0:00 I'd like to call to a regular council meeting for September 22, 2026 to order. We have an invocation by Dr. Blake Hill, Jr., presiding bishop of the South Central Diocese of the Church of Christ, Holiness, USA, and first vice president. Please stand. Let us pray. God help us help in ages past and hope for years to come. Before any motion is made or any vote is taken we pause to acknowledge that you are God and we are not and we stand in need of wisdom greater than our own. Bless the men and women seated at this table tonight. They carry a city on their shoulders, its streets and its waters, its budgets and its bills, its children and its elders.

0:56 Give them clear minds for complicated matters. Patience with every of one another when they disagree. Encourage to do what is right even when right is costly. Remind us Lord that the people of Jackson are not a line item. Behind every ordinance is a family. Behind every dollar is a neighbor. Let that truth govern every word spoken in this room. We pray for our mayor and for those who serve this city out of public view. The officers and the firefighters, the sanitation crew, the water workers, the water workers, the clerks who keep the doors open, protect them, strengthen them, and let them know their labor is seen.

1:33 Grand Theft Auto is decided here tonight which stand the test of time and that this city, with all its history and all its promises, would be stronger tomorrow because of the work done this evening. And Lord, we lift Jackson up itself. The city, this is the city with soul, a city that has known both struggle and triumph, helped carry a nation toward freedom and that still has more to give. Heal what is broken in her, restore what has been neglected, where there is violence, bring peace to our neighborhoods, where there is want, bring provision, and where there is weariness, raise us up hope again. Bless her churches and her schools, her businesses and her block clubs, her young people searching for a future and her elders who remember what this city has already survived. Let Jackson become a place where families choose to stay, where children can play safely, and where every resident from Georgetown to presidential hills, from Belle Haven to South Jackson, know they belong. Seek the peace of this city, O God, for in her peace we find our own. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray,

2:40 Amen. Amen. Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. And thanks Dr. Glakehill for that invocation. Colleagues, are there any discussions or opening remarks. Councilman Parkinson. Thank you Mr. President. I'd like to open the meeting in memory and in honor of Sonny Eason, the father of Susan Girard. Mr. Eason passed away unexpectedly last week and I'd ask that we keep Susan and all of Mr. Eason's family and friends in our thoughts and prayers this evening. Are there any other announcements?

3:39 tables and anything from the administration. Okay, out of this time. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go into our public comments. As a reminder, each citizen has three minutes and will be given a 30-second warning as what there's the warning sign, the yellow flag, and then as well as a stop signal from the clerk when the three minutes is up. And we We ask that you be respectful of those times. Okay, first on public comment, we have Norma Michael, would you please come up? My name is Norma Michael.

4:29 I'm the president of the Georgetown Community Neighborhood Association. And tonight I hold a petition signed by 90 citizens of Jackson. Petition for formal censure and disciplinary action to the Jackson City Council and Office of the Council President, whereas on September 8th, 2026, during an official publicly broadcasted meeting of the Jackson City Council regarding a proposed street renaming Ward III Councilman, Kenneth Stokes engaged in a severe verbal attack against Ward IV Councilman, Brian Graziell, and whereas Councilman Stokes explicitly used the derogatory and unprofessional terms a damn liar and a sissy to attack the character, truthfulness, and identity of councilman Brazil on the public record and whereas such behavior directly violates the Jackson City Council rules of ethical conduct ordinance which explicitly mandates that council members must conduct themselves in a manner that does not bring this grace or embarrassment upon the city.

5:42 And whereas these personal attacks violate standard parliamentary rules of order and decorum, which strictly prohibits character defamation and mandate mutual respect to preserve the integrity of the democratic process. Therefore, we the undersigned residents and stakeholders of the city of Jackson respectfully demand that the Jackson City Council immediately initiate formal disciplinary proceedings against Councilman Kennet Stokes. Specifically, we demand a formal vote of censure, a public reprimand, a review of his committee assignments, and the endorsement of the $500 out-of-pocket penalty to restore public trust, dignity, and decorum to our local government.

6:30 Enough is enough, thank you. Thank you. Next we have Diane Roby, concerning neighborhood streets. I was here because our streets has been dealing with flooding. I can't even explain it. It comes all the way up and I can just be finished getting my yard cut and if it rains, it just pushes all leaves and dirt. Even when I come in my driveway, it's muddy and dirt because there's a creek across the street and there's one on the side. So they came and cleaned that out and we thought that was the problem but I've been told that the problem is the street is unlevered. It goes down several people came out and they told me that it's the unleavened and other street as well as the creek because the creek is washing and mud and all of this water into our yards.

7:52 And I have neighbors, one is a policeman, another one a truck driver, and another one managed by the city and they weren't able to come to this meeting. But I was told there is funds to pave these streets and not just only the street that I live on, but the Jackson just really need paving all over. But this right here, I have to put sandbags up to the garage door to keep the water out of the garage. And it's sad. This been going on for over five years and I've been calling and trying to find someone to tend to this because the street has got a lot of holes in it.

8:40 They came out and patched some of the holes up, but the street is tilted. Some of the black tar is gone. It's just muddy and nasty. And I'm just crying out for someone to help. It's very stressful. Is there someone from the administration that can help her? Yes, Ken Club. It's supposed to be on the list. It's been on there for the longest. It's a public works director here. constituent services if Can you discuss the creeps don't have a name but they full of dirt in the water won't go down in there And it comes back out and it just washed And I'll have a husband What is your address 277 can't club but it's just not my house is everybody's like you can go swimming out there This is how the water just sits.

9:47 The city done been out there and cleaned after, what you call them, whole, yeah, they done did all of that. All right, someone from constituent services, Ms. Campbell there is gonna get your information and we'll follow up with you. Yeah, and I take care of the city too. Thank you. Before I met it, Ms. Michaels, We did not, I did not offer a response to your previous public comment. We will process this and reply back to you and your concerned residents. Thank you. Next we have Lareto Wales.

10:41 Okay, next we have Ricky Banks. Good evening everybody. Good evening. My name is Ricky Banks. I may be a little out over the place, but hopefully we'll get somewhere with it. I'm here because I notice y'all don't put anything out anymore about these houses you tear down. And we complain about these unhoused people. And as you talk about the unhoused people, I know this is the new words y'all use. I'm trying to stay with it. But in each one of your wards, you got people, you got houses no good.

11:30 You got people that need houses. But you're going to pay all this money to tear down house and still are letting somebody fix that house and let their family help them fix that house and you'll have a house back on the tax road. I'm starting there because I'm trying to bring that each one of y'all area got areas that can be addressed, can be helped. And now that you went to this paperless thing, people come to the office, they don't get no information back from you.

11:58 So they go home and they come back the next time, somebody tell them something totally different than what they told them the last time. So I'm wondering if you care or you just want to leave people in their waste and let them pollute themselves enough. And if you would come up with either department that they burn now, these unhoused people could be in some of them places. They're in there anyway. They're burning them down. So why don't you come up with a study or something that you can help these people find them a housing?

12:30 And maybe they family or somebody help them and they'll get there on the road. And personally, I don't like how, and it's not mine just cause I don't like it, but a lot of people I'm running into seem to have a lot of issues with sitting in their codes and you don't have nothing right. I mean, like this, you know? And we have to take your word for it. And then when we, if we can read it, we might get a better understanding of what's going on.

12:58 But we can't read it, so we got to take your word and then we'll come back. And a lot of them ain't nice, you know? And we'd say there's, and it's criminal, just 10% of them is criminal minded people, you know? But that same thing, just like in this water department, you found them bad people. Do you not think with some and some of your other departments as well? But no, they all good. It's almost, I don't want to talk about our policing because we got some good policemen.

13:25 But some of them ain't no good. And they may need to be looked at in that dress in a way that citizens don't feel intimidated. And you think that more policemen gonna fix this problem to young people? It's not gonna happen. I mean, you ain't gonna be able to get a, you got to get into their heart a little bit and try to figure out a way to help them help themselves. And if you ain't gonna do it, you ain't gonna win that war. And I would like to present to you that create some little study within there so people can come to you with their problem, not just here or not just to a complaint.

14:04 They got to go file a complaint. But let them sit down and get some ideas on what they was trying to work on and find a better way to address something like that. Thank you, sir. Yes. Next, we have Bobby Coleman. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. First of all, I'm going to ask you to come up here. Good evening. First of all, my name is Bobby Coleman and I'm attending the 3590 Dale Haven Manor apartment and over the weekend we had a little trouble dealing with the water. First off I'd like to thank Ms. Canberra from the Mayor's Office, Councilman Stokes for assisting us on Saturday getting the first responders over there to get us some water to flush the toilets.

15:14 That was my main concern. I held transportation. There's others over there. Miss Lillie, Miss Lottie, and some more over there. Don't have transportation to get around. So I try to do as much as I can to help all of them. But my main thing is, in front of you, you should have a seat. I don't have a, there I have a man, but it's a list of things that was going, be going on over there. I've been there a year and within that year, I done seen a lot.

