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.

We are continuing to increase staff.

I do really want to see our average wait times get down to 30 days.

Averages of 200 to 300 days are not acceptable.

Uh and we are working internally in addition to these bond funded projects to make that happen.

Uh thank you, Director.

Uh with that, look, I will echo your sentiments.

Delays are nothing that anybody is thrilled about.

Um, but what we can reiterate to the public is that this is um one key step and a much larger piece of the puzzle to ensure that we protect critical services and uh throughout city government.

So with that, any comments or questions from uh Director Spears?

Councilmember, there's one online comment.

Okay.

Um go ahead.

You can read it.

The comment is from Deborah Campbell.

Uh she says include sirens as a funded priority for New Orleans.

And those are all of the online comments with the meeting.

Thank you very much.

Um the board is clear.

I'll move.

Uh moved by President Morrell, second by uh Councilmember Green.

Uh all in favor, please say aye.

All right.

Any opposition?

Uh five yes, no nays, and that motion carries.

Thank you, Director.

All right.

Um we will now resume regular order.

Uh agenda item number three.

Uh Chairwoman McKair.

Thank you, members.

Um, and thank you, everybody, for being here.

Today we are making history.

Today we are the first council and administration to take on the challenge of reforming sewage and water board.

The current governing structure is a systematic failure.

As a district council member, it is astonishing how many of my interactions involve with residents involve sewage and water board.

This is rarely just one issue with one simple fix.

Water leaks, pavement cuts that have been open for months, bills in the thousands, endless construction, pump issues, drainage issues, flooding.

The issues are cascading.

And until now, the people you voiced your issues to did not have power or oversight to do much about it.

No power to review and approve budgets, no power to prioritize projects based on community needs and input, and no power to make sure simple issues are resolved quickly and your quality of life is improved.

But today, this legislation creates the framework to create a better utility for the people of New Orleans.

It is what residents deserve and what has been missing for decades.

I want to be clear about a few things here.

This legislation is not a punishment.

It is not an indictment of any one person or any singular policy.

This is about making sense out of the current governance structure of the Sewage and Water Board.

I also want to be extraordinarily clear that this is not an indictment of the hardworking men and women who are public servants who do the difficult work to keep our systems running and our water safe to drink.

We see you, we thank you, and we are still going to need you.

Lastly, I want to be clear that this is not a magic button.

We press when this legislation is enacted.

Things did not get this way overnight and won't be fixed overnight.

This will take hard work and dedication from this council, this administration, and the real partnership with Sewage and Water Board to ensure that we get this right.

And I know we are all up for the challenge.

I want to thank Councilmember Hughes for his partnership with me on pumps and our fellow colleagues for trusting in us to lead and advise on this important work.

I want to thank Mayor Moreno and her team, especially Leo John and Andrew for leading us through this process, as well as Steve Nelson with DPW, who is taking on additional challenges with this work.

To the rest of our pumps working group, including Aaron Spears, our director of council utilities, and of course, Zewagin Water Board, thank you for your continued input and advice.

And we are not done yet.

Last but not least, I want to thank our staff working diligently behind the scenes to make all of this happen.

So with that, I know that we have a presentation.

If anybody else from the diets would like to make comments now or after, when we I would just like to have my name added to the resolution.

I would just like to have my my name added to the resolution.

We'll do.

All right.

So with that, I'll ask Andrew and Leah John to come up and make their presentation and they will go through uh what we're voting on today.

Uh Councilmember Greenford would like his name added as well.

Uh council members, because this ordinance has already been introduced.

Actions to add names will have to be done during next week's council meeting.

But noted.

Floor is yours.

All right.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning, Chairman McCarrin, uh, Chairman Hughes.

Thank you for having us today.

Uh appreciate the members of the council and their patience.

Uh my name is Andrew Tizzolo.

I serve as special counsel to Mayor Helena Moreno.

To my left is LJ Arnett, who is our director of policy and research.

Uh since June 2nd, and certainly since the spring, uh the mayor's team in collaboration with the council has been working to uh build uh toolbox of tools to reform the sewage and waterboard, starting with the mayor's call during the legislative session to help pass uh Representative Hill Freddy's bill that created the opportunity to do this type of reform.

Upon successful passage of that, uh the mayor put a executive order out there to create the pumps subgroup, uh the name uh created by Adam Swenzik for the record, so for all those who like comedy and acronyms.

Um the PUM subgroup was uh is a group of community uh city staff, and of course, as Councilmember Karen noted, two council members who have worked together since June 2nd uh to build uh a framework for regulation and reform of sewage and water board, a framework to put the community back in charge of sewage and water board and to smooth out some of the rough parts we've had for years and years in operating and managing and maintaining our critical infrastructure, including drainage and water.

Thanks to the work of this group, which has some wonderful people on there.

I can't I'm not gonna name them all, but I want to thank certainly the community members, Dr.

Chalk, uh Bo Jones from the Water Institute, um, a group of folks that came from all different walks of life to advise and input.

And we put together, I think, um uh really uh um helpful, I hope, uh, framework for the council to work from.

I especially want to thank um the uh council's utility regulation office and uh an excellent public servant, Aaron Spears, a who helped draft this and put this together.

She put the pen to paper, and that's what makes it work.

So I want to thank Aaron and of course our executive counsel, Adam Swenzik as well.

So let me go through it.

Uh I'm gonna try to move as quickly as possible to uh preserve your time.

Uh but if anybody has any questions during the way, I'm happy to take any questions along the way.

So once again, the mayor created the pump subgroup.

It's a subgroup of the ICC, another group that she created uh to help coordinate infrastructure construction in the City of New Orleans.

One of the things she said when she was running for office was that uh the people in New Orleans simply weren't getting the services they deserve because of how discombobulated everything can be, and we she needed greater coordination and urgency.

That's what the ICC was meant to create, and I think it's done great work there, bringing what she called Super Bowl level services to the City of New Orleans.

We're still working on that, but I think we've made a lot of progress.

What we did was we create a subgroup of that called pumps.

And this the intention here, of course, as we mentioned, was to build a regulatory and reform framework for the city council to take over most of the key um direction and operational choices of the Sewage and Water Board.

Created that group.

That group is made up of community and uh community members and staffers, and of course, the city council members, the climate chair, Councilmember McCarron and Councilmember Hughes, the chair of public works.

Uh I'm going to go through the ordinance now.

The ordinance, of course, um is the key piece of uh legislation that will create that framework for the council to work from.

It addresses some of the major challenges we faced, which is having a volunteer uh unelected board manage the sewage and water board with unclear levels of authority and lines of communication.

We've seen numerous examples going back years and years and years of the Sewage and Water Board attempting but not quite making um uh making it for the community, making things work for the community.

We have too many sort of crises that emanate from that, and I think all of us want to see this work efficiently, effectively.

Again, these are critical infrastructure um uh operations.

We don't pump the city out of water, we don't keep the water clean water coming through the pipes, we can't have a city.

So these are some of the most important things that happen in the city.

We need to have clear communication, clear authority, and that's what this ordinance intends to do.

So under this ordinance, the city council is granted through the power of the state law we passed.

The city council is granted the oversight and the approval of various pieces of the sewage and water board's operations.

Most importantly, those regarding the budget and regarding its capital improvement plan.

Of course, rate setting is already in the city charter.

That doesn't change, but we also moved some of the contracting pieces into the city council's oversight.

These are not all the contracts of the sewage and water board, but key contracts that include those uh regarding professional services, government relations, communications, of course, lobbying, things that the city council might want to have a look at and that the public should have further transparency around.

It's important to note that also the executive director of the sewage and water board by state law is chosen by the board.

The board chooses the executive director.

This new law creates an opportunity for the city council to have a public um opportunity to vet executive directors and general superintendents also for their contract extensions.

You'll see in the amendments that we are uh proposing as well.

This is important for transparency and aligns with the city council's move to bring all of our 13 directors under the charter into the confirmation process.

Very similarly, we'll bring the director of sewage and water board, the key executive of the sewage and water board to the city council for public transparency and exposition about their role.

Why is it important to put the city council in charge of the sewage and water board?

Um I think pretty much everybody in this room and people across the city have read the innumerous reports about reforming the sewage and water board.

The fun part is that we've tried to reform the sewage and water board through state action for dozens of years now.

The board of the sewage and water board has changed probably about three to four times since I've been working in government for the last 20 years, and each one of those changes has been met with another report saying that those changes didn't quite work and we should make more changes.

So what we've done is we created the most direct line of authority between the people and the sewage and water board by putting their elected representatives in charge of the major elements of the sewage and water board.

And those elected representatives, of course, are seated in front of me, and of course, with in collaboration with the mayor.

Operating capital budgets, the improvement plans, the rates fees, the debt issuance, professional service contracts, executive leadership, confirmation, and employment contracts, all will be subject to council oversight, amendment, review, and approval.

Because the city charter continues to have the members of the sewage and water board uh within its text.

We are not changing the composition of the sewage and water board, but we are re um retasking the sewage and water board's board to deal with day-to-day operations, also creating a direct line of authority to the mayor, with the mayor appointing seven citizen representatives, two of the board of liquidation, board of LIC members will still be appointed by the board of Lick, and of course, the mayor or her um designee, the mayor will not serve as the chair of the sewage and water board anymore.

It will elect its own chair.

The board will still maintain some operational control at the day-to-day level.

The city council is a very busy body.

You guys have lots to do.

It's not going to be a day-to-day, the city council sitting at the sewage and water board, but rather that the board will make day-to-day minor decisions, but the major decisions, the strategic decisions, the decisions that affect people's days and their ways of life will be made right here in the city council chamber in public.

