Good afternoon.

It is approximately 4 03, and we're calling the meeting for finance committee to order.

At this time, we have special guests today for finance committee meeting.

This meeting is going to be centered around energy.

At our last meeting, we had questions about energy.

Energy is normally one of the larger items on our claims docket.

This meeting will only deal with numbers, bills, et cetera.

Things that deal with the budget.

It will not be a direct what conversation with energy about any problems or anything else.

It's strictly about the figures that we pay energy and trying to figure out what we have been billed for, how to reduce costs, and basically it's about street lights and not about utilities in buildings.

At this time, I'll let Energy introduce themselves, and they have provided information that they'll be going over.

And at the end of their presentation, we can have questions and answers, but not in between.

Thank you.

Delana Jones with NGG Mississippi.

I am the manager of Region Customer Service for Jackson's area.

Good afternoon.

My name is Victoria Love, Customer Service Manager for Entergy for the Jackson area.

And my name is Andrew Mitchell.

I'm the lighting coordinator for Energy Mississippi.

So as councilwoman Clay mentioned, we are here to discuss the street lighting concerns that you all have voiced to us.

What we have in front of you, just to kick it off with the lighting piece of what entergy owns and what is held in the responsibility of the city.

If you look through our documentation, and I apologize, we did not number the images themselves, but this is just to give an outlay of who covers what within the city of Jackson.

So on the first image, you can see that across Old Kenton Road near exit 100, these are M.Dot lighting facilities.

So MDOT will be the owner of that light or those lightings.

If you keep flipping, you'll see high street on the east side of 55 North.

Right in front of about Whataburger, that's when energy picks up the lighting, and I believe that's mixed ownership.

So if you keep flipping through the documentation, it will give the descriptions and just give an area view of what energy owns, what the city of Jackson owns, what is mixed ownership, and then what MDOT owns as well.

So I'd be I'd be happy to continue speaking through these images, but if you all would prefer to look at them on your own time, then we could do that.

So one concern that we have heard um is street lighting.

So just to let you all know, we have about 22,000, and that's approximate, 22,000 street lights within the city of Jackson.

Um do you have that exact number?

22, 22,254 lights within the city of Jackson.

As of now, or as of yesterday, we did a we did an assessment to confirm how many outages are occurring within the city, and it is less than one percent.

We have about 63 outages within the city of Jackson as of now.

So we know that has been one of the concerns.

If you look at the other document that has been provided to you, that is the reporting street light outages document.

So that this way.

Uh-oh.

This this document right here, it is the reporting streetlight outages document that helps you share with your constituents how they can report streetlight outages within the city of Jackson.

Keep in mind that we have a three business day commit to perform our streetlight repairs, unless there is some additional issues or damage that has been taken place or that has taken place with the that the lights themselves.

But for the we try to maintain that three business day commit for any street light outages and those simple repairs.

So just to let you know where we stand on the street lights, um, as far as amount as well as how many are currently out.

All right, as far as billing, um currently the city is being billed a base rate of 344,626 and 44 cents a month, and that's the base rate, not including the um riders and fuel charge.

We did um a couple of weeks ago speak with the city in reference to a increase to that current rate due to a billing.

We had a billing system upgrade um that caused billing to be paused for municipalities, and once that upgrade was corrected, um, those charges were um updated.

So no installs, removes, or exchanges had been billed to municipalities.

So any um you know, lighting exchanges that were done, any new installs that were done, and that's included on the handout that I that you have that says entry lease lighting estimate.

So this is all the signed lighting agreements that we have since um 2019, where we have either exchange lights and upgrading them to LED or added new lights, um, like the project on highway 18.

So all of those were included within this um billing uh conversion, and that changed the uh price of your bills, which is now gonna be 360,000 183 cent, 183.50 cent.

I'm sorry.

Yes, 360, 183.50 cents.

Now entity did decide to not do any back billing on those of installs for that time frame that the billing was paused, so that did save approximately 447,244 and 26 cents, and we also will not bill for any conversion fees, and that's for any light swaps that were swapped over to LED, and that came up to around 47,545 and 38 cents.

So we will start billing for conversion fees for any light going forward, but not during the time frame where the billing was paused.

And just to add a little clarity, the bill itself wasn't paused.

You were still receiving a bill.

We just did not perform that update.

So you were receiving the same bill without the updates that are taking place due to various projects.

Can you um time the question asked questions now?

Yes, when they get finished.