15:43 I done seen a man get shot in the leg. I done witnessed a murder, having sex on the parking lot, shooting our building. I know this is a senior citizen disability home. Ain't no way in the world we should live like that. In the winter where we should have to walk in another human being's ways, coming and going down the stairway of the elevator. They know who it is, but they're not saying nothing. They're not addressing it. We'll get back with you and let you know.

16:15 When I first moved over there, I had someone to knock on my door. And I go to the door and answer it. And they're saying, I saw, you know, a candle going over there. I say, if you don't get from there, you got five seconds. I'm gonna give you some. So that's my way of getting it from my door, but we need better security and a clean environment cause everybody over there have health issues and your immune system is going down. I'm a person that had open heart surgery three years ago.

16:46 So my immune system not strong like it used to be. And it's a lot of things I can and can't take. And Filt is one of them. And that's all I have to say. And I hope y'all take the time and look over this list that I gave you and ask yourself, would you like your loved ones to live in a condition like this, especially when you're paying your money? Even though they're low income, we don't have to live like that. That's all I have to say.

17:12 Thank y'all. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Next, we're going to go to our agenda items. And first up is Charles Johnson. Charles Johnson. Mayor, Council, this is probably more like public comments. My name is Charles Johnson. I'm vice president of the North Point Estates Homeowners Association, which is St. Andrews Drive west of Old Canton Road. That is currently part of the phase two of the city street repaving program that's in effect right now. And I just am here to urge the mayor and council to prioritize and to prioritize the repaving of that street, which is now got a sign says St. Andrews subdivision.

18:24 I just wanna give you a little historical context. North Point Estates was developed in the mid 1980s opposite the country club of Jackson and it extended St. Andrews drive from Old Canton Road around to County Line Road. And for about 20 years, that street was used as a shortcut to bypass the traffic signal that county line and Old Canton Road. And that caused a lot of extensive wear on our street and soon after I moved into the neighborhood in 2004, the city began a drainage improvement project which was adjacent to my property and several others in order to improve the water flow from Avery Gardens where they were having flood water back up in heavy rains. And they brought in a lot of of heavy equipment there in 2005 also degraded our streets.

19:15 And as part of that project, they closed off Old Canton, they closed off San Andrew's Drive at County Line Road. So that made us a dead end. But after that fact, the street was never repaved. Now, in about 2013 in Tony Yarber's administration, when they moved the Sanderson Farms Golf Tournament from Madison out to the Country Club of Jackson, They repaved the Country Club of Jackson at that time. And our street has not been repaved in this 40 plus years since they developed there. Now I qualify that by saying that in 2013, one of our three cul-de-sacs, St. Andrews Place, the nearest one to Old Canton Road, did get repaved with asphalt, but nothing else in the neighborhood.

20:00 And we were told that that actually was repaved by mistake. They took a wrong turn off of Old Canton, I think. But at any rate, I'm just here to say that we pay in that neighborhood some of the higher taxes, I believe, in the city. And we've had our property value suppressed, in my opinion, significantly because of the condition of the streets. There's an area right down near my home that's buckled up and I've been asked to hold parties for our church and I'm embarrassed to have anyone come down there.

20:35 And I just urge you to please do not deprioritize the paving of St. Andrews Drive west of County Line Road. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Virgil Payne. Virgil Payne, 26th Wilmington. So I'm a professional engineer, work for MDOT, air engineer and geotechnical. And I'm kind of gonna speak about the mechanics of what I feel like could happen with on agenda item 25. In particular, we've actually gone as our HOA spoken to the Hines County President. He has a state allocation leftover about 96,000. They can only be used in that area that was originally used across. It may be used or lose it. That would represent a 30% savings to the city if we were to engage that immediately. I also want to say within this, we have existing bids, the city does, through Ad Camp in 2024, that I believe in the 25 agenda item, we should go ahead and compel or ask the Department of Public Works to go ahead and use those over our next two months. We have favorable weather, we have favorable conditions,

21:43 go ahead and get this work done, particularly when we can get a state match that may go away. We don't know what the legislature might do if they pull it back or something of that nature next year. So all this to say is there's a lot of stuff that citizens have worked out by meeting with Heinz County and doing other things to try to pull these strings together. And I feel like all I'm asking here in agenda 25 is for the city to come along as a partner and make all this happen. And we have two months I think you can get done. I will note also that I'm aware of IMS haven't been paid to study this about three or four years ago as well.

22:17 I believe Al Turk was paid to study it. It's been studied several times. It's not a very difficult decision really to make to figure out how to do this. I think it just needs to be something that is said to move forward and we can get it done very quickly with savings of 30% to the city if we do this. Thank you. Okay, next we have Victoria Jacob Branson. Good evening everyone. My name is Victoria Jacob Branson. I am a lifelong resident of Jackson City-Hines County. So for a brief period of time, most recently I have been out of the state and very disappointed in some things that have been transpiring in the county that I was born, led, fed, here.

23:16 And most of it is about property issues, which is agenda item. Currently, there is agenda item that's listing a company, LLC, to gain ownership of several parcels. It's been my experience, personal experience, that lands that we would like to acquire is private individuals. That process has been taken out of our hands. So to speak, there's not a clear process of deed transfer, once you require a tackling property, there's a breakdown within that. One company in particular that handles a lot of tax sale items is Viking.

23:57 They have a definite plan in place on how to acquire property and what is required. Once you require the individual gets a deed, there's a breakdown because there are sometimes year or two where the person has paid for the property but the county has lost it. So I'm asking the citizens of Jackson to be more adamant and more vocal about tax sale property as you may be an individual to require that property in or as a person who has lost property due to tax sales because the flip side of that is you may have paid for taxes but the county office will not have record or that and you no longer have your receipt due to movement or theft or fire pray to God that it doesn't happen and you have no recourse and your property sold to ponder you. Also like the City of Jackson when it comes to properties or whatever to be more proactive in making sure that homeowners have the tools necessary to not lose their properties because they may be older now and it

25:00 It may be an issue with code enforcement or whatever. And lastly, may I quickly say this? In 2004, our mayor at that time, Harvey Johnson, signed proclamations of whatever, reference of understanding for community-backed funds to be taken away from private individuals who had homes over 15-plus years and over 55 years older. That led to what we currently see, the dilapidation property because older people don't have income and they're losing the properties because of that. I would like to see the Community Black Fund grant money be placed back into individual towns so those people can take care of their own properties. Thank you.

25:38 Thank you. And next we have Miss Loretha. But Mr. Wales, I don't want to do it. And then Justice did her name, Miss Wales. Good evening. I'm Loretha Wales. I sent over pictures. I'm speaking on behalf of the Ward 3. Cottage Grove street name is Brown Bottom. There are streets, two streets in our neighborhood, in my neighborhood, Eminence Road and Newman Avenue. It looks ridiculous though. It's It looks like a waste. I have reached out to Andy Boone and I'm gonna lost the words of the other people that's supposed to help with this.

26:36 I've also asked Police Chief Bradley to come and just drive by and Councilman Stokes to drive the neighborhood. I also ask you Mr. Hartley to just drive the neighborhood and David, who's running for reelection, ask them to ride through the neighborhood and see how it looks. We do not want our neighborhood to look like a wasteland. We want families to thrive in there, to want to live in there. I mean, don't nobody want to come in that neighborhood, particularly those two streets, wants to live there.

27:12 I have given them the names of the people who owns those properties and nothing is being done. I have also called the police myself and gave them the name of the tag information to someone who was dumping trash in the neighborhood. And the police officer told me, I went by there knocked on the door, no one came. I said, is that all you did? You didn't leave nothing? I said, if the police came in my door I know I did something wrong, I wouldn't come either.

27:45 Well, what you want me to do is not what you see on TV, do something else that got me hot. So I'm like, I betcha. Yeah, I mean, I own that property and I didn't want to say it because people dump on there and if they know, I'm the person who lives in the neighborhood doing that, people retaliate because those people do. I have been up here and said it before. They would send me a letter saying as well, so you need to clean this up. I have asked for help. You, the way we have come, you gonna stay in there?

28:17 I'm not gonna stay in here. I have given you the information what you need. Now I'm told by Mr. Boone, Ms. Webb, that's your property. What you gonna have to do is go sign right, go downtown, we'll go somewhere to the police department and do it affidavit to, yes ma'am, to do something about that. But I'm like, if I did it, they gonna make me clean it up quickly because I'm doing something about it. Other people, you look at those pictures, they haven't did anything. It's sad. And the people that are doing it lives in the neighborhood.

28:53 Live in the neighborhood and they know the name because I have been downtown, had to go and speak on something that I had to do and they know the protona, we got the warrant. What you doing with the warrant? What was the name of those streets again? Eminence Road and Newman Avenue. I have given them the names of the people who own The lot on Newman Avenue. Is that near Capitol Street? No, sir. That's off of Northside Drive. Northside Drive. And Baylor Avenue if you're going that way.

