Aldermen Minutes
MINUTES
MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN
CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS
RECESS MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
Be it remembered that the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Ocean Springs met in a Recess meeting at City Hall in the City of Ocean Springs at 6:00 p.m. on September 15, 2008. Mayor Moran presiding, Aldermen Gill, Lloyd, Weaver, Denyer, and Hagan were present. Also present were City Clerk Shelly Ferguson and City Attorney John Edwards. Aldermen McDonnell, Weaver and Dalgo were absent.
The Mayor gave the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Alderman Weaver arrives at the meeting.
OLD BUSINESS
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to approve a matching façade grant program for businesses west of Martin Luther King Drive to make improvements to the exterior of their buildings (Exhibit 4-a).
Mr. Dennis Cowart presented the revised final floor and equipment plan for the Mary C. O’Keefe Culinary Arts Café (Exhibit 4-b).
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Matthew Perez requested assistance from the City for the 1st Annual Downtown Ocean Springs Multiple Sclerosis 3 mile walk, tentatively set for April 25, 2009 (Exhibit 5-a).
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Mr. Donald Scharr spoke about storm water training workshops held in conjunction with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
Mr. Derrick Charbonnet, President of the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center, advised there will be better communication with the City in the future. The new director, Eric Zala, was introduced and thanked the City for their long standing support of the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center.
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer and seconded by Alderman Lloyd to authorize the Mayor to continue discussion with the consultant to determine the scope of work to design exhibition panels, pedestals and kiosks for the City museum at the Mary C. O’Keefe and submit a proposed Contract for professional services, probable costs and to include a resume. Motion carried with Alderman Gill, Lloyd, Denyer and Hagan voting aye and Alderman Weaver voting nay.
CONSENT AGENDA
Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to approve the Consent Agenda with the exception of item (l) and (p) which was pulled off the agenda by the Mayor and item (q) which was pulled by Alderman Hagan and to amend the probationary period to one-year for item (k).
Alderman Hagan pulled item (q) for clarification concerning the six month probationary period. Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to authorize change in position of Jan Yarborough from Planning Clerk to Building Clerk pending civil service review concerning the probationary period (Exhibit 7-q).
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Mayor:
The Mayor gave an update on the funding for the Fort Maurepas Park. Funding for the project will be reviewed after the bids are opened (Exhibit 8-a).
City Clerk:
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer and seconded by Alderman Hagan to adopt the FY 08-09 budget (Exhibit 8-b). Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, Weaver, Denyer and Hagan voting aye and Alderman Lloyd voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to adopt the resolution fixing the Tax Levy for FY 08-09 (Exhibit 8-c).
Community Development and Planning:
Motion was made by Alderman Lloyd, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to authorize the balance of Ward 3 Capital improvement account for sidewalks at Bellande Avenue and Desoto Street (Exhibit 8-d) and (Exhibit 8-e).
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to authorize up to $20,000.00 from the FY07-08 special projects account for stairway to the bridge.
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Lloyd and unanimously carried to authorize up to $6,000.00 from the FY07-08 special projects account to create an additional segment to the Live Oaks Bicycle Trail between the National Seashore and the City of Ocean Springs via Brumbaugh Street for pedestrians and bicyclists (Exhibit 8-g).
Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to authorize up to $4,000.00 from the FY07-08 special projects account for traffic control signage at Ocean Springs Middle School (Exhibit 8-i).
City Attorney:
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer and seconded by Alderman Dalgo to adopt Ordinance No. 10-2008 AMENDMENT TO CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI, AUTHORIZING THE REGULATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE SALES (Exhibit 8-h). The motion carries with a roll call vote as follows:
Alderman Weaver Voted Aye
Alderman Gill Voted Aye
Alderman McDonnell Absent
Alderman Lloyd Voted Aye
Alderman Denyer Voted Aye
Alderman Dalgo Absent
Alderman Hagan Voted Nay
ALDERMEN’S FORUM
Alderman Denyer asked for confirmation on the funding for Walter Anderson Museum of Art. There is no allocation in the FY 08-09 budget. An allocation to WAMA will be reviewed when resolution of expansion plans and other issues are received from the Board of Trustees of WAMA.
Alderman Denyer asked to discuss the billing issue with Broome’s Grocery in Executive Session.
Alderman Lloyd asked the Community Planning Director to send letter to Ferson Optics advising them to secure and board their building or permit will be revoked.
Alderman Weaver spoke to 150 5th graders about the plans for the parks and recreation and public safety facilities. They advised they want the skate park back. Alderman Weaver also advised that the community group she spoke to wished to thank the Public Works Department for their hard work during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
Alderman Weaver advised the Police Chief that the speed sign at Lover’s Lane was not working and to change it to show what the speed limit actually is.
Alderman Weaver advised that the beach clean up has been rescheduled to sometime in October and asked about obtaining right of entry forms from private property owners to allow clean-up on their properties.
Alderman Hagan asked the Mayor to hold a storm water management workshop for the Board of Aldermen and department heads.
Alderman Denyer thanked all the departments for the excellent job done keeping people off the beach after the storm.
Alderman Denyer asked to check status of house located on Siowan.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to go into closed session to determine the necessity of going into executive session.
The City Clerk returned to the meeting and announced that a motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to remain in executive session to discuss personnel in the Police Department, potential litigation in the Building Department; potential litigation in accounts payable, lot cleaning and unauthorized demolition.
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to come out of executive session and return to regular session.
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Lloyd and unanimously carried to authorize to hire Randie Helton, part-time custodian, $10.55 hourly, effective September 17, 2008, six month probationary period, pending successful completion of all pre-employment requirements.
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to adjourn until 6:00 p.m. on October 7, 2008.
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City Clerk Mayor
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