A vote of the people to change the composition of the sewage and water boards, which requires a change to the city charter, which is an election by the people.

That's for the future for now.

The mayor will appoint the seven citizens that serve, and of course, as I mentioned, the two Board Elick members and the mayoral designee.

Of course, the public works chair also has a point still has an appointment on the sewage and water board.

All of those appointments will be made next week.

Council President Morel will be holding a government affairs committee to introduce new sewage and water board members.

Those would be public next week.

The mayor is making appointments.

There is some continuity in those membership, but there are also some new people.

And so we're proud to uh announce those people next week.

Moving on, I want to move quickly through the uh board of directors piece because I think we've all spoken about this.

Another great um uh area of concern.

We've had multiple council meetings about this is the sewage and water board's ability to communicate emergencies effectively into the right parties.

There's been a long-term issue with information coming out of the sewage and water board and getting to the public effectively and accurately.

It's not any one person's fault, but we're trying to streamline that communication.

One of the ways in which we believe that the city government can act most effectively here is to integrate emergency communications with the city's effective null already uh operations and cease having two separate lines of communication.

I think that would help everybody.

We've also put in the law, and I know the council is interested in this to make sure that council members are apprised of critical information at the earliest possible moment.

I know each of you have probably dealt with a situation, and certainly in this chamber dealt with a situation where pieces of information about your district or potentially about the whole city were not provided to you timely, and it created confusion and often residents were not sure what was going on, and later explanations were necessary.

So, with this law, we're creating clear lines of communications and protocols so that you are informed about the important issues that you need so that you can get your information out to your constituents.

Again, the uh another piece of standardization of protocol will be that the city council will receive an emergency operations plan on an annual basis from the sewage and water board.

Typically, the city presents a emergency hurricane season uh presentation here, the city council every May or June.

Uh Entergy does the same, Delta does the same.

Now Sweden Water Board will be uh required to present their emergency plan each year so that the City Council and the public know what should be happening in an emergency, what information should be shared, and how to get it.

Another key issue that has been uh long-term issue with the sewage and water board is the un there's no clear repository of information about the sewage and water board.

Reports that are required are not easy to find.

There are no clear databases where you would find reports about storms, about pumping.

There are certain websites on sewage and water board that provide some of this information, but there's no historical or categorical place.

We're we're hoping that through this new ordinance and framework, there will be a single repository for this information, and that clear uh clear reporting protocols were are created so that the council can expect certain information at certain times, so that can all be cataloged and databased so that all of you have an opportunity to look contextually at the work of the sewage and water board so that there isn't a uh everything is a critical or urgent incident.

Often we forget, history forgets very quickly about what just happened a year or two years ago, and with that context, we can be more effective in managing this organization.

Another great piece that I think this ordinance creates and aligns with the city's uh existing operations is the a public budget presentation.

Because we're on constrained timeline this year, we're gonna ask that that presentation be done on a on an expedited uh fashion with those submissions being done in November and by December.

That aligns with sewage and water board's current operational budget plan.

In the future, we intend to back that up just as we do with the city's budget and start that process earlier so there is a public exposition so that the public community groups can come here, learn about sewage and water board's operational budgets and capital budgets and priorities, and that the city's council can oversee and amend and provide community input on all of those issues.

Every one of those pieces is critical, and it's important that we note that the sewage and water is obviously grossly underfunded, and that when we have a capital plan that creates an entire set of projects that are all urgent, none of which are funded, it makes the public confused about what the plan is and what the strategy is.

And one of the challenges we have is because it's so opaque, we have no idea what is really going on and what's part of the plan and what's not.

The other issue that we've also faced, and the city council previously has worked on this is that because sewage and water board has not been able to receive enough funding from state, federal, and local resources.

They've been unable to execute on key um projects, including, of course, the power complex, thanks to the city council.

City council helped uh step in and fund the power complex when it was they were unable to find money for that.

This was done on an expedite basis and almost on an emergency case, and that shouldn't be the way we plan strategically for capital uh improvements.

This process will create greater strategy and vision around those capital improvements and allow the city's representatives to have input about their neighborhood projects, what projects are working, what construction isn't getting done, why certain uh projects are taking too long, and we can get greater insight, oversight, and accountability on those issues.

Mentioned the capital improvement plan.

I think it is good to note that we intend to have a short and medium-term forecast from the sewage and water board so you can plan not just on an annual basis, but many of sewage and waterboard's biggest projects take many years to come to fruition.

We know that that is typical of most of these large critical infrastructure projects, and we need to have vision on that and strategy that doesn't just last on an annual basis, but on a multi-year basis.

I will mention that the City of New Orleans has a capital improvement plan process, which uh works pretty well as well as the uh coastal uh authority here in Louisiana has a long-term capital project.

All of these should are uh models that the sewage and water boards uh should be emulated, and we intend to help emulate through the city council process.

I'm reaching the end here, so I'm gonna uh pause for a moment to see if there are any questions.

I went kind of quickly, trying to make sure you all had time to speak.

If there are any questions, I'd like to, I'm happy to take them.

Again, um LJ and I have served as staff on the pumps group.

We've been happy to work with Council Members McCarron and Hughes on this, and of course, this is a product of the City Council.

We do have an amendment that we're requesting just to make some clarifications that is sponsored by Ford Council members.

Um other than that, I'm happy to take questions on issues and details and certainly for the public.

Um thank you.

I have one question.

Yes, Madam Chair.

Just just for the public's benefit, um, did sewage and water board have representation on the pumps committee?

Yes, sir, it's a great question.

So one of the members of the pumps uh group was Caitlin Timarak, who is the general superintendent of the sewage and water board, and in in as well, we also had former board members serving on the pumps working group as well.

So we were um blessed to have a group of folks who had great knowledge and direct insight.

Caitlin was a wonderful member and uh collaborator on this process.

So just in full transparency to the public, this pumps working group as um you know created by the mayor's executive order, this was not uh just the committee uh of the administration or elected bureaucrats.

Um we had sewage and water board at the table, um we had everyday citizens at the table at the business community at the table.

So um we we had a a large representation um of the uh users of the system um and the city of New Orleans, would that be a fair assessment?

Absolutely, sir.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh once again, Granicus does not work, so uh I'd like to make some comments, though I can't press the button to say that.

Appreciate it.

Uh Andrew, it's been years in Granicus never seems to work.

We made lots of money.

We need a form of that.

Couple of questions.

First up, uh I appreciate your slide that you had on emergency notifications.

Uh I will tell you that a complaint we commonly get from constituents is that the existing efforts to provide emergency notifications that sewage and water board does independent of the city are confusing, uh not clear, and often duplicative of the city's existing efforts.

I know you mention um how the city will essentially fold them into null already, but I want to be very clear that the goal is for the public to receive appropriate notifications in the vehicles they're accustomed to and to streamline sewage and waterboard communication.

I think that from our perspective as a council, talking to my colleagues, and I know you've heard this repeatedly, and I know the mayor's expressed it as well.

The goal is really to view sewage and water sewage and water board as a city department.

That's right.

And since we have centralized communication that people have already signed up to, like no already, is it your intention, is the intention of this ordinance to not suggest but mandate that sewage and water board use our existing channels rather than A, duplicate them badly and B, waste money on duplicating them badly.

I think that's exactly right, sir.

And I think you've seen there are many opportunities for operational efficiencies.

The number one most important one is to create a sole trusted source for communication.

These are critical um notifications.

And having confusing notifications out there about flooding possibilities, about water quality, about water being out, is uh it's it's being done in a haphazard way at this juncture, and we believe to streamline that is critical.

The mayor's been very clear that you'd like to see one um sort of conveyance for all that communication.

And NOLA ready has been very effective.

Uh I think residents all uh most I think they trust it, they should.

It does a really good job.

It's run here at the city.

There's no reason to have two different sort of communications.

It's both confusing and in some cases it can be worse than confusing.

So I think um it's a critical piece of this reform effort is to streamline that and put it in one uh lane.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, and regarding your slide regarding emergency preparedness, I will tell you that a complaint that we've gotten, particularly during the storm season, is that it appears that when we have these catastrophic events at sewage and waterboard, whether it was the power tripping repeatedly, whether it was human error with the pumps and operations, the question we get from constituents repeatedly is do they do dry runs before hurricane season to make sure all this equipment actually is operating properly, the people manning it are trained properly.

And the suggestion I would make, it's not codified yet, but I think we can do it through the board is you need to publicize publicize proactive efforts.

Like if you've noticed across the world, when you have these kind of annual incidents, like we have hurricane season in the city of New Orleans, everyone knows it.

That is the time we expect sewage and waterboard to be at a game, that's when the football season starts, however, whatever analogy you want to use, it would make sense that we create an annual process where sewage and waterboard publicizes before hurricane season, we're testing the pumps, we're testing the station, we're going to do load bearance on the pumps to make on the power station to make sure that everything's working properly.

Hey, public, you may notice a drop in water pressure here.

We're testing the pumps before hurricane season.

Because I think in order, part of having this ordinance, part of us rebuilding public confidence, is showing intentionality and proactive efforts to solve problems rather than react to them.

That's right.

And restoring confidence, as you said, is one of the most critical pieces, not just in emergency preparedness, but across sewage and waterboard's operations.

But to that point, as you all know, no SEM runs tabletop operations prior to hurricane season.

Sewage and waterboard um participates in that, but playing a larger role and an integrated role with our uh existing tabletops is incredibly important.

I I hope that that is the case.

I intend for that to be the case so that we see the public understanding some of the preparations being done prior to these uh hurricane seasons.