29:21 It's terrible. So like I said, they have the names. I asked them do they want the number too? Because I have the number. But no man will get it. Thank you, Ms. Wells. And I thank the Clerk of Council, that's all for our public comments. Before we go into our next agenda item, which is consent agenda, let me first, I'd like to address something a few weeks ago during a council meeting. There was an incident. I'm sure everyone is aware of it by now. We've reminded the council members of their responsibilities.

30:13 However, I think in light of the petition that was brought before us today, we'll take those further steps and provide an update to those concerned citizens. As council member, as council president, a lot of times it's sometimes you really don't know how things are going to go. And sometimes in the heat of the moment, it may be a little bit difficult to control. And I offer no excuses. That's not the type of professionalism and decorum that is expected of us as elected officials. Even more importantly, those 10 seconds wipe away all the hard work and cooperation of two and a half hours of work.

31:10 And then the citizens have to respond to their friends and neighbors calling them and asking them what is going on. And then folks that we're trying to work with and cooperate with and get funding from, they see that as an example of the type leadership. To the citizens, I apologize as the president. And we will be putting things in place to ensure that that doesn't happen. So again, 10 seconds of cooperation and then those 10 seconds go viral and it defines us and it's the wrong impression because every member on this council worked extremely hard.

32:00 We went through a month or so of budget hearings and that, but 10 seconds. we have a very narrow window that we cannot breach, just cannot breach that with our behavior because of the expectations. Okay again I apologize on behalf of the council. Colleagues let's go on to our next item there's no further comments. All matters listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. So moved. Second. It's been moved and properly second. Any discussions? If not, all in favor? Okay. 6-0. Okay. Next item please. Ordinance amending the solid waste facility disposal fee section 106-148 of the Code of ordinances of the city of Jackson Mississippi. Okay I'm sorry that was item which item? Ten. Okay so we're going to ten. Okay and this is an introduction as regarding our solid waste facility disposal fees. Okay next item please. Order

33:38 approving claims appearing at pages 5 1 5 to inclusive there on a on a municipal docket of claims and the amount of $3,741,384.90 for and make an appropriation for the payment thereof. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. There any discussion colleagues? If not, anything. Yes, I'm sorry, larger claims, Ms. Caldwell. Jillian Caldwell, CFO. The four largest claims are as follows. Camp Inc. the amount is $996,580.16 for the purpose of street resurfacing project phase 1C draw 12 from fund 173 the 1% infrastructure tax fund. The second largest claim is to Lewis Electric Inc. the amount is $965,638.20 for the payment of the traffic signal project from Fund 420 M.CMPDD projects fund. The third largest claim is to Jones Walker LLP. The amount is $300,000 for the Jackson Water litigation from Fund 18 state tort claims fund. The fourth largest claim is to Carol Warren and Parker. The amount is $128,603 for the payment of legal services from Fund 1 general fund.

34:59 Colleagues, any questions or comments? Thank You Mr. President question. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, we have some work taking place with the Woodrow Wilson. Will we stop at five points or will it proceed up to Mill Street and they are also replacing where speed has been running into the guard rails. Do we have a warranty with that? Because as the women come in, they do more riding and driving fast, and they keep hitting the guard rails, and they stay down for months. Are you speaking of the guard rails on Woodrow Wilson?

35:53 Yes, near the golf course and down toward the... We've noticed an uptick in folks running into guard rails, well rails and it appears to be deliberate. We're trying to figure out what measures we can take to protect and get those guard rails maintained as it relates to Woodrow Wilson. The improvements are going to go from Martin Luther King junior drive all the way to the Mill Street Bridge. From Mill Street Bridge to the I-55 exit, we have not identified all the funds that we need with regard to that to get that section paved. The section between MLK and the Mill Street Bridge we have the money for and we're proceeding with those improvements. And we have made a, it's unlikely that we're going to see an appropriation bill in Congress where we can put money in for the MPO allocation that we depend on. We have made an approach and request this capital complex improvement district to assist us with the improvements from Woodrow Wilson from Mill Street to 55. And we're prepared to use a portion of the monies that we got

37:19 the infrastructure from the legislature to help match whatever we're able to get from CCID. We thank you, Mr. Mayor. We can see the improvements. We appreciate them. Money had been allocated for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge leading to the stadium. I don't know why no one ever completed that work. This council, another council approved that money years ago. And now the thing that they had trying to block it is down. And you had a homeless walking across the bridge. And you were all the time whether somebody would jump or something.

38:02 Could we try to get another barricade up while we try to find the money that has been allocated to make those repairs, please? Yep, we'll take a look at that. We should know by the next CCID meeting whether they're going to grant our request for the matching monies for Mill Street to 55. We'll look at whether we have the means to put some guardrails up that will keep folks that will keep people safe. As it relates to the The improvements on Woodrow Wilson Bridge, when I was a member of the Jackson delegation, we got the $3 million that were to be used on making the improvements to the bridge.

38:56 Why that hasn't moved forward after seven or eight, nine years. I don't know how long it's been, but it's been close to that. I don't know, but we'll find out. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Any other comments concerning claims? Okay, if not, all in favor? Opposed? Abstain? 7-1? 7-0. Okay, next item please. Order proven gross payroll including payroll deduction claims number 3-9-9-3-4-9-4-5 to make an appropriation for the payment thereof. So moved. Second? It's been properly moved and second. Is there any discussion? If If not, all in favor?

39:37 Opposed? Seven, zero. Next item, please. Order authorizing payment for the September, 2026 for the property located at 2525 Robinson Street. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and second. Is there any discussions on this item? Discussion, Mr. President. Go right ahead. Thank you. Mr. President, this library has been some positive. in that community for many years across from Russell and Plaza. And I do understand it's not sit on property. And I know we're looking at trying to find the location that we could own. But I would hope that we'll try to find a win-win with this family who came today to this city many many years ago we have some great librarians over in West Jackson and that library is still going strong so again I understand that we want to own our property but until we are able to own our property we need to try to find a a working relationship in a library that people have gotten used to going to. Thank you.

41:06 And I would add to that that is that is in fact in my ward. It's one of the most heavily used libraries in the entire system. And recently the owner is willing, wrote a letter that they're willing to relinquish control or give it completely to the city of Jackson. Right now we are our legal department and others are making a decision on whether to go with the expansive repairs needed or to look at some other plan. So right now I'm not sure if we have an update or not no update from legal. So we're going to continue to monitor this and I think this payment will get us to the end of the month until it while we still deliberate on that. Okay any other comments? Okay not all in favor? F-staying. 501 okay next item please. Order confirming the mayor's appointment of Vanessa Gray to the planning board representing Ward 4. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Councilman Grazel did you want to introduce? Yes. Administration? Yes thank you. Ms. Gray is the

42:21 president of the Queens Magnolia Terrace Neighborhood Association and since taking the helm of this association she has shown great interest in not only learning the processes but also trying to improve the conditions in the city of Jackson and she also understands the importance of this role this unpaid role and having has served as a planning commission on this board before coming to the council and in our conversations, I know she fully understands what the expectations are and I'm very excited to bring her to the council for confirmation, of course, with the mayors at the measures pleasure, thank you.

43:06 Okay, we're going to go around to Dias, Councilman Parkson, we'll start with you. I respect Mr. Grazel's opinion and he speaks very highly of you so you have my support. Sometimes the planning board struggles to meet quorum. So I'll just ask that you please be present for as many meetings as you possibly can. I'll ask that you be fair and tough and really hold a high standard in the planning place, but also work with people as much as you can and just reflect the needs of the community.

43:38 I know you'll do great. As Mr. Grisele said, it's a volunteer position and those planning board members work incredibly hard. So I thank you for stepping up for your leadership. I support you, I support Mr. Grisele, and I thank you for your service. Thank you. Councilwoman. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Councilman Foote. Thank you, I have no questions for you, but I do appreciate your willingness to serve on the Planning Board. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Clay. I've enjoyed working with you, working with Mr. Grisele with the two boards working together.

44:13 I look forward to you being an asset to the Planning Board. Thank you. No questions. And I'd like to thank you as well. It's, you know, we have so many important issues coming before our planning board now. So we need a full contingency of folks to represent all the wards and all the different viewpoints. And certainly appreciate you stepping forward and volunteer for this position. Thank you very much. Any other comments? Mayor? Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen of the council, Mr. Gray comes with great credentials.

44:52 She has demonstrated love for her neighborhood and for this community. I know that she's a hard worker. And Mr. President, if I may just make my comments concerning Reverend Hines as well as Reverend Shoulders at this time as well. All of these folks are very diligent. They have demonstrated records of being fair and objective and their dealings with issues that are of great importance to the community. Reverend Hines, on top of that is a great community leader, is a spiritual leader in our community and is well respected.

45:31 And also Reverend Shoulders, likewise, is a great community leader, has demonstrated his spiritual leadership in our community. leadership in our community. He also serves as a chaplain for Jackson Police Department and I would urge the council to favorably consider all of these nominations. Thank you Mayor. Okay no further comments? All in favor? Okay congratulations. Is there anyone here you'd like to introduce? Truly honored and grateful to be considered and accepted to be on this committee and I'm gonna do my very best to represent Ward 4 and out of my neighborhood and I do have my son with me Jalen Gray right here.