Oh, I thought they were finished.

Is this correct?

Have you provided us with the information you're reading?

Yes, we we had a meeting.

Um, no, I don't have not the bill amount.

No, I didn't provide that.

No, I've provided the um agreements that were signed.

You're welcome.

So anything that you're requesting, we can send that to the upgrades that they're speaking of in the bills have not reflected yet that we'll move forward with the April billing cycle.

So we can send you a copy of what the previous months bill is.

That's very in terms of the pause and update that should have remained the same for those months because we did not upload all of the changes, the conversion of the day that is taking place.

Of course, with LED conversions when we began this process, there was a per light fee.

How many do we got?

There was a per light fee to convert and entergy waived those fees due to the delay in updating the billing.

So it's like $32.71, which was agreed upon and understood by the previous administration when they signed for us to move forward with those conversions.

Yes, sir.

Anything else you guys want to present to us about billing or anything at this point before we open for questions.

I would like to mention um the fuel rate rider has increased since that billing Victoria just shared, which was I think 344,000.

Um, so your bill for March 2026, and I believe for February as well, is already within the 404,000 uh price range, and that's due to the fuel to the fuel rate rider um changing, and the cost is a little different.

It it increased per se.

Um, but that's just due to the fuel rate itself and what was approved by the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

And that that fuel adjustment rider is a credit, so the credit amount decrease, which you made the bill go up.

So yeah, it is still a credit, but that amount is less now.

Mr.

Foot.

I would like to add they we've given you a quantity of lights, but your bill reflects poles that are street light only poles.

Typically, the lights are installed on our distribution poles, which would be no charge to you to use that pole, but if it is if it is a street light only pole specifically for the purpose of a light, there's a charge associated with that.

There could be a charge associated with additional facilities to serve that light, such as transformers, um underground wiring.

So there's the breakdown other than lights that goes into making up that bill.

So you don't divide 300,000 dollars divide.

That is one proposal, if I'm not mistaken.

But that's not you that's not in the no, that's I'm just what I'm saying is the 22,000 light count that she gave you.

There are additional facilities that are associated with the bill.

You don't have a copy of a bill, you have a copy of a sign proposal that was accepted, that was presented to the previous administration and accepted for us to proceed with that conversion or installation, but for a bill itself, we don't have a copy of that that you can't get that back to what I'm saying is when you pay the bill, when you're paying for street lighting, that could also include total transformers that are necessary to serve the transformers' purpose is only to serve the street lights.

It's not like just say, for instance, you're on a block, a neighborhood block, and you have houses and you have a transformer that's serving those houses.

You would not be charged for that transformer because the purpose of that transformer is serving those houses, which is already covered.

But if you were to go along a boulevard and just want to put poles and lights up, there are no transformers to trans to um to to drop the voltage, you would be charged a per a facilities charge for that because that equipment is solely for the purpose of those lights.

So what I'm saying is not only are there lights that you are paying for, there are facilities.

If you choose to have underground, if you want to have lights run underground, there's a charge for that, whether it's trenching or boring under the street, that underground wiring that is a secondary cost, so that cost is passed along to the customer.

And you provide that too.

Yes, sir.

Andrew, we we can yes, sir.

Yeah, we can um all this is like you have 22,000 lights within the city, but as Robbie's saying, there's other equipment as well, but we have all that on our books, so we could give that to you.

What all's included in your street light monthly costs?

We could give that to you.

So you need the breakdown of everything.

Okay.

On how the um the components of the bill that what that was 344,626, and now it's I guess it's uh whatever it was, 44,000, something, whatever it is.

What are the the uh components?

Some of the stuff is stuff you own, some of the stuff is stuff we own.

Uh then there's kilowatt hours, and I don't know if kilowatt hours are part of the components.

Can you tell us how it comes up to 344,626 a month?

Yeah, so the way that street lighting works is there's a rate schedule, and there's different rate schedules.

There's one for LED lighting, there's one for HPS, like old lighting, and the rate commission approves this, but every light has a the rate commission, the public service public service commissioner.

Okay.

So they approve, they help approve the rates to a rate admin process.

And so every single light has a base rate that's approved by them.

So for instance, the lower lumen LED lights, there's probably a lot of them within the city.

They are $12.77 per light per month.

That's a monthly fee that the city is paying for that light.

Now, with Rob, what we're saying goes into that as well.

There's also equipment that's on your street lighting books as well, whether if that's a transformer that's just serving a light, or it could be a boring cost.