Yes.

And my last question with CIP.

Um I heard just now from your presentation, what you're trying to do is to have them mirror our CIP process.

I would encourage you to just fold them into our CIP process.

And I say that because a lot of what we've seen, in my estimation, as to why the organization has gotten so bloated, is that we have too many duplicative processes.

If we have people already inside city government, people who have years of experience in creating capital improvement params that are that are transparent, that the public can follow, that the council can understand as we do our consideration is how we're going to do capital funding, it doesn't make sense to teach sewage and waterboard how to do it.

It makes sense to have us just do it and then provide the information and follow our CIP process.

Just because I don't I really do not want to, in the process of doing all these changes, create more bureaucracy.

I want to streamline it.

And like I said, my goal has been unabashedly throughout this to make to treat sewage and waterboard as a department as such anything that is surprifless, I really would prefer that we kind of axe out in this process.

I think that's exactly right.

I think one of the things that you mentioned in terms of integrations fits in the overall package of making sewage and waterboard act more like a city department.

And that is exactly right.

We need to have a because uh El Ja and I discuss all the time, there are many um infrastructure projects, green infrastructure projects that sewage and waterboard is a participant in, so is the city of New Orleans.

And so we're already participating and aligned on some of these projects, but they're coming from completely different processes.

And we need to make that a single process exactly.

I agree with you, sir.

Councilmember, I just want to draw your attention.

Thanks to Leo, John and Adam, the process that is outlined in this ordinance largely reflects what the city does in its capital improvement plan process.

Additionally, it requires coordination between the departments, as Andrew mentioned, to ensure that there is alignment across the board, and you'll see that beginning next year with the public engagement process and the coordination between the city departments as well.

I understand that, but I kind of want to go a step further.

I don't want them to mirror it.

I want them to provide the information in the city, just do it.

Because whenever we say mirror a process, there's kind of the idea that there'll be two parallel groups that are trying to communicate and copy each other.

I my preference is that there's one group doing it for both parties so that it is exactly the same.

Because at the end of the day, I guess as a utility regulator, looking at Delta, looking at energy, every time they want to do something, we look at how is this going to impact cost to ratepayers.

Um as we tried to look at sewage and waterboard as this hybrid department SaaS utility, every cost sewage and waterboard has is less money.

Any cost for C suite or individuals, especially that C suite executive level, that's money not going towards the system.

Because the same pot of money.

Yeah.

And so anything we can do to streamline and to Amy's earlier point, we're not talking about the guys who are literally drilling holes to fix pipes.

We're talking about looking throughout the system from the top all the way to the bottom to see where there is duplication, we can take existing money within sewage and water board and repurpose it for sewage and water board.

So that's that was simply my point.

I think I think we're on the same page.

I just want to make sure we're going as far as possible to streamline sewage and waterboard.

Yes, sir.

And Councilmember really fast Council President.

Um on the presentation, we also mentioned that there are going to be new revenues that we're working on, such as the parcel fee proposal.

I think that your comment is really important in this time where there's going to be a revenues where we have to share for projects.

And so if the process is one and we're focusing on that, it's a public and accountable strategy where we can show where those monies are going to be deployed.

And so I just wanted to underscore that that comment you made is exactly right, especially as this provides a framework for some of those new revenues as well.

Council of Vice President Miller.

Thank you, Chair Lady.

Uh Andrew LJ, I want to thank you for your work on the pump subgroup.

Um you're back and forth with Council President Morrell, brought up uh a question.

Are are you guys looking at or is it part of the plan to look at um different softwares uh you know, uh case management platforms, um to see you know, communication, working with Department of Public Works in Sewage and Waterboard.

I'm wondering, I would assume that there may be some cost savings if they fold into some of our our processes.

Um I would imagine it would make it more difficult if we're using different systems.

Yes.

So one of the things I mentioned was operational efficiencies, and we can see from their operating budgets already that there are things that the city and sewage and water board both do.

We both communicate.

They have a 1.6, 1.7 million dollar communications budget across the three aspects.

We love we're gonna look very carefully in the pump subgroup's future is to look very carefully about all of those things that they already do and we do and how we can bring those things together.

Software, IT, communications.

We already share a contract, a government affairs contract with them, but some of that might be duplicative.

Do we need that?

So there's a ton of things that they have and we have, and that by integrating, we know that we can make efficiencies and then return funds to the key operational pieces, right?

Keeping the city from flooding, keeping the clean water pumping, things of that nature.

That's what the sewage and water needs to be focused on.

The other stuff we can start taking on a greater role, but that's exactly right.

So we're gonna do a process by which we find out what um places are areas of synergy and where we can integrate.

Okay.

And I think the work order management process would be big as well, um, because obviously sewage and waterboard and DPW have to work together, and if they're using the same process, uh the same the same um user interface.

I mean, I think it just I think it just makes more sense.

Yeah, I'll know we do have a secret weapon there is that we have uh a former general superintendent Steve Nelson who works around us, and so he's uh quite knowledgeable about sewage and waterboard operations and happens to be sort of a key cog in the machine to bring these things together.

He's very knowledgeable, and he has a great working relationship with Caitlin uh with General Superintendent.

Um, and so I think we're gonna have a uh a strong partnership to build those build those efficiencies.

All right, perfect.

Thanks, guys.

Yes, sir.

Councilmember Green.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Like to thank you for the work that you've done, and I'd like to commend um Mayor Moreno, um, with whom I served for the last four years, and with whom we worked out some issues that were important relative to the sewage and water board.

I know that three and a half years, three years ago we were talking about billing issues.

Yes, sir.

How they were just an incredible impediment to doing business, and we went to the legislature and got the ability to have some input in that area, and it worked out very well.

Yes, to those who still have building issues, there may be some, but at the end of the day, I think that we all agree that there's a lot less talk about billing issues.

This council also came to the rescue, if you will, or to provide money for the power station.

That's right.

The previous council.

And so I just want to say that in the hands of the mayor and in the hands of our CAO who was a member of the city council, um, I'm pleased to be able to be in a position where we have this enhanced authority.

We have a council utilities regulatory office that works very hard that has helped the ratepayers of our city and also has helped us to move forward in many areas that are important.

So my general statement is is that to members of the public, um, the city council has in the past proven itself, and it's got two former members who are in a position that will be hearing budget and capital concerns and the like.

So I'm just looking forward to this, and I just want to say, in a couple of words, thank you and to Mia Moreno for the work that has been done, and also to the legislators.

It took a little bit of time to get us to this level, and there was some opposition.

But the legislators who did vote to support the city council having an enhanced role, I think that you'll find that your vote was well taken.

Thank you, sir.

I just I do want to point out that because the mayor set this out as a key priority of hers, although she didn't intend it when she was running, it became a key priority since that time when we put together uh the work at the legislature.

We've been working very hard in a collaborative fashion, and I want to thank the council's help in helping pass that state legislation.

Council President Morrell, I know Councilmember uh Councilmember Hughes, Council Mr.

Willard, former members helped us get along.

Councilmember McCarron was there too.

So I think it's really critical that we've had this collaborative partnership and it shows how much we can accomplish when we are working in alignment.

So I appreciate that.

Thank you.

And I want the members of the public to know that there was a lot of work that was involved with that.

We did a resolution as a council, and I talked to individual legislators saying that, yes, based on the successes that we had addressing billing issues and getting the power station built, the city council is in a position that we can enhance the operations through involvement.

So I'm looking forward to working with you and with the administration and with my fellow council members because that's such an important agency relative to the delivery of services to our citizens.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Council President Morrell.

Yeah, I just wanted to highlight something you said earlier, because I think it's really important, and I think it's kind of indicative of why the repeated recent legislation and why pumps is necessary.

You highlighted two particular areas of expenditures that I think as a ratepayer, they should ratepayers as a whole should find particularly offensive.

The fact that the sewage and water board repeatedly and voraciously fought to have its own governmental representation to lobby against things the council and the city was doing, it's really breathtaking in just how disconnected it is from what ratepayers want.

Like I'll give you an example, and you know this because you were on the council and what's happened.

The sewage and water board hired lobbyists to fight us fixing billing.

That's right.

So as residents were getting bills that were thousands of dollars off, as people were being threatened with their water being cut off, the sewage and water board was using ratepayer dollars to fight the council getting control of billing to fix the billing.

Just this last session, when we were doing the existing legislation with the to create what would be pumps in this whole process, sewer and water board was complaining that they didn't have lobbyists paid for by ratepayers to protect them from us doing this.

The PR piece, the amount of money that is being spent on PR is just beyond ridiculous to me.

Number on one on one level, on a very basic level, just as someone who interacts with the public on a frequent basis, hiring a PR team to try and rehabilitate the sewage and water board's image rather than using that money to fix problems to make the public view you better, it just speaks to such a fundamental disconnect.

So the fact that the Moreno administration has already identified those as two areas that Pumps is going to target, any money not spent on stupid things is more money spent on fixing problems.

And the fact that we're still having this conversation, the fact that money is still being allocated in that way, before we step in as a council, before Pump steps in to say, you can't spend money on independent lobbyists in PR anymore, tells you fundamentally why this ordinance is necessary and why the council and the mayor need to make this extraordinary step because I will tell you that many of us know us doing this, the council and mayor working together with the governor at the time and the legislature to have this situation take place.

This is done at tremendous political risk.

Because the easiest thing for politicians to do is not have control over something and blame it on other people.

The council and the mayor choosing to deal with sewage and waterboard heads on means that uh come after August 1st, we can no longer complain that you know this is not our circus, not our monkeys.

