I like to call the meeting of August seventh, twenty twenty five to order.

Special intentions.

Yes, I like the everyone to keep the Caraway family in their prayers.

Uh Karen Caraway, the wife of former chief of police Steve Caraway passed away over the weekend after a long illness.

She was twenty-five years old.

Please bow your heads.

Grant us favor, increase our faith, and prepare us to pursue your excellence.

As schools begin the new in the upcoming weeks, please guide the teachers, students, and parents to listen more than speak and to respect each other.

Keep everyone safe and protected throughout the year, and encourage all to be kind in words and deeds.

I have a motion by Councilmember Wilmot, seconded by Councilmember McKenney to reconvene from executive session.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Mayor, do you have any comments?

Yes, I'll be just one.

If you looked ahead, just something exciting news coming here in River Town.

If you looked ahead to 16F, the American cruise line wanting to build a replace up here and dock uh on the river to start one of their river boat cruises from uh here in River Town.

So uh they'll be here next meeting to make a presentation.

So just wanted to let the folks know if they're interested.

Watch the meeting.

Very good.

Madam Clark.

Yes, sir.

Do we have any resolutions, motions or other items from the floor?

Seeing none under the consent agenda, we have item one approval of minutes, the regular council meeting of July 25th, 2025.

That concludes the consent agenda.

I have a motion by council member Wilma, seconded by Councilmember La Hyatt.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Under the public appearance agenda, I have item eight, public hearings and final passage.

We have none.

Item nine is ordinances for the sale, purchase, transfer, lease and or alien alienation of a moveable property.

We have none.

Item ten is opening of bids, we have none.

Eleven is reclassification of zoning for final passage, we have none.

Item 12 is other ordinances for final passage, we have none.

Item 13 is resolutions and motions by council members.

Item 13 A is a resolution authorizing a settlement in the claim entitled in regards to Thomas LeViste and Bridget Levist versus the City of Kenner.

Kenner Police Department, Keith Conley, and Michael Joseph Glazer, 24th Judicial District Court number 869-598 division H.

I have a motion by Councilmember Brannigan, seconded by Councilmember Lahat.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 14 is items removed from the consent agenda.

We have none.

Item 15 is ex acceptance of contracts and similar matters approved by the mayor.

Item 15A is summary ordinance number 13,903.

An ordinance approving an agreement with pipe works, plumbing, and demolition LLC for d demolition of dangerous building services on an as needed basis and an amount not to exceed 100,000 dollars annually for the inspection and code enforcement department.

I have a motion by councilmember Branagan, seconded by councilmember McKenny.

Seeing no discussion.

None.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 D is summary ordinance number 13,904.

In ordinary accepting the lowest response of bid received from Peretz Men's Wear Incorporated to provide uniform citywide as needed in accordance with electronic bid 25-2176 and an amount not to exceed 25,000 dollars annually for the General Services Department.

I have a motion by Councilmember Sharwith, seconded by Councilmember Brannigan.

Seeing no discussion.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 C summary ordinance number 13,905.

An ordinance authorizing the purchase of computer equipment peripherals and related items on an as needed basis from Apple Incorporated under State of Louisiana contract number 444028673 and an amount not to exceed 10,000 dollars annually.

I have a motion by Councilmember Dunn, seconded by Councilmember Wilmot.

Seeing no discussion, all council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 D is summary ordinance number 13,906.

An ordinance authorized the purchase of computer equipment peripherals and a related items on an athlete basis from Summers Industries Incorporated under State of Louisiana contract number 44028252 and an amount not to exceed 500,000 dollars annually.

I have a motion by Councilmember McKenney, seconded by Councilmember Sharwith.

If we get explanation on this one, I'll take it.

So we currently already piggyback the state contract for this, but the distributor we were using was Dell.

Um and Dell is now pushing us to use other distributors under their contract.

So we're basically not able to buy it directly from Dell.

They're wanting us to use a distributor.

So this is a distributor under the Dell state contract.

Um so it's just for IT equipment, you know, things that um computers and things like that.

Is there something we can compare it to to last year?

