.

So those would be ordered too.

So everything is coming through.

It's the system.

So daily we're putting in invoices or requisitions to be approved.

Has anything can um has anything arrived yet?

No, sir.

Nothing.

No, yet no, sir.

All right.

Well, we appreciate you, you know, making this uh uh you know, an expedited pro uh project, getting this stuff done as soon as possible.

Yes.

Okay, anything else, Mr.

Anderson.

Anything on equipment?

No, sir.

Okay.

Let's uh if you don't mind, let's go to the illegal dumping unit and effort.

I think uh uh councilman foot.

Uh or one of our my colleagues had that as an issue, wanted to get uh something uh some information on the legal dumping unit.

Uh was that you, Councilman Foot?

Okay.

I'm sorry, we'll have to yeah, um the um the illegal dump unit dumping unit, JPD.

Yeah, uh thank you.

Um Mr.

Vice President.

So I kind of brought this up with in the last meeting.

Um, but this is something that we really need to uh address.

And I I think this is more in terms of uh JPD uh and code enforcement versus um um public works, even though solid waste does assist with cleaning up a lot of these properties.

And I think at one point uh solid waste and and and JPD were you know tag teaming a lot of these things, and so um now that the unit has been disbanded, uh and as I mentioned previously, I'm gonna bring forward a resolution, and hopefully the new chief and administration will reinstate this unit.

Um why it was disbanded, I'm not sure.

It's probably a personnel matter.

I don't know, but this is something that we've grown to depend on.

Um and I know that this unit has been catching a lot of these illegal dumpers.

They've been able to put you know these hunting cameras up in trees, and and we were making a lot of leeway, especially on the chief weight.

And I think again, this was this is something that our community needs.

I know that uh as Jan and a few other communities have been participating in this pilot, especially clean up a lot of blight in West and South Jackson.

And uh this we're we're now at a crossroads because this is one of those units, again, that we have grown to depend on, and we need it reinstated.

Right.

Yeah, I I'll just add um I I'm concerned that we've disbanded this unit.

This is the first time hearing about that in in any sort of official capacity.

Um, so I I don't know if this would be the appropriate vendor venue, or or maybe we go into executive session at some point, or or we can work with the administration on a one-by-one basis, or I'm not sure, but I would be very interested into why that decision was made.

It's not like illegal dumping has stopped.

And so um, and I and I share your thoughts, Mr.

President.

It seemed to me to be effective.

I mean, they I I remember seeing things on social media where it had been caught in, etc.

And so um definitely share some of those questions.

I think uh and I think we can all agree that look, um, we have to eliminate those open dumping and the individuals, a lot of individuals coming from out of town.

We need an effective force to uh to track down to monitor and make sure these folks find a home in the local jail.

Um, and so uh, you know, I willingly would support that resolution or whatever legislative action we need, but uh I think uh once we get the the chief in place then we need to have that discussion.

Mr.

Foot.

The um so what is the current fine that uh do we have a fine on the books that that if we find somebody doing illegal dumping and do we need to increase the fine?

I I think at one point we looked at vehicle seizures.

We did we pass it under this console.

Okay, that were you that was used to violate what to to do the crime, and I think we did address fines, did we not?

I believe for municipal, I think there's a cap that that we can do.

But I think we raised it to that cap.

I may be wrong.

Legal is the cap.

I have no idea.

I think we didn't do it.

We didn't, I thought we did.

That's already.

But what we can do is we passed if if you put uh mattress in the back of your car and then you throw that mattress out, we can take your car.

Well, I'm not sure we just need to have an incentive, the incentive to or disincentive to to in place and be willing to use it, whatever it is, whether it's a thousand dollar fine or or uh you know confiscate their car.

I'm not sure.

You know, but if there's no specialized unit, we bet so that the other thing is the specialized unit.

Yeah, yeah.

The um if we need to in and put that back in place, we need to do it.

We need to ask JPD to do it.

Agreed, agreed.

Okay.

Uh next item.

And and let's spend a little time on this.

That's the uh Mr.

Councilman Foote, the breakdown of crews.

Now we're looking at perhaps in the blight control era, breakdown of crews, personnel and resources, potholes, road repairs, fallen trees, drainage issues, et cetera.

Uh councilman Foote, would you introduce sure?

I just this is what I was hoping to find out in the meeting today was where do we stand on how many crews does does the public works department have that uh that can they can go out?

I know they can go out back in the day before the Jackson Water was uh put in place.

Uh you've seen crews all over the place repairing water pipes and things like that.

In this case, I hope we still have crews.

I but I don't know who how many we got and and how they were assigned.

Do we do they have you know um daily routes they run to repair?

Do we need to send in list of potholes that that the crews can go out and repair?

What do we stand on crews?

How many we got, how many do we need, et cetera.