At this point, we own the circus.

Yeah, and we're gonna own what happens after that.

And we do that because we cannot do anything less at this point.

Flooding and the and the viability of the sewage and water board is an existential threat to the future of the city of New Orleans.

So we do this, we do this tremendous thing.

We take control of an organization that has poll numbers as low as 14% because we don't have a choice at this point.

It's not something we do with great joy or zeal taking on another responsibility with all the existing responsibilities.

But at this point, there's nothing else left to do other than take this head on.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um I want do you have any comments, Councilmember King?

Okay.

I know that we have one more slide um to go through, and I think it's important because I think I mentioned this in my opening comments that the work of pumps and this council is not done.

So I want to give you guys an opportunity to just talk about the future of pumps.

And then what I'd like to do is take public comment um on all of the items at one time, and then we will go through the voting items individually to vote.

Um councilmember, so as uh councilmember council, I'm sorry, Chairwoman McCarron mentions.

Um the mayor made clear that pumps had two phases.

First phase being this immediate phase to build this framework, and the second is a longer term phase as we continue to try to integrate sewage and waterboard into city operations.

So there are a number of areas, as Council uh Council President Morel noted that there is oper and and council uh council vice president Wheeler noted that are operational efficiency areas.

I I'll note that um uh I happen to oversee the comms office here at the mayor's office and our budget for comms to uh get the mayor's message out throughout the entire city is uh in the uh five-digit range uh very little and the sewage and waterboard spends a lot more.

Um so I just want to point out there's a tremendous amount of efficiency I think that can be created uh through this process.

So the resolution that um we're requesting that y'all um uh put forward uh sort of sets forward some of the pieces that pumps will be doing towards the future.

And I want to give LJ an opportunity to talk through some of those future looking um areas where we're gonna try to dive in on sewage and waterboard because this group isn't disbanding, and the work certainly isn't done as you mentioned.

Thanks, Andrew.

Council members, so if you look to the slide, you know, there are five parts here where pumps is going to be tasked with looking, analyzing, and then developing recommendations uh for where uh legislative action can go in the future.

So the first is of course the implications of uh further transferring uh realizing efficiencies or consolidating sewage and waterboard functions under the city of New Orleans, looking at some of those legal, fiscal, operational, uh personnel, governance, bond related in particular, uh mapping that out, talking to experts uh to make sure we have a clear picture of the implications of these measures.

Uh the second being legal instruments themselves, so identifying and potentially drafting, whether it be charter amendments, as Andrew mentioned before, uh ordinances such as this ordinance coming to you today, uh state law changes in the future, intergovernmental agreements or other instruments needed again for that transfer consolidation.

Uh looking at assets and obligations.

So this is a critical piece, particularly for the financials, and I understand that there is a resolution today or motion today to uh also look at those financials, the sewage and water board to better understand.

But looking at the assets and liabilities, the revenues, the rates themselves, the grants, uh bond covenants, consent degrees and obligations pursuant to those, uh, and regular uh regulatory obligations, all that would need to be looked at, reviewed, and treated differently uh under a transfer consolidation.

Uh performance metrics.

So having pumps look at what is successful uh action look like, what does success look like for not only for right now in this moment of this initial implementation, but also into the future.

So what is whether it's oversight or reporting to the city council and to the public, uh performance management structures, uh looking at what it looks like for the city to have uh oversight and regulation of water sewage and drainage systems, and finally providing reports, memoranda, draft language or transition plans uh to either the ICC, to the mayor, to yourselves and uh city council staff as requested.

And I do want to note that you know, as we move forward, we want to be transparent in the topics uh that we cover and discuss in each one of these meetings.

Uh today you have each brought up uh key topics and and considerations for pumps to look into uh above and beyond those which were identified either in the executive order or in conversations that we've already had, and so we are first very grateful for that.

Uh we want to take those into consideration and we'd like to continue this partnership.

Uh special thanks to Council Members McCarron and Hughes uh for their participation as well as all of you here today uh to listen to this presentation.

We want to continue to engage the council and to work to make sure we're identifying, reviewing, and then actually acting on and delivering with the priorities that you all have.

So thank you.

Thank you both.

Um with that, any other comments from the DIES?

Okay.

Uh just just to be clear, because I know you said it earlier, so we're gonna go do the two ordinance the following ordinance and then do commentary, are we gonna do each item and then do public comment at the end?

No, I think we're gonna do public comment now and then we'll go through the items and vote.

Well, because there might be public comment on the motions and resolutions separately.

So I've just wanted to say either I think if we're gonna vote on the ordinance and we have comments on the ordinance, I think either we're gonna have to do public comment after we consider everything before the vote.

All right, we'll do public comment before things we've considered.

That's all.

Okay.

So far we just have one comment.

So we will take this is uh this is on the ordinance, agenda item number three.

I have uh Mr.

Larry Morgan.

That's my friend.

I know you understand.

Good morning to everybody in the house.

I'm Larry Morgan.

I've been coming here for many years, mostly focusing on sewage water bowl and energy.

I see where the council wants to have poor control of the soda water bowl.

I watched the council.

The council is not as possessional as you think they are.

The old the uh senior ones, there was the cause of the problem, and I see a percentage of them are still here, and it eat it down to the new one, and the new one follow what they say, and the problem will always exist because the senior council will poison the mind of the new council, and that's why we would never have a change.

But this is the point.

Y'all talk about wasted money.

I remember a time when Morano was president of the council.

She had commissioned a poison to come here to analyze the water system.

This person was paid eighty thousand dollars.

It couldn't answer one question.

But the best part about it, that person got paid.

Now you talk about wasted money.

Yeah, y'all waste his money.

The council wasted money, and sometimes we don't know nothing about it because you know why?

They know how to hide it from us.

You can't trust them.

The only way that we could change the system is that we've got to go beyond this council that exists today.

You should have them to take a and take and get with Jefferson Parish.

Look at Jessica Paris.

Just the parish don't have the problems we have in having water up in the six months.

All right, all right.

Thank you, Mr.

Morgan.

All right, because you know that they know what they're doing for these people.

Thank you, Mr.

Morgan.

At this time, we're gonna take up agenda item number four, ordinance calendar 35,000 uh 521.

Uh, Councilmember McCarr.

Uh I'm sorry, Councilmembers.

Do we do a motion on the pumps resolution?

Um I'm sorry.

Um let's take the vote on the pumps resolution.

I'll motion.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Six years, zero nays.

Now agenda item number four, Chair McCarron.

Um okay, I will make a uh motion at uh to approve ordinance calendar number 35,521.

Council members, there there is an amendment to this ordinance.

Yes.

So as Andrew pointed out, this is a clarifying amendment essentially.

It makes clear that the mayor and the chair of the public works committee have a designee on the board.

It also makes clear that the council shall exercise its authority in the spaces outlined to avoid any confusion with the board's responsibilities and the council's authority.

Additionally, there's just some typos that we cleaned up because we are human.

Any questions on the amendment?

I'll move on the amendment.

Second.

Okay.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Now on the ordinance as amended.

I'll make a motion.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

These will both appear on the regular agenda next week.

Thank you very much.

Um agenda item number five.

Uh Council President Morel is recognized.

Thank you.

Uh essentially, and many of you have heard my commentary on this item.

My notes for a moment, I'm sorry.

Um we are just seeking with this motion.

Hold on one second.

Legislative audit.

Yes, sir.

There's a whiteout all over my tabs.

All right.

This deals with requesting the legislative auditor to come in and to do an audit of the sewage and water board.

Essentially, we want to make sure that the council and public have an independent and clear understanding sewage and water board's finances, and we would like that audit to include assessment of existing contract, executive compensation revenue, and debts.

Um that's basically just trying to get a clear bill of health on sewage and water board as we transition into this new process.

Uh is there any cards on this item?

Council members, sorry.

We had two comment cards on the ordinance.

Oh, what we're gonna do is we're gonna go back to the previous item.

There were two common cards that were missed.

Uh the first we have is Sage Michael, followed by Anthony.

I cannot read your last name.

You're gonna have to say we get there.

That's fine.

Uh thank you.

Um yes, uh I guess I use part of my two minutes just to process of community input seem a little stressful.

Um I submitted comment cards to letters, and you all voted on something that I submitted a comment card too.

Seemed like that breaks parliamentary process committee input.

I I just have concern that this whole process, y'all keep saying public and community.

I'm very community.

I'm very public.

I haven't we got this agenda 958 yesterday.

I had to digest a whole lot of information that I just received that changes the governance of suit in water board, potable water, sanitation, stormwater drainage.

Uh when this pump subcommittee was formed, I was hoping that it would be open meetings laws, so we could attend.

I came here and commented like what's up with the pumps committee?

Are y'all meeting?

Are y'all talking?

And y'all have been meeting, but it's not open to the public.

And then we get a set of audience that changed a hell of a lot.

24 hours and two minutes prior to this meeting, and we have to organize it.

Y'all say community been involved.

I don't see community.

Do y'all say community is on a pumps committee?

Where are they?

I've been fighting sewage discharge since December 2025.

Thank you, Jason Hughes, for having your staff support me.

But I've been working through the current governance and have had success.

You know, y'all say communion is involved.

What other community members you know have been fighting hard with, collaborating with city council, collaborating with the community, collaborating with everyone besides me.

And you say now that seven new members are appointed.

I was working great with my community district E liaison, Ms.

Arian Grinich, with advocating against sewage along with Jason Hughes' office.

Seven new members from the community, and I didn't get a call.

Who is community?

I am community that we fight with sewage and ward board.

You all do it.

Uh just a point of clarification just for those watching at home.