46:21 Looks like we have an Air Force guy. Aim high. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Okay next item please. Order confirmed the mayor's appointment of Hosea Hines of the Planning Board representing Ward 6. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and second. Okay we can start with Councilman Foote this time with Mr. Eins, please come forward. Councilman Foote, we'll start with you this time. Or, excuse me, did you want to introduce him first, sir? Oh, you're award. Thank you. And I just want to add on to what the mayor said. He have a church in Ward 6. He also live in Ward 6. And I am pleased to bring him to the planning board because he is a smart and brilliant idea for South Jackson.

47:20 So thank you. OK, Councilman Foote. Thank you, Mr. President-elect. Again, I don't have any questions for Mr. Hines, but I'd certainly appreciate his willingness to serve on the planning board and please attend as many meetings as you can. Thank you. I know Reverend Hines personally and welcome to the planning board, and I know you will do a great job. Good luck. Mr. President, I have no question for Dr. Hines and have a statement because this man has been putting God first in this city for many, many, many, many years.

48:04 He has never been ashamed to stand alone if he had to, to tell people how good God is. And, Dr., I'm glad to see you coming to the planning board and in other boards you need to come on because God got your back. Thank you Councilman Graziella. Thank you. Reverend Hines. I've never had any reservations about your leadership And I know you're gonna do an amazing job on this board. So thank you so much for being willing to serve And Councilman Parkinson, thank you so much. I appreciate everything Obviously, I trust Miss Brown Thomas and her recommendation means a lot. So I appreciate your leadership Please come to as many meetings as you can be tough and fair and let's push the city forward Thank you for your service.

48:53 OK, and ditto to all that. Again, we have a lot of tough decisions to be made around the city of Jackson. We appreciate servant leaders like yourself stepping forward. Thank you so much, sir. Any comments? If not, all in favor? OK, congratulations, sir. Anything you want to say or your family or anyone here? Good. Recognize my wife, she's fan. Amen. Amen. All right. And I just want to say I thank God for this privilege and opportunity to serve the citizens of my born city, Jackson, where I was born.

49:41 And thank you, Mayor. Thank you, my council person. And thank you, City Council, for this opportunity. I will do the best that I can by the help of God. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, next item please. Order confirming the mayor's appointment of Jane shoulders to the planning board representing ward four. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and second. Councilman Grisele, you want to introduce? Yes, thank you. Initially I asked Reverend shoulders. I said, you think your wife want to pin on a planning board?

50:21 He said, I don't know. I said, well, what about you? He said, uh-uh. I said, between the two of y'all, y'all got to work it out. Somebody out of that household got to come onto this board here. And like the mayor said, Reverend Shorter has been around a long time. He's one of my vice presidents in the Cedar Hills Neighborhood Association. And I'm just very grateful for his work. He has a great church in Ward 5. He and Lady Sharon, they're always out and about, and just doing things to poor other people.

50:54 every morning between 5.30 and 6.30, I'm gonna get a prayer or something sent to my phone. And I'm just very grateful for your leadership. I respect you, the man you are, and I know that you're gonna do a great job. Thank you. Okay, we'll start with Councilman. Well, I hate to keep echoing, but I'll say thank you so much for your service. I'll say, please come to as many meetings as you can, be tough and fair, and we thank you for all that you're doing to push Jackson forward.

51:21 It's an important board We appreciate your service on it. No question. Thank you. That's right. Thank you. Mr. President, this is a young man who came from what we call the North End. Was there around Alamo, DA, to play basketball at Central, outstanding basketball player, a man of God, that's second to none. We're so proud of you, Dr. Cholder. We're proud of your whole family. Y'all have stood up at this city forever. and everybody know you and everybody know your family, what you have done and what you continue to do.

51:58 God bless you. Thank you very much for your service. We know you're doing a good job and everybody in the city does know you and I echo everybody, what everybody said, keep up the good work. Thank you, I'll try to say something different, but I don't have anything different to say. I really appreciate your willingness to serve on the planning board keep all these other people straight, okay? Thank you. And I'd like to echo some of the same sentiments. I remember when he stayed in Ward 5, he was a drop-off point for pallets of water and distributed them throughout the neighborhood and so forth. And I've been to his church. I know his ministry there. Certainly appreciate it. And just one thing, you may want to hold at the Public Works Director because you and we talk about the grass being cut at the police academy across the street from your church.

52:56 So now that you're inside of us with us, you can just get with the public works director and get any needs met, okay? So look, we're going to go ahead and vote. All in favor? Okay, congratulations, sir. Thank you. First of all, I want to thank God for allowed me to be a part of this city. I've been in the city based all my life. I attended the oldest elementary school at war, it was Smith-Roberson Elementary, some of you all may know. And also I attended Rowan, that time was junior high, I graduated from Central High School, which is now the office for the Department of Education.

54:02 So I also attended a play basketball at Dillard University, where I left Central High School I want to thank each of you for considering me to be a part of this city and the growth of this city. I have my wife here sharing shoulders. I have my daughter here, baby girl here. And I thank them for coming, being a part. And I thank you, the council, for considering me. And I want to thank Brian Gazelle, our council person. Thank you. We did have to make a decision.

54:47 Thank you so much. May God bless each and every one of you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. I just think it's so fitting that we can have spiritual leaders now to help work and plan for our city moving ahead. Okay, next item please. Well, except in the proposal of Mississippi Yard, of the LSC and authorizing the mayor to execute the contract to provide landscaping and ground maintenance. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Colleague, do we have any questions or comments?

55:25 Councilwoman Clay. So these fees are basically being paid out of a grant that we could not pay internal employees with? Can we have someone to address this item? Peter Davidson, CAO, that's correct. The federal government is paying either 75 or 80% of this cost and they require us to have a contractor as opposed to pay for employees. Thank you, Councilwoman Clay. My only question for this is because we just did our budget, we just said we were going to hire more people and when I read the source of funding, I wanted to be clear and I'm okay with the grant because it has to be paid for with a grant.

56:03 But in the future, anything that's paid with our money from the city will be a no vote. Thank you. And I would say I would have preferred to hire more grass cutters in the city, but the terms of this federal grant don't allow this Thank you. Okay any other comments? Okay, if not all in favor Epstein okay 601 next item, please order authorizing the mayor to execute a policy renewal with met life for group life in X accidental death and dismemberment insurance coverage for active and retired city employees participating in the self-funded health plan for the period January 1st, 2027 through December 31st, 2027.

56:51 So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and second. Is there any discussion on this item? If not, all in favor? Yes, Senator. Okay, the poll, what was that? I'm sorry, 5-1-1. Next item, please. Order authorizing the Mayor to execute an administrative service agreement with 3P Benefit Solutions LLC to serve as administrator of the cafeteria plan for the city of Jackson pursuant to the section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code and authorizing execution of necessary documents related thereto. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and second.

57:38 Colleagues, do we have any discussion? If not, all in favor? No. F's done. Okay. 5-1-1. Next item, please. Order to claim parcel 70s-79, 110-24, and 110-25 surplus accepting the bids of Wheel-Mack Investments, LLC, and authorizing conveyance by quick claim deed to Wheel-Mack Investments, LLC. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded, colleagues. concern. Councilman Stokes. Thank you. Mr. President, a lot of work has been done in that area and I don't want to stop progress. But it seems the amount of money that we're gonna receive for this property is extremely, extremely low.

58:29 I think they would benefit, I don't think, from reading the information that they told what the official plans would be, what they're gonna be or if they're gonna be, but I think it should be somewhere in our paperwork what they're gonna do with this property if the city will be basically donating it to them because the price is so low. Yes, Vic Sexton, Department of Planning. Councilman Stokes, the parcels are going to be for residential development. And as I mentioned yesterday, Dorothy Thompson, long time realtor, is the person that purchases his properties.

59:14 Who? Dorothy Thompson. Oh, Dorothy? Yeah. This is her. Who is that? What's in here? Yeah. She's got some other properties. She's done some development around JSU to try to help them with their student population as far as housing. So she's got some things going on. And her son is right there with a Matthew. He's working diligently with her also. Well, I know she's going to do what she stated. That's right. I'm a little leery because I know at the Metro Center, they said they were going to build something, and they put a bingo hall.

59:51 So sometimes you worry. You're a little weird when people say they're going to do. We give them their property so cheap, and you almost give them the door, and then they trick the city. But I know a daughter is good people. She'll do what she said. Do I have no problem supporting it? Any other comments? If not, all in favor? Opposed? Abstain? 601. OK, next item, please. Order authorizing payment to energy Mississippi LLC to raise an electric power line that is in conflict with the proposed location of a mass arm being erected pursuant to the traffic signal group B improvements project.

