The joint committee met on July 30, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. (agenda listed 9:45 a.m.) to consider a package of legislative items aimed at reforming the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) and addressing city infrastructure funding. All items were approved by unanimous votes (5-0 or 6-0) and will be forwarded to the full City Council for final action.
All right, good morning, everyone. It's ten a.m. We're going to ask everyone to please take your seats. Today this is a joint meeting of the climate change and sustainability committee as well as public work, sanitation, and the environment. Can we please call the role? Council Member Green, present, Councilmember Hughes present. Councilmember Morel present. Council Member Willard, present. Councilmember McCarran present. We had a quorum. Thank you, Director Spears. Uh, agenda item number two, approval of the minutes, June thirtieth, twenty twenty-six meeting of the Climate Change and Sustainability Committee, as well as public work sanitation and the environment. Uh moved by Chairwoman McCarron, second by President Morrell. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Um five yes, no nays, and that motion carries. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, what we're gonna do is we will jump to agenda item number eight, uh, and then we will uh resume regular order of the agenda going back to agenda item number three. So uh resolution uh item number eight resolution city infrastructure project list. I think we have uh director Nelson and members of the administration here for their presentation, and we're gonna go to the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Infrastructure and Director of Public Works. Thank you very much for having me up here first. Uh the proposal in this resolution before you all today is a key measure to ensure that we are fiscally stable. This is the deferral or the delay of a number of projects across all council districts, uh, and combined savings on bond funded projects so that we can reallocate thirty-five million dollars from uh twenty twenty-six bonds, convert that to cash, and allow those those projects will move forward. We will have another sale in twenty twenty-eight, but this is part of the challenging reality that we face in in order to to meet our general fund obligations. We've gone through that list of projects. Uh there are a list of projects that are ongoing that are attached to this motion. Uh, and again, this is very important to be able to pass this uh resolution so that we can continue to meet our cash obligations. With that, I would entertain any questions that there are. A couple things just so we can be clear to the public. Um, the projects um outlined in this list, just to be crystal clear. Um, these are just delays. We're not these are delays. We are not canceling projects. Uh it's still painful. I do want to be transparent. This isn't a zero-sum situation. It is not easy. Some of these projects we have been waiting on for many years. Um, but these are delays. We are not cutting or canceling projects. Thank you very much, Director. And then number two, just for the public's benefit, this is spread out across all council districts. It is across all council districts. We have worked very hard to be equitable. I very much appreciate you and everyone else on this dias and uh with all council districts in working together with us to ensure that that is an even spread. Thank you. And that's just the third point I wanted to get on the record. The administration uh had very clear and robust communication with all members of the council throughout this process. Thank you, sir, and really appreciate you and your staff and everyone else involved. Uh as another note on the aside, I understand with delays, that is not easy.