This is the committee meeting.

These ordinances will be considered at the full council meeting next week.

So there will be another opportunity for community input.

Sage, I didn't reactivate your mic.

I'm just making a point.

I do understand.

I I hear you.

But I was simply making everyone aware that if there was confusion and people were not aware of their ability to attend today, there will be another opportunity.

These items are all on the regular agenda for next week's council meeting.

So there will be another opportunity for a tremendous amount of public input, which I expect there will be throughout this process.

So I just want to make that note for the record, Madam Chairlman.

Mr.

Morel, may I also mention that I know that members of the administration and of this council would be willing to come to any meeting that any member of the public set.

There are neighborhood meetings, for example, special meetings are sometimes set by communities that want to hear or have more input.

If you don't if you if you feel that you haven't been, I'm just saying I don't I don't think that addresses what Sage's question and issue was, and I appreciate his position insofar as you cannot have items of this magnitude where items get posted that late that don't give people an opportunity to review the items.

Now, I would I hear you, Sage, and I think we need to do better as far as making sure items are in the agenda are posted in a more timely way so the public can have input.

I'm just saying in this instance, there will be, so this is a committee meeting, there will be another opportunity to come to the full council meeting, and I expect there will be more community engagement.

Uh Anthony, I'm sorry, I cannot, your handwriting is lawyer running.

That's okay.

John Marie.

John Marie, all right.

You've got beautiful lawyer handwriting you're up.

Thank you, Council President.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh I just want to address uh and say that the men and women of Switch and Waterboard uh take great pride in what they do on a day-to-day basis.

I worked there myself for the past year and a half, uh, left a job in the uh uh private sector uh to join uh this great organization.

My great-grandfather started here as a digger.

Uh my grandfather retired here as a laborer.

So every day I come here, I bring great dignity uh to our job, and not just myself, but the men and women who work in networks and drainage and customer service.

We take all take great pride in our work and understand that we work under great the risk uh under under funding and expectations uh of an outstanding we do an outstanding job every single day.

Um fact, uh, all of our current council members with respect to all of you, your legislators.

Um I don't believe anybody up here has an engineering degree or background.

Uh, you are legislators and uh many of you have lawyer backgrounds.

And I just want to make sure uh that this council and our mayor office is very clear and that they're not suffering from what I would consider called convenient amnesia, uh, realizing that we have century-old uh infrastructure issues that have to be rectified, and you're expecting a new ED to do that in a matter of months.

Uh and not only uh uh convenient amnesia, uh, but also selective outrage.

Uh I personally uh experienced three energy power outages in New Orleans East within the past month at my own registry.

Now, what can we do?

We can shift the focus, uh not just on our EDs, his salary and the history, but let's pay attention to Swebno's mission statement about funding, and we can also highlight uh if we're gonna pick and choose what we about salaries and who make what, uh, we can revisit the issue of why do we have two police chiefs on our current City of New Orleans salary.

We can revisit that.

Uh but we want to make sure and ensure that this is not some cross-political modern day book breaking of another highly qualified African American organizational leader.

Can we do better?

Yes.

Will we break time?

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Jean-Marie.

Mr.

Jean-Marie, that is your two minutes.

Let me um thank you for being here.

Respectfully, since you are a resident of my district, let me set the record straight.

Um, you know, since you brought up the entergy power outages, um I held Entergy accountable.

Um I have very publicly reported on the entergy power outages, and I did a follow-up update very publicly yesterday on the entergy power outages.

So uh let's set the record straight there.

Uh number two, let me reiterate the opening comments that council member McCarron made, and I think she speaks on behalf of all of us.

Uh there are some very hard-working women and men within the sewage and water board.

This is not an attack on the employees, any employee of sewage and water board.

And so I want to be clear about that.

What this does today, I can tell you since I've been on the council since January 12th, 2026.

Um I get more calls about sewage and water board, quite frankly, than any other department.

And I think if you look at the the emails and if you talk to my chief of staff, and if you talk to my constituent services director, and if you talk to any member of my team, uh we deal with more sewage and waterboard situations uh than any other matter.

Number one.

Number two, um, I think this council has had more oversight hearings related to sewage and water board since we got inaugurated, probably than any other um subject.

Not just regular meetings, but we've often had to call special meetings uh to to go through sewage and waterboard matters.

The bottom line is right now the count the the public has an expectation that when they come to their elected officials, that we can solve their problems.

And the reality is right now, in the current structure outside of billing, we have no authority to solve their problems.

And so what this does is it brings the accountability closer to the people and to their elected representatives.

So that when you, Mr.

Jamarie, like when you called me about entergy, I didn't just ignore your text messages.

Think it's well documented.

I communicated very clearly with you, and I sprung into action.

This will now give this council the ability, the tools, and the authority to spring into action and to deliver results.

I can tell you to the council president's comments, I'm not looking for another thing to do.

We have enough on our no, no, we're not gonna go back and forth.

I I have enough on my plate.

I think the six, I I think my six colleagues has enough on their plate, but at the end of the day, this is a direct response to the residents that we serve in the city of New Orleans.

So I thank you for your comments.

I thank you for being here today, but I want to reiterate to the hardworking women and men of sewage and water board.

We thank them for their hard work and for their public service to the city, and we look forward to working in partnership to create a much stronger public utility.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I'd like to add something real quick if you don't mind, Madam Chairwoman.

Um two things.

One, I talked to plenty of people that work at sewage and water board who actually work not in the C suite, and their frustration is palatable.

I I appreciate there was a necessity to talk about whether we're qualified or not, and we're not engineers.

Well, I would point out there are many people in your C suite making decisions that are engineers as well.

Your prior director was an engineer, your current director is not, correct?

So when you talk about whether or not someone's degree at the end says the right things, what we're talking about as a council is having accountability and system.

One of the resolutions today talks about a wage study.

Part of the reason why the council is pursuing a wage study is because I firmly believe there are people who work not in the C suite that are underpaid because they have not had a proper silver service salary study.

So what we're looking at is not just who's getting overpaid potentially or consolidating positions in the C suite, we're trying to look at everybody because the reality is to get this sewage and water board where it needs to be, we're gonna need better pay for people and more opportunities for individuals.

So I appreciate your trepidation.

Also, want to add something, and this is just kind of a commentary that I've seen over the last couple of years.

I do not like people who throw rocks and hot hands.

Mr.

Heyman's sitting right over there.

If he wants to defend his job, he can defend it himself.

You ain't got to defend it for him.

Your your words, you said specifically, wait, nope, no, sir, no, sir.

No, sir.

You specifically said about the council attacking African American leadership.

You said that.

We're not having a back and forth, sir.

My point is my my point is I don't care if the sewage and water board director is purple or green.

Either do your job or don't do your job, that is what I'm looking for.

And when I hear people come up here and send proxies to try and racialize a person's performance in their position, when you're looking at a super majority black African American council, it is offensive to me.

If you are doing a good job, come to the mic and tell us you're doing a good job.

Don't go on radio stations, don't go around the city talking about how this is racist when you're just distracting from the fact that the approval rating of sewage and waterboard is 14%.

If you're the head of a corporation that's failing, you own it.

Try to put a bow on this.

Um I've been thinking about a lot recently is the current status of affairs.

And in many regards, our biggest obstacle is inertia.

Inertia, steady state, nothing changes unless something intervenes to spark that change.

Currently, what we're seeing with sewage and waterboard is that even when we don't make substantive changes, things not only stay in a steady state, they get worse.

And we talk about funding and the funding needs that we need for our infrastructure throughout the city, including infrastructure tied to sewage and water board.

When the state, the federal government in the city funded the dedicated power station for sewage and water board, we celebrated it.

It's supposed to greatly mitigate boil water advisories.

We're still having boiled water advisories.

It's supposed to give us dedicated power to help us get through storms.

When it was first put to the test, it failed.

And it failed because of a design flaw.

Whether that was on sewage and waterboard side or the manufacturer side with that static frequency changer, regardless, it doesn't matter.

Because when we put the money up to better protect us, it didn't perform like it was supposed to perform.

And so for me and probably a lot of people in the general public, it's tough to say we just need money, we just need money because when we come up with the money to do things to add resilience, it still doesn't perform like it's supposed to perform.

And so this action that the council is taking today, I think disrupts that inertia that we've been dealing with.

And it does come at great risk because it puts the council and the mayor under the spotlight to be responsible for these changes.

And it's a change that we are embracing because for the sake of the city's future and future generations, we have to execute.

So I just wanted to put that out there.

Thank you for everybody who showed up today.

And thank you guys for your work on this.

Mr.

Tizolo.

Just really quickly, sorry, I just want to put a close to this presentation.

I know you have a lot of work to do.

Um this ordinance will be considered as y'all have voted uh the uh council meeting on the 6th.

Uh, there is that amendment that we uh helped craft with Ms.

Spears.

Um this is not the last time that I expect that an ordinance will be put forward to change uh some of the framework around this.

This is an ongoing process.

The pumps group will continue to work and we'll continue to bring these things into the public to public um council meetings.

I I know that council member Hughes and Councilmember McCarron from their committees or any of your committees, we're always happy to present and provide information, provide more updates and reports.

Um I think that's one of the mayor's key initiatives that we increase the accountability and transparency, that we make sure that everybody is seeing the work we're doing and showing you what we're going to do and doing what we say.

So with that, I'm gonna um if no one has further questions, I think we are gonna skid out all here.

Um if there's nothing else.

Appreciate y'all.

Thank you.

Um Council President Morel, would you like to continue with the resolution, the sewage and water board audit of our next item?

