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Council Proceedings of the City of Shreveport, Louisiana

January 23, 2007

The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Shreveport, State of Louisiana was called to order by Chairman Monty Walford at 3:04 p.m., Tuesday, January 23, 2007 in the Government Chambers in Government Plaza (505 Travis Street).

Councilman Walford: At this time, I would like to ask Councilman Shyne if he would give our invocation, Councilman Long, the Pledge of Allegiance please.

Councilman Shyne: Mr. Chairman, since we have Rev. Holden, Rev. Holden, would you mind coming forward to the mic right there and giving us a word of prayer? One of our outstanding ministers up in the Martin Luther King, Jr. neighborhood. It was the Cooper Road when our Mayor was growing up.

Invocation was given by Councilman Pastor Lamar Holden.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Long.

On Roll Call, the following members were Present: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Shyne, Webb and Bowman. 7. Absent: None.

Motion by Councilman Shyne, seconded by Councilman Long to approve the minutes of the Administrative Conference, Monday, January 8, 2007 and Council Meeting, Tuesday, January 9, 2007, and Amendment No. 1 to Council Proceedings of October 10, 2006.

Amendment No. 1 to Council Proceedings, October 10, 2006

Amend the October 10, 2006 minutes relative to Resolution No. 150 of 2006, as follows:

On pages 507a and 507b in the 2006 Council (Minute) Book, and on Page 9B, Column 9, of the October 16, 2006 issue of The Times, immediately after Resolution No. 150 of 2006, insert the following Proces Verbal:

_________________________________________________________________________

PROCES VERBAL OF THE CANVASS OF THE VOTES CAST AT THE SPECIAL ELECTION HELD IN THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT, STATE OF LOUISIANA ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2006

BE IT KNOWN AND REMEMBERED that on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at three (3:00) o'clock p.m., at its regular meeting place, Government Plaza, 505 Travis St., Shreveport, Louisiana, the Council of the City of Shreveport, State of Louisiana (the "Governing Authority"), acting as the governing authority of the City of Shreveport, State of Louisiana (the "City"), and being the authority ordering the special election held therein on Saturday, September 30, 2006 and with the following members present:

Lester, Walford, Carmody, Robertson, Hogan, Green, Jackson

There being absent: none.

did, in public session, examine the official certified tabulation of votes cast at the said election, and did examine and canvass the returns of the said election, there having been submitted at said election the following proposition, to wit:

PROPOSITION

PROPOSITION TO AMEND SECTION 4.12 OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT TO DELETE THE PROVISION THAT EMPLOYEES OF THE CITY COUNCIL SHALL NOT BE ASSIGNED TO ANY INDIVIDUAL MEMBER OF THE CITY COUNCIL

Shall the following amendment to the Charter of the City of Shreveport, 1978, be adopted:

An amendment to Section 4.12 of the Charter of the City of Shreveport relative to employees of the City Council. The amendment deletes the provision that all such employees shall serve the council as a whole and shall not be assigned to any individual member.

The full text of the proposed amendment and a statement of the nature thereof is as follows:

Amendment to City Charter Section 4.12

Amend Section 4.12 of the Charter of the City of Shreveport, 1978, to read as follows:

Section 4.12. Employees of council.

The council may employ and fix the salaries of only such employees as are necessary for the exercise of its function as set out in this Charter. Such employees shall not be subject to the provisions of Article 14 of this Charter.

Statement of Nature of Amendment

Amends Section 4.12 of the City Charter relative to employees of the City Council by deleting the provision that all such employees shall serve the council as a whole and shall not be assigned to any individual member.

There was found by said count and canvass that the votes had been cast at the said special election IN FAVOR OF and AGAINST, respectively, the aforesaid proposition at the respective polling places as set forth in Exhibit A hereto, such exhibit being incorporated herein by reference the same as if it were set forth herein in full. The polling places specified on said Exhibit A, being the only polling places designated at which to hold the said election, it was therefore shown that the following votes were cast in favor of and against the proposition:

For 21,038

Against 19,669

Majority for 1369

THEREFORE, the Council of the City of Shreveport, State of Louisiana, acting as the governing authority of the City, did declare and proclaim and does hereby declare and proclaim in open and public session that the Proposition as hereinabove set forth was duly CARRIED by a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors voting at the said special election held in the City on September 30, 2006.

THUS DONE AND SIGNED at Shreveport, Louisiana, on this, the 10th day of October, 2006.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Shyne, Webb and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

Reports:

Convention Center and Convention Center Hotel (To include detailed personnel report from SMG)

Councilman Walford: Mr. Dark?

Mr. Dark: No sir.

Property Standards Report

Councilman Walford: Does anyone have any Property Standards issues for Mr. Bowie? No. Okay.

Public Hearing: None.

Councilman Walford: Lady and gentlemen, if there are no objections, I would suggest that we alter the agenda, and take up the following items in this order. First would be Adding legislation to the agenda, second would be Public Comments on agenda items to be adopted, third would be Confirmations and/or Appointments. And then at that point we would move back to our regular agenda.

Councilman Shyne: So moved Mr. Chairman.

Councilman Lester: Second.

Councilman Walford: Okay, if there is no objection, we don’t even need a motion on that. So we can go forward. At this time, Adding Legislation to the Agenda Mr. Thompson.

Adding Legislation to the Agenda

The Clerk read the following:

1. Ordinance No. 19 of 2007: An Ordinance amending the 2007 Capital Improvements Budget and otherwise providing with respect thereto.

2. Director of Community Development: Ms. Bonnie Moore.

Mr. Thompson: The Mayor also sent up another appointment which would need your confirmation as the Director of Community Development, Ms. Bonnie Moore.

Motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Bowman to add Ordinance No. 19 of 2007.

Councilman Walford: And that was on both items?

Councilman Lester: Both items.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

Public Comments (Agenda Items to be Adopted)

Mr. Kurt Foreman: (501 Dunbarton Dr) I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you this afternoon. We are here to support a piece of legislation that you already probably talked about amongst yourself, and already have been read before, but today is being considered for final passage. Often times when the Chamber or we come to you about economic development issues, it’s usually about big companies, and about incentives. But today, you have an opportunity to do something great for a group of small companies. Almost all that were started here that are run by an owner operator, perhaps have five employees or ten employees, and those are companies that repair pumps and other types of equipment, that come off a large piece of equipment, perhaps at General Motors, perhaps at Libby Glass, perhaps at Fry Master, or but even more importantly many times, some of these companies are doing 80-90% of their work outside Caddo Parish, outside the City of Shreveport, and outside of Louisiana. And currently, Louisiana allows local communities to asses a sales tax, and we’re asking you today to consider exempting that sales tax as a way to support these small businesses who are competing nationally. And the best way to describe what that opportunity means is to tell you a story about Sulzer pump. Sulzer pumps actually was not in the City of Shreveport, but was in Caddo Parish until less than a year ago, and had 40 employees that had been here many years. But 95% of their work from outside Louisiana, and last year, they moved out of the State of Louisiana to Tennessee. Took 40 jobs with them, and when I talked with them about their decision, they said we could have just as easily moved 40 jobs from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Shreveport, and had them here and expanded them to a brand new facility. But it’s a very uncompetitive tax for these small business. How it affects large businesses is it gives them an opportunity to have the services right by them, nearby and allows them to be competitive to get that pump back in operation very, very quickly. And it’s a very small number of companies, but we think by making that happen, they’re going to be able to add more employees and be able to grow their businesses and employ more people from our city and from our community. And I think there are at least a couple of companies that we’ve invited to be here who are directly impacted, and I hope that they would be able to have a chance to share with you and answer some questions. But we hope you’ll pass this today, and show your support for small businesses and the growth of our community. I’ll be happy to answer questions.