Lorenzo Anderson Public Works Director again.

Um specifically, I just go by division um for potholes.

Um right now we're at a max of three crews uh just to do potholes, but if we have to do a utility cut, we have to subtract from that crew uh because it's the same personnel that's doing cutouts or patch work.

Um and uh with that uh if we want to increase our rate of response, we have to increase our our crews.

Uh we've had uh several meetings where we talked with the pothole crew that sometimes when a piece of equipment goes down, uh it changes the dynam the dynamics of because we don't have any redundancy uh far as equipment.

Uh let's say uh uh uh excavator goes down, one crew goes down with it.

So um with that, the max is three, and you can see we have 113 square miles to cover, and that's a lot.

And um far as drainage, um we have one tree crew, uh one construction crew, and um and that the construction crew is most mostly of storm drains, uh and uh they also do spot drainage uh issues where we don't have a dedicated drainage uh crew, which um recommended that we have one because uh this year we're gonna spend around 15 million dollars through the bun and clearing and grubbing on some of these drainage ditches, and in the past uh without having a dedicated drainage crew and the equipment to go with it, um we'll rip wrap the ditch, you know, get it looking nice, and then a tree will come up, you know, four or five years from it, and then you know, in seven years your rip wrap ditch is covered with trees and it doesn't is imp drainage flow, it doesn't look good.

Um so that's uh uh another crew, and far as uh the tree crew, they're just dedicated to falling trees.

Jackson has a lot of trees that's falling, um getting the um the right way clear.

Um I was surprised how many trees falls overnight.

Um I wake up, I see a tree on my street, you know.

I didn't they work at night, you know, they try to clear the road when everyone wakes up, go to work in the morning, but um it's just the more crews I um they can be added, the more services we can provide.

But right now, um for just did you say traffic also?

No, I was uh the I've got another thing on traffic lights, but this is this is the main thing.

I'm I just the um we we've got potholes ward one's got more than a share of potholes, and and um I get caught lots of calls about potholes, but I wanted to get a handle on if we've got three crews for potholes.

How is the work divided up?

How do they know what potholes to fix?

Do I need to send in you a list of all the potholes that are what?

What's the um the best way is to call the 311, not just say you can't call me, but once you know we have an area that's uh I say priority is high volume.

You know, if we have one on Woodrow Wilson or West Street or Pesagoula, we're gonna take care of those first, you know.

But if it's um like a neighborhood street, uh we'll take it and then work that area, you know, just like uh old Cannon Road, some of the what we call potholes are utility cuts.

It may be a gravel utility cut.

We get to call it as a pothole.

Uh uh, just like on Street McDowell, they have a a lot of utility cuts they're currently working on, and we keep on getting calls about pothole, power, power, but it's actually a utility cut.

So we are working on uh an ordinance.

Um it hasn't been presented yet, but we have been discussing on holding the utility companies uh liable for hey, it was January the 20th when you started on this utility cut.

You should have seven to 14 days to have it assaulted because one thing I've heard um, I don't know how true this is about um if we do something to their utility cuts, there's some kind of liability on it, which I'm like just fill the fill it up.

But if we start that we're not making the utility company liable on that.

Uh let me let me ask a question while you're on that particular point.

A lot of the a lot of uh utility cuts can be well are being done by Jackson Water.

Yes, sir.

How is their response time?

Because you know, when they do their repairs to a line or uh the that um man holes or the pipes underneath, they have to come back and they put down the the gray, the gray material, the rocks and uh sand and gravel and so forth.

Um what is their response time?

Are we getting compliance with them on getting these the utility cuts repaired in a timely fashion?

Um no, we're not.

Um this around especially around the the I can see around December and January because the asphalt plant closes uh a certain period of time.

So they're kind of backlog around this time, but we are in conversation.

We we meet with them every Tuesday, and one of our discussions is you know, uh give us a list of your utility cuts, and then we're gonna send somebody around saying, hey, um this utility cut has been three weeks old, is on West Street.

We have a marathon this weekend, you know, you need to take care of it.

So that way it's a high priority area.

Um, but to answer your question, uh it can be improved uh a lot.

Okay, so what is the the standard amount of time between them doing that utility cut and it's it's uh being completed for us, the asphalt and everything being restored.

Um I've seen some utility cuts a month or two.

Um, and that's not acceptable.

Um I've seen some taken care of in a week, but it's not consistent.

So I think this whatever we put in in place far as the ordinance, I think it'll be more consistent on hey, you have seven or fourteen days wherever uh we give it legal that we can hold them accountable to.

And um that way if it if they can't do it in seven to fourte days, uh give us a reason why.

And this it may be that I understand construction engineering that it may be something they haven't resolved, that they haven't fixed it all the way, but give us the reason and um and that way we can have a plan in place.

