Very good.

Call the city council meeting in order.

At this time, we're gonna ask Mr.

Harvey to lead us in prayer.

Father God, we come to you today.

Thank you for an opportunity for one to be able to see a new beautiful year, Father.

We thank you for opportunities, not just for us as individuals, but for the people of our city, our citizens who we truly cherish, we ask that you please allow us to make sound decisions, not just tonight, Father God, but each and every night that we come before you.

In Jesus' mighty name, we pray by saying amen.

Mr.

Bilbo.

Here, Mr.

Young.

Here.

Mr.

Harvey.

Mr.

Marks.

Here.

And Mr.

Fondale.

Here.

We do have a quorum.

We do have a quorum.

All right.

This time, uh, we have a spatial special presentation by the mayor.

Mayor, if you would.

Mr.

Young is going to join.

Good evening, everyone.

Uh, today we want to honor a true citizen native of Lake Charles, my good friend, my good friends, uh Rick and Donna Reshaw.

We are supposed to say I do.

I've been doing the I've been doing the reshops for a very long time, and and uh I know that the the uh the services that they've done not only to this community but also in in terms of preserving the history and the culture of our community.

So I want to present you with with uh our councilman here, Matt Young uh a proclamation.

Yeah, if you don't mind, I can read it.

Okay.

From the Office of Mayor, Lake Charles, Louisiana Proclamation, Donna and Rick Reshaw Day.

Whereas Donna and Rick Reshaw of Lake Charles have been selected as recipients of the Winnie Burry Preservation Extraordinary Award by the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation in recognition of their impactful work to preserve historic places that embody the spirit and character of our region.

And whereas notable preservation achievements by the Reshaws include this the sensitive restoration and adaptive reuse of landmarks such as the Cash and Carrier building, uh 1930 structure that was rescued from deterioration and celebrated for preservation, excellence, and other historic resources, such as the Calcutta Marine National Bank Building, the Noble Building, Iris Hall, and Something Blue Cottage.

And whereas, in addition to restoring historic structures, the Reshads thoughtfully guided the construction of the Phoenix Building at the corner of Ryan and Kirby Streets, designing it with architectural elements inspired by Lake Charles's and historic fabric so that it complements the surrounding historic district, specifically the 1911 fire.

And whereas the City of Lake Charles proudly recognizes Donna and Rick Richard for their devotion to preserving our built heritage and inspiring others to do the same.

Now therefore be it resolved that I, Marsha J.

Simeon Jr.

Mayor of the City of Lake Charles in the sovereign state of Louisiana, do hereby proclaim January 7th, 2026 as Donna and Rick Reshaw day in the city of Lake Charles.

And Donna, if you don't mind, please come come and accept this, but also uh have a few words.

I think Katie wants to take a picture first, but we'll we'll wait till after you say your words.

Mayor, if she may want to wait, because I think he has a presentation first.

Yes.

Well, I'll go ahead and make a picture.

Okay.

Go ahead, please.

Well, um, thank you very much, Mayor Simeon, for the um proclamation and my friends from preservation and our other my other our other people who know us.

We have loved coming back home and doing what we have done, and we haven't done a lot lot, but we've uh well there's there's more that we could do.

I wish we were weren't running out of time, but anyway, um it's it's really been a fun fun for us for our projects, and thank y'all for who who've I I'm looking at everybody who's been with us along the way to to do what we've done.

Rusty Sutz's dad did a lot for us and his um company.

So anyway, it it does take more than just two people to do these buildings.

So, but um I am proud of our community that has the resources that we've been able to, I feel like bring these buildings to a place where that we'll be proud of for another hundred years, I hope.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll just add uh it's this is the most appropriate tonight because the reshards, when they do things, they're not looking for accolades or for congratulations or applause.

In fact, uh most of the projects that they have done have just been slowly unveiled, no with no big ribbon cutting or grand opening, no applause, but just they've contributed to the betterment of our community.

And so often over said, but truly Lake Charles is better because of the Reshards.