I think it was pretty straightforward.

I mean, essentially all we're doing is trying to get a clear bill of clean bill of health, sewage and water board, see how money is being expended, how much how expenditures are being done, and have a third party actually give us an analysis of what the current state of sewage and water board and how it spends money.

So that's what the resolution does.

Uh there's no questions.

I believe that's actually nope, there's not on this one.

Um this is the audit.

So there's no questions on this item uh that I see no cards.

So I will move on this item seconded by Council Brahews.

All in favor?

Uh.

Any opposed, hearing none, it is approved.

All right.

Next up we have item number five.

I have no item number six.

I apologize.

All right.

Item number six, this deals with let's get some uh notes here.

Uh this is the motion directing sewage oil board to to develop new bylaws, including a review of procurement practices and combined the executive director and superintendent positions.

Um it's alignment with the city.

We need to ensure the new board and sewage and waterboard bylaws reflect a commitment to alignment with the city, including procurement practices to ensure compliance with state and local laws and the city's commitment to fairness and equity, restructuring of the city and utility face budget constraints.

We're directing the board to look at where we can buy positions, specifically at the executive director and general superintendent.

Um I will also add, and this is something that I did not include in here, but I will likely include an amendment that goes before the full council.

Um I have said repeatedly that there was a time, and I know for a lot of people who live in the city, you may recall, uh, pre-Catrina, the sewage and water board met in council chambers regularly.

And I think that part of the disconnect between the sewage and water board as an organization and its governing board is that in my communications with them over the years, when they were no longer required to meet in chambers, it allows them to be overly dismissive or not account for the plight of actual businesses and residences that are impacted by the activities of sewage and waterboard.

A great example would be the flooding that happened earlier this year in Councilman McCarron's district, or what you saw at Decatur Street, where you had businesses that basically were going out of business because of sewage and waterboard activity.

So I will introduce an amendment uh on this at the council level.

I know, Aaron, we've been working on it to bring sewage and water board back into the chambers at least quarterly, so that you can actually see who the board members are and they can hear from you directly rather than simply having the council as your filter towards the sewage and waterboard.

So Aaron and I will work on that between now and the full uh council meeting.

Uh I have a card here from Mr.

Randy Heyman on this item, so come on up.

Good morning.

I was not planning on speaking, but Councilmember J.P.

Morel made comments about the other person that spoke and made it a seen uh appear that I asked someone to speak.

I have not asked anyone to speak here on my behalf or on behalf of the uh sewage and water board.

Uh I have not brought up race in any way in any conversation that I have had.

So I disagree with what you put out there in public.

Also, I want to state that I sent to the board members my background.

I am a water professional.

I'm a graduate of one of the top high schools in the country, John Burroughs.

I'm a graduate of the University of Michigan, received graduate class honors.

I'm a graduate of Georgetown Law.

I'm a former assistant attorney general for the state of Missouri.

I've worked as a partner at the oldest and largest environmental law firm in this country.

I have served as the general counsel for the Metropolitan St.

Louis Sewer District ten years.

I was general counsel for DC Water for five years.

I was a partner at the law firm, and then I was the CEO of uh Philadelphia Water for six years, the sixth largest city in the country, dwarfs what we're doing here in in New Orleans.

What I learned there was a number of items is in a bag of career uh understanding that I'm bringing to New Orleans.

No one can fix this system in just one year.

And a lot of the things that are here came from the former general uh superintendent.

And so I did not bring all of these issues.

I did not make the pipes a hundred years old.

But what I am bringing to you is a dedication of 25 years as a water professional on national boards, National Association of Clean Water Agencies on the board through association of Metropolitan Water Agencies.

And so I'm here to do my job.

It is hard to do it in 11 months, and at the same time I've shown success across the country, and I'm respected as a water professional at a national level.

I spoke before Congress, and then Biden came and gave us over 300 million dollars in Philadelphia.

So I respect you, but at the same time, I did not ask anyone to speak.

But I appreciate I would say three things.

One, you have been in plenty of interviews, uh, including on not so prominent radio stations where they have made very racial accusations against the council that any critique of your position is racially motivated, and you have not corrected those assumptions made about the council, have you not?

Because that's not my name in my call.

Okay.

I'm not doing that.

Oh I get asked, I get I get asked to have lunch with a lot of people, but I don't have time because I'm doing my job.

Second thing I will say is this, and this is real basic, I don't think for a second, you are the cause of all the problems at Sewage and War.

The problems that exist there are institutional and predate, probably me existing on this earth.

When you look at the council's frustration with accountability, it's that when problems occur and we ask for very clear explanations as to what the problem is, why it happened, and why it would when it will be solved, we do not get clear answers.

So the accountability, the accountability issues that we have as a council deal a lot with clear communication at that table and at that mic.

So I'll if if there's any I want to clear the record, I do not blame you for the current state of sewage and waterboard.

I don't think anyone here can blame any single person for an organization that's over a hundred years old that has institutional problems and institutional imbalances that require this level of course correction.

What is frustrating, and this is certainly it's carried over from Mr.

Gasson to you, is that when we talk about the fundamental changes that have to happen at that organization and how the council and the mayor and the public need fundamental changes, I will tell you that our impression of sewage and waterboard has constantly been nothing to see here and move along.

We need more money.

So if I need to say you would be able to do that, I don't I don't I to be to be to be very clear, I don't to be very clear, the people of the city, Mr.

Heyman, the people of the city do not care what happened at DC in Philadelphia.

Because when our homes are flooding, when pump power stations are flipping, when equipment is not being used properly, it does not give us solace that you did a really good job in two other cities.

And I will tell you part of my fundamental issue with your position is not you, it's I have been wholly unimpressed with almost every executive director, sewage and water board has had.

To be clear, this is asking the board to look at a realignment of two positions that exist in sewage and waterboard that are highly compensated.

This is not there's no racial animus in it involved in this.

This is about money and prioritizing rate payer dollars.

So when it comes to your qualifications and whether you're doing a good job, I will admit publicly, and I'll do it again, you inherited a tremendous amount of problems that previous superintendents had.

But I'll make this comment about you and about the board as a whole.

I don't know what's in the water at sewage and waterboard, but every time someone enters that organization, it's always about you don't see what a great job we're doing, we just need more money.

And I can tell you, as a millage is going to pop up on the ballots next year to possibly fund, or if it fails, blow up the sewage and water board.

We have to change the trajectory of public perception of your organization.

Because I will tell you, no matter what you and I both say right now, the numbers don't lie, the numbers say that it will be very challenging under the current structure with the current board to get any public buy-in about the future of sewage and waterboard.

That I have knowledge and experience that will benefit us.

I have a I have experience that I can use.

Now, when you talk about the issue of race, again, I did not bring that into the conversation.

I would have preferred if you did not bring me into the last conversation with the other gentleman.

I did not ask him to speak.

I have not brought up race, and if someone brings up on a radio station, I am not the radio person.

I am there as a guest talking, and I talk for myself.

Now, also, too, when I speak at this table, I may not say what you want to hear, but I give you the facts as I know them.

I'm trained to do that.

I'm a former assistant attorney general.

I'm a former partner in a major part uh major firm.

I am bringing the facts as I know them.

But here's the situation we have.

In the water utility world, sometimes we don't have the money we need to address a certain issue, or the situation is very complex and needs more time for us to review it.

And so I may not be able to give you the answer you want just at a snap right here.

But one thing I do promise you that we're always I believe every answer deserves an intelligent response, be it the city council or the individual on a street.

And I promise you that if I don't have the answer here, I'll do my best to bring you back to you or email to you the a clear answer.

But there are times we don't have the answer at the very moment that you're asking for, and I ask that that is sometimes respected.

I understand our system is is down.

Across the country, it's going to cost over two trillion dollars to fix our water system across the whole United States.

Philadelphia had issues, but yet you're right, they had funding to face it.

So funding is a major part of what we have to do.

Now let me tell you one thing very quickly.

Number one, SP, Standard and Poor's came and evaluated us.

As you know, they lowered our bond rating.

But the one thing they said afterwards, in a in writing in their report, is while uh there's some negative things happening, I'm paraphrasing.

We have confidence because your former executive director has been successful in assisting uh financially distressed communities in the past.

Because they know what I did for 26 years.

I don't go for a bond reading just once.

I've done it for 26 years.

For SP to say that, I couldn't pay them a million dollars to give me that type of a pat on the back.

But I know what I'm doing, I'm good on what I'm doing, and I want to do it here in New Orleans, but I need more than 11 months to do it.

I have a question.

Thank you, sir.

Ms.

Um Madam, Madam Chair, is is is Mr.

Hame's I've been hearing this for a long time.

Is Mr.

Heyman's job of termination?

What is being considered in this item is having sewer and waterboard look at the positions of executive director and general superintendent and whether or not to combine them.

Because the reality is they are two positions that if we are looking towards a model where we are going to fold in sewage and waterboard practically speaking, as a department of the city of New Orleans, we don't have half a million dollar executive directors and general superintendents of departments within the city.

What it does is tell sewage and waterboard, the board that will be uh constituted in August to look at that and see if that's an efficiency that's worth worthy of pursuing.

As we are making the case going into next year to have ratepayers vote on things like millages and say whether or not we should pay more money in taxes and look at outcomes, we have to be stewards of their dollars.

So whether or not Mr.

Heyman and whether or not Ms.

Ms.

uh sorry, Caitlin, I don't know Caitlin's last name.

Whether or not they have separate jobs, have one job, whether they're competing for the future job, I don't know.

That's something that the board is going to decide based on this resolution.

But I'll be very candid.