1:00:33 So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Any comments? Everyone's okay with that? On this issue, Mr. President, I don't mind supporting it, because I know there's progress, but I still have a major problem, Mr. Mayor, about energy having all these lights out city-wide. Something needs to be done. B&B came through the neighborhood last week, and they were fixing, making repairs to lights, But energy can easily have someone out at night identifying lights that's out and making sure they are prepared and still telling their citizens, especially senior citizens, that they got to call the number.

1:01:16 These older people don't know how to look on the poll and get the number and everything else. It's a better way to do it. Energy is treating the city wrong, and I will support this item. but future energized and some voting no. Thank you. Okay. Mr. President. Yes. Councilman Stokes, I hear you loud and clear. When we came into this administration a little over a year ago, one of the most egregious things that we have encountered is the fact that we're paying between $800,000 and $850,000 a month for our light bill, whether the lights are working or not, because they're charged by the poll.

1:02:02 And the city is right now, through our various departments, legal and public works, vetting a professional services contract, which is going to allow us an opportunity to have someone who's a professional to look at and audit those lights that we have that are working versus the ones that are not. And in regard to that, this is at no cost to the city. The cost of whatever the consultants come up with were born out of the savings we get from the entity. But we've got to know where these lights that don't work are located and come up with a plan on getting them working again.

1:02:51 The program is something that is vitally needed. We don't have the capacity to go and do this analysis. So we're getting professionals who will be able to do that. And again, it's at no cost to the city. Okay. I just want to thank Mr. President for identifying this problem, recognizing it, and trying to find a way to solve it. Thank you so much. And they said that Cassandra folks, Wilson, Freer you did a wonderful job. Thank you. I think Councilman Fertwood's done that. Yeah. Yes. Thank you.

1:03:33 I just want to concur with Councilman Stokes on his concerns about the entry light bills and appreciate the efforts you all are making on bringing in some consultants to try to see if we can save some money. I think would be really helpful, but I do want to encourage everybody to support this measure. It's a stoplight at a really busy intersection in Ward 1, so please support it. Councilwoman Clay. Okay. First of all, I'm not in favor of saying that I'm doing anything for energy or anything else, but I want to make a point.

1:04:08 The lights on my street were out this week. I called Energy, gave them an address, Energy came out and fixed the lights. We as citizens of Jackson, if we don't have enough initiative to call in and light ourselves, that we need to pay a consultant, there is something wrong. Whether it cost us or not, we need to teach people in our city to be responsible citizens. Second of all, energy will fix any light and they don't require you to tell them the number on the pole.

1:04:38 If you give them an address, they will come out. They will walk the street. They walked that street, Devonshire, on Sunday. They fixed all the lights on our street, changed them out to LED lights, okay, on my end of the street. There is no need in us getting a professional service to come and do something that we as citizens should be responsible enough to do. At some point there comes a time when we got to stop holding hands in Jackson and stand up for what's right, do what's right, save the money, and when the bill is cut, the city going to get 100% of it, and whoever is doing the consulting will get 0% and they stay at home.

1:05:14 comments? Mr. President, Councilman Stokes. We've had too many people called us to tell us they have called energy over and over and over again and the lights are not being repaired. Now, maybe she's stronger than us, but energy need to repair the lights like they used to do in old days. It was a white majority city, they repaired the lights. Now, are we seeing they doing it in the black neighborhoods to have a little more money compared to the poor black neighborhoods? I don't know, but what I'm saying is we all pay light bills, fix our lights. Okay. Last word, I agree. Energy should not discriminate, red line, or anything else. And if that's what we think energy is doing, there's a legal way to handle it and not a consultant way. Okay. Mayor, are they going to examine our bills as well and look for ways that we can save money?

1:06:23 We're vetting the folks who have submitted right now. Some have a greater ability to be able to do that and do a better analysis of how much money we should get in the way of a rebate from the energy, they will help us discern all of that and it's going to be money that is, even though we're not paying for the service, they're going to help to put money back into our coffers and increase our bottom line of our general fund. Okay, and one of the things I'm concerned about in my ward, we have a U-shape leading to Jackson State and it's not as well. I reported the lights and they came out and fixed about four of them there on Bobby Rush Boulevard and they fixed some on Highway 80. My concern is the safety. Right up here on University Boulevard, Lynch Street, on Bobby Rush Boulevard, there are poles that are leaning. If you drive down Lynch University Boulevard here, a poll leaning halfway out between the two lanes with a light fixture on it. Is that

1:07:36 type of stuff that I would love to have them look into? They will also look at issues such as polls that aren't working. A lot of these polls, the cop has been stolen out of them. And we're not going to find that out as a rate payer who is concerned about dark street, there are a lot of different issues. There are situations where cars are running into these poles, where copper thieves are stealing the copper out of the poles. These consultants are going to look at all of that and bring us back solid recommendations.

1:08:15 We are also in discussion with a number of private sector entities that we're having discussions discussions about lighting up Jackson and doing a better job of that and treating it as a public safety issue, which is what it is. And my concern is those transformers contain PCBs, council calls an agent, we don't want someone to hit one of those unstable poles and then the whole thing come down and take out half the power in the neighborhood. So I look at it from a safety standpoint as well.

1:08:52 And I have a complete report and slide presentation on that that I can deliver to Entergy and to your office, you know, depending on where you go. But I think that the main thing here is the traffic signals. We had a good discussion yesterday concerning traffic signals and our ability to keep them on. And so we had a very lively discussion there. And that's the object of this item. So any further comments? If not, all in favor? 7-0. Okay. Next item, please. Order amending the order accepting the bid of Hemfield Construction Company for the Shaw Road Bridge Rehabilitation Project to correct the award amount.

1:09:39 So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any comments? Question. Councilman Jones. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The situation with him here, there's a lot of them. They have been absent on Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive for almost a month. I talked to the public works director yesterday said they were supposed to start back tomorrow. There was commitments made to citizens in that area. that the bridge would be up and running, repaired by homecoming, homecoming is coming gone.

1:10:25 And we still having a problem with them now coming to work. I don't know for what reason they're absent, but I can't support the NPL on this item until they show us and my neighborhood and my ward that they care about people. And the way they do that is come and complete the job. Don't start a job and walk away. Thank you. Okay, any other comments? Been pretty quiet. I mean, the original amount was $560,751.39. And the new amount is $560,747.50. So my only question is, What are we gonna do with the $3.89 we managed to save in this half a million dollar project?

1:11:23 Mr. President, the Council. No, I'm doing that, okay. Mayor. To Councilman Stokes, we will get a status report on where we are in the construction and repairs of the bridge and we'll get that report back to you. Thank you, sir. Okay, is there a throw for the comments? All in favor? Okay, opposed. Six, one. Okay, we're gonna move item 30 up. And let's go ahead and handle that proclamation now and then we'll go into the discussion items. We missed 23. We haven't done 23 yet. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. 23. Item 23 and then we're gonna move 30 up.

1:11:59 Resolution of the City Council of Jackson, Mississippi, in support of the City of Jackson, entered into an agreement with Municipal Intercept Company, LLC, for the collection of unpaid debts pursuant to the local government debt collection set off account. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Councilman Griselle. All right, thank you. So as you all know, I serve on the board for the Mississippi Municipal League and well the board of directors. And so during our convening this weekend, last weekend's start board, it became known to me about the municipal intercept company.

1:12:37 And so this is one of those companies that were actually started by MML to help municipalities recover debt owed to it by whether it's vacant property owners or property owners who, you know, who have properties that are adjudicated and still owe. And so I did some more research. Alabama has its own MIC and Vicksburg was one of the first cities to engage this program. Clinton does it and there are a lot of other cities in the state that also does this. And so basically what this does, and I think this is really timely because since Mr. Taillerson came on board, we were talking about finding creative ways to collect on fines and fees before these properties get turned over to the Secretary of State because once they go to the Secretary of State, we get nothing.

1:13:29 And so the way this program works, they actually go after folks' state taxes. And we talked about that too. And so they recover the people who are paying the fees, they have to pay them. So this doesn't really cost us anything directly. And I think that because this has been ongoing since 2019, it seems to be a really good program. I think this is something that we should really should entertain so that we can recover from those people who owe the city of Jackson money. Thank you.

1:14:00 Councilman Parkinson. Mr. President, I enthusiastically support this measure and I thank Mr. Grazel incredibly much for his research on this, his leadership on the MML and bringing real practical solutions to the city of Jackson. Code enforcement is a major issue in the city and I think there are four main underlying root causes of our issues. We have a huge backlog of properties and we don't have the funds to address them. We are not collecting the, we don't have a good collection measure once we charge people for the funds.

1:14:39 We lack capacity in terms of having to go out and do inspections and re-inspections and this, that, the other. And information management, logging, keeping all that straight, making the process as streamlined as possible. This council has taken action on some of those items. We set up the volunteer code enforcement program to alleviate some of the capacity constraints. And I think this is another piece of the puzzle going after those collection concerns. I think this is a real practical solution that is aligned to a huge need that we have.