So the current contract was for a million dollars, and we've spent 250,000.

That was through Dell.

So we're you know, we're not asking for the full million, but the balance of the the 750 is probably not gonna be used anyway because they're pushing us to use a different distributor.

So thank you.

Any questions?

Yes, uh Liz.

When our budget is tight as it is, we can afford at this point.

Yeah, so it's just a not take C doesn't mean we're mean we're gonna spend it, but um this is citywide, so this includes the police department, which is who really approached us on the issue.

Um I think they had some things to buy and Dell was pushing them to use this new contract or uh vendor.

So um I don't think we're gonna spend the full 500, but obviously if something goes down and we have to make sure the network's working and everything's up, we would have to spend it.

And this is uh not just for all the city, right?

This is full, yeah, full city, all right.

Please fire all emergency service wherever we need it anywhere.

Yeah, full city.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions?

Seeing none, madam clerk.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 E, a summary ordinance, nine hundred and seven, an ordinance authorizing utilization of state of contract number four four zero zero zero two one one eight nine to purchase data, communication, products, and services on an as needed basis and an amount not to exceed $25,000 annually for the Kenton Police Department.

Have a motion by Councilmember Brennan, seconded by council member Wilmont.

Any questions?

None.

Seeing none, all council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 F is summary ordinance number 13,908.

An ordinance accepting the lowest responsive bid received from Gulf States Distributors Incorporated of Alabama to provide 20 patrol rifles and red dot sites in accordance with electronic bid 25-2177 and an amount not to exceed $23,480 for the Kentucky Police Department.

I have a motion by Councilmember Brennan, seconded by Councilmember Brannigan.

Councilman Sharwith.

Acting acting chief?

I guess you could say my um what type of these rifles that we're going on.

Right.

So I know the chief had talked about we are starting this new academy July 28th, so they're currently in their second week of the academy.

So these rifles here are our current uh patrol rifles that the entire department are equipped with.

Um currently we we're to your question.

We have the Smith and West and MP Sports with an point on top uh is what they're equipped with to go out on the street.

Uh these 20 rifles and optics are merely to support the um the lateral transfers and the new offices that are currently in the academy for when they go uh on duty on the street themselves.

Gosh, thank you.

Any other questions?

No, Madam Clerk.

Oh, council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye, opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15G is summary ordinance number 13,909.

An ordinance accepting the quote received from Commons Sales and Service for the emergency repair of two own and generators at the wastewater treatment plant and the amount of seven thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine dollars and seventy cents for for the wastewater department.

I have a motion by councilmember dunn, seconded by councilmember Sharwith.

No questions.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15H is summary ordinance number 13,910.

An ordinance approved in an agreement with CMC's services for garden maintenance services in Lake Town and an amount not to exceed $90,000 for the general services department.

I have a motion by Councilmember Lahat, seconded by Councilmember Wilmot.

If we can have an explanation on this one.

This contract also goes from Joe Yenny over the levee all the way to the to the lake.

So it's gonna be able to maintain its $90,000.

If you went out, we were out there this morning, it's well overgrown, and I think the first shot at it's gonna be the most expense, and then I'll have a better idea of how much it will be for uh maintenance of it to keep the the garden, the gardens themselves uh tidy, and we also uh probably gonna lose a c a garden or two or maybe a tree out there with any other questions, anyone?

And we also uh probably gonna lose a garden or two or maybe a tree out there with a questions, anyway?

None, madam clerk.

Seeing none, all council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15, I is summary ordinance number thirteen thousand nine hundred and eleven, an ordinance ratifying an emergency repair of the Fairbanks Morse 300 HP vertical turbine effluent pump number three at the treatment plant by fluid process and pumps LC in the amount of one hundred and thirteen thousand two hundred and eighty-one dollars for the Department of Wastewater.

I have a motion by Councilmember McKenney, seconded by Councilmember Sharwith.

Any questions?

If we can't get an explanation on this one as well.

Yes, so this is the wastewater treatment plant effluent pump three.

This is the we have six pumps that take all of the treated water from the plant and discharge it to our permitted site at the Mississippi River.