Like I said, I think that if Standard Import said something like that, and I do not doubt they did.

I'll give you a copy of it today.

I'm saying I do not doubt they did.

I think that is that would be that is a tremendous thing to put on a resume.

What I will say from my perspective as someone who represents the people of the city, who looks at um the crises we faced in this year under your watch.

There is a fundamental concern that there has been a lack of transparency on what has occurred.

I will tell you that, and I've said this when you've made your comments at the table, you give great lawyer answers.

I'm a lawyer, there are lawyers up here.

We know what a lawyer answer sounds like.

A lawyer answer when you're looking at whether or not people's homes are gonna flood, whether or not they feel safe, lawyer answers do not bring comfort.

I don't look when you're not.

That's not what I'm known for, son.

I'm known as a good public survey.

Let me finish.

You indicated you don't give us the answers we want to hear.

I'm not looking for a specific answer.

I'm looking for a clear answer to a question.

When I ask things like, for example, who made the determination to install the trip switch on the power station that we paid tens of millions of dollars for that make it unreliable to this date.

Who made that decision?

And was it sewage and waterboard?

Which, if it was, it wasn't even you, it was the prior, prior sewage and water board.

Whether it was sewage or waterboard, whether it was the contractor, who was it, what we want is an answer.

And if I know it at that time, I will give it to you.

But if I don't know at that time.

Mr.

Heyman, we are in the end of July.

That power switch situation happened how long ago was Ms.

Spears.

She's uh how happened over a month ago.

The fact that you don't have an answer looking at the construction docs as to who signed off on it, that is problematic.

I don't know who in your organization is responsible for approving those documents or reviewing them, but the engineering side is the general superintendent.

Okay.

Caitlin should know that answer.

And the answer should have been quick to be provided.

And that meeting where we brought that up was over a week ago, and I don't have that answer.

When I'm asking answers to questions, I am not looking for a specific answer.

We're looking for a clear answer.

When we're talking about accountability, the reality is, as many members have said, we have a responsibility as a city to appropriately fund sewage and water board.

Something I offered four years ago, four years ago to executive to executive director Ghassan was that if you want to go through through a docket like every other utility where you open your books and make the justification as to whether a rate increase is necessary and why.

We offered uh Representative Hilford and I four years ago to treat sewage and water board like any other utility, and they declined because they didn't want to open their books, they didn't want to justify a race, they just wanted to say give us more money.

And the challenge you've inherited, and I admit you inherited is that you have a board that doesn't believe they have to be accountable to the public.

What you inherited is the bad will people had that when this city council said the bills are off by thousands of dollars, the board said, hold our beer, don't worry about it.

And when I offered with to work with that board to solve billing, they chose violence and lost.

So you have inherited quite a bit of problems, and I am not trying to put those inherited problems on you, but clear communication is not an old problem, that's a new problem, and that is your problem.

And what I would appreciate is when we ask a question, we're not looking for a specific answer.

We just want a clear answer because I will tell you the people of New Orleans are some of the warmest and most forgiving people on earth.

And if somebody makes a mistake and they're clear and accountable with that mistake, the city of the city is impressive in that it will embrace you and will lift you up.

When I see things, and I know this I communicated with y'all previously, where when that flooding occurred and I saw stuff in there about catch bases were an issue, and I talked to residents who took the effort in Pritchford to clear their catch basins, and there wasn't a clear connection between the two, that undermines public confidence.

So I would encourage you, in the time we have going forward, to be as clear and concise.

And when you don't have an answer, say I don't know, or so and so should know, and give me a timeline as to when you're going to prepare that answer, because I'll tell you, and Aaron, you weren't here for that.

When when did the power trip happen again?

I know you probably know this offhand.

I believe it was June 18th.

June 18th.

The power trip was June 18th.

It was much further away than that.

Well, there was the situation in May as well.

Okay, there you go.

When these things occur, we need to know who was responsible and how it will be fixed.

The fact that the last time we talked about the power trip, we didn't have a clear timeline as to when it will be repaired and who was ultimately accountable.

And every time we have that interaction, it undermines public confidence.

So clear communication will be helpful.

And I would encourage you, if you don't want criticism of your position to be racially polarized, when people who interview you interject it, you should correct them.

Because I'll tell you, as someone who does a lot of interviews.

It's not necessary for me.

I state what I do and what my history is.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

I have a question, Mr.

Heyman.

Madam Chairfunding.

Yes.

Um I appreciate you not your credentials and and what you said earlier.

Do you believe that you've been given any um idea that your job is that you are being terminated?

From the comments made by uh Morrell, Councilmember Morrell, it's it is floating out there, which undermines me my daily activities as a leader in the organization.

If you think about it, if you're thinking that the boss is uh on weak legs or the boss is um less than uh qualified, you're gonna look at that person differently.

And so, as I said, my record shows that I have I'm able to do the job and have done the job.

I'll put something else on the table too, because of my reputation.

I talked about SP, but let me talk about EPA for a quick moment.

When we had the break in the pipe at the industrial uh canal, I I called the higher upset EPA, and they are were aware of the issue we were working on, and they were willing to talk to us about the possibility of additional funding to address that and to talk about us with us about what the next steps were are.

You don't get that when you're just uh executive director number 102 or 105 in the country because they know me and respect me, people are willing to have those conversations with me.

People on these different boards at a national level that I sit on are willing to share information with me when the doors are shut that you don't get if you're not part of that.

And so again, I just want to say that uh my background speaks for itself.

I want to take those skills and use them here.

I have never brought in race.

It's not necessary for me to bring in race.

I'm a highly successful educated man who has done a good job across the country.

So I I appreciate that.

Who who who determines the new leadership of the board?

Well, that would be, I believe, with the new amendment, I believe it would be the board itself, but it would come back to the city council uh for vetting.

So if the new board, I just want to clear some put air for myself and other people.

If the new board determines the uh the new director, how is I not being facetious, how is Councilman Morrell's comments undermine you?

Because he doesn't determine the new board director, the new director of Switzerland Water Board.

Well, the the comments make it sound as if I'm unqualified for the position.

And so that is undermining in and of its of itself to be repeatedly put out there.

And so I'm just saying with with the the with the press release I gave that my background speaks for itself, and I would leave it at that.

But the board, the council will ultimately make a decision.

Okay, well, let me just make my records clear, uh, my comments clear for the record.

I I know your history, um, impeccable history.

I'm not advocating for anyone to keep or lose their job.

I think um a lot more has to be done and a lot more has to be looked at.

And I will say whoever is the leader of this organization, it's a tough job.

It's a job that a lot of people aren't qualified for because they don't have the credentials or the history, and it's a tough job that a lot of people don't want because of the the nature of the job.

We have we have pipes that are over 100 years old, um, we have streets that are very old, and we have a lack of funding.

And and those ingredients um don't make this job the most sought-after job.

So we when we as a collectively as a community determine who needs to be the new director, we need to keep that in mind and realize whoever the person is, you, whoever moving forward, um, needs something I don't think is given a lot in society anymore as a whole is is is grace.

Folks are gonna make mistakes, folks are gonna have um shortcomings, but to to try to vilify somebody, I'm not accusing anybody of doing that, um, it makes the next person say, I don't want to touch that job.

I don't want to go there.

So, whoever that person will be, you I'm not sure who who it is moving forward.

I just hope that um they're they're given a grace that we all want, and um we just keep everything on a professional level in this in this council chamber.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember King.

I just want to say one thing, and then uh Councilmember Green has a comment.

I I think you know, in the beginning, the reason why I stated in my opening comments is that this legislation is not a punishment or an indictment of any one person or policy.

This is this was not made overnight.

This is you know, and it doesn't, it's not gonna change overnight.

And we need partners with Sewage and Water Board to help us with this, because we recognize that there are no engineers on here.

We don't know the operations, but that is the purpose of this legislation and the next step.

So we can understand and we can assist because the ultimate goal of this is to make residents have a better quality of life.

That's the goal.

And that's the goal of Sewage and Waterboard, and that's the goal of this council.

That's what we were elected to do, and that is what we are trying to do at this legislation.

So with that, I'll let Councilmember uh Green make some comments, and then I'd like to continue going through the remaining legislation.

I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank you for applying when you saw the opportunity when a national search was being conducted for an executive director.

You certainly did research, and you know how difficult the situation is here in our city, a city that is below sea level, a city that has pipes that are 100-year-olds, a city that unfortunately some decisions in the past have contributed negatively, such as filling in canals which were built for a reason.

The bottom line is that there are so many challenges of your job that I am appreciative of the fact that you took the time to apply.

But let me make it clear that we focus a lot on Arlees Parish.

The flooding that took place in St.

Tammany Parish and in Jefferson Parish recently just lets everyone know that it is a difficult job to stop flooding.

We didn't have as much flooding as there was, and to all of those who were subject to street flooding, and if it got into your house, I expressed my regrets.

But when I look at the amount of flooding that took place in Jefferson and St.

Tammany Parish relative to us, and we're below sea level, I recognize how difficult a job it is.

I also will put on the table the fact that in Jefferson Parish, voters voted to increase rates for the next twenty years to raise two billion dollars, and that's not enough to meet the needs according to what has been written.

So it's a very complex job, and it's our job to work with you.

We certainly, as a city council, are going to take a proactive role in making sure that the sewage and water board is operated according to some of the successes that we've had in the city.

But um, I'm just appreciative of the fact that you applied.

There's not going to be a vindictive attempt to address your job.

There's going to be a professional manner as far as I'm concerned, and I heard Councilman King and I think that other members of the council feel that same way.