1:15:18 And I just, I can't spoil enough. And I thank Mr. Garzell for bringing it to us. Any other comments? Mr. President. Councilman. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, wise man talked to me last week and he was saying that the city used to use inmates to clean up the city. And they talk about how dirty the city is today. what would it take for us to get inmates back out again? I know we proved something some months ago, well, the shaft would use inmates that will pay for us.

1:16:07 But at one time in this city, they had a number of inmates that used to be out here to the wire cleaning it up. And they said, we need to go back to that. I had a chance to go to court services over the last month, and these judges are doing a wonderful job. Bay looks to police department in some kind of way. If we're talking about collecting our fines, because I think we got millions of dollars in fines that's not being collected, I would hope we would holistically look at collecting all men owe to this city. And we can make some hell of a move in making this city a great city again. Thank you, sir.

1:16:54 Mr. Brand. So, as part of the restructuring of the municipal court, which we are transforming right now with better technology, better use of staff, we've got a streamlined number of judges, But we also are looking at how we can up our collections. We're doing a horrible job of it right now. And we probably are going to have to hire someone to provide that service for us as consultants or service providers, whatever you want to call it. So we're moving forward with looking at that. As it relates to the use of inmates to do litter collection, you cannot use persons who are being detained by the Sheriff's Department if they are not serving a sentence.

1:17:50 Most of these folks are awaiting trial. We can't use them. The way we were able to use them before is because the state was paying the county, I I don't know how much a day to house state inmates and you can use those inmates to do litter control But we don't the state doesn't have any inmates in our jails now And so we can't use the folks that are waiting trial however the city of Jackson Hines County the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Mississippi Department of Corrections have signed an MOU that will allow us to take prisoners from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and provide transportation to them to come over here and do litter control.

1:18:45 The county is going to do a portion of it, the city is going to do a portion of it, and we can each get up to $100,000 in reimbursements from the state. to do this. And you're seeing those inmates from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. In our state roads and highways, we can't do it to- I'm sorry, but we need to keep it germane to the item that's before us. I was really responding to- Responding to the comment. Okay. So we are taking steps to make that happen. One other thing, our legal department. I had briefing with Drew Martin last week and he explained about three different ways for us to go ahead and try to get better fines and especially out of our community improvement. Miss McCreary you don't have any information okay so I'd like if possible for we'll go ahead and our support this will go ahead and vote on this but I would like Mr. Councilman Foote, if you don't mind please put that as an agenda item for the next planning meeting and that is collection of fines

1:20:01 as well because the legal had some things in motion. Councilwoman Clay. This is not regarding the vote but in originally where my office is I don't know how they do it but the prisoners do do litter control and they pick up a lot of paper So I know in Jackson we're gonna make it work and I'm happy to hear that we're working on that project Yes, I think it's gonna benefit us all and save save money. Okay back to this item Unpaid bills. Is there anything else councilman?

1:20:33 Okay, any other questions if not all in favor Epstein Okay opposed Okay, that's five one one. Okay next Okay, now we're going to item number 30, a proclamation. Declaring September as Service Dog Month in Jackson. Mayor? Thank you, Mr. President and members of the council. I'd like to invite Ms. Melanie Courtney, who is here today, and she is with her dog, Navi, to receive this proclamation today. September's dogs provide vital assistance to individuals with disabilities, enhancing their independence, mobility, safety, and quality of life. But thousands of Americans, including veterans, children, and adults in our community.

1:22:02 September's recognized nationwide as Service Dog Month, an observance dedicated to honoring the profound contributions of service dogs and raising community awareness about their important role and the rights guaranteed to their handlers. Accredited service dog nonprofits train and support service dog partnerships empowering people to lead fuller lives and promoting inclusivity in Jackson and beyond. The City of Jackson values diversity and strives to create an inclusive environment for all who live work and visit including individuals who are partnered with service dogs. Now Therefore I John whore mayor of the city of Jackson by virtue of the authority vested in me to hereby proclaim September as service dog a month in the city of Jackson and Urge all citizens and residents to learn more about the value service dogs respect a safe access rights for their handlers and join in celebrating the strong bonds life-changing impact service dogs bring to our community. And so to Robby, I'm assuming Nabi, and Ms. Courtney it gives a great pleasure to present this proclamation. And I'd like to ask Ms. Courtney if she'd like to make a few remarks

1:23:51 Mr. President, you've run so loud. Well, thank you for this, Mr. Mayor. And the Nabi is my third service dog. I received him in February of this year from Canine Companions for Independence out of Orlando, Florida. And there are several people, not just myself, who have service dogs who benefit from them. And I am blessed to be here tonight to receive this. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Gordon. And we only wish the very best in the future to you and to Navi. Okay, next, thank you so much.

1:25:01 And next we're going into our discussion items. First we have item 24, Mr. Davidson. Good evening, Peter Davidson, CIO. Well, we had a plan and then our building burned. We're gonna ask that you put this item in committee so that Ms. Sheila Sher from publications can brief you as to the efforts we're taking to revamp the publication's Division make it more productive and find it a permanent home Miss sheriff had looked at the Midtown building that we have on Mill Street and thought that would be a potential home We need to do a roof, but that was it and it's funny How after she looked at it and said it was all good it burned. I'm sure that's just a coincidence But I'm gonna ask that you put this in committee for the time being. Yes, sir. I guess that would be on the planning committee However you put it, Mr. President.

1:25:57 Okay. All right. We'll refer that to the planning committee. Okay, next item, we have a resurfacing neighborhood streets in October and November, Councilman Foote. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I mean, Mr. Chairman, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. President. That was a great note. This is all about resurfacing streets, which is an important part of Jackson Rising. we need to resurface as many streets as we can and we've got a contract that's in place, been in place since I guess it was the end of 2024 and it's a unit cost contract where it's set up with through the one cent sales tax and that's where the payment for the roads that are being resurfaced is paid from the one cent sales tax money.

1:26:45 My concern was that there was some discussion that with this new engineering contract that might delay the road resurfacing until the spring, which could mean rebidding, which might mean additional cost because the cost of asphalt's gone up and the cost of mobilizing whoever would win the bid and there might be several hundred thousand dollars. And besides that, even more important, the citizens are anxious to get their streets resurfaced like we heard from the people that came up here whose streets hadn't been resurfaced in 25 years.

1:27:18 So I don't think we should wait. I think we should need to move forward with the existing contract that's in place. It's unit cost, which means you can just add streets. And they've added already, they started out with a phase one, I think it was 1B and 1C, and they've already upped the number of streets that have been added to that. And I think there's the potential for a whole lot more streets to be added. but then we need to make sure they're ready to go now.

1:27:48 And we got a list of, I guess it was a month or two ago, it was like 45 miles of streets, 338 different streets, a lot of them small streets, or the ones that often get left behind when you do the major artery resurfacing. So I would really encourage the administration to stick with this plan and add streets as much as we can. I know that citizens out there are anxious to get streets resurfaced. And I think it would help the morale of the citizens and really add to the momentum of Jackson rising.

1:28:24 Thank you. Mayor, did you have a comment on that? Just to say that our existing paving contract is ongoing and they're trying to get to those streets that are to be resurfaced as quickly as possible. We're doing in excess of 600 streets. That's probably the largest resurfacing contract that's been that's gone on in this city in the last 40 years. We are now looking at getting the contract signed on the 40 million that we put in for a bond that we issued last year around this time.

1:29:03 And we get we're getting those contracts signed and we're going to try to get after it with regard to the $40 million bond issue, but the existing 1% sales stats, streets are ongoing. Okay. So there won't be any delay and we're not going to redo the contract. We hope not. Okay. Because we're trying to get get those, the streets that are in that $40 million package. Yes, sir. The next step for us with those is to get those contracts signed and then get those contractors on the streets.

1:29:34 Okay. And then to. And that includes storm drains as well, Mr. President. Okay. And as Councilman Foote stated, it's so important that we get it. If we have any existing contracts where we can take advantage of the lower cost of asphalt now, we need to take advantage of that. I let public works know that we have to have a sense of urgency about this. People are anxious for it. The weather is going to catch us if we're not careful. And we're trying to get as much of it done before the end of the year as possible.

1:30:07 Thank you, sir. Thank you. Anything else? Okay. Okay, next item, we have Mary Jones Community Center. Mr. Stokes. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Mayor, the community center is in horrible shape. Water running and all kinds of things and pooping clothes and I tried to get an agreement, drew some entities to open the pool back up. But I placed item on the agenda in this manner because we had a guest, Mrs. Spivey, whose daughter was home. Yeah, Mrs. O. Well, Mrs. ... The daughter lived on Lenny Avenue, which is right there at Mary Jones.

1:31:00 Ms. Biven, I think they're saying some things you don't, it's very private, some things you may not want to say. I think you want to come just to thank the police and thank everybody for their love. That's what you want to say. I wanted to thank the Jackson Police for finally breaking the silence and to bringing us a little bit, a few answers. And especially for the council and councilman Stokes, you know, for Tysha's case to be heard, you know, that is much more than anyone has done for us, you know, and we hope that no one, you know, Tysha was a mother, she was a daughter and she was a sister.