Your new base rate is actually going to be 360,000.

That's the base rate prices.

So the if is there um what happens if a light goes out and it doesn't get turned in or don't get fixed.

We still paying the 12.70 cents a month, even though it's burned out.

Yes, that's correct.

But if there's any kind of documentation, and this is on there, this is customer service hub, but if there's any kind of documentation that it has been reported, and for whatever reason, energy's not getting that to us, I'm sure you could present that to us and we could have a further conversation about what needs to happen for that.

That'd be hard for us to keep track of if there's 2020 of them for us to document, you know.

Oh, there's a light over here on Timbuktu that that was out for the last three weeks or whatever.

I uh you can't expect us to to be able to track all that down and then report it to you all.

Well, let me add so our team does perform night patrols just to go around the city, confirm what may be out that we obviously won't see in the daytime, um, just so we can keep an eye on what is taking place within the city itself.

So we have our team that performs those um on a frequent basis.

I can't confirm the the timeline of that, but they do perform that on a frequent basis, just to ensure that um the lights are working as they should, and I think that has helped with us having such a low outage count within the total 22,000 out uh lights that we have within the city of Jackson.

Man, I tell you uh one percent.

I have a hard time believing it.

My trips around town, particularly down in uh you know wide areas of highway 80 and Pascagoula and Pearl Street.

I've got driven out there when it's completely black, there's no lights at all working.

And so it's hard for me to imagine that our allegiance late is really one percent.

So I'm I'm I have a hard time believing that.

But that aside, but the if I can add okay to clarify on those night patrols, that's the major thoroughfares.

Okay, we don't go neighborhood street by street.

We're talking about the neighborhood, the uh the major thoroughfares.

Perl and Pastor Law are major thoroughfares.

But there is a there's also, and that was in the handout.

We didn't go to that detail, but there is a combination of um what we call, I guess we could say mixed, that may not be the best word.

We have a combination of lights downtown where the city owns the pole and the underground wiring, and entergy owns the fixture itself.

So, how does that how do we pay for that?

How's that what's the rate on that?

You're paying for the light, the fixture itself, not the pole.

So we're just paying for like $12.70 for the light.

Depending on the wattage of that light, you could be paying because the the lights can go anywhere from a hundred watts to 400 watts.

Okay, that was the high pressure sodium, but as we're transitioning to LED, those numbers are changing.

But certain some streets have larger what uh larger wattage lights as opposed to what you may have in the residential area.

They wouldn't want a 400 watt on their street.

It's just too much light, and then again, that's a higher cost that you may not authorize.

You just want the typical residential 100 watt light.

So, in terms of the outage, that there is a document that you have that shows how to report street lights out in our app.

So we communicate that via social media, we communicate that through um radio advertising, various forms of advertising.

We share that with homeowners associations, we've shared that information with you.

That's something that you can post on the city's website, but it makes it easy for customers themselves to call in and say there's a street light in front of my house that's out, give the address, and that light is then reported, and we can then uh prepare to respond to repair that light.

So do we gonna stop your question?

I'm not through.

Okay, but we're gonna have a time limit so we can get through before five o'clock, and then we'll come back if that's okay, okay?

I guess so.

Okay.

Let's let's just we're gonna limit our time to each council person the first time around to four minutes, and then we'll come back.

And they may have to come back another day, but we want to get through billing and understand what's going on.

Mr.

Parkinson.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I'm gonna keep okay.

Okay.

Okay, I'm gonna keep my questions targeted on the financial components per surprise's request.

You mentioned the the base rate initially 344, now 360, and you mentioned that does not include fuel and something else.

I didn't hear the other component you of what else it would include.

There's also riders.

Um there is a first you get a municipal municipal street light discount.

Um that's included in the bill, um, a formula rate plan rider, which is the light rider, or a storm damage mitigation restoration rider, and a fuel adjustment.

Those are also included that's not in that base rate.

So fuel fluctuates on a month by month basis.

Is that the only variance?

The only thing that will change from month to month is how much fuel is used.

So those three riders, um you can see them on your bill.

The riders can change month by month, but it would be very slight.

But those riders, how they're calculated on their bill is there by the kilowatt hours, which is a set number based upon the amount of lights that you have.

So for instance, your your previous bill, those 22,000 lights that you had, the kilowatt hours for those lights were a hundred and make sure I say this right.