Okay, Mr.

Chairman, yes, Peter Taywerson, CAO, let me echo Director Anderson.

Director Anderson and I have asked for um several weeks that Jackson Water provide us once a week with where they have done utility cuts on a Friday or a Monday.

We have been promised that by Mr.

Hennefin.

Uh we've yet to receive that, but we continue to press that every Tuesday so we know, and Director Anderson can send crews uh out there to check that.

Secondly, going to his suggestion that we adopt the ordinance, uh, I have met with uh Director Anderson.

I echo that as well.

And if we did a utility cut ordinance, Jackson Water would be subject to the same ordinance, just like Atmos and everyone else.

And so I think you will see sometime in next month a proposed ordinance.

We've got to work through some details with legal.

But I wanted to echo Director Anderson that he and I have been actively trying to get a handle on the utility cut issue.

And it's hid and miss.

We have no idea how long it takes.

I will tell you that on any given Tuesday, I can make inquiry or Director Anderson can make inquiry, depending on which one of us is seeing a particular cut.

And that answer may be anything from that's not a Jackson Water cut to I'll check on it.

And I also tell you that after those issues are raised by Director Anderson and I, often we go back by the same cuts and they mysteriously get addressed.

So we think the ordinance will make a difference, and I think that will allow us to hold Jackson Water accountable in addition to other folks who uh make utility cuts and in turn allow Jackson Water to hold their contractors accountable as well.

Okay.

Councilman Foote.

Thank you, Mr.

Uh Chair.

The what one specific really dangerous situation I've got on award one right now.

It's been that way for a number of weeks.

I've had lots of people, you know, um tell me about it and complain about it.

It's right on a high traffic point on Old Canton Road, the southbound lane, right at where it intersects County Line Road.

This area is always wet, and it's been that way for about a month and a half, probably.

And I think I'm strongly uh convinced that it's uh a water line underneath that's creating the potholes.

And and um it's dangerous because if you come around the off of if you turn on to Old Canton from County Line Road, uh people go out into the middle of the the road in order to avoid blowing up their tires in the potholes, and that's dangerous for the oncoming traffic if you're going coming north on um Oakanton Road.

I've met I've sent a picture to you, and I've sent a picture to Mr.

Henneffen asking him to deal with this because they've got the budget to do this.

If it involves a water line, I'm convinced it does.

And uh we need to fix that because you know it's dangerous, and it it's not only life and limb, but dangerous to people's cars, you know, uh blowout tires and stuff like that.

And there's no reason we can't do be time more timely than then we have been so far in repairing that.

We did um discuss that with um Jackson Water.

Uh I think that's a 42-inch line um that they say it has a water valve leak on it.

So all every time they put an asphalt in there, it washes away.

So we we're looking at um some high strength material uh like uh it's a brand name, but aquapatch or something like that that allows until they can do the repair, you know, because the motorists don't want to hear that you know it's gonna they have to do a construction, they want to make sure they save the axle.

So we are discussing, see what can you do until you can, which is is a major repair because that's a high traffic area, yeah.

And fixing a uh a valve like that would probably hinder traffic.

But uh in the meantime, we're we're trying to handle what's what are we gonna do in the meantime because we just can't leave it like it is.

Sure.

Okay.

Well, anyway, that that's just a specific thing.

But we've got lots of, you know, I I um uh just want to make sure that our pothole crews are are uh we're maximizing their availability.

Do they have a do they get what time do they leave in in the shop in the morning to go out and fix potholes?

Do you do the you get the list off of uh three one one and then give it to them in the morning so they can take off and do they have sufficient asphalt?

Do we need to buy more asphalt?

Um it's not the amount of asphalt.

Um the crew started at seven.

Uh let's say they go out, they get their list when they're uh superintended.

Um like I said, probably on any given day we have one asphalt crew.

The maximum we have is three.

That's if we set everything down.

Um about 7.15, 730, they have their list and they have uh we get a daily list, Mr.

Carwill, and I get a daily list of what area they're gonna be uh working in.

Um and they just fix potholes.

Uh I can't remember how many tons per day, but uh it's not the uh asphalt, probably on Friday.

Sometimes the asphalt crew, I mean the asphalt plant sets down early, but it depends on if they have a big batch.

This um they don't they don't they're not gonna fire up the plant again if you know we have seven tons, but uh if they have a big batch already, they'll fire it up.

get a daily list of what area they're gonna be uh working in um and they just fix potholes uh i can't remember how many tons per day but uh it's not the um as well probably on friday sometimes the asphalt crew i mean the asphalt plant shuts down early but it depends on if they have a a big batch that's um they don't they don't they're not gonna fire up the plant again if you know we have seven tons but uh if they have a big batch already they'll fire it up um but around seven i mean like I said again it's a lot of square miles of cover and that's the key because like I said what would it cost to get seven pothole crews so you if you have one for every ward I would suggest you refrain from spending money that you don't have until we can have budget discussion with the council later this I'm not spinning I'll just ask you how much it would cost so I can you know a lot anyway whatever we'll give you the cost okay because you will be wrestling with the budget yeah um and so we will make sure to have that cost prepared for you so you can make you as a body can make the appropriate priorities.