Caddo Commissioner Lindora Baker: (3525 Mackey Lane) I’m here to actually show my support for the Faith Builders initiative. And first I’d like to say that I’m speaking also on behalf of my pastor, Bernard Kimble in his absence, was also in favor of Faith Builders, and he serves as the founding CEO of the Cedar Grove Clergy Council. I wanted to put a little emphasis on the Faith Builders. Faith Builders is an excellent program that has brought Community Development and community organizations together on a grass root level, and it’s also allowed non-profit and community based organizations to play a vital part in revitalizing the community. And as a community leader myself, on the Parish level, I’ve had the opportunity to seek some economic development opportunities from outside organizations to the City of Shreveport through the Faith Builders initiative. Even when I myself went to some of the neighbor works conferences around the United States, it kind of gave me going through the Faith Builders Class, kinda gave me a little more education, and when I went to Neighbor Works, I really knew what I was talking about. And also Faith Builders has also helped with community organizations as far as learning exactly what the City of Shreveport Community Development Department does, and the roll that Ms. Moore and Ms. Hobdy and their support staffs play, and how they play a big role in assisting community organizations like Cedar Grove Clergy Council, Olive Branch Ministries, and other small organizations in a community that’s wanting to do some revitalization and bring us some economic development to their communities, has given them more understanding of actually the role that Community Development Department plays. So I’m here today to show my support for the Phase II part of Faith Builders, and hoping that you all will support the Phase II in helping to bring revitalization to our communities, because I think that’s where we all are here for is to bring economic development and revitalization to our communities. So, I’m asking you Councilmen and colleagues to support the Faith Builders Phase II. Thank you.

Ms. Ketina Williams: (3525 Mackey Lane) On behalf of Bishop Larry L. Brandon, and the Northwest Louisiana Community Development Corporation, we would like to express our appreciation for the Faith Builders Program, and formerly thank Bonnie Moore and the Staff of the Department Community Development, and Councilman Ben Lester, for their commitment, the Faith Based organizations and the residents in our communities. Our organization was one of many who many who participated in Phase I of the Faith Builders Program, back in 2005. It was the creativity and dedication of Bonnie Moore and her staff along with others to create an avenue for Faith Based organizations like ours to build capacity in the organization in order to meet the growing housing disparities within our communities. We went through intense classroom instruction and project development laboratory experience over the course of 16 weeks. Because the curriculum was so rigorous, we were held accountable as it relates to our weekly attendance. Qualified instructors, both inside and outside of the State of Louisiana were brought in to share their expertise, successes as well as failures. Some of the courses of instruction included Government Management and Oversight, Financial Management for Non-Profits, Understanding and Mastering your Project Area, Fundamentals of Real Estate Finance and Assessing Project Feasibility. And I want to impress upon the City Council that this effort can’t stop here. We have to continue to invest in grass roots organizations that are in the trenches working hard to make this a better place for all of us to live. If it had not been for Faith Builders Program, some of the small Faith Based Organizations might not have been exposed to the type of knowledge we obtained and would have to endure years of struggle to simply make a difference. Thanks.

Councilman Webb: Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask - - - Ma’am, how many people were in those classes?

Ms. Williams: I believe it was about 30-40 groups that were in the programs, but each organization had the ability to bring on one or two persons from that organizations.

Mr. Craig B. Lee: (1505 ½ Marshall) I’m here today to request from all City Council that you vote against the appointment of Tom Dark for CAO of the City of Shreveport, and any other department head in the City of Shreveport that does not reside or is not domiciled inside of the City of Shreveport. I have an ordinance that was crafted by our illustrious Mayor Cedric Glover in 1995, pass that around to you. This ordinance that was drafted by Councilman Glover in 1995, Section 25, the Residence Requirement, states that the following officers and employees of the City of Shreveport were initially appointed after February 1, 1995, which of course we’re in 2007, shall as a condition of their employment, and as a condition of their continued employment reside within the corporate boundaries of the City of Shreveport within three months after appointment. The Chief Administrative Officer, the heads of the Department of Public Work, Water and Sewerage, Finance, Parks and Recreation, Economic Development, Urban Development, the heads of the sub-departments of Public Buildings, Fleet Services and Airports, the City Attorney, the Chief of Police, the Fire Department, the Personnel Director, the Clerk of Council, and Internal Auditor, and any head of any department created by ordinance. That was authored and passed by our Mayor in 1995. It is very interesting that as we now move forward towards the so called ‘New Great City of The South’, Shreveport, Louisiana, that now Mayor Glover is attempting to hijack legislation that he brought forth in 1995. I would say to the Council Members today that the primary ways that a city generates money is off of property tax, and off sales tax revenues. Any person actually that works for the City of Shreveport should live in the City of Shreveport, because the tax payers who are paying property tax and sales tax are basically paying their salaries. And it is my contention that Tom Dark as the Department Head of Operations knew, knowingly that he was building a house outside of the city limits of the City of Shreveport and he has basically violated his own law and he should not even be qualified to be in accordance with any recommendation for the office of CAO. Now here are the repercussions of a ‘Yes’ vote today, because I know of few of you guys have already been approached by the Mayor to overturn this ordinance. You would be violating your fiduciary responsibility. If you vote yes on this - - - I printed up the definition of the word fiduciary, just in case you guys don’t know what that means. Fiduciary: A person to who property or power is entrusted for the benefit of another. You guys have a fiduciary financial responsibility to the citizens of the City of Shreveport, the taxpayers to invoke your conscious decision making when it comes to generating tax revenues for the City of Shreveport. It is incumbent upon every City Council Member here that you be responsible, not only to your district constituents, but to all constituents in the City of Shreveport, that are property tax payers. And Tom Dark has basically stated I desire to get paid by the City of Shreveport, but I do not want to reside in the City of Shreveport. That also goes for Ms. Bonnie Moore, and any other person who does not live in the City of Shreveport because what you’re actually saying is, we like the money, we like the hundred and some odd thousand dollars, but we don’t want to have to pay $2,3,4,5,000 or whatever your property is valued in the City of Shreveport, which means that you’re actually trying to dissolve indirectly our corporation. So any of you guys who desire to vote for this is actually saying that the Corporation known as the City of Shreveport does not actually need to exist. Because at the end of the day, everybody should just pack up and move to Greenwood, or Stonewall, or Bossier, and allow everybody to basically get paid with everybody else’s money. So, if you are not wanting to put any skin in the game, I don’t think you need to be in the game. Lastly, this is also basically stating that you all are not responsible for understanding how we’re going to grow our tax base in the future. What’s the point of recruiting General Motors or any other corporation to the City of Shreveport, if you don’t want any tax revenues to come from them, whether it be a business or a residential entity. So, I basically urge all of you guys today to vote against the passage of any appointment of Tom Dark and I ask you also to investigate every other person, department head that is living outside of the City of Shreveport, because they’ve been in violation of this particular ordinance, and Tom Dark has been in violation of this ordinance for at least eight years. Thank you.

Mr. Willie Bradford: (3658 Elon) To the distinguished Lady, and the Gentlemen of Council. Mr. Chairman, I appeared in this Council for many times over the years. Usually addressing issues or asking this Council usually that is right. But I must confess that I have left this Council Chambers many times disappointed. Disappointed Mr. Chairman because often times, for whatever reasons the Council has done what was right what was in the best interest of this city. I’m very disturbed that most of you are seriously considering rescinding the residency ordinance that require City Department Heads to live within the city. Without question Mr. Chairman, the Mayor has the right to select his own administrative staff. But at the same time, the citizens of this city have the right to deserve and expect that this is done in accordance with the law. Taxpayers of Shreveport want their employees who are responsible for the day-to-day functions of this city to live within the city. This ordinance was debated in the past by Council many years ago. Likewise Mr. Councilman, (inaudible) when creating city policies, do so by considering what is in the best interest of the City of Shreveport and its residents, not what’s in the best interest of one or two individuals. Rescinding this law Mr. Chairman, would not be in the best interest of the City of Shreveport. It has been reported that in the interview process, it has been mentioned to all applicants that there is a residential law requiring Department Heads to live within the City of Shreveport. At that time, any person had the opportunity to withdraw their name from consideration or they could have agreed to adhere to the policy. Realize Mr. Chairman, that changing this law would have influence that would spread far beyond (inaudible) intend for it to be. We’re talking about setting a new precedence. How many other ordinances are you willing to change just to satisfy one or two individuals. Would you change the ordinance for instance if the Clerk of Council, who is distinguished gentleman, who had done a great job over the years was living outside of the City? I ask you what would your response be? If you voted to change the law today, and then six months later the persons that you changed the law for, left their jobs. Let me ask you another hypothetical question Mr. Chairman. What if the Mayor in his selection process of a new police chief, who happens to live in another state, upon moving to this area decided to purchase a home and live in Bossier City. Without a residential law, there is not guarantee that department heads would ever live in this city. There should be only one standard. And that standard should be that all department heads live in the City of Shreveport. I just believe that there are qualified and capable men and women who happen to live in Shreveport or who are willing to move to Shreveport who could do just as fine a job as anybody who has been presented to you for consideration. (Inaudible), Mr. Chairman, if you vote to change this law today in this city, you owe former Mayors Bo Williams and Keith Hightower an apology. An apology Mr. Chairman, because they also wanted to consider persons for their administrations who did not live in this city, but they didn’t do that. They followed the law. They followed the law and not circumvented it. They understood that to govern effectively, any policy that affects the residents of the City of Shreveport should also affect the city administrators. Mr. Chairman, I beg of you today, do not vote to change the law. Why fix something that is not broken. Thank you very kindly.