And I want to invite Brian Davis, uh, the executive director of the Louisiana Trust to present an award to them as well.

Great.

Thank you, Matt.

Um, my name is Brian Davis, I'm executive uh I have the honor to serve as executive director for the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation.

We're the statewide nonprofit that works in all 64 parishes.

Uh also had the very uh great privilege of working with Donna.

Uh she was our board president for a couple of years, and because of that and the leadership of others, uh, we recently were awarded the uh trustees award for organizational excellence for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

So this is a this organization is making a big difference uh throughout our state.

But I wanted to read um to present the award and just read a I can't really build much on what the mayor has already uh said.

But Donna and Rick Richard have demonstrated their commitment to the historic preservation by taking structures that embody the spirit and character of Lake Charles, repurposing and promoting each treasures of to the Southwest Louisiana region.

Their continuous leadership on a local and state level encourages future preservation and expansion of Lake Charles Historic Inventory.

They continue to make significant investments of time, talent, and money into saving landmarks like the Calcas Union National Bank Building and numerous others.

Additional historic assets are being identified for preservation with the adoption of a new Ryan Street Historic District.

And so thank you all for your um uh this and because of that, we want to recognize you uh this individual or individuals who have made a lasting impact to the historic resources of Louisiana through a body of work, and I can't believe of anybody else, think of anybody else who's more deserving.

Thank you.

Can we take a picture?

The mayor.

Rick, yes, yes.

Step forward for it.

Can't move too much.

Yeah.

Do you want to hold this?

Sure.

Great.

One more.

Thank you.

Great.

All right.

Thank you for your time.

Appreciate it.

Thank you guys.

Most deserving.

Thanks for doing the name of the day.

That's great.

Oh, yeah.

I think I'll tell you this.

Say one more thing.

Just to just to add, uh Rick Rick and I served on the community foundation board together.

Uh Rick was the CEO of a major company and served in the Reagan administration in the Department of Energy.

So he brought all that back home.

And when we went through uh back then, Hurricane Hurricane Reed, he and Donna took it upon themselves to be part of the major revitalization of the downtown area, including the Ryan Streetscape, and when he built the Phoenix building, that was literally uh symbolized symbolizing the uh the downtown area rising from the ashes after the great fire.

So it's not only the historic preservation, but the investment that has moved out our city forward to under track now where we are we are definitely have a place in history, and so do the reshot.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

And some of those have a handouts that talk about cultural districts and the national register districts and the access that gives to state and federal historic tax credits, which can cover anywhere from 35 to 55 percent of the rehab of an income producing building.

So if you have those historic buildings that are 50 years old or more in your district that are income producing, please I'll be glad to come back and talk with you more about it and tell you how you can get the incentives to the people there so they can get those buildings under underway.

50 years, yeah, it was a nice school.

50 years or older, so 1976 or before.

Okay.

Got a lot of it.

We got a lot of people.

Absolutely.

Oh no, we're gonna go ahead.

Great, thanks.

Thank you all.

Yeah, you'll be asking.

Oh, thanks.

Trying to trick people up.

I hope you did.

Congrats, sir.

All right.

Again, thanks to Mr.

and Mrs.

Reshard.

We're gonna move forward at this point.

Um we're deferring number seven to January 21st, 2026.

Deferring number seven to January 2026.

Uh, we're also hearing date for number 11 is set for February 18th, 2026.

Hearing date for number 11 set to February 18, 2026.

Please vote on the minutes.

Ah, four.

Okay.

Appointments.

Appointed chairman to review bids for project number CP 3019 sail road bridge repairs.

Matt Young.

Yes, sir.

I'll take it.

Number two, appointment chairman to review bids to purchase one new three-wheel sweeper for use by public works department street division.

Tommy Billboat.

Yes, sir.

I'll take it.

Number three, appointment of uh chairman to review bids for project number CP 3224, Mirrorfield Drive Drainage Phase 2, and amend the budget as necessary.