Okay.

Mr.

Parkinson yeah I and I hear we're you know we're searching the Lemon resources but I I think it's good that we have at least some crews.

I mean I think some throughout the history of Jackson the public works department has been various things and at various times it has been merely the group that coordinates contracted work that happens by other groups and there is a role for that there is times where other groups can do things a lot better than we can um and make that happen.

But um but I think it's great that we have our own crew that does at least some of these basic things.

I wouldn't want to get rid of this concept entirely and I do think if we can move some funds around to increase that I I think it can be beneficial.

So I think it's important that we think of public works as both a group that manages large scale projects with a bunch of contractors and other vendors but also we have our own team of crew that is handling a lot of these things.

And then once we do that I think you know one is just strategic I mean there needs to be a lot of strategy there.

When we get this 311 list it's it's inefficient if they go do one pothole over here in the morning and then one way over there in the afternoon and one way over there you know if we can if we can use GIS technology or others to say okay today there's in this one area there's 15 and so you're gonna knock out all 15 and then of course you know basic supervision making sure that it's actually being done that that we're being as efficient as we can et cetera I think um you know we can talk about specific potholes here and there but I appreciated Mr.

Foote putting this on the agenda just as a general discussion that we have crews we're utilizing the crews the crews are efficient and if we need more resources as as limited as we are that might be a place where we sort of redirect.

Right councilwoman yes this is just a question that I have about the ditches and I thank Carwell and Mr Renzo for working with me this week because I know I probably got on your nerves but how do you all distribute the work for the ditches the clean out of it um I would say it's a priority as far as um if it's property damage I would say or life risking um for the ditches um we have a 13 square miles so the amount of ditches I don't have that number for how many uh linear feet or miles we of ditches we have um are you talking about the maintenance or are you talking about the actual work like the production the work and how many crews do we have that you send out per day we have one one dish crew and that dish crew also handles uh some of the storm storm water um I say we have one tree crew and it's it's like a hybrid you know if they're not working on trees they're working on ditches so we don't have one just crew dedicated ditches and that's why I was saying we probably need a crew dedicated like we used to have on curb and gutter we need the uh a crew dedicated to ditches and maybe two or three when I say a crew we need to at least start with one if we don't have any um but for ours to answer your question about priority it's mostly uh property damage you may have a a ditch that's um that's backed up and it's right next to a house that you know that's what about a church right by a church it wherever the property is let's just let me know oh the um make down yeah right the one we saw in McDowell um it's um that's how we probably pretty much set the priority that private up to date um work order I mean do you have a uh uh up to date on when that one be cleaned out because it goes straight to the sewage line and it's clawed it's flooding there um parking lot and then it's going inside the church when it floods okay I'll um we did discuss there one uh the one on McDowell uh I think it's a church where the McDowell and Methadden right on the corner has a Bible on the face of it.

I mean, w do you have a uh uh up to date on when that one be cleaned out because it goes straight to the soil line and it's clawed, it's flooding there, their um parking lot, and then it's going inside the church when it floods.

Okay.

Uh um we did discuss that one.

Uh the one on McDowell.

Uh I think it's a church where the McDowell and McFadden right on the corner.

Um we discussed it was like two or three in that area that we'll take over.

But we'll maybe we'll make sure I get give you an update.

Because the pastor of the church, what he does, he has cleaned out the ditch itself, but the neighbors is keep on throwing debris in there, and he's blocking it so the debris won't go and clog it up so he won't have the his church won't be flooded.

Okay.

I'll look at the schedule tomorrow, and then we'll uh me and uh Mr.

Carwells will make sure we get a crew out there.

Thank you.

Mr.

Grizzell, anything?

Okay, uh just a few questions for you, sir.

And not off just yet, okay.

Heinz County, we have an agreement with them concerning uh uh road pavings.

How is that agreement working out?

I think we provide one part and they provide something else.

Yes, um it's working well.

Um I love the partnership with Hines County.

Uh without their resource, some of the things uh puts the less burden on us far as uh we didn't have it's like an extra crew.

So I thank the council for for their agreement.

Um some of the paving we recently did, we used their term bid.

Um far as the crews, it hasn't really started up um as of yet as far as this spring and summer, but um it's it's working.

Um far as them providing you know, labor, uh us the money, it relieves our crew of things that we could work on.

