REGULAR MEETING OF FEBRUARY 1, 2005

 

 

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 February 1, 2005. Mayor Seren Ainsworth, presiding; Aldermen, Jalanivich, Lloyd, McDonnell, Cody, Carvin, Dalgo, and Gill, were present. Also present were City Clerk Adrienne Howell and City Attorney, John Edwards.

 

Alderman Cody gave the Invocation.

 

Mayor Ainsworth led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

CONSENT AGENDA

 

Motion was made by Alderman Carvin, seconded by Alderman Jalanivich and unanimously carried to approve the Consent Agenda, except item (a), which was pulled by Mayor Ainsworth and item (j) which was pulled by Alderman Lloyd.

 

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

 

City Clerk

 

After a discussion regarding the deleting of Doug Denehie from the Charlie Carr letter, motion was made by Alderman Lloyd and seconded by Alderman Gill to remove Mr. Denehie’s name from the letter.  The motion carried unanimously.

 

Motion was made by Alderman Cody to rescind the previous motion, seconded by Alderman Lloyd and unanimously carried.

 

Motion was made by Alderman Cody and seconded by Alderman Lloyd to remove the entire Charlie Carr letter from the minutes and give it back to Mr. Carr.  The motion carried unanimously.

 

Motion was made by Alderman Jalanivich, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 4, 2005 as submitted (without the Carr letter being attached) (Exhibit 3-a)

 

Police Department

 

After discussion and explanation by the Police Chief, motion was made by Alderman Lloyd, seconded by Alderman Cody and unanimously carried to approve item (j) of the Consent Agenda “Authorize the purchase of a TouchPrint Live Scan Booking Station from Identix, Inc., State Purchasing #RFP3327for $41,479 to be paid from the building grant funds for the new Public Safety Complex (Exhibit 3-h).

 

Fire Department

 

Chief Hare requested an Executive Session at the end of the meeting regarding personnel in the fire department.

 

Risk Manager/HR

 

Not present.

 

City Engineer

 

No report.

 

Public Works

 

Not present.

 

Mr. Kaufman’s report on Forest Hills Drainage Project (Exhibit 4-A) was made a part of the minutes.

 

Community Development and Planning

 

Motion was made by Alderman Dalgo, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously to adopt Ordinance No. ______2005 as attached (Exhibit 4-b). with an amendment to item 3 b to read “Not located within 250 feet of a church…….” The motion passed unanimously with a roll call vote as follows:

 

Alderman Jalanivich                    Voted Aye

Alderman Lloyd                          Voted Aye

Alderman McDonnell                   Voted Aye

Alderman Cody                          Voted Aye

Alderman Carvin                        Voted Aye

Alderman Dalgo                         Voted Aye

Alderman Gill                                       Voted Aye

 

Parks and Recreation

 

In discussion of the Park Commission letter (Exhibit 4c) Motion was made by Alderman Jalanivich to use Joe Gill, LLC, as the City’s Environmental Consultant.  Alderman Jalanivich withdrew his motion.  City Engineer David Compton was instructed to provide an Order of Magnitude (estimate) of cost to build the roads, drainage, utilities, etc to develop the property.

 

Mayor

 

Motion was made by Alderman Gill and seconded by Alderman Dalgo to adopt the RESOLUTION OF THE CITY BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI, TO APPROVE THE REVISED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI ON DECEMBER 20, 2004.  The motion carried with the following vote:

 

Alderman Jalanivich;         Voted Nay

Alderman Lloyd                Voted Nay

Alderman McDonnell         Voted Aye

Alderman Coty                 Voted Aye

Alderman Carvin               Voted Aye

Alderman Dalgo               Voted Aye

Alderman Gill                             Voted Aye

 

Motion was made by Alderman Lloyd to appoint Travis Norman to the County Board as the City’s Outreach Representative. The motion was seconded by Alderman Jalanivich and unanimously carried.

 

City Attorney

Mr. John Edward advised that he had a current litigation issue that needed to be addressed in Executive Session.

 

ALDERMAN’S FORUM

 

Motion was made by Alderman Lloyd, seconded by Alderman Dalgo and unanimously carried to concede that the names that were gathered for the referendum are sufficient and to move forward with the referendum by putting it on the ballot and let the people of Ocean Springs decide (if the recreation department agrees). This is the $1.6 million project that is before the Board. 