So one million two hundred and eighty thousand three hundred and thirty-seven kilowatt hours.

That's a that's a set number that's playing into those riders.

Okay, and for the uninformed is would a if a street light is out, does that contribute to kilowatt hours?

Um it's a it's a set number, like each light has a set number of kilowatt hours.

So, like uh C2, they mentioned the uh lower lumen LED light that has a 24 kilowatt hour set number.

It's not gonna fluctuate based on light on or not.

Is that a set number if it works?

Let me add in the base rate that you pay for a light, the kilowatt hours estimated to be used is included in that cost, so you're not charged for kilowatt hours monthly.

Your credit or your charge for the fuel per kilowatt hours is there, but the the base rate that you pay, you're these lights are not metered, so it's not like at your house where you your usage is going through a meter.

So that is again that is a calculation that Energy has come up with to set these prices and present it to the public service commission for approval.

So kilowatt hours are not billed to answer your question.

If that light is not working, those kilowatt hours aren't deducted, but the fuel charge is per kilowatt hour.

So that was the number, the one million number that Andrew gave you.

So that pretty much would stay the same unless you're adding or removing lights from the bill.

Okay.

And just to just to give you one in particular, the highway 18 lighting project is a new project over a year and a half.

So that was not that's a part of what that don't get me wrong.

It didn't make the entire increase in the bill because there were other lights that were added here and there.

Customer of constituent call in and say we need additional light on our street.

You all authorize it.

It was not a light there previously.

We've added it.

Those are the type lights that made up the bill increase that we due to technical issues, had not updated until current day that we're speaking of.

How do you think billing is going with the city?

I think I think it's pretty much apparent that it's a gray area for you all, and you don't understand.

And so we need to break that bill down and present it to you in a way that you can understand.

It's not as easy as looking at your own personal bill.

Your kilowatt hours fluctuates monthly.

It fluctuates monthly, but when we when we prepare those presentations, we don't expect the summer months.

I'm using my air conditioning, my kilowatt hours are gonna go up.

That's not what it's going to happen on street lights because it's just a set number of of uh kilowatt hours that we are basing that on so that we don't have to go around and have meters everywhere for all of the street lights that are in place.

I think also that for the most part we're paying for our bills, regardless of whether half the lights in the city are working or not working, makes it crucially important that as many lights are on as possible.

Many of us want to see even more lighting, but will we're paying this rate, and to hear let me make sure I understand.

When you say one percent, you mean one percent of the people have reported it on this app.

That's right.

Okay.

I heard you say this makes it easy for the citizens.

It is not easy for the citizens.

Okay, we're gonna let you close out with that question here from there.

Which is what determines dust to dawn, the light coming on.

If it's anything more than that, a voltage, a wiring problem, a failed fixture.

We cannot make it in that three-day, it may have to go back.

But we're paying.

Yes, you are paying.

But the understanding in the best case scenario, people are actually notifying you, either filling out the app or calling you.

That's relying on citizens because we have a night patrol, which I I don't believe exists, but to the extent that it does exist, it's only going on major thoroughfares.

And even that it's not even nightly, it's a quarterly or an annually or whatever, whatever.

Mr.

Parkers.

This is the this is about our budget.

I understand that, but Miss Ms.

Brown has four minutes, and then we'll come back.

I know you can pause your thought.

Okay.

Thank you.

And I was listening on um why I was in route here, and you say it's a night patrol, because my area is South Jackson, and I have a lot of lights out.

That is my major complaints.

I get several calls every day about lights out.

And also some of my concentrants, they have said that they call the 1-800, but don't let them never be done.

They report these lights.

Well, that's that's good feedback for us to hear from the customers who are attempting to make these reports and they're not successful in that.

That's the feedback that we need so that we can continuously improve our processes.

Um, because we do offer those three ways for customers to report streetlight outages, but we do want to be sure that the options that we provided them are proving beneficial for them.

So I appreciate you providing us with that feedback.

Um, and to provide clarity on the night patrols so they can take place before um it's kind of like a dust to dawn kind of thing while the sun is not out, just so we can see what lights are currently active, so we can have a better tally of what is out.

Because if the sun is up, we won't be able to see it.

So our team makes those patrols in the morning before the sun rises or at night.

So, what can you tell me the best way to report these lights so I can take it back to my constituents in reference to what to do?

I believe all three options, and they would have to determine which option is best for them.

Um, if you ask me, I would like to report it on the app.