Like I said, we have at any given time, we may have one crew working on powerholes versus using the county.

You may have three or four.

So it allows us for our capacity for to get things done.

Okay, and we're we're we're upholding our part of the deal then.

I mean, we provide one part and they provide yes, we provide the uh uh the asphalt or in other classes and they provide the labor.

Right.

And we are able to expedite our our uh completion with the potholes.

And we're working on um also with that on areas that they're already working on, uh, because some of the districts do do fall within the city of Jackson's uh City limits.

So they may have a crew already uh working, but we're trying to coordinate on uh making sure we're not in the same area, uh, even with the paving or any kind of project they they're doing.

We're um coordinate with all the agencies, not only the county, C C I D, 1%, everyone to make sure we're not overlapping any services.

So okay.

Uh current equipment, how we looking on the the the our equipment for the potholes.

I know you had um um uh not a front end loader, but uh um back hole little track machine and uh how and dump trucks are involved.

How are we looking?

And is there any equipment that has been ordered that we're going to get in that's gonna supplement our pothole patrol?

We we're trying to keep the blight separate from because we don't we don't ro want to rob Peter Paypal.

So we're trying to keep the blight separate and have that dedicated to blight and have pothole independently take care of their work orders.

Uh right now they have a James, is it a Beco or a Traco down?

Yeah, yeah, they have an excavator down, and um I think about a year ago, uh their trailer was hit and damaged totaled out, so that limits them on um their mobility, and we're working with the uh risk management to try to get those funds so we can purchase a new uh another trailer.

But like I said, the redundancy on if you have one excavator and that goes down just for a couple hours, you know, you you don't lost a half a day.

So okay, okay.

Thank you.

Uh Mr.

Taylor.

Uh just an observation here.

You know, we approved the budget and goes in effect the first of October, first of the fiscal year.

Yes, sir.

Can we start an expedited process at that time to go after this equipment?

No, sir.

In years past, for example, when you worked here, the answer would have been yes.

But those were years we actually had a fund balance carrying over from year to year.

So no money.

We've not been carrying a fund balance.

We've actually been carrying a negative, and then we wait on our property tax money to come in in January.

So we literally held our breath this year for three months to get to some money.

And that is one reason we've got to um stabilize the budget so we can get back to having a fund balance so we can do exactly what you recall us doing in years past, which is as soon as we hit a new budget year, boom, we can tick off our priorities.

Then we'll wait for some more money to come.

So unfortunately, no at this time, but we are working to get to that point.

I don't know that we will be able to do that October of 2026.

Yes, sir.

But I feel confident that with everything we're focusing on by October of 2027, we'll be back to that position, Councilman Hartley.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

You know, because uh, you know, we're even pushed back because other municipalities are getting that same money in and they're ordering equipment, and now we got to compete with everybody.

So you know, in years past, um, we used to joke because councilman Stokes always wanted to spend the fund balance.

This would be before I think all of you were here, other than Councilman Hartley, who remembers this as an employee.

Uh and we used to joke in the head seat.

And uh right.

Um and Mayor Melton and Mayor Johnson would push back and didn't want him to spend the whole fund balance so we could do exactly what you were saying.

There was always some back and forth.

Uh and councilman Stokes made a comment when we did the most recent budget about I know you have fund balance and you can do that.

And I made a comment and said, not this year.

And so we need to get back into a position where we live within our means, stack some fund balance, and then when you, as the authority that decides how spending is, we have something somewhere in fund balance, and we can jump on those spending priorities.

And we are working to that, which it was a quick fix.

It's not, but it is definitely a goal that we have an achievable goal, and that's where we need to manage our money.

Thank you for that.

Good explanation.

Any other questions on this item?

And so now uh me and uh uh manager Carwell can continue to be best friends because I was thinking, hey, where's my equipment?

Okay.

Uh and also that note about using the equipment, some of it coming in, we will have capabilities to use it for some of the code issues for uh maybe uh cleaning up properties, et cetera, clean up the blythe.

I'm seeing affirmative back there with Mr.

Carwell.

So yes, okay.

All right, last item.

Uh any questions before we go into the one percent sales tax?

Okay, last item.

One percent sale tax.

I noticed you passed out a copy of um pet.

Oh, should be five items.

Okay.

Uh before we go into one percent, let's talk about traffic lights.

Traffic lights, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Chair, the this I put I asked to have this on there, and it's we have, you know, we uh I'm sure other people have traffic lights issues.

We have a lot of traffic lights issues in particular in major intersections where they've gone to where for whatever reason it's just blinking red lights, and everybody has to it it acts as a four-way stop.

And um, we used to have a traffic engineer, Mr.

Lee, Robert Lee, but I don't know that we've uh got any ask any chances of getting a new traffic light engineer.

So I does it fall under you, it's under under public works, yes, sir.

