The proclamation is gonna be in one minute.

Please return to your seats.

Ready?

All right, guys.

Thank you.

And I have a proclamation here.

I think this is what, how many?

What number proclamation from the City of Ken are you on?

This is more than two, I believe.

But whereas Emily Heinrich is a dedicated and accomplished Special Olympics athlete and a proud resident of the Driftwood subdivision in the city of Kenner.

Whereas Emily has demonstrated remarkable athletic ability by competing in multiple sports and proudly representing Louisiana at the twenty twenty-two Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, Florida, one of the largest and most celebrated sporting events for athletes, athletes with intellectual disabilities in the nation.

And whereas at the 2022 USA Games, Emily competed in swimming events, including the one hundred yard breaststroke, two hundred yard freestyle, and the four by fifty yard medley relay, showcasing her skill, determination, and competitive spirit on a national stage.

Whereas Emily's performance included achieving a gold medal winning showing, helping to highlight Louisiana's strength in competitive sports and bring pride to her community.

And whereas, in recognition of her outstanding athletic achievements and leadership, Emily was honored with the title of Outstanding Female Special Olympics Athlete of the Year for 2016 and was selected to serve on the Special Olympics Louisiana Athlete Leadership Council, demonstrating her commitment to leadership and inclusion within the Special Olympics movement.

Whereas Emily has earned the distinguished honor of being invited by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser to ride in the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade, a prestigious recognition that celebrates her success and brings further recognition to the city of Kenner.

And whereas Emily Heinrich serves as an inspiration to all athletes of all ages and abilities, demonstrating how passion, perseverance, and dedication can lead to success, both in competition and in life.

We're gonna start the meeting in one minute.

Are there any special intentions?

See none, I'd like to invite Pastor Melvin Hearst from Guiding Light Missionary Baptist Church up to lead us in the prayer.

Eternal God, our Father, who is from everlasting to everlasting truly your God.

Besides you, there is none other.

That if we trust in you with all of our hearts and lean not to our own understanding, if we acknowledge you in all our ways, you will direct our path.

And Father, we pray that those that you allow to lead us will follow those instructions.

And my Heavenly Father, we spend so much time asking you to give us things.

Father, I just want to pause the moment to say thank you.

Thank you, Father, for those that you've allowed to lead us and touch their minds and hearts that they will always remember that you allowed them to be where they are.

And Father, you allow them to lead according to your word and to your will.

But Father, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you, Lord, for our leadership.

Thank you for the city.

Thank you for the prosperity.

Thank you for all the blessing that you bestowed upon all of us, acknowledging that we don't deserve anything from you, but you bless us still.

And Father, we will always remember that it's by your grace and your mercy that we stand.

And Father, we will ever forever be grateful to what what you do what you've done, what you're doing, and what you're going to do.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray, Amen.

Councilmember Dunn, would you please lead us lead us lead us in the pledge?

And to the Republicans, which is one nation.

In accordance with council resolution number B, one four five five zero, please be advised that all cellular telephones and other devices of this nature must be deactivated or silence throughout the council meeting.

Next up we have correspondence reports from the mayor, CAO, and department heads.

Uh to report since we just starting a new year.

But I think Councilwoman Dunn, you're going to handle it at the end of the meeting.

All right.

So at the end of the meeting, Councilwoman Dunn will have some stuff.

We and I guess we'll have a council meeting the day before the Driftwood parade, so I'm sure you're going to mention something before we get to that.

But that's coming up two Saturdays.

Uh Kennegra will happen at the ISIS parade.

Crew of ISIS is happening, so that's always coming up.

It's all on our uh website.

Landigra is gonna be coming up also.

So just to put it on a radar, we'll be making more announcements as it gets closer.

Thank you.

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

Seeing none under the consent agenda, we have item one approval of the minutes, the regular council meeting of December 19, 2025.

Item two is approval of alcoholic beverage permit applications.

Item two A is a resolution grant and alcoholic beverage permit to Friends of Rivertown on February 14, 2026 at Kenner City Park, 3800 Loyola Drive, being property owned by the City of Kenner.

Item 2B is a resolution grant and an alcoholic beverage permit app to Friends of Rivertown on February 16, 2026 at Revitown Parking Lot, 312 Williams Boulevard being property owned by the City of Kenner.

Item 2C is a resolution grant and an alcoholic beverage permit to Kenner Italian Heritage Incorporated on March 6th, 7th, and 8th, 2026 at Rivertown 400 Williams Boulevard being property owned by the City of Kenner.

Item 3 is approval of bingo and public gathering applications.

Item 3A is application number 25-033.

Visit Kenner to hold a public gathering on February 14, 2026 from 2 p.m.

to 6 p.m.

for the purpose of a Kenner Gross celebration at Kenner City Park 3800 Loyola Drive.

That will conclude the consent agenda.

Motion by Councilmember Lahat, seconded by Councilmember Brennan to approve the consent agenda.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes 7-0.

Under the public appearance agenda, we have item 8, public hearings and final passage.

Item 8A is a public hearing regarding summary ordinance number 14,011.

An ordinance approving a conditional use for the Express Shuttle Connector Road North Project, East Apron Expansion Project, and Northeast and East Parking Lots Project, and all related facilities and infrastructure located within airport property boundaries, City of Kenner, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which property is zoned AHI in accordance with plans prepared by Gresham Smith.

A motion by Councilmember Woolmont, seconded by Councilmember Dunn to open the public hearing.

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes 7-0.

Um planning has a presentation.

Yes.

Good evening.

This was planning case P 1925.

This is a conditional use for three projects at the airport.

The applicant is the City of New Orleans, New Orleans Aviation Board, P.O.

Box 2007, 2000, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The subject property is located at one terminal drive, Kenner, Louisiana.

The property is zoned AH1, Airport Heavy Industrial, which permits airport-related facilities, services, and uses with the approval of a conditional use.

The subject property is surrounded by several neighborhoods that encompass a wide variety of zoning.

To the west of the subject property is St.

Charles Parish and Little Branch Wetlands.

The applicant is proposing three projects.

As you can see there on the map, this is a large overview of the whole area.

The first project is the express shuttle connector road.

This project will build a new road on airport property.

The purpose of the project is to reduce shuttle transit times from the terminal to the parking and rental car facilities near the old terminal.

The project will be built in two phases.

The first phase will link the terminal the terminal to the existing Jerome S.

Glazer Airport Access Road, approximately 1,500 feet south of Veterans Boulevard.

This connection point will include electronically access at the airport property.

The phase two portion of this project will extend the road to the facility.

Staying entirely within the airport property.

The second phase will require the reconfiguration of the existing access route and airline drive in order to make space for the shuttle road to keep it out of the airport aircraft safety area.