It's just a little easier for me, but someone may not be as tech savvy, may not be willing to use the app.

So that's why we have the the number that's still available, so you can just simply make a call.

Some people are not fond of making calls, so there's a website opportunity as well.

So I think showing and displaying all three options would be the best thing, and having and making sure that they have that awareness of hey, you don't just have to use the app, you can also call in and then use the website if necessary.

So I still have all three options available for everyone.

And just one more thing is in reference to it.

It's also in reference to other things.

I talked to Miss Love in reference to the contractor, they did some work in my ward and I sent her the pictures.

They left trash, they left the equipment, everything in someone a yard, and I got complaints about that.

Yeah.

Well, I apologize that you had to experience that, and like I said, that's some feedback that we need to receive as well.

That way we can better define to you all um instead of an expect expectation for our customers, your constituents when it comes to some of the projects or um the work that we're performing on a daily basis or whether it's storm related, just so you all can have that expectation of what to uh expect during those times.

But I appreciate you providing that feedback and feel free to share that information with us real time so we can address it and make a and have a resolution for it.

Thank you.

And I'll also add on the street light reporting with reporting it on the app, it pins point it pinpoint the exact light that's out when it's reported.

Versus sometimes when a customer calls the light in, um, if they don't have that poll number, they just say, you know, light out on Capitol Street.

If we send someone out during the daytime, they don't know which light it is.

So, you know, we ask that either they, you know, if they can supply the poll number or the nearest house address to where that light is out, so that we'll be able to find that light, but reporting it on the out of pinpoints the exact light and give the location of where that light is.

Right, thank you.

Yes, uh, hopefully just very, very quick.

First of all, what is the status for our current contract with energy?

When was last time it went through?

Uh when is it up for review?

Anyone know any of that information?

Municipal municipal street lighting is something that we offer in the entergy Mississippi territory.

The 45 counties we serve, municipal street lighting.

Jackson, but we don't we don't review, we don't have uh renewals on contracts.

If you decide that you no longer want lights, or if you want the lights that we have in place taken down, that is something that you notify us and we remove the lighting.

And I understand what my my question is right now we have certain fees, okay, and we have to agree upon that as a city, correct?

And we sound uh the city signs some kind of agreement with the entity.

A letter of authorization if you are requesting additional lighting.

Okay, that's additional lighting.

I'm just wondering when I'm not trying to make this complicated when does it come up for review or change, or it has to be something that's asked for by the city.

Is that what I'm hearing?

What is the ask?

I'm I'm not clear on what what has to be asked.

Well, uh, normally we deal with contracts here.

Okay, contracts come up for renewal, okay, and then there are clauses in the contract where this have to happen, this and this and this.

Uh, and so that's different with energy.

I'm seeing as far as street lighting.

So I and I think it's very important that you that uh energy provide to this board uh the details of how I mean your menu, what's charges for this and that because it seemed like there's a lot of different things going on that's gonna affect our bottom line.

And as a time when we're looking to do cuts in the city, and we have major, we have some uh financial issues.

We're looking at the details.

We need to know those details.

And so if we need to make changes to that arrangement, we can make changes, but it has to be informed changes.

Right.

Who is the city's contact that you all normally talk with concerning the the money side of things?

Mr.

Stevenson, can you answer those questions for Mr.

Hartley?

No, ma'am, I can't.

I'm gonna defer to energy on that, and the city's contact is not me.

Okay.

Um, well, okay.

Victoria Love is your customer service manager.

We respond to the city and their request for meetings.

This is the third meeting that I'm aware of this year alone.

Okay, what I'm what I'm asking is when you go when those changes are made, and we said, hey, we need to change this, this, and this, and this, and it's gonna reflect in your budget.

Who do you normally talk with?

Um, we talked with several different people within the city.

Um, we've talked to um Angela Brown, Ms.

Brown, we've talked to um Lorenzo Anderson, Von Anderson, um James Caldwell as well.

Um but finance side, the money side, who are you talking to?

Well, that's whoever reached out to us from the city.

We don't talk to anyone, if someone from the city's financial, which was the meeting that they had two weeks ago.

Yeah, yeah.

We just we were requested to attend.

We need to get okay.

We need on our side, we can't get that money.

And I will say that all of the riders are approved by the customer um public service commission, so all of that is online.

We can we can provide you those writers that's included in your bill.

Thank you.

Well, and Councilman Hartley, I do want to address your question.

So thank you for providing clarity.