Okay.

What's your who's your expert you turn to to fix the traffic lights?

Um uh are aware I'm an engineer also.

Uh the issue is the infrastructure.

Um the traffic lights are an aging infrastructure just like the streets, just like the storm sewer.

Um, and also uh I think the administration just put out a uh publication about vandalism.

You're getting a lot of vandalism, you have a lot of uh how can I say drunk drivers over the weekend and hit the pole and tears up the whole intersection to get the police out there and the traffic.

Um that's what we were relying on for as we're more reactive on, and then as far as the vandalism, um it was one um I think not in Lake Shore, Lakeland Drive and uh Rearswood, where my phone was blowing up, you know, in the middle of the day, and found out it was someone just beating on the cabinet, you know, it would trip the breaker.

So things like that, we can't plan, you know.

Uh we were trying to see we have something more of like a uh tamper proof, but um it's gonna cost money.

I can get some numbers together.

Um to see to uh try to tamper proof, but I mean if someone wants to get into a cabinet, they can get it into it.

And some of the uh traffic signals I know I've asked about like why are these traffic signals blinking?

And anytime you like trip the wire, someone try to steal some copper from it, they're gonna go and they're automatically designed to go into conflict where it starts blinking, you know, because you don't want two greens and going in the same direction.

Sure.

Because um that's why it's it's designed to have that have like a conflict, a thing called the conflict monitor and uh the controls.

So we can start prioritizing some of these intersections, and we're gonna start uh I think we start using CCID money.

Uh I think probably had about six million dollars uh worth of traffic signals to upgrade and the recent MPO application that we turned in in January.

So uh traffic lights are important, but we were we're just trying to handle this uh vandalism and um insurance, I would say far as it's when someone hits the we're here on Pasagula and Roach.

Yeah, Pasagula and Roach.

Um State.

Okay, state.

They um they hit that one, and you know the cabinet was the cabinet is the box that's on the side of the uh traffic light.

It was laying on the side of the road.

So uh I think uh being aggressive with our uh insurance and the risk management and and start going after the people that have have these recs and build their insurance, well, pay for this uh this asset.

But well it the uh it you shouldn't be the one trying to solve all this stuff by yourself.

I mean, there needs to be somebody that we can call or I can call or the other council members can call just to notify them that this traffic lights not functioning right now, and and uh it's not fair for you to have to try to fix all the traffic lights while you're dealing with other issues that public works is having.

So I you know, I just um it's a a problem and and we need to figure out um, you know, you need a uh somebody to to work for you that can solve these issues.

Don't don't get me wrong, we have people in traffic.

We have uh around six six people in traffic.

We have a uh experienced traffic signal engineer, uh not engineer, but supervisor, and he's he's very experienced on uh troubleshooting the areas.

So when you call me, I call him.

Well is it 1795?

Can I just call him directly?

17 1759.

But the public could call 311 311 that has it just like anything else, they have it where that's like emergency because it's sure if the public calls 311, it's treated as emergency, they call him directly.

Uh it may not be him, it may be someone under him also.

That's his name, you can meet Johnny's Johnny Stiff.

Johnny Stiff, okay.

And also have anybody ever did a study, just like on Ellis Avenue, they took that light down by huddles.

Nobody miss it.

Just like that light right there when you're coming out of Camelot.

You take that light and put it where it functioned, who's gonna miss it?

I agree with you.

Um we've been talking in Jackson Rising about dieting, I think.

Um, so I agree with you that some of these uh traffic lights at one point may have been needed, you know, but with the development and the population um it's something that we can maybe look at.

I did contact some consultants on it.

Uh when we were talking about our application, and it ranged from I asked them to do the whole city.

I think we have 300 something plus uh traffic signals, and they said to do that to do a traffic study with between 750 and 1.1 million dollars.

And it was two different sources.

So you have to think about we have to go to, and I said that was for all the all of the traffic signals, but I think we probably can do it for 400 to 500,000 if we make the list of what we want them to look at because they include it.

You know, we're not going to uh get rid of State Street and pass a little bit.

Yeah, not like that.

I'm talking about the lights.

Right, right, it's questionable, you know.

So we probably can reduce that that number to uh a hundred traffic signals, and that way um it would be something more manageable.

But I think if you know we could talk about it in the budget, you know, give a proposal to I remember Robert Lee used to be out in this vehicle doing traffic counts, uh all sorts of different things.

Do we not have someone in-house that can do that inventory?

Or no, sir.

Nobody.

Yeah, we I don't have the time to do it to tell you the truth.

Uh that's why we're gonna have to rely on these consultants to do things like that.

Um, you may have seen the traffic counter uh to get traffic counts, you know.

Maybe I've seen the uh the device that goes across the street, we go over.

That's more like traffic counts, but um and do we still do that?