This intersection configuration will be coordinated with both the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the City of Kenner.

The second project is the East Apron Expansion Project.

This project will expand the existing apron located between the terminal and the north-south runway.

The expansion will accommodate tug carts, aircraft service vehicles, aircraft parking, and other ground service equipment.

The expansion will add approximately 6,000 square yards or about 54,000 square feet to the apron.

The third project are the new surface parking lots.

This project will add two service parking lots.

These lots will be uh provide parking for the general public.

Uh the landscaping plans uh for the parking lot were reviewed by the city landscape plan reviewer.

The plans were lacking some information that limited the review.

All required information will be needed prior to submitting for permits.

Uh the smaller lot includes 125 parking spaces and therefore requires 13 trees.

The plan shows 16 trees.

The larger lot includes 324 parking spaces, which requires 32 trees.

The plan shows 68 proposed trees.

The types of trees are not indicated on the plans, so this may affect the final required number of trees.

As with other missing information, the final submittal will need to include the missing information before permits can be issued.

The applicant submitted a stormwater management plan.

Uh this has been reviewed by the city's engineering consultant and was found to be complete and met the city city's stormwater management regulations.

I would also add that I recently learned uh that the uh apron expansion does not require a permit because it is part of the airfield, and the stormwater management for that was included in a previous uh stormwater management report.

So that project is also good to go in that respect.

As these projects are vital to the continued success of the airport and should have no negative impacts on the community.

The planning department has no concerns with them.

The proposed development is consistent with the pattern for progress future land use plan and is conducive for uses associated with the commercial aviation activities.

On December 10th, the planning commission recommended approval of this project.

Thank you, Director.

Does anyone have any questions?

Yes.

Um Council Member Lahat.

Planning Director, thank you so much for the presentation.

Um the additional parking is a for short-term or long term.

Do you know that?

I don't know the difference.

I don't know.

We have a representative.

I'm just curious because I I use I used actually the long term the other day when I had to fly out somewhere.

It was very convenient.

Just interested to know if there you needed those extra spots for the airport itself or or just additional future needs.

Good afternoon, uh County Council members.

Walter Krakowski, Deputy Director of Operations and Maintenance at the airport.

Thank you for hearing us uh today.

It's going to be additional uh public parking.

It'll probably be more of a hybrid, it'll probably be a credit card in and out lot because it's a little bit more remote.

It is on the other side.

The larger lot is on the other side of the long-term garage.

So as you're kind of exiting out the terminal, um, you know, on the arrival side, it's going to be on the right-hand side, okay, right across, but it interconnects and it will be able to walk, walk through through the long-term garage.

Fantastic.

Yep.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilman Showorth.

Thank you, ma'am.

Um, we had a question for you.

Does well all the parking spaces that you're going to add?

Okay.

That's all green space now.

Yes.

Okay.

Um storm runoff.

Have y'all decided or have taken anything in into consideration on storm runoff, rain, things like that.

Where's the water going?

Yeah, that's already been a part of the plan that was already reviewed and submitted by the city of Kenner on the stormwater runoff plan, and it has been accepted because there is mitigation in uh the whole project for it, and we have sufficient capacity at the airport for that runoff.

Has any um additional pumps been added to the um airport property at this time?

No, because there's none needed.

Well, what all it is concrete, this asphalt going down, the water's not going to be able to be absorbed by the ground.

Has to go somewhere.

Correct.

And if you're all it's got your catch basin, uh canals, whatever.

We already know the pumps that we have now inadequate.

Not enough.

You don't you add more concrete here?

We're going to have flooding again until those pumps are up and brought in.

Well, we do have our consultants here.

I have Kenny Boyd that can speak to the drainage aspect of it as well as you know, I'm sure Kenner can also comment as well.

Kenny.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Kenny Boyd with Burns McDonald with the program manager for the airport.

Yes, we've done extensive stormwater drainage studies for the existing airport and future development.

And this parking lot was back when we did the 2014 plan for the North Terminal.

The site where the parking lot is going was a proposed developed site for a utility plant and parking area.

So essentially we're just turning it into a parking lot versus a utility building and parking.

And that was all studied back in 2014, so it was all planned to be developed eventually anyway.

Our drainage study shows that stormwater pump station has plenty of capacity for our developed developments that we're proposing.

Thank you.

I just know that we had problems before.

And we had green space.

Doing away with green space for what now we have water to go nowhere.

And the pumps were inadequate then.

I don't see it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilman.

Any additional councilman?

Councilman Brennan?

Thank you, Council Chair.

Um planning and permits good with this.

Yes, they have satisfied all the requirements for the conditional use application, and their stormwater plan was reviewed by the city's consultant and found to be appropriate.

Thank you.

And uh Councilmember Wilmont?

Yeah, I just for the record, if you will come back.

I uh I just wanted to to ask as far as these projects are concerned.

I presume that the airport is is um has growth and and as a result, you'll you haven't this is an expansion technically.

Uh could you elaborate on that a little bit?

You can have more flights in and out as a result, or what why is this why is this happening?

Uh well multiple things are going on.

First, the shuttle road connector.

Um, we see that as a benefit for also the residents of City of Kenner.

What it's doing is it's allowing the interconnection between our South Campus and our north campus to reduce those shuttle times for folks that are using the economy garage, our employee shuttle so the employees can get to and from because the employees park.

And we're talking employees that work for the airlines concessionaires.

Uh the 4,000 or some uh badged employees, that's where they all park on the south side, so they take that shuttle as well as uh the uh the economy park and garage product as well.

We see that as a benefit because we're also taking that shuttle traffic off of the roadway system.

So, as we all know, that veterans road always kind of gets congested, especially when there are issues on I-10.

So, what we're doing is we're taking that shuttle traffic off of uh veterans, so that's gonna provide some benefit into that.

As far as uh uh parking, we just think that it's a passenger amenity to provide some additional parking, as a lot of folks know, you know, during peak times, especially you know, uh folks that travel the airport quite often, especially when we're in like uh, you know, a Thanksgiving period or a holiday period or Mardi Gras period, uh parking becomes premium, and we you know, people will have to park on the south side.

We just are wanting to provide some additional parking up on the north side.

The benefit to Kenner with that um is that for every parking space that we add, that's additional parking uh tax revenue that's gonna be coming into the city of Kenner because Kenner does get a percentage uh tax that for each parking spot.

So that 400 plus is gonna be opening up some additional revenue uh that we'll be able to provide as far as tax basis uh to the city of Kenner.

As far as the uh the apron, what it's doing, and I see that more you know coming from the operation and maintenance side is it more of a safety kind of uh issue for us.