Um, the letter of authorization, so that LOA that Robbie was referring to is the form or contract type form that we have.

We don't necessarily have a contract agreement, but the LOA is used in that case.

Um, to Victoria's point, the writers are approved by the public service commission.

Um, and if that's something that you all would like to be notified of during those changes so that you can make those necessary adjustments, um, then we can continue working to be sure that we can provide you with some necessary information as it arises, but the public service commission's information is also public, so we can work towards um providing additional information, but the contract is a little different on this side, it's more of a LOA.

I hope that clears up a not much.

Let's move on, Mr.

Grisale.

Okay, I just want to make one comment.

We're very pleased that energy is here today.

This is the first time that energy has actually met with our council and going through a bill.

We know it's gonna take time for us to understand what the bill is.

Several of us have been on the council longer than others, and um we respect energy and we want to work with energy and we want lights in our city, and we understand the importance of lights, and maybe we as a city need to help come up with a way to report lights out because sometimes we know what's actually out, and I know myself I've made calls to energy, and I told them how many polls were out, et cetera, and they came instantly and corrected it.

So as we see things out, we need to report it, and I'm not saying that based on a bill or any service or anything.

I agree we all want the city lit, but if you don't know it's dark or where those polls are, they don't know.

So, Mr.

Thank you, madam chair.

The um appreciate y'all being here today, and um Miss Love, you've helped me out in the past on on some issues.

I appreciate that as well.

Um I'm frustrated, not with y'all, but with the setup for this situation, and my frustration is that um this is part may partly maybe part this public service commission.

I don't know.

But my frustration is so they they they have these lights, 22,254 street lights.

I guess that those are the ones that entergy owns, and we've got other lights, and some of them are M DOT lights, and some of them are City of Jackson lights, and then there's a rate schedule that's come up with by the public service commission that they have authorized, um, and we have 1,280,337 kilowatt hours that are estimated what must have been an estimate that what our lights will um how much power they will use if they're all operating, okay.

And then uh the problem is a lot of them are operating, and I think the one percent number from our you know thing is disingenuous to say the only one percent of Jackson's lights are operating, or one or not functioning.

I think the number is more like 10 percent, some gigantic number, and it's it's a matter of public safety, it's a matter of crime, it's a matter of uh providing a safer environment for our citizens.

So this is a really big important issue for us, and I know it's an important issue for entergy as well, but just relying on the citizens to like I drive down highway sometimes, I'll see a whole bunch of lights out, but I'm going 40 miles an hour, and I can't figure out what the poll number is.

I'm driving 40 miles an hour at night.

Nobody can.

You'd have to have a damn X-ray thing on top of your cart to know what the number is.

So my frustration let me finish.

Let me finish because it's not five o'clock yet.

Okay.

The uh so we got a real because there's a disconnect here between uh the service being provided and the billing and the service we're getting.

And I'm not I don't want to blame any particular person, but a system that relies on us reporting a light that's not working or some citizen out there on a highway or whatever it might be when you're driving by at 40 miles an hour.

That is not a good system.

We got to have a better system.

Whether we have to get our policemen to go out and inventory all the lights at once a week, or a fire department or somebody.

We got to come up with a better system so the lights are actually working and we're paying, we're paying the electricity, whether it's being used or not.

That's a you know, that's a win-win for energy.

That if the lights out, then there's not using the electricity, but we're still paying for electricity because it's based on an estimate.

So we we've got to come up with a system for billing and a system for the lights functioning that really deliver the lights for our citizens and makes Jackson a safer place.

Thank you.

Sure.

Um, one thing that I do want to clarify, and I don't want it to be misinterpreted, is Mississippi Public Service Commission said we could.

They chart they sent the rates.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Well, they approve the rates that Entergy calculates and justifies.

Sure.

And the public service commission approves that.

I don't want it mistaken that the public service commission made us do it, told us we could do it, said to do it.

And I'm just saying how others may interpret that.

So the public service commission approves all the rates in the state.

They approve the rates I pay at my house.

Right, exactly.

So I just don't want us on pays out at wherever you're in.

I don't want that to go, you know, sideways otherwise.

I understand that.

And entergy does not guarantee continuous service.

But here is the problem.

If they I understand that light gets shot out by some, you know, um, gang member.

The but the fact is you're getting paid whether the service is being provided or not, because they use the estimate for all that.

So the the the that you know is is a you know bone of contention from by me.

I realize that you the the rates are determined by the public service commission.