Uh we use M DOT, MDLT.

MDOT comes out of it.

Do we have a machine?

We don't have a machine.

Yeah, but we we mostly because that MDOT um usually do a good job as far as putting it on M DOT traffic.com, it's on GIS and all that.

So but if it's something more like um a residential, like small neighborhood, because we want to change the speed limit sign.

I mean, we could do stuff like that, but as far as traffic study to hey, we need a stop sign or a uh traffic signal here, it's a little bit more uh tedious.

Mr.

Chair.

Yeah, I need to clarify one thing, Director Anderson said.

We do routinely go after claims of individuals who hit public property.

Our challenge has been that JPD often does not write up a report.

And so that is something that will uh be at the forefront of discussions with the new chief when she gets here.

Capitol police routinely does write a do write a report and provide that to us.

Risk management pursues every um report that we make to them.

There's one that recently happened at California Northside in January.

Am I remembering that correctly, Mr.

Grizzell?

Uh, and we've already got risk management has contacted the insurance company for those folks, and that claim is in the active process.

So we are pursuing claims when individuals hit public property, but we've got to do a better job in making sure that our own law enforcement is held to the same standard as Capitol Police.

And if it someone hits public property, write us a report, because we do have aggressive RICS management.

So I wanted to point out that distinction.

I think that goes right next to uh the suggestion that we get the dumping unit reactivated by JPD.

And I and since it's a public uh meeting, I would ask the public to help.

Yeah, you see someone.

I mean, there are signs all over my ward, bent, broke, knocked down, knocked out of place, or whatever.

Uh if you see someone uh uh doing these things, get a tag number.

Yeah, don't put yourself in jeopardy, but get a tag number, call it in the JPD so we can get someone uh get someone um responsible.

Yes.

I also wanted to say that uh well, I appreciate directors Anderson's comments about relying on consultants.

I think from an administrative standpoint, um, that's not the method to go forward.

That's not the path we need.

We need to hire a traffic engineer.

That's what Mr.

Lee was.

We need to advertise for a traffic engineer, and we need to hire one.

As much as I talk about salaries and the other 35 cents on the dollar that goes with them for PERS and health insurance, it is much less expensive to have a full-time traffic engineer than to rely on consultants for that.

Um, and so that is one we need to look at uh filling.

I have sent out a directive that the city is only to hire for a necessity.

I would consider a traffic engineer a necessity.

And I agree.

And I think when he you you said 700,000 or so for uh for a contract to come in and do a study.

No, we can get a lot of work out of an engineer over those over a long period of time.

Okay, uh nothing else on that issue, anything I just say with 1100 miles of roads and 1300 square miles, we need at least one traffic engineer, and 300 traffic signals.

Uh tell us about um one percent.

And this may not be the last time.

We'll probably move into the next meeting, uh, having that on the agenda as well.

Um we want me to start, Mr.

Well, start with the handout that we're we receive.

Um you you have a handout of I put an alphabetical order.

Uh we have two phases.

Um you may see um the first column is item, second is street, and the third and fourth is the from and two, uh was the beginning end, and the sources you may see one B or one A, one B and one C.

And the source is you may see one B or one A, one B, and one C.

That was the first phase.

Um of the one percent, either one A has been completed, and one B and one C, some have been completed, and also they're under construction for this uh this year.

Also, you will see bond, they just say item number four, uh Alam Alamo Street.

That's part of the uh 40 million dollar bond that the council approves, and also you will see two A and two B.

Uh since this was printed out, the one percent just combine them together as two uh phase two, and they approved that in I think January uh where their last meeting um in February, I think.

Yes.

Is it possible to get this list uh uh added a column for wards?

Yes, we are working on it as we went to the neighborhood meetings.

We're adding uh the wards.

I think we have two um five and um six.

I think we're I think we've been in we're working on three and the rest of the ward.

Uh no, I'm sorry, six, five, and uh three.

So um we have we have a we had put everything in GIS.

So that map I sent out to everyone, it had the the streets and the phase and everything that um you can see it on the mapping wards, but to put the on the list we have to we have to individually go and put it on this.

So um that was more of once we do it one time, it'll be better to do it than next time.

So okay and I will say this.

I will say this, you know, at my town hall meeting, my constituents they was not very happy about this list.

How can we?

I know we don't pick the street, but how can we have some representation for South Jackson for some more streets of theirs to be put on this one percent sale tax?

They were very disappointed about this list.

The administration is has heard uh you um councilwoman, and I think we're working on how we can get more representation and making sure that what the actual commission is um the power that they have and the power that the city has.

So I think the CAO and the administration, well the administration is working on that, and and legal.

Okay, councilwoman.

Let me add to that.