Mr.

Weatherford is not here, but he will accept public hearings.

Number four, an ordinance ordering demolition and authorizing the city of Lake Charles to enter an agreement for demolition of a structure located at 1610 Graham Street.

Alan J.

Mitchell owner.

Mr.

Hester.

Good evening, Council.

And this is a severely damaged structure.

You can see in the pictures, the whole roof has collapsed on the entire structure.

It's open to the public.

Um we've had lots of calls on this one.

There's exterior wall damage, there's window damage, all exposing the interior to severe weather damage of this structure.

This time I'd like to offer any record photographs of the subject property and proof of service to the marshal's office.

This is a rehearing from November 5th.

Mr.

Harvey.

Yes, I got a call from the actual property owner today and a representative from Project Build the Future.

They're trying to finalize a deal within the next 30 days and they ask that we just please defer for 30 days.

Oh my god, I call probably about an hour ago.

So we're deferring for 30 days?

Just for 30 days.

Anything else, Mr.

Hester?

No.

Deferred for 30 days, please vote.

Six four, Mr.

Weatherford is here.

Ordinance for final action.

An ordinance accepting the lowest responsible bid and authorizing the city of Lake Charles to enter an agreement for project number CP 3427, wastewater treatment plant BC sludge processing improvements.

Number five, let's see.

All right.

Wagner Engineering Incorporated review of the bids received and opened on December 16, 2025 for the subject project.

The lowest responsible bidder was Tillier Services LLC, located in Plackman, Louisiana.

Turia services, LLC submitted the base bid in the amount of 11,988,000 and an additive alternate alternate number one in the amount of 551,000 and an additive alternate number two in the amount of 722,300, and an additive alternate number three in the amount of 141,250.

I moved that this bid before the the bid.

Any questions or comments?

I do, Mr.

President.

Yes, sir.

This concerned me a little bit because that's a pretty big number.

Uh and I remember us completely redoing uh treatment plant BC around 2016.

Um I did get with Mr.

Heisey about some of the uh funding sources, and I'd like for him to share those if he could because it at least alleviated some of my concerns.

Mr.

I think you may also want to look at the uh the next paragraph because that was a recommendation to reject some alternate bids two and three.

Council members, uh the funding sources for this, we have a five million dollar grant from the state of Louisiana to do some of this rebuilding.

Um and we also have approximately six million dollars worth of FEMA money uh that was turned in to rebuild some of this because the uh the blower rooms were destroyed or significantly impacted uh after Laura, and there's about a million and a half of city uh capital funds in this.

So we're getting about 90 percent of this project is being paid for outside of city funds.

Thank you, Mr.

Heizy.

That made me feel a lot better.

It doesn't make me feel better because we spent how much on that plant.

It was about a 40 million dollar bill, but this was not rebuilt at that time.

This uh these were uh the digestion systems and the blower systems were not rebuilt in 2016.

So we so you tell me we put uh some old digesters in that new plant?

We used the ones that were there that were from the previous plant.

We rebuilt on the same site and we used uh some of the older uh we didn't have 12 million dollars then to do it.

So we did the uh a lot of the ancillary stuff around the plant, but did not do the digesters and the blowers at that time.

So, how much was that last plant if you remember?

How much to build a new one?

It was what we did there was about 40 million dollars.

40 million, so this is another 51 million.

No, this is 56 million with this money added to it.

If you say it was 40?

About 40, and then this is 12.

So that is that 52.

Okay.

So I just don't see so this is going straight to the digesters and digesters alone.

Digesters and the blowers, yes, it's the solids handling and and the presses.

They were not re rehabilitated in 2016.

If I may, you said there was some FEMA funds in there.

That is correct.

And that's because there was some damage to the hurricane that caused some of this as well.

Well, but it couldn't have been damaged because if it wasn't there before, you couldn't get paid for something that wasn't there.

It was there before, but it was the it was uh remnants of the older facility.

