Aldermen Minutes
MINUTES
MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN
CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS
REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 6, 2010
Be it remembered that the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Ocean Springs met in a Regular meeting at City Hall in the City of Ocean Springs at 6:00 p.m. on July 6, 2010. Mayor Moran presiding, Aldermen Ross, Gill, McDonnell, Cody, Denyer, Dalgo and Hagan were present. Also present was City Clerk Shelly Ferguson and City Attorney John Edwards.
Alderman Cody led the invocation and the Mayor led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Moran requested an amendment to the agenda. Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Cody and unanimously carried to add the Addendum to the Agenda.
PROCLAMATION
The Mayor read a Proclamation of Accomplishment to presented to Jonathan Maisano for being named Business Person of the Year for 2010 (Exhibit 3-a).
PRESENTATION
A spokesperson for the Mississippi Sound Spectacular requested sponsorship for the 2010 Summer Event Tour. She announced there would be 8 bands from all over the USA participating in the competition on July 27, 2010, at the Ocean Springs High School Stadium. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize up to $500.00 from Ward 4 Capital Improvement Account and $100.00 from the Alderman at Large Capital Improvement Account and $100.00 each from Wards 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 Capital Improvement Accounts totaling $1,100.00 to advertise the resources of the City at the upcoming event and the City to provide brochures promoting the various restaurants and attractions for the goody bags for the participants and their chaperones.
OLD BUSINESS
Alderman Denyer stated there is no discussion on putting any kind of piling boom across the Biloxi – Ocean Springs channel. He further stated the City of Biloxi and City of Ocean Springs have not officially asked the Department of Marine Resources for a permit to start this process to be used a secondary line of defense. Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to ask the Department of Marine Resources to explore the possibilities to issue a permit for a piling style boom on a footprint the agencies deem best as a secondary line of defense to the gunderboom.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to work with Dr. David Keith and DMR to request a permit to install the hooks of the fencing (Exhibit 5-b).
Dr. David Keith, with Anchor QEA, LLC, gave an update on the progress of the gunderbooms. He announced BP agreed to do a three (3) phase pilot test program with the gunderbooms. The first phase will be from Marsh Point to the navigation channel; the second phase will be from the navigation channel to East end of Deer Island and the third phase will cover the break at Deer Island between the Western end by the Hard Rock Casino to the Small Craft Harbor. They are also developing a temporary gauge structure to go across the navigation channel so when there is oil impact, the navigation channel can be closed. This has been coordinated with Mississippi Power Company. The power company has agreed to this structure due to their concerns with any oil product getting into their intake system causing it to ruin their cooling system.
Ms. Melanie Allen, Vice President of the Friends of the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center, presented the Progress Report on the IP Culinary Arts Café through June, 2010 (Exhibit 5-c).
OLD BUSINESS – Addendum
Motion was made by Alderman Cody, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to amend the oil spill response plan to include protection for the rock jetties, equipment to clear the front beach walkway debris and to seal it and the seat wall to protect it from oil saturation (Exhibit A-1a).
The Mayor congratulated Geri Straight, the Parks and Leisure Services Director, on the great fireworks show on the 4th of July. She also thanked the Police Chief, Fire Chief and the Public Works Department for their hard work.
NEW BUSINESS
Ms. Nancy East, 1301 Ocean Springs Road, asked for assistance from the City concerning the deep ditches; lack of lighting in and around her residence and the narrow shoulder on the road which are causing serious accidents.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Ross and unanimously carried to authorize the City Engineer to do a traffic study on Ocean Springs Road to reduce the speed limit for a minimal cost; make their recommendation and reduce it to an Ordinance to present to the Board.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
A spokesperson for the 1st Annual Ocean Springs Kayak Festival stated the event was a great success and presented the Mayor and Board with T-shirts.
Ms. Beverly Bond, 408 Oakwood Drive, asked the City to find a solution to remedy the deplorable condition of Jan Walker’s house. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Cody and unanimously carried to accept the letter from Beverly M. Bond and spread it upon the minutes.
Mr. Baxter asked what the City has done to work with Ms. Jan Walker to get her house up to code.
The Planning Director stated Ms. Jan Walker has been presented with a letter stating she needs to submit plans; pull a permit and begin construction on her residence on Front Beach. She also needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission.
CONSENT AGENDA
Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to accept the Consent Agenda with exception of item (c) which was pulled by Alderman Denyer and item (d) which was pulled by the Mayor.
Aldermen Denyer pulled item (c) and asked that it be tabled until the next meeting to research this Contract further. After further discussion, motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to table item (c) until the next Board meeting (Exhibit 8-c).
Motion was made by Alderman Ross, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to contact Don Abrams and Melanie Allen for their list of volunteers to help with the BP oil spill.
The Mayor pulled item (d) to state there is a letter of commitment for a contribution from DMR for $300,000.00 and also a commitment from the Jackson County Board of Supervisors for $50,000.00 to acquire the Pine Grove Water System. Motion was made by Alderman Cody, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to accepted the pledged contribution of $300,000.00 from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and $50,000.00 from Jackson County Board of Supervisors (via the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation) towards the acquisition and replacement of the Pine Grove Water System and authorize the City Attorney and City Engineer to prepare the legal documents and bid specifications to proceed with the project pending legal review (Exhibit 8-d).
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
City Attorney:
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan and seconded by Alderman McDonnell to adopt Ordinance No. 2010-08 AN ORDINANCE REGULATING AND RESTRICTING PARKING IN THE CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS ON PORTIONS OF DENNY AVENUE, WEED STREET AND DAVIS STREET (Exhibit 9-a). The motion passed with a roll call vote as follows:
Alderman Ross Voted Aye
Alderman Gill Voted Aye
Alderman McDonnell Voted Aye
Alderman Cody Voted Aye
Alderman Denyer Voted Aye
Alderman Dalgo Voted Aye
Alderman Hagan Voted Aye
ALDERMEN’S FORUM
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to authorize up to $500.00 from Ward 4 Capital Improvement Account to advertise the resources through the Boys and Girls Club of the Gulf Coast.
Motion was made by Alderman Cody, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize up to $500.00 from Ward 3 Capital Improvement Account for landscaping at Keri Cove.
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize the purchase of a police vehicle from the assets forfeiture fund up to $25,000.00 to be reimbursed by HIDTA grant.
Alderman Denyer commended the City staff for their presence out on the roads during the rain events looking for problems and answering questions. He further congratulated everyone on their good jobs.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion was made by Alderman Dalgo, seconded by Alderman Cody 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 a motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Dalgo and unanimously carried to remain in executive session to discuss personnel in the Police and Fire Departments, potential litigation in Parks and Leisure Services Department and potential litigation regarding the oil spill.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Ross and unanimously carried to return to regular session.
Motion was made by Alderman Cody, seconded by Alderman Dalgo and unanimously carried to approve the settlement regarding SESCO Superfund Site for up to $7,000.00.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to enter into a contingency contract with Dogan & Wilkinson to negotiate and pursue damage claims with BP regarding the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to accept the recommendation of the Police Chief to terminate Officer Thomas Kracht pursuant to the letter of notice as presented.
Motion was made by Alderman Cody, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to accept the recommendation of the Police Chief to terminate Officer Jacob Winborn pursuant to the letter of notice as presented.
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to recess until 6:00 p.m. on July 20, 2010.
Meeting ended at 9:06 p.m.
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City Clerk Mayor
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