Councilman Shyne: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Bradford, I appreciate your concern, you’ve been concerned about this community over the years. What would be your position if a Police Chief was selected that lived in Coushatta? And what would your position be if something would happen to our Fire Chief, and we have to select a new fire chief, and the fire chief lived in Minden? What would your position be? Would it be alright for the Fire Chief to live in Minden?

Mr. Bradford: Mr. Shyne, you know I admire you and I appreciate all the work you’ve done also. Mr. Chairman, I work for an institution that has department laws and policies, and in those laws and policies, they affect everybody. And the reason that they are like that, and I think the reason that I think it is necessary for the City to maintain one standard as it relates to Department Heads, is that once you do for one, you have to do for all. And if that happens, then whose going to control? Whose going to - - - the citizens should have access to their administrators. Okay, and if they are all over the place, then is it that they’re going to be dispatched back to a situation where they may be needed. So, my answer to you Mr. Shyne is that I think again that the citizens of this City deserve that their day-to-day administrators reside within the boundaries in which they are responsible for. I don’t see how anybody could be confused about that. Thank you very kindly Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Betty Jackson: (4102 Evers) Thank you first of all to Mr. Mayor, and all of the Council for allowing me to speak to you today in reference to the Faith Builders Phase II Program. I ask that you vote in favor of the program because I was once - - - our association was one of the 41 participants that attended the 16 week course that was held in 2005. The person to head of that set of classes and the one who was responsible for bringing speakers and trainers in to us from all over the United States and Louisiana was Mr. Stitum. Some of the subjects that we studied intensely were Needs Assessment, Demographic Studies, Gathering Data, (inaudible) how many people are in your area. Finding out the potential for entrepreneurship, making a list of all of the businesses, the day cares, in order for you to deduct from that what is missing from this vast amount of businesses that may be in your area. What is it that is missing from your area. And how could your community benefit from the study that you are doing. One of the things that we were forced to do is to learn to study the maps, to learn where our community lay within the City of Shreveport. Mooretown is bounded on the north by I-20, on the west by Monkhouse Drive, then Kennedy Drive off Hollywood, then south on 70^th Street, and east by T&P Railroad, and then Jewella Avenue. That was many of our assignments as well. Learning to know what the boundaries are, and how to speak to someone intelligently about what it is that you’re talking about so that they would know how the explanation that you’re giving would satisfy what you’re saying. There again, we did housing development studies, we did community planning, organizational development, program, property and project management. Fair housing, fair lending, and the courses go on. I ask again that you give great consideration to this. It had a lot of potential. It helped us to learn who our neighbors were from around the City of Shreveport. Also gave us a potential to not only address issues within our particular areas, but it also put us in a position where we could also benefit the City of Shreveport. Thank you for listening. Does anyone have any questions?

Mr. Ken Kreft: (157 Archer) Mr. Chairman, Members of the Council, Mayor, next year Saints. About the residency requirement, when the Mayor was the Councilman that drafted the ordinance, I think I was the only citizen who spoke in favor of amending it then, as I began proposing 12 years later to include the MPC area with the proviso that the affected department head pays the City’s property taxes. Don’t think you can annex one piece of property, it’s gotta be contiguous. That occurred to me. How could we annex it, but. Really the problem for the City is financial more than anything. The Mayor has proven on September 12^th, (inaudible) September 30^th and November 7^th, he can handle the politics. During the interviews, some fairly good applicants like the Fire Chief, and Kevin McCotter and others said they needed to be like Tom Dark. There’s two people from my money I need working for me as a tax payer. That’s Tom Dark and Liz Washington. Lets amend the ordinance to include the MPC area with the proviso that the department heads pay the City property tax. They pay most of their sales tax in the City anyway, cause I don’t think there’s too many stores. But the worst thing the City can do is get into financial trouble and every year, we do about 18 budgets. And the one thing Tom can do better than anybody is getting an accurate forecast on the revenues from which money y’all appropriate. Police, Fire, Public Works, SPAR. Let somebody else in that chair who is a little shaky on revenue forecast them. And in answer to your constituents in four years after y’all have to raise taxes or lay off people, this is the way I see it.

Councilman Shyne: Mr. Chairman, Ken I’ve been down here a long time, I guess maybe over the last quarter of a century, and I’ve seen other people sitting in that chair over there. I’ve seen other people putting the budget together. And I don’t believe we’ve gone into the Red River yet. I appreciate you saying what you’re saying, but I don’t want you to project the idea that it’s only one horse or mule that can pull this wagon. Any of us that’s sitting here on this Council can be replaced. Your good friend and my good friend, President George W. Bush, can be replaced.

Mr. Kreft: The 42^nd Amendment says so.

Councilman Shyne: So, I wouldn’t want you to come before the Council giving the impression that you’ve just got to have this one individual, and I don’t want the people in the audience and I don’t want the people in TV Land to misunderstand that if Mayor Glover doesn’t select Tom Dark, or if Tom leaves out of here today and has a car accident or God forbid, if Tom would wake up in the morning and have a stroke, or something that this City would come to a standstill. I don’t want you giving that kind of impression, because we are the kind of city that can continue to move, like I say. I’ve seen a lot of CAOs come and go. I’ve been here to see a lot of Mayors come and go. I’ve been here to see a lot of Council Members come and go. And after I’m gone, and after Tom is gone, and after the Honorable Mayor Cedric Bradford Glover is gone, the city is still going to move on. So, I appreciate you coming down and giving comments, but I don’t want you to leave the impression that we got to have just one individual because if we don’t, everything is just going to pot. Ken, I thank you. I love you. Appreciate you coming down. Come again.

Mr. Kreft: Not my intention, I just think had you been at our forum on September 12^th, you’d heard that question asked, and Mr. Glover and Mr. Jones, and Ms. Swaine, and Ms. Acree, said they wanted the best person for the position whether they lived in the city, probably the only one here might have been Michael Long in this whole room, I don’t know but news media failed to pick it up, I thought it was important on September 12^th, nobody else seem to think it was important until after the inauguration. I wish folks would have gotten excited about it before hand and asked questions about it. How do you feel about your department heads in or out of the city? It’s too bad that this had to happen so late in the game. But - - -

Councilman Shyne: Thank you again Ken.

Councilman Walford: That concludes our Public Comments. At this time, we now continue our deviation from the agenda without objection we will consider Ordinance No. 7 of 2007. The Chairman read the following:

7. Ordinance No. 7 of 2007: An ordinance repealing Section 2-1 of the Code of Ordinances and to otherwise provide with respect thereto.

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Long, seconded by Councilman Lester to adopt.

Councilman Long: Well, I appreciate everyone’s position and everyone’s position and input that I received concerning this particular issue. However, I would like to remind folks that there is an election I think it was either ’94 or ’95, where the question of residency was put to the voters, and I believe the number was around 61% voting in favor of - - -

Mr. Thompson: Who voted against the proposition.

Councilman Long: Against the proposition, that’s correct, which basically stated that the will of the people at that time was that we didn’t think that a residency requirement was necessary, or that is was a necessary requirement to be employed affectively employed for the City of Shreveport. And I think that later on the Council adopted this resolution or this ordinance that we’re repealing now in an effort to accommodate a particular situation with the then Police Chief, Sheriff Prator, and now Sheriff Prator, and I just think that at time, had I been on the Council, I would have voted against this ordinance, because it went against the will of the people. And I think that it’s important that the role of the people was spoken back then and that we should continue to listen, and I can’t say if we didn’t have an election today, if the same result would occur, but as of right now, that the last time this was put to the people, and in my opinion, we must abide by that. So that’s why I’m going to vote for the repeal of this ordinance.