But we've got to come up with a better way, the council and the city and everybody else to make sure those lights are working, operating as much as possible.

Just having an app on your people's phone and relying on them to turn it in to call it in is not sufficient.

That's one you know, one uh part of the solution, but it's not the whole solution.

I I hear you and I understand I do hear you, and I really safety matters a lot.

People feel safer when there's more lights out there.

And to to the to the um explanation that we gave, that was one percent that we have received as reported out that has not been repaired.

So that's there are lights that could possibly be out that have not been reported.

But of what we have received, that's one percent.

If we have a continuous delay in repairing something, I understand that that comment, but I'm just saying, I'm not we're not saying only one percent of the lights are out.

We're saying what has been reported to us that it rem that is currently out as of yesterday's pull of that data is equivalent to less than one percent.

All right, thank you.

And I I do accept your comments related related to improving upon this process.

Yes, sir.

Let's go to sale.

I just have a it's just a comment.

You know, Atmos sends robots through neighborhoods looking for leaks.

JPD has cameras everywhere, and we can, you know, we we're in an age of a lot of modern technology, and I just believe that the monster that entergy is, we got drones, there's a lot we can do other than just trying to send some guys on a truck through neighborhoods or through therapies late at night.

And that's just all I ask that we look at other technology to see if we can help the customer, which is the seat of Jackson, to better find these outages and get them repaired.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Received and agree, Mr.

Parkinson.

Uh thank you.

Two points.

The first is on this this related uh item, and and uh just making sure that all the lights are on and functioning.

I like uh our president's suggestion of technology, but even if it's not technology, I wonder if entergy would be willing to provide, or maybe it's something where we split the cost of a small crew that goes not just on major thoroughfares, but when you're talking about a client of of our size, I mean we are paying over 400,000 a month, a month.

It's one of our largest ticket items when we do claims every month.

If we can if we can get um one or two people that doesn't just go in major therapies, but their full-time job, they work the night shift, and their full-time job is to drive around neighborhoods, uh, major thoroughfares, the entire city of Jackson and reports these and gets these lights back on.

Because I think this works exceedingly well if you are somebody who has the time and and know and you know about the system and and all those things, but to rely on individuals reporting this one's out, this one's out, that one's out, and and even if they don't know the exact one, and then someone comes during the day and says nothing I can do because I don't know what I mean.

That just the system is broken.

And so whether we have drones flying around the city or whether we split the cost of a full-time employee uh who can go around and and note these, I think something else I think needs to be done.

Uh so that's the first note that I'll make.

The second note, and and this is to your defense, this is not entergy's fault, but as a city, and Mr.

Tarson, I love your thoughts on this.

We have assembled a Hajjpage where most of the lights are entergy lights, but some are City of Jackson lights, which I don't even know if we have the ability to switch those lights out.

Um, even if and some are like a hybrid where they're half energy, half city of Jackson, and um I don't know.

I mean, I I don't know what can be done about that if we want to revert some of those lights back to entergy and just say every light in the city, entergy is responsible for or whoever.

But this this Hajj, I think it's part of the mass.

Peter Taywatson, CAO.

I agree, Councilman Parkinson.

I think part of the reason for the Hodge Podge historically has been the city has received money at different times from the federal government or the state to install street lights or to install traffic lights and a street light within so many feet or yards.

So they kind of contributed to the hodgepodge was where the funding came from at any given moment.

I don't think the city can just abandon the paid for infrastructure and give it to entergy.

I think there are some legal ramifications there that would pose problematic.

I have a simpler suggestion, uh, which I'm sure will end up not being workable because it's so simple.

I just like a list or a map of everywhere that the city pays for a light.

We could then we've got redundant employees.

Y'all have heard me say that every month.

We could take some redundant employees and then go check the list or check the map to see if they're working.

If they're not, report them to integy and do something along those lines.

And there may be some lights that we should indeed deactivate or turn off.

I know most of us think we need more lights, and there are areas of the city we absolutely need more street lights.

But I also suspect, because I I spend a fair amount of time driving around our city, that there are parts of this city that no longer need the number of street lights they once had, especially if they were in a business or commercial area where those businesses have left.

So my suggestion would be if integy, if you have any way to identify by list or map uh everywhere that the city pays a bill for a street light, that would be super helpful.

Yes, we do have that.

We can provide inventory list of lights.

I can send that via email.

Can y'all look at the fourth page of this that you provided?