It's providing an ability for aircraft that already parks on those areas.

It allows them to come in at a better angle so they can align up a little bit better, as well as having that equipment that is necessary for the airlines to do that operation to store that equipment right there next to the aircraft instead of having to tug it from the terminal to the pad that they're at.

So we see that more of like a safety component.

Um, and so does the FAA that when we pass this through with the FAA.

So you're you're uh augmenting what we have now, basically, with with additional parking and correct.

It's augmenting.

And as far as future, do we have any ideas as far as uh terminal expansion?

Well, that was all a part of the master plan.

Well, that was all a part of the master plan, and we did the public outreach, and you know, we had several outreach sessions.

We had two public outreach sessions, and we also went the step beyond putting it on our website and also allow the public to review that and comment on that.

That process is still evolving and going on.

We're almost we're almost to the conclusion of that.

We have to submit that to the FAA, the FA is in the process of reviewing that, and then that will help dictate and guide what is that future evolution look like to the airport and how do we get there.

So that's more of a broader view of looking at where is that airport.

You know, it's it's a requirement by the FAA and it's heavily regulated what you need to look at, but it looks at short, medium, and long term.

So that growth of the airport and what that future expansion is going to be kind of guided through that master plan process.

Do we have any timeline as to that process?

Uh we that process should be kind of concluding up here shortly.

Um, you know, we've already submitted the information to the FAA, and so we anticipate sometime you know, mid part of this year, we're already, you know, kind of gearing up and looking at what is the next evolution.

Because we want to make sure that we are right for uh all the service that may need to come in, and you know what you want to do is you want to stay a step ahead.

You don't you you need to be a step ahead before the capacity need is there?

So we just want to make sure, and that's what that master planning process does for us.

So these pieces, parts that we're talking about today actually fit into that.

Correct.

That would they would and be folded in.

Very good.

Thank thank you for coming.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for the information.

All right, thank you.

One more thing.

Okay.

Um councilmember Sharwith.

Thank you, ma'am.

Um, just for the record, I want everybody to know as far as to shuttle bus, travel lane, I'm for that.

I think that's a great idea to get those buses off of uh Veterans Boulevard.

But as far as the parking lot expansion, I'm totally against that until the airport adds additional pumping capacity, and not have adequate, have more than adequate.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the council on this matter?

If you please state your name and your district, and you have three minutes.

Three seconds.

Uh Greg Taf 5th District.

What I what I would like to know is in standing with Councilman Schwartz is that has a study been done recently, because of the flooding that we went to due to the heavy rain, that what we have currently, which how we all know this, that what we've had currently will handle it with what the airport has with their pumps and our pumps, because otherwise it is a concern because the residents near that area are going to get inundated.

So, but if a study's been made that what we have is adequate, all good.

But if a study has not been made, I think that's something that we should consider to make sure that our citizens and Kenner is protected.

That's all I really have to say about it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Teft.

Anyone else?

Yes, sir?

Yeah.

I'm not here for the airport thing, but I do have a comment on it.

I agree with Schwartz.

Councilman Schwartz.

My yard's on a corner of 24th and Tyler Street.

Um I'm here about all the burglars that keep it happening on my property.

But every time it rains and I get a hard rain, we flood.

My street floods.

We have to walk through water to get into my yard.

And then the other problem that I have with that is they turn their pumps on and it's a generator pump.

It runs off a diesel.

There's no filter on it.

It blows straight into my yard.

It blows into all the yards back there.

It stinks.

It's the nastiest smell you ever want to smell.

It's unfiltered diesel.

That's all I have to say about that.

Thank you, sir.

Anyone else?

State your name and you have three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman McKinney.

My name is Ryan Eugen.

I live in District 3, so I don't live particularly close to the airport.

But I I think what it sounds like a lot of people are asking for, and what would be helpful are some actual numbers.

You know, what was the CFM capacity when these incidents happened when we had these major flood events?

What was the CFM capacity supposed to be?

Um, you know, what what are we actually dealing with in terms of what happened when we had these major inundations and where things were supposed to be, where they are today, and what is the plan for the future?

Um some actual numbers that we could talk about would probably be a lot more helpful than just generic statements about well, uh, you know, a study's been done and the study was good.

What does that mean?

That doesn't mean anything to most of the people in this room today.

Um so that's really all I have to say is that I fully support these developments at the airport.

Um I want to see the airport continue to expand because that's a vital asset for the city of Ketter.

We all benefit from it, but at the same time, it can't be done at the expense of the residents.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Nugent.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Councilmember Wilmont.

If we can have the the members of the airport, if you can come back to the podium.

Just I guess the gentleman who who's familiar with the pumping.

Um, I I would like you to, if you can recap what the folks just came up here and spoke concerned about the pumping capacity.

If you can elaborate more on that, and sure, yeah, I'll I'll try and keep it uh in simple terms.

We're it's uh the pump station was designed and built um in 2017, and it was a capacity of 600 CFS uh and the 600 650 CFS.

Um and the it was designed to accommodate the existing airport, North Terminal, 35 gates, plus some expanded uh expansion plans that the terminals are planning on doing in the future.

Um so there was extra capacity when it was built initially back in 2017.

Um so it uh the the specific rain events we're talking about.

I can't speak to the numbers of those exact rain events, but the models are uh adequate to show that the station has capacity to um convey the water that's planning on going there from this expansion.

So and what's your your background again?

I'm a civil engineer, but I'm not the engineer on the project.

I'm a program manager on the project.

Uh so I'm familiar with it, but I'm not the engineer doing the work.

And and and it's your understanding and your your uh expertise, if you will, as a civil engineer that from what you understand that this the pumps that are there now, if they're operating properly and so forth, it is enough to handle the runoff from the airport.

Yes, that's correct.

Okay.

Um and if you if the gentleman behind you again I I know uh you you're very familiar with this issue.

I know that it's been an ongoing issue for quite some time.

And what is what is your your background as well?

Uh I'm the deputy director of operations and maintenance, so the pumping capacity and puppet station falls underneath my operational control.

So it falls under your guidance.

If and again, your opinion.

Basically, we do have sufficient capacity.

I think um some of the issues, the issue that as we had come before um city council before and gave a briefing um is that the issue that occurred um during the hurricane was an automation failure.

It was not a failure of the pumps and the pumps itself, it was an automation failure.

Since then, we have taken uh measures.

We did not have a manual capability, as our director committed to both the mayor and meetings um and with Jefferson Parish and with meetings with them as well.

We committed that we would have a manual override.

We do have that manual override in place.

We also, as an abundance of caution, we have with significant rain events, just like the rain event that we're expecting coming into Friday into Saturday.