We we uh we rebuilt 40 million worth of what was on the site there, but at the time we did not have the funds to do the solid handling and said we'll do that at some point down the road as a capital project.

And when the storm came, it did did damage to the the old stuff that was there.

So this is an opportunity to uh get that funded because of the damage.

I guess I just got a hard time understanding we build a 40 million dollar plant, but leave old digesters and old press machine in there.

I used to work there, that's why I'm surprised about it.

There there wasn't money in in 2016 to replace all of the plant.

We had fund limitations.

Mr.

President, I worked in the mayor's office at the time.

I remember leading media through there doing the tour, and I remember seeing the old digesters and hoping that they'd look the other way because it was a brand new plant.

So there's nothing you can do about it now.

But we had um the next paragraph, unless the city of Lake Charles finds a reason to object, Wagner recommends rejection of the amount submitted for alternate number two and alternate number three and award a base bid in the amount of eleven million nine hundred and eighty-eight thousand.

What were the alternates for?

Uh one was for an uh an additional press to go in there to to help operations, and one was for resurfacing uh some of the digesters, which it was too expensive to resurface them, uh resurface them, and then some ancillary concrete.

So we're putting new digesters as well.

So putting new aeration systems in the digesters.

The actual digesters, the concrete digesters themselves will are going to stay there.

But we don't need the insulation or whatever number three was for.

Uh it was we'd like to have it there, but it was just too much money.

So it'll be something that'll be remediation again down the road would be my recommendation.

So what risk it put us at?

I think it's at a low risk.

Yeah.

Mr.

Marks, if I may, quite often on some of these type projects, of course, there was damage by the hurricane, we received FEMA funds and additional funds for this and a grant.

But uh we'll put an alternate in there, it's something we would like to do.

And if it comes in under budget and we've got the funds for it, we go ahead and move forward with it.

So we put the alternates in order of how we want to, if we choose not to accept it based on the priority, and we use the engineer's recommendation, so we know going in that it's very close, but you never know how the bids come out.

So we do this quite often with alternates.

And I understand that perfectly, but those digesters were extremely old.

And I'm saying we're we're gonna push it even further.

Well, the the concrete digesters, the structure themselves is good, but all of the ancillary equipment that goes in them is being replaced.

Are they compatible?

Yes.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments?

Move that this bid be accepted as stated with the rejections.

Please vote.

Number six.

Mr.

Mark, just for just for I guess a clarification.

Um said that you said we were accepting it an amount of eleven, nine eighty eight.

And if you look at the last sentence of results, is a total award of twelve, five three nine.

That's what we're accepting.

Oh, I didn't read the last.

So just just so you clear.

You want to read it back in?

I would, yes, sir.

Okay.

Last sentence.

Uh number five.

Okay, we move that the bid be accepted as stated with the rejection of the alternates for a base bid of eleven million nine hundred and eighty-eight thousand, with the total being twelve million five hundred thirty-nine thousand to Tuluria Services LLC.

Thank you, sir.

Good.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now, please vote.

64.

Number six, an ordinance authorized the city of Lake Charles to enter in a professional services agreement with Nisi or NICE system incorporated to provide a cloud-based digital evidence storage management system.

Any questions or comments?

I do have some questions in regards to this.

We were taking on a tour of the um police station.

And if I'm not mistaken, this is the system that stores all of the evidence, all of the footage.

Is that go ahead, Chief?

Sure.

Deputy Chief Godet with the Lake Charles Police Department.

And so we don't have this yet.

Okay.

This is something that we would like to get.

Uh-huh.

And it's actually kind of becoming a necessity in our world.

Uh this is for digital evidence storage.

And currently we keep digital evidence on multiple servers.

And uh it's over the last 10 years, the amount of digital evidence involved in criminal casework has increased exponentially, but explosively exponentially.

Uh you can imagine all the body cams that we have.

We have you know 1520 officers working a shift.

Every call that they go on, they're running body cam, you know, half of those end up as part of a criminal case.