Councilman Lester: Very briefly. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Much has been made about this whole scenario in terms of the residency requirement, and I think a most unfortunate thing is that people have type cast this as something that is an exception for one person or two people. I’m voting for the repeal. And it has nothing to do with either of the individuals that are associated or have been associated with. The record will reflect, I believe Mr. Chairman back in 2003, when I was on the Council during the first term, that I authored a resolution to do away with the residency requirement, so my consistency has been right on target. I think when you’re talking about where Shreveport is going to go, I made a comment sometime ago that I wanted to live in a city not a town. And the mentality that a lot of people have is Shreveport for the Shreveporters, and we can’t deal with anyone outside of our borders, but if we were to carry that argument out to its logical conclusion, then the only people that could shop in Shreveport would be Shreveport people, and as I appreciate it, and as Tom and everybody would tell me if I’m wrong, and the folks in the Chamber would tell me, we certainly accept sales tax dollars from people outside the city limits when they come to purchase goods and services here. We’ve been given a word that was defined I think a little while ago, I want to give us another word - - - Xenophobia, Xenophobia: Denotes a phobic attitude towards stranger or the unknown. That’s my word. I want to live in a city, not a town. And this man has chose to look beyond the confines of the city to get the best person that he believes that can do the job. I believe in my mind geography is second to competency, and I think this is what this mayor has determined when he made his selection. So I’m going to be voting in favor of repealing the ordinance. I think Shreveport’s got to be able to move forward if we’re going to be the next great city of the south, we’ve got to have a city attitude. We cannot be Xenophobes, we cannot be afraid of the boogey man that lives 2 miles outside of the city limits. I think a better question that we need to ask ourselves is why is that some people that have the economic wherewithal, have the financial wherewithal aren’t living in the city. I think that’s a better question to ask, and I would suggest that if you have people that don’t live inside the city, that are starting to run the city, then maybe, just maybe, they would start to make the changes that they feel necessary to bring Shreveport together, and to bring people of their ire inside the city, but again my word is Xenophobia, and I’m voting yes. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Councilman Shyne: Mr. Chairman, let me apologize. I didn’t come prepared to give you all a vocabulary study today. Maybe I will do that at the next Council Meeting. But my position is against repealing this. It’s not because I want to live in a small town, or I want to live in a town. I want this city to become the next great city of the south, and I also want the people who run this city to buy into that same idea. I mean, how can I go to New York or San Francisco, and try to recruit people to come and live in this city, and I don’t live here. What I look like running for the City Council of Shreveport, and I live in Greenwood. And I would say, ‘well that’s Xenophobia’. Elect me. Is the Fire Chief here? Chief, you know I love you. But I don’t think I could support you if you lived in Coushatta. Because I want my Fire Chief to live and to be subjective to the same conditions that I’m subjected to as a citizen. The Police Chief, and you know I love you. I may not love you as much as I do the Fire Chief, because I know him a little bit better. But you know I couldn’t vote for you to be the Police Chief of Shreveport, and you live in Longview, or you live in Vivian. If you love Shreveport, and you’re going to be making between $160-200,000 a year, at least you could do is to move inside the city. I’m not asking you to sell your home. You might be able to let something from Roy Cary. I don’t know whether Roy is here or not, but if he is, somebody tell him.

Mr. Cary: I got some available.

Councilman Shyne: Now, and this is not being small minded, not from the way I’m thinking. If you’re going to make this kind of money, if you’re going to have this kind of impact on this community, you need to be subjected to the same conditions that I’m subjected to. (Inaudible) make this a great city. We can change it where you can be the Mayor of Shreveport, and you don’t have to live in Shreveport. How does that sound if you go to New York? Or if you go to Chicago. Shreveport ought to be so big and the Mayor be so good until you (inaudible) and live in Zwolle. And this is nothing personal. If you say that you want to be a part of this great city, if you are (inaudible), you ought to realize our department heads, our CAOs are actually the people who run the city on a day-to-day basis, what they look like driving in, running the city and then they drive back home, I mean they drive back to Zwolle or Coushatta, or Ringgold, and Arcadia. And it’s nothing wrong in Arcadia. Chief, my wife is from Arcadia, so you know I love Arcadia. But this looks bad. You’re going to make this kind of money, and you can’t sacrifice. Now, I don’t know whether it’s true what I read in the paper, because you know what they say about the newspaper. I’m not going to talk about ‘em Larry English, because I don’t want them writing nothing ugly about me. I’ve been down that road. If I offer you a job, and you tell me that if I have to move in the city, and it was my mamma. I would say mamma, thank you, but you’ve got to give this job to somebody else. Cause I have the responsibility to make sure that if you’re a department head or if your CAO, the CAO (inaudible) in the city. I’d say well mamma, I’m going to come to see you, but this job is not for me. I don’t think it’s anything wrong with asking the leaders of a community to live within that community. How you going to be a leader of a community and you don’t think enough of it to live in that community? They would run me out of District F if I told them I wanted to live in District C, or District B, where they got all those big houses over there. And I don’t blame ‘em. How can I lead you? How can I represent you? If I’m not subjected, Roy Cary to the same conditions that you are subjected to? Chief, I hear a lot of shooting over there by my house. And I’m going to say alright, I’m going to move out cause I still want to be your City Councilman now, but I’m going to move somewhere else. Doesn’t make any sense. This is my position. It’s nothing personal, and I think the Mayor should be able to select who he wants to select. The Mayor and I have been friends for a long time. As a matter of fact I guess I’m telling my age, I hope the Mayor doesn’t mind if I say I was a little boy around that time. But his daddy and I worked together. His daddy worked hard. But we didn’t have no resources on the Cooper Road. We called it the Cooper Road then. He didn’t move off. He stayed there to make the conditions better (inaudible). When the Mayor was running for office, he didn’t have to call me and say Joe, are you going to support me? That’s my friend. I was there. And we’re going to be friends after this. Cause he’s going to be running again. And he’s going to need Joe again, and I’m going to need him again. That’s what friendship is all about. So, don’t think this is personal. This is strictly business. If you want to be a part of running this community, I think you ought to be committed enough to live within the legal boundaries. Now geography means something to me. May not mean anything to anybody else. But you ought to be subjected to the same conditions that I’m subjected to. Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Councilman Wooley: I think it’s very important that we have a clear understanding of the importance of repealing this ordinance. More than one has already stated that in 1995, this went to the voters. And they decided by 61% that it was irrelevant to have this type of ordinance in place. And unfortunately the Council at that time did not listen to their own people. They (inaudible) what they thought was in the best interest for one particular situation. So, I think it’s time we do a great justice to our community by holding up the voters voice at that time. No. 2, it’s important to understand that the citizens of Shreveport (inaudible) have a regional mindset. Not just have a city mindset, but a regional mindset. Many times we’re called the Shreveport-Bossier area. And I believe that we (inaudible) with the vision or the lack thereof, if (inaudible) as a region and not only as a city. And many times, we are in partnership with Bossier City on many things, also we’re cooperating to (inaudible) economically. If you’re going to be an economic powerhouse which (inaudible) desires, this Council desires, and many of you desire, (inaudible) economic prosperity for our city, for our region, then we have that kind of mindset and (inaudible) across the river, outside of the city limits, North Caddo, South Bossier Parish, wherever they may be. (Inaudible) to be an economic strength, but not a powerhouse for this region. Whenever, we were out on the campaign, I know that mayoral candidates and the Council candidates (inaudible) I-69, and other types of venues and things of that nature, (inaudible) for just one area, (inaudible) region. So if we can pull from the region and find qualified individuals, than benefit the City of Shreveport, (inaudible) regardless of whether he or she may live (inaudible), if they have the know how, the knowledge, the experience, and the drive to do the best job possible, this could benefit me as a taxpayer, to put me in the best position possible, then I do not care (inaudible) inside the city limits. When it comes to policy making, and influence of that, truly as the CAO, that person has great influence, when it comes to legislation, budget suggestions, ultimately that responsibility fall on this Council. Because we are the true representation of the citizens of Shreveport. If we had the voting power to deny or approve (inaudible) and things of that nature. That needs to be recognized. As far as some of the comments that were made earlier, by different individuals by saying the best interest of the City, well the best interest was ignored in 1995. When we (inaudible) change the law to satisfy the citizens from 1995 and the majority of the citizens today. (Inaudible) region as individuals cause it (inaudible) we’re not affecting the citizens of Shreveport with our actions we affecting our neighbors across the river in Bossier City, or Stonewall, or Oil City, or East Texas, everybody in this region. That’s why we call it the Ark-La-Tex. Cause we are affecting the Ark-La-Tex region. We are the center of the Ark-La-Tex and we cannot lose that vision and must (inaudible) to enhance that vision and I think we are communicating that our vision is regional. Thank you.