We have folks that are stationed at that pump station so that if there is an automation failure that we had experienced that one time during the hurricane, we are able to turn those pumps on manually.

Another aspect is that the pump station is on commercial power.

Only if commercial power is lost, will the generators kick on and have to operate the station just as Jefferson Parish has with their pump stations.

And can you address the issue?

The gentleman he talked about diesel fumes and so forth.

Unfortunately, it's it's a diesel pump, you know, it's just like all the other uh generators that are out there.

Electric pump.

Oh general.

Yeah, electric pump with a diesel generator that supports it.

Is the fumes is that our problem with the the the neighboring area?

I hadn't heard that.

That's the first that we're learning of it.

Well strong anyway for about four days, one minute was saying around my art.

Is that something that could be looked into?

We'll we'll take that as an action item to look into it.

I don't know if there is something or not, but we can take a look at that.

Okay, because I think that's important, especially if if there's gentlemen's having it, then it's possible that that whole area could be extended.

And it could have been that we you know we did do some work on the generators to make sure that they were good and in stable condition, so it could have been at that time, but normally in an event, only if the commercial power is lost, will those generators be kicking on, except for the fact of the weekly testing.

We do have to do weekly testing and an abundance of caution to make sure that the generators are active and uh available.

Do you all do air sampling?

No, we don't do air sampling.

Okay.

Well, it might be something that might need to be checked into if they've got the I don't know the the the components, the chemical components of diesel that's combusted, you know, that's used.

Um it might be something that might be looked into to make sure that our residents aren't don't don't have any fallout from that.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Wilmot.

We have a couple more questions if you guys want to stay up here from I don't know if the council members have questions, but Councilmember Branigan.

Yes.

Uh so you had said that you had the manual override in place now because the the major issue was that those pumps did not come on in that last flood event, which caused a lot of uh houses the flood in North Ken or Northwest Kenna.

Uh but you do have the manual override, and I know that Jefferson Parish is also engaged with you guys to make sure these pumps are working.

Correct.

Correct.

And they also have the ability to see they through the SCADA system, they have the ability to see when the pumps are operating or not.

And yes, we do have the um manual override capabilities for all four pumps.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, and councilmember Dunn.

Yeah, I'm the councilwoman for that district, and this is the first that I've heard of any problems of flooding on that um, you know, on that issue, because normally if that would have happened, you know, I would have known about it.

I would have made an appointment with those at the airport to discuss this matter.

So I haven't heard of any residents going through just a rainstorm and that the airport was the reason why they were impacted.

So this is the first that I'm hearing about it.

It it never came uh to me because if it did, we would have made an appointment with two guys to address this issue.

So I just want that on the record.

I was never aware of that.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Great.

Thank you.

Um anyone else from the audience addressing on this particular topic.

It was your predecessor.

It was uh Carol, it wasn't you.

Oh, we want to.

Yes, ma'am.

I did call him and do confront them, but he's about useless to its own both.

Okay, so it wasn't under me.

Okay, I appreciate that.

I appreciate the clarifying.

Thank you.

Great, thank you.

Um a motion by councilmember Wilmont, seconded by councilmember Dunn to close the public hearing.

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Motion by councilmember Wilmont, seconded by councilmember dunn to approve.

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Nay.

Motion passes six one.

Councilmember Sharwith is opposed.

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

We have none.

Item 10 is opening of bids, we have none.

Item 11 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 13A is a resolution reappointing Mark Johnson to the City of Kenner Planning and Zoning Commission.

Motion by Councilmember Dunn.

Seconded by Councilmember Branagan.

Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Seeing none.

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 13B is a resolution reappointing Peggy Mendoza to the City of Kenner Planning and Zoning Commission.

Motion by Councilmember McKinney, seconded by Councilmember Lahats.

Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

See none.

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 13C is a resolution reappointing Rita Bizo to the City of Kenner Planning and Zoning Commission.

Motion by Councilmember Branaghan.

Seconded by Councilmember Wilmot.

Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 14 is items removed from the consent agenda.

We have none.

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

Item 15 A is summary ordinance number 14,012.

An ordinance authorizing the purchase of replacement parts needed for the Zias Starmaster Projector at a cost of $17,325.04 cents from Silar Instrument and Manufacturing Company Incorporated.

A sole source provider for the General Services Department.

Motion by Councilmember McKinney, seconded by Councilmember Sharwith.

Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Count Councilmember Dunn.

Do you no?

Okay.

Your lights on.

Um council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15B is summary ordinance number 14,013.

An ordinance authorizing the purchase of honor guard uniforms from Neptune Uniforms and Equipment Incorporated, a sole source provider, and an amount not to exceed $30,000 for the Kenner Police Department.

Motion by Councilmember Lahat, seconded by Councilmember Mc Wilmont.

Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15 C summary ordinance number 14,014.

An ordinance approving change order number one to the agreement with Parton Roofing LLC to replace the roofs of the Kenner Police Headquarters and Jail facility, increasing the agreement amount by $8,222 and 50 cents for a new not to exceed amount of 462,622.50 cents for the Kenneth Police Department.

Motion by Councilmember Brennan.

Seconded by Councilmember Brannigan.

Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Councilmembers in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes 70.

Item 15 D is summary ordinance number 14,015.

An ordinance approved in change order number five to the engineering agreement with digital engineering and imaging incorporated, dated March 19, 2018, regarding Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

CWSRF loan administration slash management to increase the not to exceed amount by 236,000 for a new not-to-exceed amount of $1,096,000.

And to extend the term of the agreement to June 30, 2027 for the Department of Wastewater.

Motion by Councilmember Sharwith.

Seconded by Councilmember McKinney.

Is there anyone wanting to speak on this item?

Council members in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes 70.

Item 15E is summary ordinance number 14,016.

An ordinance accepting the lowest responsive bid received from Louisiana Contracting Enterprise LLC for 25th and Helena Lift Station and replacement in accordance with seal bid 25-6925 in the amount of $612,766 for the Department of Wastewater.

Motion by Councilmember Dunn.

Seconded by Councilmember Sharwith.

Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Councilmembers in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes seven zero.

Item 15F is summary ordinance number 14,017.

An ordinance accepting the quote received from Precision PSI LLC to repair the ball door motor on Aerator 2B at the wastewater treatment plant and the amount of $6,417 for the Wastewater Department.

Motion by Councilmember Brennan.

Seconded by Councilmember Wilmont.

Is there anyone here to speak on that?

This item.

Councilmembers in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, say nay.

Seeing none, motion passes 70.

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

Item 16 A is an ordinance authorizing the use of state contract number 44000 30770.

And 4400-30771 with motorola solutions incorporated, slash bear com to furnish and install five Motorola converters and antennas and the chief officers units and the amount of $9,075.30 cents for the Kent Fire Department.