1:31:57 And we hope that none of y'all ever have to experience what our family is going through now. But we just want to thank y'all very much for taking the time to show love toward our future. Thank you, Ms. Byerly. I put it on as Mary Jones selling because a lot of people had no idea she was living on Lindy Avenue. But the citizens around Lindy Avenue knew. And then the avenue is a rock throw away from Mary Jones' son. So hopefully we can try to find some money or something to try to bring the son of a bat.

1:32:43 I think one thing we need to try to do is find the ownership. Because Jackson Public Schools is my understanding. They still own the building and Heinz County, through the Hines County Human Resource. And I think they moved everything out. And I think they have a few students from Head Start over there, but I think we need a plan to how we can repurpose Mary Jones Center, thank you. Okay, next item please. And I want to follow up on thank the police department. Also, Mr. President, they came to chief everybody helped an apartment complex that didn't have water.

1:33:29 The fire department, we thank them too because of the experience they have. They were able to get water so people could flush toilets, cuz they were taking their drinking water to try to flush toilets. I still hope and pray that we fight to get the water system back in the hands of the city because we have most sensitivity. We know how to work with our people in this city and make things better for them. So Chief, we thank you all so much for caring and helping.

1:34:00 Mr. President and Chief, I need your help on this one. I was leaving the bank on Northside Drive, I think last Friday. And sometimes I go down to California to get the reach way to get home. And in front of Grove Park, I don't know who a group, who a people, they were messing up. They had AKs, they were starting right there at Grove Park, coming through Bel Air, a lot of elderly and older people. Then they're coming through Bel Air, going to Shady Oaks, and it was scary.

1:34:43 The issue I have on this agenda today is that if there's no guidelines, we need to have some guidelines how people can walk these streets in Jackson with AK masks and everything else. The way I put it on the agenda is that I call the private police that they coming in and just taking over neighborhoods. But suppose the KKK the Ku Klux of claims coming some of these poor black neighborhoods and doing the same thing. We'll be upset. We cannot have private police in Jackson. We have a police department.

1:35:31 And if we don't have guidelines if people want to march or something, we need to get some more. That was a scary situation that I saw. So you can imagine other citizens in their homes in a quiet neighborhood, having to see people massing up, walking through their neighborhood with AKs, and everybody wondering what's going on. Chief Brackney. Thank you, sir. Dr. Brackney, Chief of Police Jackson. So these things are all kind of connected. During what you were seeing is we had received information and intelligence that the Black Panthers were coming to Jackson, Mississippi in relation to the chase fortune case here and that they were coming in response to what they were saying that they were these hangings that are occurring along throughout Mississippi.

1:36:31 As you have heard me say repeatedly and thank you Ms. Fybe for being here is that Tayshia fortune is I have been saying over and over was found in a hanging position and I need to stay with that language as we move this case forward so we do not do anything to jeopardize this case. With that we can also tell you and we've also spoken to Ms. Spivey and kept her family abreast of this. We had two more arrest warrants issued in this case for Tasia Fortune and what I can tell you is today we've taken another person in custody and charged them with homicide in this case. We've also leveraged the US Marshals for the third person that we have an outstanding warrant for in this case and I will guarantee you there are actually more arrests to come in this incident so we are announcing that with you today. Three arrests are two arrests, one more warrant outstanding and we were pursuing more warrants as we just brought a person into custody and spoke with them literally

1:37:35 why I was here in this space. Chief did the Black Panthers or whoever did they come to your office and get a permit? Do we have a form where people need permits? Yes sir, there is the special events permitting if anyone wants to march or hold a special event. In this case we had received information, tried to make contact. There was another group that was coming that came out of Atlanta, the Fred Hampton Gun Club is out of Atlanta that also flew in. We also coordinated with the FBI and the Secret Service for our intelligence units to determine what the threat was. We do have an open carry state where you can be open carry out with your weapons as long as they are out and not concealed. The difference is if you're holding a vent and you're staying on the sidewalks, you can proceed on the sidewalks. You cannot obstruct traffic and things of that nature. We have made contact for anyone with that organization that showed up here. It is an ordinance that they have to go through with misdemeanor. And so the

1:38:43 strategy is to make contact and if they violated our ordinances, we would then work with the legal department through, for the other states that they came out of in order to be able to enforce that law right then and there. Thank you, Chief. Chief, is there, and I share his concern, an armed group of individuals coming down our streets. Were you aware of it? Did you approach it? Did you try to? Yeah, we again if they are open carry they can proceed down our streets as an open carry and so I understand we feel very uncomfortable with the weapons but that is the laws here and it is Second Amendment. We did coordinate with all of our intelligence to make sure that there were no threats to human life which is what we also have to pay attention to, but open carry is permitted here in the state.

1:39:40 I just think, you know, when it comes to a group, then that kind of, kind of, it needs to be something we watch carefully. Councilman Parkinson. Thank you. I agree with everything that's been said and I appreciate your, I agree with your analysis, Chief. That's why I think we need to look to the volume. I think we're back. I would urge our state legislators to relook at our situation because the Second Amendment is one thing, but I think even responsible gun owners support common sense legislation.

1:40:23 I think it's certainly the view of many, many, many Jacksonians that a group of individuals should not be allowed to carry open weapons down the middle of the street. I agree with your analysis that that's currently what is allowed right now. And so I think you're exactly right. But I would urge our state legislators to relook at that. I'll also say, Chief, just if you could help me clarify, even with the current law, I believe under search and age is not allowed to open carry. I believe if you have a, there are some exceptions.

1:41:00 That is correct. So you have to be 21 years of age in order to purchase and have a weapon as well. There's also too, in terms of you being a felon, not to be in possession of a firearm, there are those things that we could then leverage for federal prosecution. But there's also, has to be reasonable suspicion as to why you decide to approach somebody and ask them, particularly why they have a weapon in open carry. I cannot have anyone getting into discriminatory practices if it's only uncomfortable for certain groups of people walking down the streets to have weapons.

1:41:36 And then there are other groups that we are very comfortable displaying weapons, depending on what area it is in. So in order to approach someone and ask them particularly about their status, I do have to have reasonable suspicion. I just can't decide to ask each and every one of you because it is an open carer state. Chief Ken, just a comment. Can you just get with legal and you guys coordinate? make sure that we've done all everything we need to do, you know, within the confines of the law.

1:42:10 A lot of folks, you know, they're big on Second Amendment rights and that's the place, which they had the same concern for the First Amendment and others as well. But my point is, you know, please communicate to the communities as we go on that, hey, what's happening? Someone, little old lady's looking out to witness to see this, at least they're going to have some questions and, you know, if there's a permit needed or whatever is needed, you know, within the confines of the Constitution, I think we can, we need to have that.

1:42:42 Yeah, and we did. We reached out to as many community people as we found out about it. This was also part of the Poor People's Campaign. I mean, it was a large group of individuals and it had been circulating on social media for a very long time since Miss Fortune's death and after Nolan Wells and a few other ones here where people are suggesting that there are vigilantes going across Mississippi doing harm and we understand all of the concerns around that. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Okay, next item.

1:43:17 City workforce utilization and accountability. This came to mind after our last budget hearings, you know, one of the things that jumped out at me is that we need to better relate the end product. What all the service then, what's required, do we have the people, manpower, and accountability? Do we have metrics in place? And I can't speak for the other committees, but I will be asking the chairs of the other to make sure during our committee hearings that we have as many metrics and things in place so we can draw that line between the money we spent and the job that we're doing. Mr. Davidson.

1:44:03 Thank you, Mr. Hartley. Peter Davidson, C.A.O., following along the discussions that started during the many budget meetings. Michael Thomas has now submitted proposed KPIs to each of the the city departments has asked them for their feedbacks. I know Chief Brackney has responded to her email and said that she will promptly get him some feedback. I think other directors have received, I know every department has received those. I think a couple other directors have responded. I know Chief Brackney has. So I think by the time the council starts making those inquiries, I think the data will be there and we expect that the data will be starting at the end of October for monthly review.

1:44:42 Very well then, thank you. Next item, tennis court South, councilwoman Brown. Thank you. And can I have Miss Mitchell and Miss Wommack come to the thing? On this week, we have a very intense meeting with them in reference to what tennis center South mean to them. These are young ladies that have been in the community for several years and play tennis. And I'm going to let them explain what it mean, the historical with the Batterfield Park and Tennyson and South. Okay, thank you so much Councilwoman Brown-Thomas.