Councilwoman Bowman: First, before I say anything as far as this vote is concerned. One thing I do want to do, and that is give my condolences to the family of the victim that was shot yesterday.

Councilman Walford: Oh yes.

Councilwoman Bowman: And I also give my condolences to the family of the young man that did the actual shooting. This Chamber is packed today. Packed on issues concerning Faith Based, and the CAO, and residency, and there’s a whole list of things here on this agenda. But whose here to speak for the children? Whose here to speak for that victim? Where is your real concern? This whole community ought to be shaken by the events that took place yesterday. Everybody ought to be outraged that our young people have lost all of their morals. In fact, there’s a church on every single corner in my district, and there was one right down the street from where this actually happened. What has happened? Well we can come together, we sure can come together and fight every little thing that’s going on. We can get excited about those things. We can become compassionate on other things. But where is the true passion for mankind. Every last one of us ought to be visiting and calling Juvenile or calling the School Board and saying to the Superintendent, what about the truancy program? What can we do to help with these young folks? But no, that’s not what’s happening. Everyone’s all upset about one thing or the other, and to you the Faith Based people especially. I support you, I’m going to vote for your issue, but I’m also going to request that somewhere in that initiative that you put down that we need to reach our young people. We need programs there that’s going to give them something better to look for. I am supporting our Mayor with what he has requested, and the person that he has selected, and I think that I am speaking in favor of the people that I represent. If I was not, then I would have received more than one call. The people that I represent, and by the people I’m speaking of the people that I represent because I was - - - I call it a threat. I was told yesterday by one of my Council Members that hey we were told that they were getting a list together to recall you. You know what? I told him to tell them, whoever they are or them, to bring it on. My deal is this. If you don’t want good government, if you don’t care about the city that you reside in, and if you don’t care about the person that represents you coming out to speak on your behalf, because all of the calls that I received, and I mentioned in yesterday’s meeting, I had 24 voice messages from citizens concerned about infrastructure, pipes bursting, garbage pick up, this is what people are concerned about. The ones that are calling me. And guess what? Every 24 of those calls I returned. (Inaudible) with crime. The majority weren’t dealing with crime. Ms. Bowman, we have a problem here. In different sections of the area that I personally represent. And that particular one that happened last night, didn’t happen in District G, but it happened. And everyone that’s in this Chamber does not live in District G. But we all live somewhere in the confines of Caddo Parish. We need to be concerned about what is really going on in our city. And if it takes me to get people excited in District G, and the ministers, and the Faith Based Community, and the citizens who are here today to get upset about all of the crime and all of the murders, and the - - - it’s unbelievable. Every time I see it, I cringe. What can I do? I can speak to people like you to get you to come and help me to reach our young people. And it’s not just the young people, it’s unbelievable how people can just pick up weapons and hurt and kill others. Don’t think about what the consequences. That’s a little life that’s going to be messed up forever. Because no one is taking the time to say children look, or even to some of our adults, young adults, let them know. We’re sick of this. We want you to do better. We want our community to really be better. Truly be better. Mr. Mayor, I support your selection for CAO. Thank you.

Councilman Webb: I have no comments. I think enough comments were said, and I’ll just hold mine for my vote.

Councilman Walford: I’m going to make a brief comment then. One thing about going last is my colleagues have made most of the points. I’d intended to point out that the voters by 61-39% margin had said no to the residency requirement. But my two colleagues did that very eloquently. The only thing that I would add, and I think one of my constituents said it best, and Mr. Wooley touched on it, not quite in the same words. Do we want to be a metropolitan area? And we do. So Mr. Mayor, I’m supporting this repeal.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, and Bowman. 6. Nays: Councilman Shyne. 1.

Confirmations and/or Appointments, Adding Legislation to the Agenda, and Public Comments.

Confirmations and/or Appointments:

Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board: (Postponed Jan 9, 2007)

Cpl Joseph Lewis Cpl Jason Brook

Motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Shyne to postpone.

Councilman Walford: I think we discussed this yesterday, do you have any discussion?

Councilman Lester: No. Just for the same reason. There’s pending litigation.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

Chief Administrative Officer: Mr. Tom Dark

Motion by Councilman Long, seconded by Councilman Wooley to confirm the appointment of Cpl Joseph Lewis and Cpl Jason Brook. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

Director of Community Development Ms. Bonnie Moore

Motion by Councilman Bowman, seconded by Councilman Webb to confirm the appointment of Ms. Bonnie Moore.

Councilman Walford: I’m sorry, I can’t let it go without some discussion. Ms. Moore has been doing this job for what Mr. Lester, 2 years? At least. And has done an outstanding job. Either she hides behind the post so I can’t see her back there.

Councilman Shyne: Why don’t you say about 4 years?

Councilman Walford: About four years. A favorable vote please?

Councilman Shyne: She came on I believe when I was on the Council the last time, and seems like that’s been years.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

Awards, Recognition of Distinguished Guests, and Communications of the Mayor which are required by law.

Councilman Walford: At this time we will return to our agenda, and in my haste, I missed Mayoral Communications. Mr. Mayor, any communications or distinguished guests?

Mayor Glover: Thank you Mr. Chairman, and members of the Council. First of all, we’d like to just simply say thank you for the three votes that you just cast. I will not (inaudible) than already have been, but I appreciate the faith and the confidence that you all have shown in me and this administration with the votes that you just cast. In addition to that, you should have before you a letter from regarding , well let me check one second, if you don’t have them now, they will be forthcoming to you before the conclusion of today’s council meeting. Most of you all will remember, I had spoken to you individually about a series of seven town hall meetings that I’d like to hold across the seven Council Districts. I (inaudible) to co-host each of those events with each and every one of you. I’m asking that you select a site within your Council District, that you think is an area that will allow the greatest access for the greatest majority of your constituents, and over those seven nights, I’d like to for the first time go across this city with you and talk about the issues and challenges facing us as a city and as a community. And so I would ask that at your earliest convenience you get a chance to read and review those, and get back the data notification that would work best for you, and your own individual calendars. In addition to that, I would just like to at this point before we go any further, take a moment to recognize the passing of two great Shreveporters. Two great Northwest Louisianians. We’re very sad to note the passing on last week of Dr. Louis C. Pendleton, a great Shreveporter, a man who was (inaudible) of a group of individuals that made it possible for the eight of us to be sitting here today involved and engaged in this particular form of government. And his passing was a great loss to this city, and I’m thankful for the legacy that he left behind. In addition to that, want to express condolences on the passing of McHenry Hardy. Another great Shreveporter as well. Had his services on yesterday, and Coach Hardy was a legendary figure throughout the Shreveport community. Very active and involved in the Civil Rights Struggle of 1960s and will be greatly missed. And so, thank you Mr. Chairman, and thank you members of the Council.

Councilman Walford: Thank you Mr. Mayor. At this time, I would have to say I have a distinguished guest, but could I ask - - - probably not a guest, because he’s here all the time, but Chief Cochran, would you mind coming forward please? I can’t let the meeting go by without congratulating our Shreveport Fire Department on no fire deaths last year. That is significant, and I have to tell you that I believe it was two years ago, when we had two little boys die in my district near where you grew up in a fire. And that hurt. But if you don’t mind, would you take just a minute and tell us how you achieved this? And somehow I suspect that y’all knew this was coming since the Chamber is full of the Fire Department, but would you take a minute? The floor is yours.