Item 16B is an ordinance authorizing the purchase of two used Harley Davidson police electric wide motorcycles and the amount of 40,000 dollars for the Kenna Police Department.

Item 16C is an orders approved and change order number one.

Final to the agreement with 21 Construction LLC, dated May 23rd, 2025, regarding Kenner Discovery School Sidewalks.

State project number H period 015087, federal aid project number.

H015087 for a decrease of $17,918.80 to accept the completion of the project as construction for the Department of Public Works.

Item 16D is an ordinance accepting the quote received from Precision PSI LLC, a sole source provider to repair the Yeoman's pump number one at 27th and Salem sewer lift station in the amount of 20,128.77 cents for the wastewater department.

Item 17 is reports from the council and our special committees.

Councilmember Don, did you have something that you want to do?

Council Dunn.

Last year we had the march, but what happened was because of the weather, uh, we cannot do it.

So we're gonna the march will start again at Providence Baptist Church.

The lineup would be at 9 o'clock.

Uh and the ceremony will start at 10 o'clock.

We already have four high school bands that have already agreed uh to march with us this year.

Uh we have a great uh speaker, uh, a young man, uh Mr.

Barry Hill, who spoke last year, but he's the keynote speaker for this year.

Um last year, because of the weather, we had to have the march on one day and the ceremony on another.

So hopefully we would have it on both days.

So I'm asking that the mayor, the police chief, the council, and anyone of the administration please uh march with us uh for the MLK march.

You have done it in the past, and uh and we really would appreciate uh you all coming out and marching with us again.

If you can't march, then we'll see you on the stage.

Uh the program will not be as lengthy as it was uh in the past, so we have shortened it a lot.

Um the bands, uh they can't wait.

We also gonna have King Zulu marching with us, and the King and Queen of the Youth for Christ will also be marching with us.

So to the public also, please you all are welcome to come and march with us and enjoy the ceremony that we have prepared.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Dunn.

Uh Councilmember Lahat.

Yeah, thank you, Madam President.

Uh, as the mayor stated earlier in January 24th, uh the long-standing running crew of Griffwood will be rolling in the Drushport area in Kenner, it'll be the 54th year.

This will be going on with great support from the city, the personnel, the fire department, police department, and general services.

Look forward to having everybody out there.

Um next meeting will have the King and Queen here for their proclamations as we always do.

Uh, we'll be revealing their names then, so we look forward to the support and come on out to a great parade again this year.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Lahad.

Councilmember Shareth.

Thank you, ma'am.

Um couple of things in District 2 that uh we're going to start busting concrete up on Roosevelt starting Monday.

So please avoid the area if possible.

Um, the other thing will be um I have to give out a big thanks to the administration, my colleagues, Ms.

Christie, Mr.

Tom, uh, Mr.

Rita from District 4 from Jefferson Parish.

That starting Wednesday next week, we're going to be resurfacing six blocks of compromise.

Project that's way overdue.

And I can't say thank you all so much for the funding.

This is a large project.

A lot of money and I just can't thank you all enough.

Thank you.

Item 18.

It's new business.

We have none.

Item 19 is unfinished business.

And a motion to reconsider a remove from the table position.

Item 20 is personal's wishing to address the council on special subject matters.

Okay, let's see.

The first speaker we have.

We have Anna Hernandez.

If you could introduce yourself, state your district, and you have three minutes.

Yes, my name is Anna Hernandez.

I live at 3600 Loyola, District 5.

And I'm here to ask, what would it take to remove the stop sign at Loyola and Pelorin?

This is a six block distance between East West Loyola and West Esplanade.

This is a main thoroughfare, Loyola, two lanes in each direction.

It appears to me that this stop sign is surrounded by all sorts of cameras, so it must have been an important stop for everybody.

But in my view, it is unnecessary.

It is on Loyola, two lanes in each direction, six blocks between West Esplanade and East West Loyola.

Why is this stop sign there?

And can it be removed?

I know that there's some construction going on at 3255 Loyola.

I don't know what it is.

It appears to be a pedestrian crossing.

There is never any cross traffic from this four-way stop sign.

I am here to plead to remove this stop sign because it is unnecessary, in my opinion.

Thank you.

Can I attempt to answer that?

Gonzalez, yes.

CA the area in questions, yes, there's a four-way stop sign at that location, Pellarin and Loyola.

And I guess that the four-way stop sign was installed there many, many years ago for a number of reasons.

There's a playground nearby.

There was a school nearby, there was a church nearby.

The playground remains there.

Okay, so there's a lot of movement there, pedestrian movements.

Furthermore, there's a sewer lift station that is in the medium that presents a site distance problem.

In all likelihood, the four-way stop sign was put in there based on a traffic study.

Furthermore, I believe federal money was used many years ago, you know, for the installation of stop signs ahead and flashing lights and so on.

To remove that four-way stop sign, in my opinion, based on a playground and another potential church or school nearby.

My opinion is that it will generate safety problems in the area.

In order to remove that four-way stop sign, we will need a traffic study.

But I'm opposed to removing the four-way stop sign based on safety measures.

What playground are you referring to?

The playground, when would playground, which is not far from there.

That's two blocks away.

Two blocks away, but the neighborhood kids are also, you know, two blocks away, they'll move to the playground to play either football, baseball, basketball at the gym, and there was a school and a church there one time, and there's something else that's going to be built there, and then you have a site distance problem.

And there was a study to install the four-way stop sign.

So heaven forbid, we'll take two of those stop signs out.

A kid gets hurt out there, and then what?

There are no kids.

Oh, this is what I'm saying.

There is no cross traffic, there is no pedestrian traffic, there's absolutely no necessity for the stop sign.

There's two lanes in each direction.

Can you imagine a stop sign on West Esplanade?

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

I I know, but I didn't speak for three minutes.

I spoke for one minute.

I am just co countering.

Yes, but it's not a back and forth.

So if you want to speak after to one of any of us.

Thank you.

Councilman Brennan.

Yes.

Thank you for coming, ma'am.

I I I understand your concern.

I I think Mr.

Gonzalez speaks very well to the point.

There is construction about to undergo where the nativity of our Lord Church used to be.

And I believe that's going to be a building that's going to generate more traffic in that area.

I also think if that there is the way station in the median, which I believe is part of the safety of that by having people hopefully stop at those stop signs, and to prevent speeding going all the way from West Esplanade to the Loyola split.

And I I think that's why, even if we were to do a study, I think the the information would come back that those shouldn't remain there, especially with the construction that's coming up, and especially with the playground that's not that far away.