They're in car cams, and now we have surveillance cameras, ring cameras, uh, real-time crime center cameras, traffic cameras, all those kind of things that play into these major crimes.

On top of that, we've got cell phones that get dumped, which are you know 200 plus gigabytes these days.

So the amount of digital evidence that we have is just huge.

And it was overwhelming the servers that we had at the PD.

About six months ago, we had an actual incident.

I'm sorry, I'm getting over a cold.

Uh we had an actual incident where one of the digital evidence servers began to fail, and it was such a failure that it could have become a cascade effect that would have taken down the entire network.

So we took a step back and actually uh Sergeant George Miller, who's in our investigations, found this solution.

And if you have any technical questions about it, we uh we can bring him up.

But this is something that we need is for digital evidence storage and for sharing with the DA's office and the prosecutor's off office.

I think the DA's office has it already, if I'm not mistaken, excuse me.

Miller Sergeant Miller Committee yes sir Sergeant Mill I see we paying 500,000 for this yes will we be able to take the storage that we already have and transfer it into here that's yes so it'll encompass so what do we do with the other space so what's happening so we have multiple servers that are containing digital evidence currently we also store digital evidence for the the cases itself on thumb drives hard drives that are stored in our permanent uh evidence system storage facility what this is doing is because those files can become corrupt uh within a span of five years roughly and it uh corrupts all of our digital evidence that we have from whatever we're going to trial so all those cases are going to be uploaded into the system which is a essentially a three-tiered system so if we have one system that gets corrupt say on the cloud right we have three other backups to that that that where that same file is going to be stored that's the cost associated with storing the uh the digital evidence so in this 500,000 do they do the transfer or do y'all have to do the transfer no sir they do the transfer at no extra cost no extra cost and what is the lifespan you said they go out in five years.

So currently with kind of taking the history through how we store digital evidence right we started with floppy disk we we went to uh CDs you know DVDs hard drives uh thumb drives hard drives and now we're expanding outward yeah so we're expanding out to uh larger amounts of data dealing with the digital evidence is uh intimately as I do is you know when we're doing cell phone extractions some of these phones are becoming a terabyte of storage that we're having to when we do the digital evidence we're having to make multiple copies of that device which is also put in the program that we're able to view that information on within a hard drive a standard hard drive is only good between five and ten years and then that file could become corrupt during this incident when we had the failure of one of the servers that we're able to view that digital evidence on what ended up happening is they were going back into the evidence and some of those files were already becoming corrupt which made this an emergency to be able to offload that digital evidence from those devices and put it in a secure network where those uh servers are constantly conditioned and maintained through a different company essentially we can't do that at the at the police department and constantly try to condition these servers not to fail.

So we're basically giving this to a company to hold for us.

Yes or nice is the digital evidence management company yes sir and what rights does it give us I mean does so it's encrypted they can't view it we have all access and all rights to our digital evidence.

If at some point in time we decide to move away from them we still have all the rights and access to this digital evidence.

So this doesn't correct errors from body cams this just stores what received on the body can yes sir yeah okay all right appreciate you yes sir any other questions or comments please vote thank you six four number seven is deferred number eight an ordinance to authorized the city of Lake Chalts into an agreement with Utilisur for fire hydrant flow testing and inspection maintenance pressure testing and flushing GIS mapping and hydrant mapping any questions or comments I do have a question Mr.

Cardone at one time wasn't we using the fire department to do this some of it yes sir so we're good we going away from that yes sir most of most of it will be done by utility server the fire department will assist them when needed okay and this is for to help maintain our PIL rating.

Okay and this affects our insurance yes sir okay could you give the council a brief explanation to that if you don't if it's okay yeah chief ain't been to the mic yet can you explain to the council I know Mr.

Weatherford probably already know but the rest of the council how this affects our insurance rating for the city.