But it's up to us to all work together because this is a tremendous concern for the city.

But I do want to say once again, there are problems with flooding that are regional, and I need the support of the state to look at some of the regional concerns.

When I look at the St.

Tammany Parish and the fact that many houses have raw sewage going into ditches behind their house, when I look at the flooding that took place along major thoroughfares in Jefferson Parish, West Bank and East Bank recently, I just recognize that there's some regional issues.

We have to all learn to live with water better, but we also need to work together, and I think that we're moving in a direction with this legislation.

So thank you for your service.

I want to add something real quick just because this is kind of a finer point.

And I think this might be.

When you would have a boil water advisory, when conventions were in the city, you pretty much are sure that convention never came back.

And anything that we can do to help you as an organization own the mistakes and move past them, we can collectively do a better job of that because no one wants to hear just the excuse.

And people get very frustrated by that, and I think we can both work together to do a better job of when you're communicating down there, trying to figure out how we get to that point.

Because when we leave a meeting and the issue is unresolved in a definitive way, you just make those fears worse.

I respect what you're saying.

Thank you.

I do want to.

Do we have any um additional public comments?

We do.

Actually, Councilmembers, we used to vote on items five and six.

I thought we did five.

We didn't vote on five.

Let's for the record.

I will move on five.

Second.

Thank you.

I'll move on five, second by council.

That is the legislative auditor uh in the uh review.

Um all in favor, aye.

Any opposed?

Five years, six years, no nays.

Might be voted on twice, but it's voted on.

On six, stage Michael, you're up.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Um Mr.

Randy, thank you for um coming to Dwayne Road doing the sewage discharges, and actually seeing the issues I've been dealing with.

Um I invited all city council members to do the same to actually see my advocacy and the issues I was dealing with.

But thank you, Mr.

Randy and your team for coming out.

You actually was on the ground saying the sewage that I was really much on a solo man mission fighting, but we're not talking about that today, but we still have issues, but we're not talking about that.

Um I do agree with JP Morrell, pay the people who are digging the holes, who are connecting the pipes, who are in the ground, who are operating the pumps, who are doing these long hours.

I know some of them, I know they need to be getting paid.

I'm a worker.

I do enough sewage and water board work that people tell me I should get a check.

Right.

I think um as you um consider this consolidation, uh hey, it's it's a great consideration.

If we could save money, uh then we can save money, and we all know that that's the ultimate goal.

But we also don't want to lose institutional knowledge.

Executive director and a general superintendent, they both come from two different backgrounds.

So what I'm saying is that as we review this, just know that these are two distinctly separate rows and consolidate someone gonna get more money on one, we working more with less.

But I also see a conflict of interest having one person on a pumps committee that could potentially be a beneficiary of this arrangement.

Uh and I would say that with that already being said, and they are involved in these pumps committees, that you should make a rule that both people will be fired or suspended and that an intern be placed.

That way that the general superintendent is not just like pointing themselves up for a potential job.

I know it's under review, but I would rather that both people be removed and the intern be placed.

Thank you.

Real quick, one housekeeping matter, there is a error on me in the motion that deals where sewage and water board, where the civil service commission of directors could have a review of sewage and water board unclassified employees they should be changed to classified.

That'll be done at the whole council.

That's just an error.

Council member, that's the next agenda item.

This is six.

No, that you're the current agenda item is on the sewage and water board bylaws.

Sorry, thank you.

I will move a second.

I have a question about number six.

Does this uh motion require the board to combine the executive director require them to look at it?

All right, I want us to look at the wording because the wording is important.

This says it will consider a motion directing um the sewage and water board to develop the bylaws, including review of um procurement package and combining.

So we're not saying that we're directing them to combine.

It says consider.

Councilmember, that word review is doing a lot of work in that clause.

It's a review of both.

That's fine.

I just want to make sure it's for the public please.

Okay.

I am an aye.

I'll move to vote.

Second.

Second by Councilmember Hughes.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none.

Let's move to the full council.

Now seven.

All right.

Agenda item number seven, uh civil service review.

Council President Morel is recognized.

Thank you.

All right.

So this is the item where we have an issue where there has to be a couple of amendments.

The language where it says it be moved by the City of New Orleans.

Civil Source Commissioner is directed to conduct a review of sewage and waterboard unclassified employees.

The Civil Service Commission cannot do studies of unclassified employees to begin with.

That will be correct at the full council, as you know.

We don't know.

The City of New Orleans City Council is very unusual in that in our committee, we cannot actually amend bills, which is bizarre, nor can we kill bills in committee.

So this will have to be addressed at the full council.

Sorry, unclassified individuals will be taken out of this ordinance because they don't have authority over those to begin with.

So thank you.

Kim Robinson, come on up.

Good morning, Council.

Thanks for explaining that, JP.

So my question probably should be for next week, but I'm gonna uh put it out there anyway.

Good morning, uh the members of the council.

My name is Kim Robinson, and I stand before you today as a uh sewage and water employee and a constituent of New Orleans in District B.

As we move forward with this oversight, uh, the budget authority, I'm just concerned about the uh employees and you know, our health care and some clear understanding of uh you know the affordability affordability and the sustainability, and will it be you know not in surrounding it?

You know, we deserve a clear understanding of that.

So um is anybody able to answer that throughout this transition.

Nothing that we're considering right now interrupts any of the existing benefits or anything that you have.

You're all civil service employees, you're all classified, y'all are have those pressures in place.

Simply what we're doing is tell them to do a study looking at the wages you're currently paid and whether or not those wages are appropriate.

And to look at potentially, I mean the reality is that obviously the city as a whole, our region is struggling with tax issues and revenue issues, and that's certainly something civil service is very cognizant of, but as of today, what we're considering does not deal with affecting anything you currently have.

Right.

So come November when it's time to enroll after August 1st.

You know, we don't know yet.

Well, I mean I I would I would say that as the City of New Orleans, we're all negotiating our health care through November 1st anyway, to make sure that whatever agency is doing it, we get the best deal for the best buck.

So I'm sure sewage and water board has a parallel track while they're still doing that as well, but I would assume enrollment is going to be as normal.

Right.

So y'all with the new budget that has nothing to do with the medical.

Okay.

Thank you.

Ms.

Robinson, if I can, if you don't mind, Mr.

President, um, I I want to alleviate any fears that um the employees may have relative.

No, no, and and look, I I appreciate you being here asking um a very relevant question, but I just want to um alleviate any concerns that current employees have about health care benefits and benefits in general.

Um I think if you look at the background of of this council, myself and all of my colleagues, uh I I can say very confidently we are committed to ensuring that our employees throughout city government, including sewage and water board, um retains their health care benefits and retains their benefits.

So that we're not looking to do away with that at all.

Okay, thanks for this meeting.

I'm glad I was here because I got clear understanding of some other things as well.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, guys.

Um maybe I can come next week to for the full community, because community definitely needs to be here with these meetings.

Thank you.

I will move.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed, hearing none, it's approved.

I think it's the last item, right?

Um this was the last item, but Sage, I noticed you put in a comment card for agenda item number eight.

We actually took that up first before you got here, but look, since you're here, uh we'll go ahead and let you let you comment.

Thank you, Councilman.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on that.

I I just needed clarification on the bond project list.

Thankful for I saw Lincoln Beach phase two is still on there.

We're looking forward to that.

That's a long time coming.

Thank y'all for that.

But previously, um, you know, um on the you know we voted on the bond list, there was a citywide um water study on there as well.

I communicated with Megan Williams, the chief resilience officer, to get clarification on that.

She said that would be done citywide, and two water studies will be done in New Orleans.

And so I've been I'm a ploy of Healthy Gulf.

We've been working on the New Orleans Community Water Plan.

You can go to Waters by U B Y O U.org.

You can see the first version of this water plan that we've been doing because there have been bond-funded water studies, but none have done been done east of the industrial canal.

You look on ORS website right now.

You have um water studies done in broad Brown more, Lakeview, um, Gentili Resilience District.

None of those bond funded things have come to New Orleans East to avoid our risk, and we flooded just like everyone else.

We pay for back those bond funds for everyone else.

But why is that we paying for bond funds for Lakeview for Broadmoor, and we don't have not one water study east of the industrial canal.

But I've been partnering with partners diverse partners like Song CDC and things like that, where the water leads us to we even with bringing up pilot projects like Transforming Canals coming from the Great New Orleans Urban Water Plan.

I presented to Wagon and Ball, I presented these things, I've been putting in the work.

We have these projects out.

We need this investment in District E.

It is not fair to us.

This disparity must be addressed.

So I'm just requesting that the project list that that water study, it must be applied to the work that I am already doing as a community member, bringing forward H and H studies to lower our risk of flooding, to lower our risk of climate, to lower our insurance rates.

And I just need clarity on it, and I didn't see that on that on the project list.

Please, we need funding to avoid flooding in District East of the Dust.

Thank you, Sage.

Um points well taken, and uh I will certainly uh work with the U as I always do to try to get some clarity on that.

Um with that, ladies and gentlemen of the public, thank you all for being here today.

Council uh member McCarron, thank you for uh your partnership um in leading this meeting.

Uh to all of the amazing uh staff, uh thank you all for your hard work.

Uh thank you to the administration uh for your partnership, uh to my colleagues.

Thank you all uh for your hard work.

Uh if I didn't thank anybody who I may have missed, thank you to anybody I may have missed.

Aaron, a particular thank you to you, put you in the staff bucket, but particular thank you to you.

And with that, um thank you all.

Uh Councilmember Green moves that we adjourn.

Second by Councilmember King.

We stand adjourned.

Thank you all.