I know you're saying it's two blocks, but quite honestly, there are people that go fast enough up and down all the loyolas without stop signs and with stop signs.

So I I think it's really a safety, a safety measure.

Thank you, Councilman Brennan.

Councilman Wilmont.

And I just want a clarification for the record.

Um Mr.

Gonzalez, if you can tell us roughly what a what a traffic study costs the city any time we make a request for one.

You know, in our likelihood profit study is going to dictate, you know, that's all the stop sign would remain.

You've got to keep into account when you do a profit study, is that in our likelihood federal funds where you use okay to install flashing lights on air, stop ahead sign topair.

Okay, so you gotta take that into account.

What would happen?

I know it was a long time ago, but you got to take that into account.

So there's a number of components that go into a traffic study to answer your question, a profit study now.

Yeah, we're probably drawn anywhere between 7500 or 10,000, and we're gonna need a funding source, and heaven forbid, okay, the property study dictates that the four-way stop sign remains due to Lake Brown, thanks for church, another school, and you gotta understand there are residents on both sides of Royal.

Okay, quite a number of presidential properties.

Uh don't quite understand that there are no kids in the neighborhood, so there's no that's moving.

I find that hard to believe.

But to answer your question, you're probably gonna be in the neighborhood of 7500 to 10,000, and the end result.

So the 10,000 may not be wasting.

Thank you for that.

Councilman Brandon.

You know, and the other thing to look at is we're talking about a six-block area.

So if you take the stop sign out, you're gonna get to the red light six seconds faster.

So I I I from a safety issue, I think that stop sign's gotta stay.

Um, and I also want to add that we have gotten complain, ma'am.

We have gotten complaints about speeding along that highway or along there a lot, and that's why there are all those cameras.

So, and we're monitoring um especially larger trucks.

So I think that in a you know, in an abundance of caution, also with regard to that traffic study.

There's also a school that's not very far away from there either.

Um, ought to be.

So I would, you know, I I think that under all those issues, I think that in the abundance of caution we'd rather have a four-way stop rather than take it away and and then something happen.

So okay.

Um thank you very much, Mario Hernandez.

You if you can introduce yourself, um, your district, and you have three minutes.

It's Henderson.

Oh, Henderson, I'm sorry.

Yeah.

My name is Mario Henderson.

I live in council uh Ranigan's district.

My business is in Ms.

Dunn's district.

I got my stuff stolen, seven thousand dollars worth of a brush mower or whatever.

I called the police on December 14th.

December 16th, I found the guy who stole it, and then I followed him.

They police came out.

Uh it was a big theatrical event because he had the movie cameras, everybody else there and all that.

Uh couldn't find anything out.

Nobody would tell me anything.

Met the detective on the site, ID'd the two people who stole my stuff.

One guy got arrested for uh no driver's license, no insurance, improper equipment, uh non-registered vehicle, everything else you could possibly think of.

I'm still waiting for the police chief to call me back who's promised he was gonna call me back.

I called Councilman Branagin.

He never called me back.

I called Miss Dunn.

Ms.

Viviana actually dealt with it and helped me out and everything else and emailed the chief.

Um I still like to know what's going on.

I still have not found out anything.

I know the guy got arrested.

I don't have my equipment back.

I know they're looking for the other guy that I ID'd on the scene.

But y'all what are we paying for all the fob cameras?

What are we paying for the cameras that you just talked about at the four-way intersection?

The guy's driving around with paper plates.

I mean, you're you're pulling the legals over with paper plates left and right, but you're not gonna pull him over.

I don't understand why you didn't.

You know, he's driving a trailer with no license plate on it, nothing.

Y'all don't pull them over.

I get pulled over for incroper equipment on my trailer because my left light didn't work.

That's that's just I don't understand.

I really don't.

And I'd like to know what's going on.

I still want to know what's going on.

I can't get any answers.

The most answers I got was from Miss Viviana, your assistant, and I thank you for it.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Mr.

Henderson.

Any comments?

Chief?

I respond.

I know that uh detective Hale in the case has talked to Mr.

Henderson.

Uh I didn't get a call that you wanted to talk to me.

Uh I got it on voicemail.

You were supposed to call me back.

I didn't get a call that uh I didn't get notified that you wanted to talk to me.

I'll be more than happy to talk to you.

I'll talk to you before.

Uh, but it's a question about the officers' patrollability and and and uh and you know what we do.

Um I got a card right here.

I'm sorry, it's my time though.

We'll finish.

I asked for more details or more patrols.

I did get a patrol finally.

I got one, December 31st.

That's the only patrol I have.

I have cameras on my building.

There are no police back there.

If you want to steal anything, go to the Crestview Subdivision.

That's where you can steal everything and anything you want, because there are no police back there.

If they do, they sit there and they watch the airplanes land at the end of the road.

That's what they do all day long and all night long.

I'm finished.

I still got 14 seconds, though.

Chief.

All right.

To insinuate that the officers are not doing their job or patrol, you know, I consider that insulting.

I understand Mr.

Henderson is upset because he lost a piece of equipment that was left outside.

It was a theft.

Uh he is correct.

Uh one subject is arrested, the other one has an uh a warrant out form.

It's an active investigation.

The detective is still working on it.

I know the detective has talked to Mr.

Henderson several times.

Um, but you know, the fact that we're putting together our end of the year crime stats, and again, we're experiencing another 14, about 14, 15 percent decrease on top of 31 percent last year, 17 percent the year before.

Uh that's a credit to the men and women of the Kennedy Police Department.

And uh, you know, I take issue with anybody that's gonna say that my officers are lazy or not doing their job, that's just not not right.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

You're 30 three minutes are up.

If I can um request Mr.

Piper.

Excuse me.

Yes, may I councilman Brandon?

I I just would like to ask the chief a question.

Chief, how many unmarked cars do we have probably 30 30 plus someone?

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Brendan.

Uh Mr.

Piper, you have uh if you can uh say your name, address, and you have three minutes.

Okay, thank you.

Uh my name's uh Greg Piper.

I live at two Georgetown Drive in Kenner.

Um I just have some things to share with you guys today.

Okay, thank you.

Um good evening, uh members, council, mayor, Glazer, Chief Conley.

Um when I spoke at the last meeting, I was speaking from a place of raw emotion.

I had watched videos of ICE agents raiding a property on Marquette Drive, the same street where I spent uh my childhood playing football in the street.

Uh to see mass men with high-powered rifles and tactical gear surrounding a home in my neighborhood was a nightmare to me.

Um, I never thought I'd see that in Kenner.

Uh that event forced me to sit up and pay attention.

And talking with friends, I learned something troubling.

During that raid, some workers on the roof were able to avoid arrest simply by staying out of reach because the agents lacked legal authority to enter the home on the home.