Um, our last one percent sales tax meeting, the one percent commission offered the three individuals to form a subcommittee to work with director Anderson and myself and anyone else from the city to one reconcile the list of what they have already approved so that we're all operating from the same sheet of music, and then that subcommittee will help us prioritize based on what you as council members are submitting to us.

So don't have a quick or short answer, but I think um in a couple of months, you will see streets in South Jackson added to the list, and I think you'll be very pleased when you see next week's council agenda that there are some more um streets that have been added to one of the contracts in South Jackson.

So we hear you as Director Anderson said, and we're working on that, and we're gonna continue to do this subset of work under the 1% commission, um, where we align ourselves closer together.

They've indicated a willingness to work with this administration, um, but they've asked us to do some things that we have to do so that we can get them uh to the table, so to speak, and we're doing that.

Uh where you next.

Thank you.

Um yeah, I appreciate those, and I I share the concerns as well.

Uh, just a uh moment of clarity.

So um what since this has one A, one B2, one A, all the letters and then bond.

Um when folks ask what is one percent paying for, those are anything with the number in the letter.

Right.

So this is the full list minus bond.

If we take out all the bond stuff, all the remaining items are items when folks say what is one percent paying for, this is what one percent is paying for.

Yes, sir.

And um, and all of these items either have been done or will be done.

They've been voted on.

It is these are happening.

Yes, uh phase two uh was just proposed and approved by the so it's more of getting contracting, engineering.

Uh phase two is is just starting the process.

Phase one, which is 1A, 1B, 1C, has already been approved, designed under construction, or have been completed.

So I see like Adele Street from West to Blair is is part of 2B, what it's down to.

So if folks have questions about Adele Street, we can say Adell Street will be done.

It's already been voted on, it's already at the list, it's already happening.

Okay.

And then when so presumably there's going to be around three.

Is this done annually, or when do the do we finish all of two and then look to three, or when will the next round be decided?

Um that's up to the commission.

I think we received between 12 to 15 million annually.

So I don't, I think they receive the funds.

Well, we received the funds in January of 2027.

So they may select the streets or start talking about the streets probably in October or November.

So they'll probably be the next discussion.

Um if this not uh revised.

Um so they're probably the every year that would happen.

Probably October, November, start talking about the streets when the money gets here.

Um I think there's a fund balance.

The CFO may be able to ask the answer that question.

Thank you.

I'm not familiar with how the one percent has done it in the past.

Um, I want to again clarify one thing, Director Anderson said the amount that the one cent commission receives, they did a bond as well under the last administration.

So the number that Director Anderson uh quoted is a gross number, not a net available number because they're still paying on a bond as well.

Um from that, uh, I think the process going forward will be different than the process in the past.

Um again, several of you have already been over there.

The um one percent commission has indicated a willingness to work with us.

They want to finish off the projects that were selected by your predecessors and are in the current one, two, three phase.

Um, but I suspect once we get a list that everyone is comfortable with, we'll start building the next phase, whether we call that four or something else, I don't know.

But that will address those of you who are currently sitting in the seats.

Okay, thank you very much.

Question you good?

Uh Mr.

Putt.

Thank you.

I my question is about uh the members of the one cent sales tax commission that were from the previous administration.

I think Mr.

Mellenbach and Mr.

Wright, have they been contacted to ask if they could step down?

Mayor Horn indicated he was going to contact them.

I will tell you that one of those terms, I believe the one from Mr.

Malembeka expired at the end of February.

So I think we're about to have them at their them being the one percent commission at their March meeting, declare a vacancy for which the mayor would then bring a nomination back over here.

And I think that would only leave Mr.

Wright because the mayor uh nominated himself as I recall to replace uh Mayor Lumumba.

Y'all approved that.

Now we have a second one there, and I will check on the term for Mr.

Wright, but but Mayor Horn, I asked, did he want me to contact Mr.

Wright?

And he indicated he would do that.

Yep.

Okay.

Okay, uh I think that's pretty much it.

Next meeting, I want us to follow up on this one percent, uh, including telling us about the structure, uh background and where we're going with it.

Uh I'd like to include that in the next agenda.

Also, I would like to us to have some discussions concerning the Jackson Metro Water Authority.

And uh looking at okay, you know, where was the declaration uh that we needed to the mandate for us to do it, what it all did it say, and then um uh going forward, what are we gonna be looking at?

I want us to just have some general discussion concerning that.

Anything else to come before the public works committee?

If not, uh oh yeah, one other thing, Ms.

Grafty.

This is the guy right here, okay.

This is the public works director.

So he get with you after the meeting, and you tell them all about your neighborhood, okay.

But thank you very much.

Thanks all for participating public works.

Hey, you know, thank you for everything you do.

Uh legal, everyone, thank you, Vic, even you, okay?

Thank you.

Look, until uh until next time, we adjourn.