It's of the fairgrounds in Pascagoula and Pearl Street.

And help me understand because those lights are out.

So I see it says City of Jackson owns the poles, wires, and street light arms, and then energy and owns and maintains the light fixtures only.

That's right.

That whole Pascagoula is pitch black.

What is the breakdown?

Is that a light fixture issue?

Is that a pole wire and street light arm issue?

That's a wiring issue.

It's a wiring issue.

That's right.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

Um that solves the problem for why is dark.

Yep.

And confirm it.

Yeah, but it identifies it and it solves it too.

Yeah, we gotta pay for it.

That's the answer.

And we don't pay for MDOT.

We don't pay MDOT lighting facilities at all.

MDOT runs that is at the state level, right?

Correct.

We have previously discussed um entergy taking over those lights on Pascal Street, and also have a proposal of what it will be for us to take over those, take ownership of those lights, so I can provide that to you all as well.

If I can just explain M dot lighting, the high mass lighting that you see out on the interstates on 220, 55, 8 uh 20, the high mast in the medians.

That's M dot.

But what often gets confusing in some areas and on the first page of that sketch, if you're taking 55 north, and you take that Meadowbrook exit, and you get on Old Canton Road, those are what we call Cobrahead lights, which you would think are entry lights, but those are M dot as well.

And as you go down South State Street, by Stanley's wine and liquor, those are Cobrahead lights that are leading to the interstate.

Those are M dot lights as well.

So that's the that's the combination of lights that's within the city.

And the May Street Bridge are city-owned lights for my thank you.

Mr.

Holland, Mr.

Hollywood.

Okay, mine is simply this.

We're paying for polls, right?

The city of Jackson is paying for polls.

Yes, some street light only poles.

Only polls.

Right.

Okay.

Not the electrical.

Not the distribution poles, no, sir.

Okay, and who maintains that?

If the light, if it's an energy, if it's a light street light leased by energy, we maintain that.

But we pay for it.

You pay for the light, not the pole.

Okay.

My point is is this.

Um and I'll just be frank with you.

In my ward uh entity does not get big ratings.

A lot of times it comes to the polls, and we need to work that out.

And if we're paying for it, then we just expect the best service, not only for that light, but for polls as well.

We see stuff leaning, we see stuff hanging, we see transformers out, and we report that.

And our report those we send it into our 311 system.

Folks are constantly reporting.

But we have to work that out.

And if we're not paying for it, or if it's not your responsibility, then we're gonna have to find out whose responsibility that is.

Thank you.

That's all.

I think that's the best point that has been made today that we need to find out who has what responsibility, get the list of polls and work from that and work as a council, work with the city, provide lights to the city, and energy help us, and we as a council work toward doing that.

Thank you guys.

Coming today, we appreciate you.

And if there are any other questions or if we need to schedule another meeting, but would you please follow up with the bill and the list of polls?

And if each council person is willing to take that list and look at that list based on their ward and see what's what and we get with Mr.

Taverson on extra personnel and try and work through that list.

I think we'll have a bright Jackson.

Miss uh Madam Chair, if we could ask the entry to provide us that breakdown on the list for as the options, so we the money keepers here, we're trying to make the best decisions possible.

We may want some changes to that.

So if you could provide us the breakdown, I know you started out with well, it depends on this, and well, that but so we just need to know all our options on the table.

I'm sorry, you're asking for a breakdown of what, Councilman Harley?

The bill.

And and and the add-ons and you know what options we actually have.

Yeah, we we can do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Any other questions?

If if I may add just one more comment, um, in addition to the list, Victoria's that she would share.

We have shared with the city of Jackson um a mapping of energy owned lights.

That way they can overlay that map and confirm where all the city owned lights are.

We have provided that a few on a few occasions to the city, so we have shared that information, and we're working with the city to ensure um that you all have the information that you all need and trying to help however we can.

Is it just uh a list?

Um just a list of addresses or is it actual map?

So Victoria will provide an actual list, but there's an actual map that we've shared.

Yeah, we we've shared that map and we can share it again if necessary.

Will you share it with the clerk of council and she'll share it with all seven of us?

Give us both the list and the map.

Okay, thank you so much.

Any other comments, but we appreciate you for coming and we look forward to working with you, and we look forward to solving the city's lighting problem and to reduce our cost any way we can.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you for your feedback and your questions.

We appreciate it.

Yes, thank you.

This meeting is now adjourned.