Uh this stuck me struck me as bizarre and irregular.

But initially, I believed that the mayor and the council were in full agreement with the federal agents harassing our community.

But I now understand that there was just a there's an agreement, 287 agreement is an administrative contract signed specifically by the chief of police.

However, I'm here tonight because the damage to our community's trust is a burden we all share.

Um, Chief, I'm asking you tonight to consider terminating the 287G agreement to show how simple this off ramp is.

I've drafted a formal letter as an example.

Your legal team can uh put this on official letter head.

Uh it initiates a 90-day separation process.

It's it's really easy.

It's just a little one, it's just a form letter.

I mean, just something to go by.

I know y'all know how to do all of this.

I'm just offering this stuff up.

Um, it's just that easy.

Um doing this would be a powerful gesture to restore the bonds that have been broken.

By terminating this agreement, uh, you create a necessary degree of separation and provide the department with plausible deniability from the ICE agents.

Um for years, the Kent Police Department has done an incredible job, incredible community outreach, especially with our youth.

By partnering with federal agents who operate without warrants or probable cause, destroys that work.

On the surface, the 287G agreement looks like a win.

It's more training, it's more equipment, there's overtime, uh, but at what cost, you know.

Uh the KPD officers are bound by the Constitution.

They need probable cause and warrants.

Yet we're seeing federal parts seeing federal partners engage in what looks like uh civilly illegal harassment.

Definitely uh your time's up.

I know you have more to say because you presented it, but um that's fine.

Thank you.

Okay.

Chief?

Yeah, so I talked to Mr.

Piper, Mr.

Piper and I go way back.

We were both uh homeowners association presidents back in the uh 80s and 90s, and I respect them.

And I've committed to to look at what he's presented and give them a call uh and talk about it next week.

Uh I do want to state though that we are not currently operating under any 287G uh contracts, that this is an independent operation by the customs and board of patrol.

Um they're doing it in independently.

We have offered assistance if they need it.

They've called one time where we were able to uh de-escalate a situation.

Um, but the you know the the operation Katahula Crunch uh has nothing to do with any 287G agreements, but I'll I'll look at I'll look at your information out there.

Thank you.

I just might not have the right information.

All right, Mr.

Thank you, Chief, and thank you, Mr.

Piper.

Mr.

Greg Taft.

You can state your name and your address or district and your three minutes, please.

Uh Greg Tepp, uh 5th district.

I just got a couple things, and actually it's it's more for the fire department than anything else.

One of them is is that it's my I've heard that we we have a truck that out there that that's in service, but the personnel are having to constantly put antifreeze in it because we're not, and I take it as maintenance should have that, have had that fixed.

Because that's general maintenance.

You shouldn't have to keep adding antifreeze.

But I don't know all the particulars.

Now and I appreciate it if y'all could address that.

But the other thing I have is that I've heard that a memo went out prohibiting fire department personnel from communicating with other departments such as the council and what have you.

I don't know if that's true, but I would hope it's not, because I don't know why with all this going on that we wouldn't want information to the right people that can make the difference to get something done.

Um, I don't know if it if if it goes further than that, but I'd like to know more about it, just so that I would know that we're actually working together to make one good system and not prohibiting our people if there is a problem of conveying it to somebody else that might be able to help or intervene and act as a metal person.

And that's all I have if I can get those answers.

Thank you, Mr.

Taft.

Councilman Brannigan.

I mean Brennan, sorry.

It's okay, Councilwoman Dunn.

Mr.

Taft, to your point.

I I I don't know for a fact, but I have to believe that that that is not good information.

And I will I will say this, and I think I speak on behalf of everybody sitting up here.

Um there are numerous times where I've been, whether it's at a festival or at a restaurant or or just in in grocery stores, and have run across fire department personnel, city employees, police department employees, police officers.

Um many of the ideas that I've brought in my position, and I I think I speak for the other people up here, as I said, or because of ideas that the firemen or fire department members, recreation departments, just any city employees, the police department have said, you know, it would be nice if we had this.

And you know it would be really good if we had this.

Some of the equipment that that we have allocated money for for the fire trucks have been results of firemen talking to us.

Councilwoman Branaghen and I had a young man at a the Italian festival a few years ago that we were working the soft drink booth, and just in conversation, he said, you know, it would be really great if we had on on our trucks, because that would allow us to do more work this with these compressor or I I'm drawing a blank, the fibulator type machines.

We went to the chief and said, Do you need those?

And he goes, Yeah, it's just a matter of funding.

And we got the council to put up the money for that.

And those that equipment has equated to saving lives.

We've heard those stories a couple of times from the Chiefs.

I I can't imagine that any of that has occurred, and I I can't imagine knowing the men and women of those departments that they would follow that, because the prior administration was mad at us for something that we had tried to do.

They called an emergency meeting with the management and all the directors to say, do not listen to what these five POSs have to say, and do not reach out to them before take their calls before 8 o'clock or after 4:30, because we're not following anything they ask us for.

We had directors and employees calling us immediately after that meeting and said, This is what we've been directed to do, and we're not going to follow that.

If you need something, we want y'all to reach out to us.

Again, I don't think there's a policeman, a fireman, some anybody in recreation that would follow that mandate just because they're told to do that.

I think everybody that works for this city has the city's best interest at heart, and especially all first responders, all first responders.

And I'm not fussing at you.

I just find that it quite impossible to even believe that that would that would have been done.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Brennan.

Councilman Lahat.

Yeah, thank you, uh, Madam Chair.

Um I've I've communicated with Chief Jree Dyer for uh since I'm sitting in the C we can't we communicate almost weekly.

The last four months communications has resulted in me funding uh RAM fans for all the trucks for a 38,000 allocation.

The next meeting we have first reading for the five motorworld converters and antennas that I'm paying for 9,077 for the fire department for the officer units, and I'm also funding a redesign of the bedroom in Station 37, because I didn't want to like the way it looked, and I want the firemen to have more privacy.

So I've been in kept constant communication with fire, and definitely Chief Connolly, since I'm sitting here, so I don't know where that information would come either.

But yeah, and also Councilman Brown also said we do a lot joint things together as well.

So I yeah, we do a lot.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Mahat.

Chief Morris.

Well, I don't think I have to answer any more speak to that question anymore because you know you're right, Councilman.

We would never, I've never, Chief Dyer has never put out any memo to any member of the fire department, not to speak to any one of you guys, or any member of the public for that matter, because that's who we work for.

We work for you guys and the members of the public, so they have every right to speak to you and voice any complaints they have with you or any requests that they have with you.

So no, that's not it's just bad information.