We need all of these pumps in operation during a rain event.

Um we average about 13 and 13 million gallons a day.

Um but during rain events, we can get up to 62 million gallons that we're trying to get out of the plant.

So this is these pumps are needed, and the new these pumps are approximately um yeah, 10 years old, and the new pump will be a 300 and something thousand dollars.

So that's why the cost is the repair cost is 113.

So the hundred the 113 is reasonable considering the cost of the pump.

So yes, sir.

Gotcha.

Any other questions?

Yes.

I just want to um thank you, Council President.

Um, I just want to say um ask um are all of them operational now, like what's I because I know there's a lot of repairs that need to be done, so I kind of just want to if you're though the uh the remaining five are in operation.

Okay, perfect.

And then and everything else is in generally working there.

I mean, I know there's emergency repairs happening all the time.

So great.

Thank you.

You welcome thank you, Ms.

Joan.

You welcome.

Madam Clerk.

Yes, all council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 J is summary ordinance number 13,912.

An ordinance ratifying an emergency replacement of the Myers 6 inch 50 HP solids pump number one at Jelpey and Osborne lift station by wholesale pump and supply in the amount of 20,558 dollars and ninety cents for the Department of Wastewater.

I have a motion by Councilmember Lahat, seconded by Councilmember Brennan.

Questions seeing none, all council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 K is summary ordinance number 13,913.

An order's approving an agreement with Capitol City Press LLC for the 2025-2026 recruiting campaign and an amount not to exceed 48,000 dollars for the Kenna Police Department.

I have a motion by Councilmember McKenney, seconded by councilmember Don.

Questions none.

Seeing none, all council members in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, please say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 L is summary ordinance number 13,897.

An ordinance approved in an agreement with Parish Engineering LLC for professional architectural and engineering services pursuant to SOQ-25-6906 related to the installation of a generator at the Kenner Food Bank for the Department of the Federal Program compliance.

I have a motion by Councilmember Dunn, seconded by Councilmember Brunnan for a one-meeting deferral.

All council members in favor, please say aye.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 16 is ordinances and resolutions and summary for first reading.

Item 16a is an ordinance amending ordinance 11,548 to correct the reservations of certain the sections of Chapter 8, Article 2 of the Kentucode of Ordinances and to restore the fee for fire inspections as section 8-19 of the CONA Code of Ordinances.

Item 16 B is an ordinance accepting the lowest responsibility received from audiovisual engine engineering incorporated to purchase two plant new planetarium shows in accordance with electronic bid 25-3033 and an amount not to a seat eight thousand dollars for the general services department.

Item 16C is an ordinance ratifying an emergency purchase to furnish and install one three-ton air conditioning system at the wastewater treatment plant and the amount of $14,689 from Beacon Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Incorporated for the General Services Department.

Item 16D is an ordinance accepting the lowest responsibility received from Liberty Welding and Ironworks Company to purchase materials for the new press box at Muspertolino.

And accordance with electronic bid 25-2181 and an amount not to exceed 10,748 dollars for the General Services Department.

Item 16 is an ordinance accepted the lowest responsive bid received from SHI International Corp for the purchase of 25 wireless outdoor cameras in accordance with electronic bid 25-3035 and an amount not to exceed $5,871.50 cents for the information technology and telecommunications department.

Item 16 FSN audience approving a cooperative endeavor agreement with American Cruise Lines Incorporated for the construction and operation of a docking facility in historic river town.

Item 16G is an ordinance approved in a cooperative endeavor agreement between the city of Kenner and the Parish of Jefferson to provide for a police detail by the Kenneth Police Department at the North Kenner Library at a cost not to exceed 140,000 for a three-year term.

Item 16H is an ordinance approved in a professional services agreement with T Baker Smith LLC regarding the resurfacing of vintage drive westbound Duncan Canal to Power Boulevard, State Project Number H period 016392.

Federal aid project number H016392 and an amount not to exceed 201,390 for the Department of Public Works.