Chief Cochran: Yes sir, I’d be honored Mr. Chair. And to the Council Members, Mayor Glover. We’re excited to celebrate the accomplishment of a goal that we have been pursuing since 1837, the year that the Shreveport Fire Department was established in our city government. And that accomplishment is zero fire deaths. Since we’ve been keeping records in the past 25 years, we have recorded fire deaths every year, and the majority number for a given year has been 12+ fire deaths. And a source of information that I believe is probably even greater than our records is our Fire Chief, Dallas W. Green, Jr. and in speaking with him, who was our Fire Chief for 27 years, and after 47 years of service to our city retired, he said that he could not remember a year, where the City of Shreveport had zero fire deaths. But we could very well, Members of the Council and citizens of Shreveport could be celebrating something that has never occurred in the history of our city government. Zero fire deaths. It’s been a community-wide effort, obviously spanning decades. Through the diligent efforts of citizens and several city administrations over the years, and most importantly through the dedication and determination of the brave and heroic men and women from the Shreveport Fire Department. Because we are a Class I fire fighting force, we had four occasions last year, where it had not been for the resources provided to us, citizens would have been trapped and our fire fighters arrived just in time to rescue them before they became fire victims. And to our first class public education team, we have been providing public education in our public schools for over 30 years, so every person in our city from 30 to 4 years old, they know if their clothes catch on fire, they should stop, drop and roll. They know that if they should smell smoke in the middle of the night and they hear a smoke detector go off, to fall and crawl rather than stand up and expose themselves to the smoke. Children have a propensity of hiding when they know there’s a fire in the house or our children have been taught to don’t hide, go outside. And every family member has been taught you need a smoke detector in your home, because smoke detectors save lives. And before you this afternoon, we have a brief demonstration of three of our fire department celebrities that are more popular than the fire chief or any fire captain on the Shreveport Fire Department. And in the eyes of our children, they are more popular than Beyonce or any other celebrity on the national scene. Pluggy, Flashy, Spot and Buzzy the Smoke Detector. Take it over gang. And you can dance if you want to. (Fire Department robot demonstration) Thank you Pluggy, you always do a good job. Thank you for saving so many lives. Lady and gentlemen of the Council, thank you for recognizing us and Mr. Chair, I feel obligated to say as former candidate for CAO, I feel obligated to say for the record, I support our Mayor’s decision for CAO. I’m thankful that he made the choice of Tom Dark, and I look forward to serving as a part of the team that’s going to help make Shreveport the next great city of the south. Thank you sir.

Councilman Shyne: Just one observation. The next time you talk to Chief Dallas Green, tell him that I say he really surprised me at this stage for him to be able to remember what went on 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. Hear?

Chief Cochran: I’ll be sure and give him that message. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Councilman Shyne: Mr. Chairman, before we move to that, I want to piggyback on what the Mayor said about Dr. Louis C. Pendleton, and Mike Hardy was better known as Coach. The Mayor is right. Dr. Pendleton, along with the late Hilry Huckaby and others, I will not start naming names, but was instrumental Mike, believe it or not, for all of us being able to sit on the City Council. And for the diversity that you see up here today, Louis not only was a man who was involved in the political endeavors within the community, but Louis Pendleton, was a great humanitarian. And Shreveport is better off that God sent Louis Pendleton through this way. McHenry Hardy was one of the first persons along with Dr. Pendleton and Boogaloo Cooper, and Lynn Braggs, and others and I will have to say that (inaudible) picket line. Because when you monitor the picket line, you’re supposed to be non-violent and sometimes, I believed, and sometimes I didn’t. But McHenry Hardy was one of those individuals who (inaudible) to integrate downtown Shreveport. When Black people had to go in the back door, just to get a hamburger. So these were warriors. These were men who made a difference. These were men who put their lives on the lines so that not only those of us that are of color, but Shreveport period could grow. All of us could enjoy a better quality of life because of these two individuals, and they will be dearly missed in this community. Mr. Chairman, thank you.

CONSENT AGENDA LEGISLATION

TO INTRODUCE RESOLUTIONS AND ORDINANCES:

RESOLUTIONS: None.

ORDINANCES: None.

TO ADOPT RESOLUTIONS AND ORDINANCES:

RESOLUTIONS: None.

ORDINANCES: None.

Mayor Glover: Mr. Chairman, there are two individuals here, that in light of today’s events, I would like to extend an opportunity to the newly CAO to recognize if you will extend him that courtesy.

Mr. Dark: Thank you Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to recognize and thank my dad, Ed Dark, who is here, and my wife Mary who is here and whose put up with me a long time. I do appreciate those of you who at least thought nice things, so they can kinda share in all that. You can’t do this kind of job without family support. Y’all know that. And they’ve been very supportive to me and I really appreciate that.

Councilman Walford: Ms. Moore?

Mr. Dark: Still behind the post.

Councilman Walford: I know she’s always back there, I just can’t see her from where I sit.

Councilman Shyne: I think Mr. Bowie be hiding her.

Councilman Walford: That’s what you do. You take care of the boss. Director. Finally.

Councilman Shyne: Finally.

Ms. Moore: Thank you so much. I am so appreciative. Thank you Mayor Glover for believing in me and thank you Council. I will do my best to service you in the best possible way. And I have a long term commitment to serving Shreveport and this region, and I intend to fulfill that commitment. Again, thank you.

Councilman Lester: Mr. Chairman? Don’t leave Ms. Moore. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I couldn’t. I would not have run for re-election if she wasn’t going to be here. It’s that serious. She has done more for the people of my district in assisting me redevelop Allendale, Martin Luther King and those areas than anybody in the City of Shreveport. And she doesn’t like me to say it and she’s frowning at me, but she has the perfect balance of mind for the job and heart for the people. And she is one of the best public servants, one of the best department heads that we have here, and it doesn’t matter if she lives in Bossier, Timbuktu, I would drive and pick her up in order to get her to do this job because the job that she does for the people of this Shreveport is just that important. And I did not want to let this meeting go. She has done more for me - - - let me be quiet. Thank you Bonnie.

Ms. Moore: Let me just say this. I would be remiss in not acknowledging my staff who are a wonderful group of people, but quite often don’t get the credit that they need. Thank you.

Councilwoman Bowman: Bonnie, you know how I feel, and I’ve expressed that to you. And I certainly have no bones about stating how I felt, because I know what you do in my community. I know what you do in my district, but I know what you do for this city, I know what you do as well in other districts, because I have been to so many, on the Commission, so many organizations that had meetings, and Bonnie Moore was there. So many people have said, ‘oh, just call Ms. Moore, she’ll get it done.’ I feel Bonnie that you deserve this. Four years, I’m assuming it’s four interim. Three interim? Three years too long in my opinion. And when Councilman Lester said that he didn’t care where you lived, he’d go and pick you up. You live closer to me, so I’d beat him there. Congratulations, and I’m really truly happy for you.

Ms. Moore: Thank you. And while I have the podium, we have some great community based organizations in this community. They just need an opportunity. So, I take this opportunity to ask you to please consider Faith Builders II. We need to create that infrastructure to make things happen in this community. There’s nothing better than those people doing for themselves. Thank you so much.

Councilman Webb: I was just telling Joyce, there’s a way she can save gas. But when I got elected Council, your department was the first one that I came to visit. Because I had heard so much about Bonnie Moore, and I wanted to meet you personally, and that was one of the reasons why I came by your office, introduced myself, and had a tour of the building. And you do have some great people working with you, and I appreciate what you do.

Councilman Shyne: Ms. Moore, I don’t have to say anything, because you and I go way back. And I think when Mayor Hightower was looking for somebody to fill that position, the first somebody that came to my mind was Bonnie Moore from the standpoint of we need somebody who understand the rules and regulations of the Federal Government. No matter how nice you are, if you don’t understand the rules and regulations of the Federal Government, you will be in serious trouble. And we would be in serious trouble. So, I have to say that you are truly a professional from that standpoint of knowing your office. God bless you and thank you.

Councilman Lester: Mr. Chairman. I’d be remiss if I - - - I wanted to ask a distinguished guest to come up, and if I could do that really briefly, I think they might have left because we kinda got tangled in some things. I invited Ms. Katrina Gilliam from Booker T. Washington Technology Magnet. They were here earlier, I think they may have gone with the children. But if we could get Ms. Acree to come up really fast Mr. Chairman?

Councilman Walford: Ms. Acree? She hides on the other side where I can’t see her. Welcome.

Councilman Lester: Thank you. Mr. Chairman, the Mayor’s office, and the Film and Technology Office had an awesome event on yesterday. A job fair, which was tremendous. And Ms. Acree and the Mayor’s leadership, they did an outstanding job. I think they had over 1,500 people that were part and parcel of that event. I asked Ms. Gilliam to come because many people might not know, but Booker T. Washington High School is a Technology Magnet for Caddo Parish. And they have a number of students, they were here earlier, but obviously they had to leave. They have a number of students in their technology program that have gone through an outstanding program at the high school level that are currently working at places like Channel 12, Channel 3, and other things like that, working the video equipment, working behind the cameras, and doing the boards. As a matter of fact, we did an internship where some of those same students worked doing the cameras here at City Council. And what I wanted to do and ask Ms. Acree was to meet Ms. Gilliam and to kinda maybe work together with them as well as the folks at Green Oaks High School, because that’s a Performing Arts Magnet to try to build some sort of Cinergy from the high school level, because as I appreciate it, from the press conference that the Mayor had, late last week, one of the things that the movie industry is seriously looking for is keeping the job force here, and creating a labor force that will allow them to take advantage of the tax credits, as they say, put more of the money on the film as opposed to spending it elsewhere, hiring people and bringing them in from these other places. So, I just look forward to working with the Mayor, and certainly Ms. Acree and everything that she’s done, and in bringing those high schools into this scenario as well, so that we can start to bring our high schoolers together, and let them have another opportunity. Maybe for an internship type situation, at those two institutions.