Now, to the speak to the uh apparatus that we found out, I found out this afternoon, right before this meeting, that we had an apparatus that was constantly needing coolant added to it.

The guys never wrote it up.

They wrote it up about an hour or so before making an incident, and the pump failed at the at the fire scene.

So but like we say it before for many years, if they don't put it in writing and let us know that they have in these problems, we can't address them.

Chief the pump.

Was it the water pump or was it the water as pump?

What pump failed?

It was the I think it was the water pump on the motor.

The water pump on the engine.

Right.

Okay.

Not that not the fire pump.

Not the fire pump.

Right.

Gotcha.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief Morris.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um Mr.

Nugent, Ryan Nugent.

Uh thank you, Councilwoman McKinney.

Um, first off, happy new year to everyone.

Um I'm speaking today as a follow-up to comments I made several weeks ago concerning the treasure chest as well as just provide some updates and responses.

First off, I'm just as excited as everyone else that the casino revenues are up.

That means more tax revenue, and that's a great thing for Kenner.

What I'd like to call the Treasure Chest and Board Gaming out on is their disingenuous claim of seeking to be neighbors that to be a neighbor that engages with the community.

The last time I spoke on this subject was at the October meeting when this council was asked to approve the construction of the new Treasure Chest-owned warehouse of the storage of gaming equipment.

We were told that the state requires such facilities, which begs the question: why wasn't the warehouse included in the plans for the original PUD?

That matter aside, there are two things I took issue with when I spoke in October.

The first was the limited scope of outreach undertaken in advance of these types of developments, whether that be the casino itself or this new warehouse.

Another gentleman backed me up on that particular issue, and the response we received from the administration was that the legal requirement had been satisfied.

However, neither I nor the other gentleman suggested that the legal requirement had not been satisfied.

I believe the point we were both making is that perhaps our elected representatives should do more to get the word out when the scope of a project may have impacts that exceed the legally prescribed contact radius.

The second thing that I took issue with is the appearance of the warehouse.

It's an awful character characterless gray box positioned right along one of Kenner's most attractive boulevards.

I pointed out that Boyd Gaming seems to prefer spending as little as possible on the appearance of its buildings while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on landscaping.

The casino itself is a perfect example of this.

One response I've received the last time I mentioned the appearance of the casino seemed to assume that it was hoping for some modernist or cutting edge architecture.

Well, for one, I'm actually a classicist, meaning I generally prefer traditional architecture.

And two, it's not the style of the building that I and many others find objectionable.

What we find objectionable is the lack of any style of architectural character whatsoever.

Sides of the building which face the lake in the adjacent neighborhoods, the literal definition of generic box.

All that being said, it left the October meeting with at least a little hope because it was approached by Boyd's representative from the law firm joins and walk Jones and Walker after the meeting.

He promised to follow up and get back to me, but seeing that as that was over a month ago, I'm not going to hold my breath.

So in conclusion, it's easy for companies like Board Gaming to come in here and claim that they want to be good neighbors, but I find very few are actually willing to put their money where their mouth is unless they're legally compelled to do so.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr.

Nugent.

Any comments?

Okay.

Um Mr.

Brown.

Thank you, Madam President.

Richard Brown, 824 Sessions Lane and District 4.

Um This was not what I came to say, but I want to say I agree with the lady who complained about the four-way stop sign at Loyola and Pelorin.

Every time I I go through that stop sign, I wonder why do we have a stop sign here?

There's never any cross traffic.

And stop signs should not be used for the purpose of slowing down traffic.

Um I'm sure Mr.

Gonzalez knows, according to the uniform manual of traffic control devices, stop sign should not be used to control, you know, speeding.

There should be other methods.

But uh uh as a professional parliamentarian, you sort of learn to read the room.

And and I can tell where the sentiment seems to lie, but I still wish that all of y'all would consider you know, having a traffic study if it's necessary to re to make that just a two-way stop rather than a four-way stop sign.

Just think about it every time you drive by there.

I I really think there's no need for that for that sign.

Um the one thing I wanted to say, I just wanted to take a minute.

I know that at the next council meeting you're voting on a renewal of the uh recycling contract with Romelli.

I don't think I can be here for the next meeting, so I won't just say now that that I support renewing that contract.

I know it'll be three dollars per month per household for weekly pickup.

That is the cheapest by far anywhere in the entire New Orleans metropolitan area, and I fully support renewing that contract and keeping the curbside recycling.

Um I have a about a minute left.

I want to say getting back to stop signs.

You know, there are places where we know we need a four-way stop sign, like Chateau and Vintage.

You know, that's a busy intersection.

It needs a four-way stop or a stop light.

I hope you don't put a stop light there.

I like the four-way stop.

You just have to know how to drive through it.

I think it works fine.

But in my own neighborhood and in Westwood, we have several stop signs on Chateau Boulevard and on Appian and Castle, which are the main streets, where there's just a one-block long cross street, one block, and the little cross street that goes runs between Appian and um and Castle doesn't even have any houses on it.

It's just people's, you know, side yards.

The houses face either Appian or Chateau.

And on Chateau Boulevard, I mean uh Appian and uh Castle.

And on Chateau Boulevard, we've got at least one stop sign where I think we just don't need it.

But please think about the one on Loyola.

That's all I've got.

Thank you.

Unless somebody has some questions for me.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you, Mr.

Brown.

And last but certainly not least, Chief Morris.

Yeah, I just uh wanted to speak to you that in the community this after this evening to give uh to acknowledge and give credit to the members of the Kentor Fire Department.

Uh especially when a member of the community takes time out of the day and come to your office to say you guys did a uh a great job, outstanding job.

And that happened yesterday.

An elderly gentleman walked into the office with his young daughter and told us uh Chief Dyer and myself that uh he wanted to acknowledge our guys that he was real grateful for the fine job that he did at his house.

He had a fire at his house in the detached portion that he uses for an office, and the guys did an outstanding job saving this fire files as well as uh keeping the fire from extending to his neighbor's property.

So he wanted to make certain that they would recognize and um that we acknowledge those guys for the fine and outstanding job they did, which is what I'm doing here today.

And secondly, uh it's great when your peers recognize that you do a great job too.

Um I received the email from LCMC the ambulance EJ ambulance crew, uh, and they responded to uh uh lift assist with uh person, and I don't want to get into the details because of the medical issues, but they say these guys went above and beyond with their care and their professionalism to assist them with treating this patient, that they felt the need to acknowledge them with that.

So I just want to let you know that it's many members of the Kent and Friar Department that does outstanding work day in and day out, and I just want to give them kudos for that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Excuse me.

Thank you, Chief Morse.

Any other comments or questions from the audience?

No seeing none.

Motion to adjourn.