Item 16 is an ordinance approved amendment number four to the engineering agreement with Shred Kirk and Dall and Associates Incorporated to provide additional engineering and resident inspection services associated with the 24th Street and Delaware Avenue Sewer Lift Station Upgrades Project to increase the agreement amount by 185,179.40 cents and to extend the term of to September 26, 2027 for the Department of Wastewater.

Item 17 is reports from the Council Lando Special Committees.

Councilwoman McKinney.

Thank you, Council President.

I just wanted to let everyone in the room and everyone out in the public know that it's Councilman Schwartz 68th birthday today.

We need one of which him a very happy birthday.

And this is the game we're going to play.

Who's older than me?

Anyone else?

Councilman Baranagan.

Yes, one of the quick minutes to thank Christine Kalamara and the General Services Department for completing one of my projects.

The um the Garden uh SOAP reinstall at the Kenner sign on power.

Looks really good.

Fantastic job.

Pass by today.

Beautiful work.

Christine, thank you always for your responsiveness, and thank you to Mark.

Thank you.

Council Brown again.

Uh yes.

Uh Saturday night, they had a really bad accident on Geo Yenny in front of uh police Pontchrain Subdivision.

And uh Councilman Brennan and I are looking at we're gonna meet with uh Jose Gonzalez on uh Tuesday of next week.

And I've also talked to energy about uh protection for the polls that the poll that got taken out in the term.

Uh obviously they are really close to the street, and we're looking at some different options uh to protect those poles without being making it too ugly with rail systems.

So we're gonna meet, and we have that uh Jose and Brian Councilman Brennan and I uh are gonna meet next week.

Also uh for the people in District 4 uh that are in Chateau Lake Front Subdivision.

We had a lot of problems uh with the restoration of power uh in that neighborhood on just three streets.

And I've talked to the my energy representative Jimmy Aiken, and we also gonna meet next week to find out uh why uh it took so long for this one feed to come back on.

He had a lot, I got a lot of questions, a lot of calls and texts about other people uh look across the street, and my neighbor's house is on, and I don't get my electricity back for six hours.

So there's a feed that runs uh behind my house on Colman Air that runs along the uh levee that goes down behind Rhine and it feeds part of Rhine Drive, part of Rue St.

Peter, and uh uh and place Poncha train and also Moselle Drive.

Uh so we need to take a look at that because that feed over the last 33 years has caused the power to go out on numerous occasions.

So I'm working with energy on that to see why it took six hours longer to have those houses put back on.

Uh and it it's probably a hundred houses, but when they the people are looking across the street and they see their neighbors' power on and there's in got a lot of text wondering what what's going on.

So just want to let everybody know we're working on a solution and also uh a way to protect uh those polls so that uh you know this doesn't happen again.

Uh trying to figure out if it's a city issue or an energy issue.

That's why we meet with both entities.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Brannigan.

Anybody else?

Yes, Councilman Swore.

Um, last meeting I gave a kudos to Chris and a few other directors, and again, I gotta let everybody know we had an issue um with wastewater, and I was able to get in touch with Miss Joanne, and within 15 minutes, she returned my call, gave me an explanation on what needed to be done, and I thank you for responding so fast.

And Ms.

Christine sitting way back there in the back with public works.

Same thing with her.

Um we had uh 10th Street has been resurfaced and it was done in one day.

Extraordinary job.

Uh the businesses in that area are super happy that of Butch Dilly is all taken care of, and it looks pretty good.

And again, once again, Mr.

Mark Glorioso on an issue, and within two hours, that issue was him and his crew take care of that issue.

Mark, thanks again for you and your crew.

Um last thing is our East Bank Little League.

If you're not familiar, they fell short in their title game on this on the southwest bracket.

But uh congratulations for them.

I think they went three and one in a tournament.

So they'll be headed home, at least with a state title.

Thank you, sir.

Very nice.

Anyone else?

I just got one I'd like to add.

We have uh a special shout out to Reverend Byron Clay.

I just wanted to mention this gentleman has been uh doing a yeoman's job uh in a very just unselfish manner, uh feeding and administering the homeless now since the beginning of COVID.

Can you imagine that?

He goes out and he gives out plates of food to the the homeless and the needy.