Ms. Acree: Now, I agree with you that we definitely need to do that, and it starts with our youth, as you said Joyce earlier. We’ve got to work with our youth, and I think that’s a great thing for Shreveport. It starts there, and we are working with all our educational partners in the film industry. We know we’ve got some issues confronting us with the film industry, and we’re doing everything we can to keep them here. So, we’re going to work with the educational partners and also, I’d like to see the internships with a high school group also participating in the movie industry itself right here in Shreveport. And just wanted to add also that at the job fair yesterday, we had about 1,500 participants. And we actually had some out of town, out of state people that came form Arkansas, Texas, as far away as Nevada, California, and Montana yesterday, that want to move to Shreveport. So, I think that’s important too. I think you’re going to see a lot of changes in the film industry, and we’re going to continue to work really hard to bring it up to another level. And I think the Chief already left, but I think we need get Pluggy in the movies. Maybe with (inaudible), I don’t know what y’all think. There’s a lot of talent here. But anyway, thank you so much, and anything I can do for any of the Councilmen, I’m here for you. Thank you.

Councilman Shyne: Just one minute Mr. Chairman.

Councilman Walford: Mr. Shyne.

Councilman Shyne: I would hope that you would try to work Southern University in.

Ms. Acree: They’re part of our group. We’re working with Northwestern, Grambling, Southern, yes we’re working with them.

Councilman Shyne: They have a tremendous program, because they put on a few plays.

Ms. Acree: The region is important.

Councilman Walford: And that was at Riverview?

Councilman Lester: Who came up with that name?

Councilman Walford: I don’t know, but (inaudible) voted for it.

Councilman Lester: Well at least 1,500 people know where it is.

Councilman Shyne: And if they need some mature actors, here are two who are right here.

Councilman Walford: I know that we’ve passed recognizing our distinguished guests, but we do have two members of our local clergy that I’d like to recognize. Pastor Vernon Bright, and hiding over there, although he cannot hide coming in, is Dr. E. Edward Jones. Welcome, thank you for joining us.

Councilman Shyne: And Mr. Chairman, we also have Ex-City Councilman Roy Cary.

Councilman Walford: I didn’t see Roy back there. Welcome Mr. Cary.

Councilman Shyne: Roy’s gotten him a close haircut now, so he looks like a college kid.

Councilman Walford: But he’s got that smile. You can’t miss him when he does that.

Councilman Lester: Mr. Chairman, I was going to wait until later, but we also have Rev. Humphrey here, and Rev (inaudible) Mims that are here, and I think there are several other clergy here. A lot of them are here on the Faith Builders thing. So, I definitely didn’t want to miss those folks as well.

Councilman Walford: Rev. Humphrey, I apologize because you and I go way back. And thank you very much.

REGULAR AGENDA LEGISLATION

RESOLUTIONS ON SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE OR WHICH REQUIRE ONLY ONE READING

The Clerk read the following:

1. Resolution No. 184 of 2006: A resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into, or request the Authority to enter into, one or more Swap Agreements, all in connection with certain outstanding bonds of the City or the Authority and providing for other matters in connection therewith. (Postponed January 9, 2007)

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Shyne, seconded by Councilman Long to postpone. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

RESOLUTION NO. 204 OF 2006

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN AMENDMENT TO THE SMG MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO.

BY:

WHEREAS, the City of Shreveport entered into a Management Agreement (the "Agreement") with SMG to staff, manage, operate and maintain the Convention Center on December 19, 2003; and

WHEREAS, Section 2.5 of the Agreement requires among other things, that SMG’s annual audit report be prepared by a "firm of national reputation selected by SMG"; and

WHEREAS, in most cases, this requirement serves to reduce or eliminate the pool of local accounting firms or individual certified public accounts who can perform this service.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in due, regular and legal session convened that the Mayor be and he is hereby authorized to execute, for and on behalf of the City of Shreveport, an amendment to Section 2.5 of the SMG Management Agreement to delete the requirement that SMG’s annual audit report be prepared by a firm of national reputation, the said amendment to be substantially in accordance with the terms of the draft hereof which was filed for public inspection, together with the original copy of this resolution, in the office of the Clerk of Council on December 26, 2006.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any provision or item of this resolution or the application thereof is held to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this resolution which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications, and to this end, the provisions of this resolution are hereby declared to be severable.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Long to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays:

RESOLUTION NO. 6 OF 2006

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT AND/OR COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOR AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT AND THE PARISH OF CADDO, AND OTHERWISE PROVIDING WITH RESPECT THERETO

WHEREAS, Article VII, Section 14(c) of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana provides that “for a public purpose, the state and its political subdivisions…may engage in cooperative endeavors with each other, with the United States or its agencies, or with any public or private association, corporation, or individual”; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature by Act 12 of the First Extraordinary Session of 2005 enacted Part IV-B of Chapter 8 of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statues providing for the mandatory adoption by Parishes and Municipalities of certain building codes; and

WHEREAS, the Parish of Caddo desires to cooperate with the City of Shreveport in the implementation of these certain building codes as hereinafter provided; and

WHEREAS, the public purpose is described as the implementation of certain building codes required to be in compliance with Act 12; and

WHEREAS, the City of Shreveport agrees to provide the services necessary to be in compliance with Act 12 through inspections of all Parish buildings and issuance of building permits and the Parish of Caddo agrees to require all persons issued said permits to pay directly to the City of Shreveport its required fees for such inspections.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in due, legal, and regular session convened, that Cedric B. Glover, Mayor, be and is hereby authorized to execute an Intergovernmental Agreement and/or Cooperative Endeavor Agreement between the City of Shreveport and the Parish of Caddo, substantially in accordance with the draft thereof filed in the Office of the Clerk of Council on January 2, 2007 and attached hereto as Exhibit A.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any provision or item of this resolution or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this resolution which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications and, to this end, the provisions of this resolution are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Webb, seconded by Councilman Bowman to adopt.

Councilman Lester: Mr. Strong. Thank you Mr. Strong. When we brought this deal up, I asked the question from a constituent as it relates to permitting, and citation. As I appreciated, we discovered that there is in fact a process for citation, but we are working on some legislation as I appreciate it that’s going to be coming probably the next Council Meeting to deal with the entire issue of when the Inspectors go out, and they have someone that’s not doing what they’re supposed to do, in terms of moonlighting, but as doing un-permitted work that allows an inspector to actually go out and get a citation. Is that correct?

Mr. Strong: (Inaudible) for anything, the ordinance as written today we can’t enforce. But you go through a process of citing them through letter form, and then through court. What this will do is do it similar to other processes that we have done is a citation is written and it’s handled just like a traffic ticket through the court. And so that will come up at the next Council Meeting. We’re very close and had a few more changes, but that will be at the next Council Meeting.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

RESOLUTION NO. 7 OF 2007

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DEPARTMENT OF OPERATIONAL SERVICES TO IMPLEMENT A PLAN FOR MANAGING AQUATIC WEED GROWTH IN CROSS LAKE AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO

By:

WHEREAS, Cross Lake serves as the City’s drinking water supply source and is also a valuable ecological, recreational and aesthetic resource for the area;

WHEREAS, the lake has become infested with hydrilla, a non-native aquatic weed, which poses a threat to the health of the lake and to the intake structure for the City’s water purification plant;

WHEREAS, a study has recently be prepared by Centenary College which contains recommendations for the management and control of hydrilla in the lake; and

WHEREAS, the City wishes to authorize the Department of Operational Services to implement a management plan for hydrilla in the lake based upon the recommendations contained in the study, and to take all actions necessary for managing non-native aquatic weed growth in the lake;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of Shreveport, in due, regular and legal session convened, that the City’s Department of Operational Services, through its Director, is hereby authorized to implement a management plan for hydrilla in Cross Lake in accordance with the recommendations contained in the August 22, 2006 report prepared by Centenary College, a summary of which is attached hereto, to take any and all actions deemed appropriate by the Director in implementing the plan, including but not limited to application of herbicides and stocking of grass carp, and to take all action determined by the Director to be appropriate in managing other non-native weed growth in the lake.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that John Murrell, Environmental Control Officer for the Department of Operational Services, is hereby authorized to apply to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for a “Triploid Grass Carp Possession & Transportation Permit” on behalf of the City, for the obtaining, transporting, and stocking of grass carp in Cross Lake

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any provisions or items of this resolution or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this resolution which can be given effect with the invalid provisions, items or applications, and to this end, the provisions of this resolution are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Wooley, seconded by Councilman Bowman to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

RESOLUTION NO. 8 OF 2007

A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE NOTICE UNDER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT AS REQUIRED BY THE CITY’S SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND OTHERWISE PROVIDING WITH RESPECT THERETO.

