Aldermen Minutes
MINUTES
MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN
CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS
RECESS MEETING OF MAY 15, 2007
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 May 15, 2007. Mayor Moran presiding, Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Weaver, Denyer and Hagan were present. Also present was City Attorney John Edwards and Deputy City Clerk Mindy McDowell. Aldermen Lloyd, Dalgo and City Clerk Adrienne Howell were absent.
The Mayor pulled items 9-a and 9-b from Alderman’s Forum and asked that they be considered after item 3. She also requested adding two items under Old Busniess as 4-b Announcement of CDBG grant award and 4-c Improvements to Highway 90/Ocean Springs Road intersection. Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to make the requested adjustments to the agenda.
PROCLAMATION
Mayor Moran read a proclamation declaring the week of May 6-12, 2007 as Goodwill Industries International Week (Exhibit 3).
Mr. Thomas Miller with the Ocean Springs Athletic Foundation announced that they are hosting an event Friday night at the Community Center and requested that the rental fee be waived and the City support the organization as it has done in the past with a $1,000.00 contribution. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to waive the rental fee of the Community Center on Friday, May 18, 2007 to promote the resources of the City. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to donate $1,000.00 to the Ocean Springs Athletic Foundation out of the general fund or whatever fund is appropriate to promote the resources of the City.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr. Chelius Carter with the Mississippi Archives and History Department and Mr. Cooper Norman; Architect hired by the owner of the Charnley House, gave an update of the status of the restoration of the home. They are working on stabilizing the house which is critical and will report back again in a month.
The Mayor presented a letter from the Governor announcing the award of the Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $6,041,800.00 (Exhibit 4-b). Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to accept the CDBG grant funding and authorize drawing up bid specification packages. Motion was made by Alderman Weaver, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize finalizing contracts with the firms that have been selected that stipulate the scope of work and timeline for services to implement the projects according to the grant.
The Mayor gave an update on the status of the improvements to the Highway 90/Ocean Springs Road intersection (Exhibit 4-c).
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Edmond Senteno, speaking on behalf of his mother-in-law Mabelle Bowers, presented an appeal of the denial for a swimming pool building permit at 1113 LaFontaine Avenue (Exhibit 5-a). The building permit was not issued because there is a manufactured home on the site for temporary housing due to storm damage which will not be able to be removed once the pool is built. Mr. Senteno said they have a written agreement from their neighbor, Mr. Joel Knight, to remove the trailer through his property. Motion was made by Alderman Hagan to table the issue, following discussion motion was withdrawn by Alderman Hagan. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell and seconded by Alderman Denyer to grant Ms. Bowers request to build a swimming pool contingent on a plan to remove the manufactured home from her lot if and when it is time for it to be removed. Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Weaver and Denyer voting aye and Alderman Hagan voting nay.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mr. Chris Kwitsky thanked everyone for the assistance with the May Fest which was a great success and will be an annual event.
Mr. Barney Banks, 1301 Calhoun Street, asked that the properties at 1303 Porter Avenue which he said has been condemned and 408 Russell Avenue which he said is covered in weeds and vines be investigated by code enforcement. Alderman Denyer asked the Community Development Director to report back on these properties at the next meeting.
CONSENT AGENDA
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to approve the Consent Agenda with the exception of item (a) which was pulled by Alderman Gill, item (b) which was pulled by Alderman McDonnell, item (g) which was pulled by Alderman Denyer and item (l) which was pulled by the Mayor.
Alderman Gill pulled item (a) and explained that the funding request is for the Fort Bayou Estates fence not the sign. Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to authorize $500.00 from the Mayor’s Capital Improvement account and $100.00 from the Alderman-At-Large Capital Improvement account for the Fort Bayou Estates entrance fence.
Alderman McDonnell pulled item (b) and asked that wording be added to the motion regarding the Harris project in the Harbor of the May 1, 2007 minutes. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to add the wording “more specifically outlined in Exhibit 5-f” to the motion regarding the Harris project in the Harbor of the May 1, 2007 minutes.