 

Discussion was held on whether or not the safety complex should be included on the referendum.  The Mayor advised that floor plans for the new safety facility are available for the Aldermen in his office.  The projected cost is $4.5 million, excluding the cost of refurbishing the existing police department building.

 

In accordance with the City Attorney’s recommendation, the following amendment to the motion to provide that the referendum on the bond issue (that is before the board) will be advised 4 weeks starting Feb 10 with a voting date of March 8. The amended motion was made by Alderman Dalgo, seconded by Alderman Jalanivich and unanimously carried.  Mr. Damin McKay said that he was sure that his Board would agree to the referendum as presented and authorize it going right to vote.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Gloria Skillestad, President of Fort Maurepas Foundation, presented the attached Lease between the City of Ocean Springs and Fort Maurepas Foundation (Exhibit 7-A).  At her request, motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Carvin, and unanimously carried to enter the two (2) letters presented by Ms Skillestad in the minutes as attached.

 

The City Attorney advised that he needs to consult with the Fort’s legal council (Samuel Tucker) about some items in the lease before putting it before the Board.  After much discussion regarding lease vs. management contract, the matter was continued and will be placed under Old Business for the next meeting. Some citizens requested that a public forum be held on the matter so that their concerns can be heard.

 

AUDIENCE REQUEST

 

Damin McKay, Park Director, was recognized and he apologized for not being present earlier in the meeting to address the park commission letter.  As clarification in the letter, the park wants to proceed with the 60 acres.  The existing mitigation credits will take care of the 60 acres.  In the future if the additional 30 acres is needed then credits can be purchased.  The Park’s recommendation is to move forward with the 60 acres.  A plan can be presented for the entire 90 acres, develop 60 acres that we have credit for and then go out for bond issue later on the other 30 acres.   Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell to accept the Park’s recommendation as presented in the letter pertaining to going after the 60 acres, with the option of additional credits for the 30 acres.  The motion was seconded by Alderman Jalanivich and unanimously carried.

 

Mr. Ross Dodds reported that an Ocean Springs Citizens for Responsible Hometown Government has been formed and their purpose is to determine where and how the city’s money is being spent.  At the request of Mr. Dodds, Mayor Ainsworth reported that a total of $686,943 has been spent on the Hwy 57 project, excluding engineering fees, plus an estimated cost of $250,000 will be needed for development of  roads.

 

Ann Birk reported that $150,000 has been collected in impact fees and that $278,777 has been spent.  She asked how much more will be spent?

 

Milton Jenkins indicated that they do not want an all inclusive bond issue on the ballot, but that they want separate issues on the ballot.

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION

 

Motion was made by Alderman Jalanivich, seconded by Alderman Carvin, and unanimously carried to go into closed session to see if they would remain in executive session.

 

The City Clerk returned to the meeting and announced that motion was made by Alderman Jalanivich, seconded by Alderman Carvin, and unanimously carried to remain in executive session to discuss matters relating to personnel in the fire department and supervision and finance and current litigation.

 

Alderman Dalgo left the executive session at 7:50 pm and did not return to the meeting.

 

Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Jalanivich and unanimously carried to come out of executive sessions and return to regular session.

 

Motion was made by Alderman Jalanivich, seconded by Alderman Cody, and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to sign the ANSWER OF THE CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI in the case of SUSAN A WILLOUGHBY VS. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS, ETAL in regard to LOT 64, FORT BAYOU ESTATES SUBDIVISION, PART 4, JACKSON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, TAX PARCEL NO. 61099064.000.

 

Motion was made by Alderman Jalanivich, seconded by Alderman Carvin, and unanimously carried to authorize the City Clerk to hire a Deputy City Clerk, who she feels is qualified and within civil service rules.

 

Motion was made by Alderman Cody, seconded by Alderman Carvin, and unanimously carried to authorize the Fire Chief to hire three additional firemen on a part time basis to fill the vacancy resulting from Military call-up.

 

Motion was made by Alderman Jalanivich, seconded by Alderman Carvin, and unanimously carried to recess until 6:00 p.m. on February 15, 2005.

 

 

________________________                        ______________________

             City Clerk                                                        Mayor

 

 

          ___________                                               __________

                 Date                                                            Date