Okay so we get uh it's one of the only uh departments with uh conjunction with the water department that uh gets rated by this the PIL company that works for the insurance companies so they rate the community on the basis of how we can protect businesses and uh homeowners with the fire service and the water you can't have a great fire department in no water to fight and you and vice versa you can't have all the water and no fire fire department so that rating put together affects how insurance companies rate the cities on how they're going to base their insurance on the rating for any business owner any homeowner in the city sixty percent of our fire rating PIL comes from the fire department 40% is water and this is just one of those components of it.

So that rating put together affects how insurance companies rate the cities on how they're going to base their insurance on the rating for any business owner, any homeowner in the city.

60 percent of our fire rating PIL comes from the fire department, 40 percent is water, and this is just one of those components of it.

And P and P I A L is Property Insurance Association of Louisiana.

Right.

Any questions or comments for Chief?

All right, thank you, Chief.

Please vote.

64.

Number nine, an ordinance amending section 2078 of chapter 20 of the code of ordinances for the city of Lake Charles to place no parking signs on both sides of West Javon Lane from East Javon Lane west to a point 100 feet north of the sharp turn.

Any questions or comments?

Please vote.

Six.

Oh following resolutions may be adopted by consent.

Anybody got anything they want to pull?

No pull.

All right.

Number 10.

A resolution accepting project number CP 3512 Gospert Park New Pool and Improvements are substantially complete and authorizing the advertising of 45-day lien period.

The hearing date for number 11 is February 18th.

The resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 711 Falls Street.

Rose Young Funtno and Frank Funtneau owners.

A resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 1105 North Wendell Street, accessory structure only.

Connie Griffin, David Griffin, and Gerald Griffin owners.

Number 13, the resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 1902 North Prator Street.

Patrick Omar Mouton, Tanisha Nicole Mouton, Rob Razul, and Michael Blaine Muton owners.

Number 14, a resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 2432 12th Street.

Larry Lee Mitchell and Teresa and Petrie Mitchell owners.

15.

A resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 2201.

Highway 171, Jasmine Family Property L C Elaine Marie Landry, Calderon Estate, Robert Earl Landry, Bell and Landry Jr.

and Sonya Lisa Landry Page owner, subject to a tax sale to the state of Louisiana.

16, a resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 1400 North Shadow Street, Cleveland Nash, and Elvira Nash owners.

17, a resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 2116 18th Street.

Randall Booth Whitaker and Cheryl Patricia Whitaker owners.

18, a resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 1505 McNabb Street.

Tyron Gerard Nickerson owner.

19, a resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 411 Gilpin Drive.

Gerald, no middle name initial, no middle initial Armalin Senior Owner.

20, a resolution setting date for public hearing on condemnation of a structure located at 317 South Louisiana Avenue, front house only.

Grace Smith, Eurik Y Price, Charles Y Price, Monica Manker Russer, Marcia Manker, and Gregory Manker owners.

21, a resolution authorizing the city of Lake Charles to advertise to receive SEAL bids for project number DR002 Public Works New Facility Phase 2 to amend the budget as necessary.

Anybody have a clue of what district that's in?

Public works facility phase two.

I don't know what to do.

Huh?

That's the new facility.

Broad Street, yeah.

Mr.

Marks, I take that.

Thank you.

I will.

Um please vote.

I have one question, Mr.

Cordon.

Point of uh edification.

Okay.

Can you explain to the new council what does it mean when it says at one of the at the end of one of these subject to us tax sale to the state of Louisiana?

I could, but I think I'm gonna let oh I should ask Mrs.

Stutz.

All that means is that the property has been the property taxes haven't been paid.

Uh-huh.

And so the state of Louisiana is what we call like a nominal or titular owner and subject to a redemption period, at which point once the redemption period passes, then you know that they take title to the property.

That's the state does.

That's cool.

So they supersede the city.

Well, it just depends on who in this particular instance what taxes are involved.

Okay.

Any questions?

Comments on that.

All right.

The following ordinance are for introduction by consent and will be read into the record the day following this meeting at 1 p.m.

in the city council chambers.

This meeting is adjourned.