Alderman Denyer pulled item (g) regarding the retirement of Deputy Police Chief George Mulvaney to commend him and express his sorrow at seeing him go. Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to authorize the retirement of Deputy Chief George Mulvaney effective June 29, 2007 and allow the purchase of his handgun for $1.00.
The Mayor pulled item (l) and Fire Chief Mark Hare displayed sketches of the artwork that will be painted on the north wall of the Senior Citizen’s building. Motion was made by Alderman Weaver, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize Matthew Anderson Stebly to design and paint the north wall on the Senior Citizen’s building to be paid from the Building Repair Grant in the amount of $1,500.00 once it has been approved by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Ocean Springs Historic Preservation Commission if necessary.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Mayor
The Mayor presented a supplemental lease agreement for the FEMA Emergency Shelter park behind the Civic Center (Exhibit 8-a). Motion was made by Alderman Hagan and seconded by Alderman McDonnell not to authorize the extension of the lease. Following discussion second was withdrawn by Alderman McDonnell and the motion died. Alderman McDonnell suggested that FEMA should provide 24 hour security at the park and Alderman Denyer said that he would like to find out the demography of the residents. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell and seconded by Alderman Weaver to authorize the Mayor and the City Attorney to renegotiate to extend the supplemental lease agreement until August 15, 2007 with the agreement that FEMA will provide 24 hour security at the park at their expense. Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Weaver and Denyer voting aye and Alderman Hagan voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Weaver and seconded by Alderman McDonnell to table the request to authorize the Mayor to execute a Memorandum of Understanding to support the MS Alternative Housing Program (Exhibit 8-b). Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Weaver and Denyer voting aye and Alderman Hagan voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to execute appropriate agreement documents to support the 2007 MDOT Youth Corps Program (Exhibit 8-c).
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to request the Jackson County Board of Supervisors to jointly develop an improvement plan for Ocean Springs Road, and to apply to place it on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program with Gulf Regional Planning Commission for funding (Exhibit 8-d).
The Mayor announced that June 12, 2007 is the deadline for applications for the Boards and Commissions (Exhibit 8-e).
The Mayor presented an update on the Armory (Exhibit 8-f).
Police
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to amend the budget in the amount of $2,045.12 as a transfer from ending balance for signs to be erected on the beach regarding beach rules and the noise ordinance (Exhibit 8-g).
City Attorney
The City Attorney explained that Gulf Regional Planning will have to perform a traffic study before the Fort Bayou Children’s Park speed limit ordinance can be presented.
ALDERMAN’S FORUM
Ms. Debbie Hubal, sponsor of the Community Service Class at Ocean Springs High School, and student Ms. Megan Denyer presented a check in the amount of $831.50 they raised from their community service car washes to the Parks & Leisure Services Director to be used for playground equipment.
Alderman Gill suggested that some type of permit or ordinance be enacted for banners posted at the marquee sign at Highway 90 and Washington Avenue. Signs should be placed on the marquee sign as it was designed to hold a vertical and horizontal banner. The Community Development Director will study the issue.
Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to authorize $687.50 from the Ward I Capital Improvement account to the Fort Bayou Civic Association for the entryway fence.
Alderman McDonnell requested that the Fire Chief revisit the part of the ordinance which requires sprinklers in residential structures.
Alderman Weaver asked the Community Development Director to talk to Public Works about the status of the Drainage Study.
Alderman Hagan requested that action items that require extensive communication or research not be listed under the Consent portion of the agenda but be placed under Department Reports so they can be discussed and asked that the Mayor prepare a memorandum outlining agenda items and their status for the Aldermen to be included with their agenda packet.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to go into closed session to determine the necessity of going into executive session.
The Deputy City Clerk returned to the meeting and announced that a motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to remain in executive session to discuss personnel issues in the Police Department, lawsuit filed in Chancery Court, lawsuit filed in Circuit Court and a potential lawsuit involving a personnel matter.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to come out of executive session and return to regular session.
Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to recess until 5:30 p.m. on May 29, 2007.