That's just outstanding.

So thank you, Reverend Clay, wherever you are.

We appreciate you so much.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Madam Clerk.

Item 18 is new business.

We have none.

Item 19 is unfinished business, and a motions to reconsider or remove from a table position.

We have none.

Item 20 is persons wishing to address the council on special subject matters.

Mr.

Ryan Nugent.

Oh, I'm sorry, Chief, if you don't mind, Ryan.

Yeah, this past week we uh celebrated the retirement of two of our respective chief officers.

District Chief Larry Gusher retired after approximately 36 years of service with the city of Kenner, which 29 and a half of them were with the fire department.

And then also District Chief Dedrick Stewart has completed his final shift and retires with 28 years and four months of dedicated service to the department.

So we both we'd like to thank both chiefs for their commitment and leadership over the years to the fire department.

Excellent.

Thank you.

At the last meeting, I shared some of my continued frustration with the way the transition to LED lighting is being handled by the city of Kenner.

To summarize, Kenner is what you would call a late adopter.

Other cities in the U.S.

started their LED transitions as long ago as 2005, meaning we've had 20 years to learn from those early adopters.

What's more is that many of those early adopters have learned from their own initial mistakes and are in the process of making costly upgrades to their street lighting networks as a result.

The fact that Kenner is a late adopter is making many of those same mistakes, despite my years of efforts in education and advocacy.

And it has never been the case that I've simply asked anyone to take my word for it.

So you could all see that I'm not the only one of your constituents that cares about this stuff.

And by the way, that was just the people we could gather together in less than seven hours prior to that night's meeting.

Now I've been talking about all this in somewhat vague terms, and I've been asking, and I haven't been asking many of the tough questions publicly, so I'm going to try a slightly different approach tonight.

I sent the administration and several members of the council a series of questions and concerns regarding the lighting supply bid packet that was solicited and approved earlier this year.

No reply was ever received, and the majority of those questions have gone unanswered.

This bid packet contains over 100 items.

So I'll start with a few of those questions tonight, and hopefully I can ask more at future meetings.

On the bid packet approved by this council, items 107 through 11 are tagged as garden lights, but they collectively represent all of Kenner's sculptural and landscape lighting.

Item 110 is actually a duplicate of item number 20 and has been out of production for several years, a fact that I brought to the city's attention on numerous occasions.

So my first three questions are why was an out-of-production fixture knowingly sent out to bid?

How could any supplier even price an out-of-production fixture?

And why weren't any of the suitable alternatives that I proposed in the report that I was asked to prepare included as a substitute?

Next we have items number 107 through 109 and item 11, which violate virtually all tenets of good lighting that I tried very hard to instill with the aforementioned report.

The fixtures are unshielded, meaning among other things, they can blind or impair drivers, and the specified color temperatures are generally too cool.

Beyond making specific rec criteria recommendations in my report, I went so far as to propose alternative fixtures with a price nearly identical to the quote received from the city's distributor.

So my fourth question is: even if the city had some reason to avoid using my particular fixture recommendations, why would it select and continue to use fixtures that don't meet any of those best practice criteria?

Any response?

You know, we've met many times with Mr.

Nugget and will continue to do so.

And I again I know I admire his passion and zest for lighting, and whenever we can apply some of his suggestions, we try to do so.

Um I work with the public works department to come up with some good ideas as it relates to that, and we'll continue to incorporate's suggestions into our next bid package.

Thank you.

Thank thank you, Mr.

Nugent.

Next we have Mr.

Greg Ta.

Name and district.

Uh Greg Taft, Fifth District.

Um, I just have one thing.

Is it possible uh that next next council meeting that we can get a report on the sales tax to let us let the citizens know where we at compared to last year and how if we're progressing and getting more income or if we're losing any income?

And that's really all I have.

Thank you.

Liz.

Yes, we've only received one month in this fiscal year, so by next meeting we'll have two months worth so we can compare.

Okay, we'll be able to.

Yeah, I'll I'll have a report for next meeting.

Thank you very much.

Anybody else?

Comments, questions?

None.

But have a motion.

We're adjourned.