1:45:20 I am Rishana Brown-Mitchell, resident here of the city of Jackson for the past 20 years as a homeowner. And I am here with a purpose. And the purpose is that we note that historically here in the city of Jackson, the council has always placed a pro or qualified person who had the requisite skills to run a tennis facility. There are three major parks here, Bridges Tennis Center, Battlefield Park, Dorothy Vest Tennis Center, and Tennis Center South. Historically, the city of Jackson has done that. When we had the unfortunate and untimely demise of the tennis pro for Battlefield Park and Tennis Center South, we feel that the city was grossly negligent in granting that management facility position to someone who was not a professional tennis player or had any professional recreation experience and skills to manage the facility. It is our fervent belief as tennis players that Battlefield Park as well as tennis in the South, these are income generating facilities provided that the manager has the requisite skills to understand how to generate income so that they will be sustainable. There is clear proof that

1:47:09 when you don't have that experience, what happens is that the parks cannot sustain itself. So then the parks become defunded, abandoned, deteriorated, dilapidated and totally dysfunctional. And as a result, not only does the tennis community suffer, but the community where the parks reside suffers as well. So in going forward, right now, we applaud the city council for having boarded the contract for the tennis facilitator manager for Battlefield Park. But as it relates to Tennyson or South, I had an opportunity to walk those grounds on Sunday.

1:48:02 And it is just heartbreaking to know that our tax dollars can just be deteriorated in such a manner. Because we have negligently allowed a person who does not have the requisite skills to be the facilitator. And so when they leave it for whatever reason, even if it's personal reason, even it's because you had to take a year or two years off to care for a family member, you still had a responsibility to notify the city that you could no longer manage that piece of property that you contracted to do.

1:48:44 And so in going forward, we would like, and we came to you, council person, as having recently been appointed as a chair with parks and recreation, that you would allow at least the community and the tennis players to be actively involved when decisions are being made in terms of who is going to come in, manage and facilitate these parks. Thank you guys for hearing us. We definitely appreciate it because we've been very vocal and we definitely have to to show appreciation to everybody who's allowing us to speak with them and for you guys to absolutely take us very serious.

1:49:23 Thank you for coming out, witnessing everything that we have going on at Battlefield Park, all the corrections that we're trying to make, all the upgrades that we're trying to create out there. Thank you, now that we have someone over at Parks and Rec that we can come to about the situations that are going on at Battlefield Park. I absolutely offer a solution, you know, for coming forward that we have some very qualified. We're gonna be volunteers out there who can keep these parks running while you're going through this transition because at Battlefield Park, where I've been for the last couple of months, we have monthly members, we have people who come out there every day, and we just don't wanna see it while it's going through this transition that no one is able to go out there, especially since we haven't been able to go out there for so long that community needs battlefield.

1:50:17 It's like the epic center of battlefield is so historic. There is so much that we have to offer to that community, to those kids, to the families, to ourselves. I'm an avid tennis player. I do apologize, I didn't give my name. I am Agnes Matlock. But I am a avid tennis player. I am someone who is very vocal in my community and that is my community. So I have a very special place in my heart for what goes on, especially at Battlefield Park. But we like to extend our disgrace right on down the road to 10 and 7 South because it's still also the facility and we like it's a flourish too.

1:50:58 So we just want you guys to keep backing us and let us know whatever it is that we can do to make this successful. Are there any questions from the council? Mr. Davidson. No questions. I've had the pleasure of spending time with both of these individuals. Both recently retired director Junior and I came to the conclusion during budget that city needs to hire a tennis pro. There's no question about that. We've seen the difference a golf pro can make at Pete Brown. We are enjoying revenue that we've never seen historically in the city from the golf course as well as and golf course that's in great shape.

1:51:37 We need a Tennis Pro on staff. I think the money is sufficiently in the budget to find that person, but I've heard that suggestion as has Director Junior, and as we mold it over, we agree that's the direction the city needs to go. We've got to have somebody on staff who's a Tennis Pro. They'd be retired, we can figure that out, but we got to have somebody who has that passion day in and day out who can work with individuals like these who are passionate as well.

1:52:04 Councilman Clay. Oh, I'm sorry one other thing I can confirm to the council that Mr. Jackson budget manager has identified the lighting for battlefield We do have the funding for that And also to add on to what he said the after the meeting that we had Energy did go out and fix the light on the walking trail. Thank you very much Hopefully Mr. Davidson they can find lighting for all our parks that are somewhat staff-proof. That's how big is battle. Councilwoman McLeish. Thank you very much.

1:52:46 I'm happy to hear that we'll be doing something with the tennis centers. I'm in favor of whatever battlefield and for Tennis Center South. I will volunteer. I play tennis and I'm happy that the city has sees fit to do something so we will be moving forward. We appreciate it. Mr. President. Ms. Stokes. Thank you. It's been many years since I played tennis. No, no. But some time ago, we named Grove Park for all the ash. And they enlarge the tennis courts and everything else. And I just don't understand why we have not tried to, as we expand the tennis south in those areas, that we did not expand Grove Park.

1:53:40 One part was utilized. People had started utilizing Grove Park, playing tennis all over the city. They were coming and playing. So again, I hope Mr. Tabers and Mr. Maher that we'll put some ideas together, and let's revisit Grove Park. Yes, sir. We did earlier this year resurface the Grove Park tennis courts. And we are putting either they've been recently installed or are about to be installed, the wind screens around the tennis courts. So we're not forgetting tennis at Grove Park. I specifically brought up Battlefield and Tennis Center South because that's what I had met with these ladies on on more than one occasion.

1:54:23 Let me make this clear. They are passionate. They have met with me at Battlefield. They have come downtown to meet with me and we have taken their input seriously along with others who have met with us. But this isn't just for those who are watching. They're not just showing up to city council. They've been passionate about this and working behind the scenes. And yes, councilman Stokes, we're not forgetting Grove Park either. Or Lake Hyco. I say that because Lake Hyco has two tennis courts. We understand that the tennis courts at Lake Hyco are strictly for recreation.

1:54:56 We're looking at the tennis courts at Battlefield and Tennis Center South for USTA matches and leagues and that will generate income and we'll be happy to have them back and players, all leagues will be playing at those two facilities because if we have lights, we can have night matches and if there are home teams out of those centers, they have to come and play if we meet the USTA guidelines. So I'm happy that we can have leagues back out of both facilities. And for those listening Grove Park has refreshed tennis courts and pickleball So you want to play pickleball you can come on out Northwest Jackson. We got you. Thank you Okay, now we can have this going on for a while I can celebrate a lake over in my war Small pond, but thank you ladies so much for all you do and thanks for volunteering I know we got our resident expert right here on the council Yes, sir We do close. Yes, we're going to be closing any comments. Thank you. Could we close the meeting and

1:56:00 none of miss Daisy teller-hull She used to come to City Hall to the number of meetings Mr. Willie great To believe mr. Gray been out on the battlefield many many years have been people miss Mary Alice Burks One of the longest attorneys to ever practice law in Mississippi as a black man attorney Alfred H. Rose Jr. and also Ms. Jaws and Douglas. Could we close the meeting in there, Honors, please? Yes, sir. Any other? Councilman Parkinson. Thank you, Mr. President. Huge week, three very, very, very exciting events that I want to make sure everybody's aware of.

1:56:43 So first on Thursday, the Association of South Jackson Neighborhoods is hosting their annual leadership banquet. That's going to be at Forest Hill, 6 p.m. this coming Thursday. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for students. And I would highly encourage everybody to attend this event. It is incredibly inspiring to see the student athletes and other student leaders up there. It's really going to make you feel special. So I highly encourage you to go if you're able. If you're not able to go to that, I would still encourage you to purchase a ticket as a donation because that money goes directly to the students.

1:57:20 That's going to be this Thursday. Please check out Ask Jan's Leadership banquet. Also on Thursday is Symphony at Sunset. That's going to be from 5.30 to 9pm at the Cedars, which is 4145 Old Canton. That's a free concert by the Mississippi Symphony. your own chairs, bring your own blankets. And that's Walatrina. And you can bring your own food if you want or also food will be available for sale there. And then perhaps the biggest one of them all is this Saturday is the Mississippi Book Festival right downtown in Ward 7, Mr.

1:58:00 Stokes. But we invite the entire city and everybody else, whether you're an avid reader or you just read from time to time, they have programming for kids, for adults, for everyone in between, and they do have books and food for sale, but to attend the event and to go to all the panels is completely free. So they've got authors from all over the country coming. Saturday Night Live alum Kate McKenna will be here. She wrote a book. Rick Ross is coming. He also is an author and will be in attendance.

1:58:38 It is a stellar lineup. So again, whether you read all the time or you just read here or there, and no matter what your age is, please check out the Mississippi Book Festival. If you've never been, it is one of our gems of Jackson. Please check it out. Okay, anything else? Oh, come on, man. Mr. President, I move that we go into closed session for the purpose of executive session to discuss litigation, sir? What are we discussing? Litigation. Okay, it's been moved and properly seconded. We go into executive session or closed session.

1:59:26 So everyone in the council chambers, please, media, please remove your electronic, or please leave the room. Yeah, all in favor? Okay. Man, folks we just came out of an executive session, no official action was taken. Any other comments? No more surprises or anything? Okay. Item 31, did everyone receive that information? Everyone received it? Okay, knowledge. Okay, if nothing Anything else? The session is adjourned.