Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen was held on October 19, 2026, at Portland City Hall. The board approved an agenda amendment, several resolutions and ordinances, and set a counteroffer in the water utility transfer negotiations with White House Utility District. Discussions also covered park lighting, traffic on Liberty Street, and utility easements.
All right, we're going to call to order the October 19, 2026 meeting, Board of Mayor and Alderman at this time, we'll have Corey McKay come from First Baptist Church, ladies and prayer pledge to come for I pray. My family moved to the Portland area in two thousand nineteen. There, Drew Jennings was our Sunday school teacher. Uh but more recently I worked for High Point Hospice, and I am a bereavement coordinator and spiritual caregiver chaplain who have and I've ministered to many of the citizens of Portland who've gone through families through that. And uh now I serve as an elder at First Baptist Portland. And so I say all that to say uh my family consider Portland now our home, and I do believe a large part of that is due to the decisions that you guys make to make this a place we would want to live and to call our home. Uh, real quick scripture I want to share with you, and this is from the book of Psalms 20 verse 7 and 8. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand. And the only thought I want to take from that is just simply this. We can either try to choose to trust in the strength of our resources, or we can choose to trust in the one who gives us the resources. Let's pray. Father, as we come before you today, we praise you. We praise you for your goodness, your greatness, your holiness today. We praise you, Lord, for the fact that we have breath in our lungs, and that God, all things, as your word said, all things that are good come down from you. And we thank you. God, we thank you for the fact that we can have this opportunity to serve our community, to represent our community, and to be a blessing to our community. And Father, I ask you, Lord, to please be with us. Father, I do pray that you'll forgive us where we sin and we fall. For we do live in a land that has problems and sin. But Lord, thank you for your grace. Thank you for the goodness, Lord, of today and the goodness of everything in our life that we take for granted. Thank you for these men and women who serve you, who serve our community. Thank you for all the participants who are here too, Lord. And Father, I lift up and pray for each one of them. I ask your blessings for them personally and for their families and as their homes, Lord, that we would live in a land of peace. I pray God for each one on this council for their integrity. I pray for honesty and uprightness, that they would be people that we can trust. I ask you, Father, to please give them wisdom, Lord, today and every day in what they do. And Lord, most of all, I pray for the city of Portland. I pray God your blessings be with us, not just so that we can have good things, but God that your name would be great. So, Father, we trust you now, and we give this all to you in this meeting. We pray this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Could you join me in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible for the eating justice for all. Thank you, Corey. Thanks, Corey. Next up will be roll call, please. Thank you, Alderman Charles Cole. Here, Alderman Vince Ellis here, Alderman Mike Hall, Alderman Drew Jennings. Here, Alderman Jody McDowell, Vice Mayor Megan Thompson here, Alderman Bryan would all. All right, next up is approval of tonight's agenda. I have a motion to get on the floor.