BY:

WHEREAS, in 2006, the City of Shreveport entered into a Settlement Agreement with the U. S. Department of Justice, which required the City to take numerous actions to comply with the provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act; and

WHEREAS, one of the requirements was that the City adopt a Notice Under the Americans With Disabilities Act on or before January 24, 2007, distribute it to agency heads, post copies in conspicuous locations in its public buildings, publish it in a local newspaper of general circulation and post it on the City’s internet home page.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in legal session convened, that it hereby adopts the Notice Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, as provided to the Clerk of Council on January 23, 2007, with the original copy of this resolution.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any provision or item of this resolution or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this resolution which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications; and, to this end, the provisions of this resolution are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Wooley, seconded by Councilman Shyne to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

RESOLUTION NUMBER 9 OF 2007

A RESOLUTION DECLARING THE CITY’S INTEREST IN CERTAIN ADJUDICATED PROPERTIES AS SURPLUS AND OTHERWISE PROVIDING WITH RESPECT THERETO.

WHEREAS, there are numerous parcels of property which have been adjudicated to the City of Shreveport and Caddo Parish for non-payment of ad valorem taxes; and

WHEREAS, the City of Shreveport has entered into an intergovernmental agreement with Caddo Parish under which Caddo Parish will undertake to sell or donate said properties as authorized in R.S. 33:4720.11 or R.S. 33:4720.25; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 26-294 of the Code of Ordinances, the city’s interests in said properties can be sold after the City Council declares them to be surplus; and

WHEREAS, the purchasing agent has inquired of all city departments regarding the property described herein and has not received any indication that it is needed for city purposes.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport in due, regular and legal session convened that the following described properties are hereby declared surplus:

0.37 Acre-M/L-SWLY 55 Ft of the NELY Geographic Number 181416-001-034400

220 Ft of Lot 16, Jones Mabry Subdivision

Municipal Address: 19905 None

Council District “A”

Lot 25, Gary Subdivision Geographic Number 171401-024-002500

Municipal Address: 1544 Gary Street

Council District “A”

Lot F, Block A, Resub of Block A & N/2 Geographic Number 171414-002-000600

of Block B, Holly Park Subdivision

Municipal Address: 1925 Corbitt Street

Council District “B”

Lots 95, 96 &97, Valencia Subdivision Geographic Number 171317-006-009500

Municipal Address: 3026 Dallas Street

Council District “B”

Lot 104, Cooperville Subdivision Geographic Number 181417-053-010400

Municipal Address: 1623 Gilliam Street

Council District “A”

Lot 9, Booker-T Subdivision Geographic Number 171414-061-000900

Municipal Address: 4402 Rosary Lane

Council District “B”

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any provision or item of this resolution or the application thereof be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this resolution which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items, or applications, and to this end the provisions of this resolution are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith

are hereby repealed.

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Walford, seconded by Councilman Lester to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

RESOLUTION NO. 10 OF 2007

A RESOLUTION TEMPORARILY SUSPENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF

CHAPTER 10 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES RELATIVE TO THE

CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AT MARDI GRAS PARADES

AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO.

BY:

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the City of Shreveport to encourage the development of entertainment and tourism opportunities in the city; and

WHEREAS, the celebration of Mardi Gras in the Shreveport - Bossier area involves Louisiana culture and tradition and promotes such entertainment and tourism; and

WHEREAS, the existing ordinances governing the consumption of alcoholic beverages at Mardi Gras parades need to be studied and may need to be revised, and the City Council desires to suspend certain provisions thereof temporarily.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in due, legal and regular session convened, that the following ordinance provisions are suspended under the following conditions only:

1. Sections 10-190 and 10-192 of the Code of Ordinances are suspended to the limited extent necessary to permit the consumption and possession of alcoholic beverages on the public right of way and in city parks when said right of way or park is adjacent to the route of a Mardi Gras parade for which the City of Shreveport has approved the closing of the street.

2. Section 10-102 (a)(14) of the Code of Ordinances is suspended to the limited extent necessary to allow persons, patron, customer, agent, associate or employee to exit the licensed premises in possession of any open container holding an alcoholic beverage when that alcoholic beverage was sold, purchased, served, dispensed, exchanged or acquired on the licensed when said licenses premises are adjacent to the route of a Mardi Gras parade for which the City of Shreveport has approved the closing of the street.

3. This suspension shall be effective in February 10, and February 17, 2007 from 12:00 noon until 10:00 p.m. on the date of each Mardi Gras parade. This suspension will not be in effect in areas adjacent to the parade route which have been designated “Family”.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any provision or item of this Resolution or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this Resolution which can be given affect without the invalid provisions, items or applications and to this end the provisions of this Resolution are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all Resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith or hereby repealed.

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Long, seconded by Councilman Lester to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS (Not to be adopted prior to February 13, 2007)

1. Resolution No. 11 of 2007: A resolution authorizing the Mayor to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with United Steel Workers, AFL-CIO (USW), and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (A/Lester)

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Shyne to introduce Resolution No. 11 of 2007 to lay over until February 13, 2007 meeting. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Shyne and Bowman. 4. Nays: Councilmen Long, Wooley, and Webb. 3.

INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS (Not to be adopted prior to February 27, 2007)

1. Resolution No. 12 of 2007: A resolution stating the City of Shreveport’s endorsement of 229 Milam, LLC to participate in the benefits of the Louisiana restoration Tax Abatement Program, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (B/Walford)

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Walford to introduce Resolution No. 12 of 2007 to lay over until February 27, 2007 meeting. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES (Not to be adopted prior to February 13, 2007)

1. Ordinance No. 9 of 2007: An ordinance creating Stop intersections within the City limits of the City of Shreveport, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (E/Webb)

2. Ordinance No. 10 of 2007: ZONING – C-7-06: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the City of Shreveport Code of Ordinance, the zoning ordinance, by amending Sections 82-26, 82-41, and 84-74 relative to the subdivision of property, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto.

3. Ordinance No. 11 of 2007: ZONING – C-95-06: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport Code of Ordinance, by rezoning a tract of land located 165 feet north of Green Road and 125 feet east of Hutchinson, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, from R-1D, to B-1, Buffer Business District, with MPC Approval, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (A/Lester)

4. Ordinance No. 12 of 2007: ZONING – C-97-06: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport Zoning Ordinance by rezoning property located on the northwest corner of Southern Avenue and Pierremont Avenue, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana from B-1, Buffer Business District to B-2, Neighborhood Business District, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (C/Long)

5. Ordinance No. 13 of 2007: ZONING APPEAL – C-101-06: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport Zoning Ordinance, the City of Shreveport by rezoning property located on the south side of Bert Kouns Industrial Loop 1500 feet east of Ellerbe Road, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, from R-A, Residence Agriculture, to B-2 Neighborhood Business District, with PBG (Planned Building Group) approval, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (D/Wooley)

6. Ordinance No. 14 of 2007: ZONING APPEAL – C-1-07: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport Zoning Ordinance by rezoning property located on the south side of Knight Street, 400 feet east of Eastwood Drive, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, from R-A, Residence Agriculture to R-1H, Urban, One-Family Residence District, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (C/Long)

7. Ordinance No. 15 of 2007: ZONING – C-2-07: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport Zoning Ordinance by rezoning property located on the southwest corner of Bert Kouns and Kingston Road, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, from R-1D, Urban, One-Family Residence District, and B-1-E, Buffer Business/Extended Use District, to B-1-E Buffer Business/Extended Use District, Limited to “General Retail and Office Use as presented at the January 3, 2007 Public Hearing” only, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (E/Webb)

8. Ordinance No. 16 of 2007: ZONING – C-3-07: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport Zoning Ordinance, by rezoning property located on the west side of Mansfield Road, 1000 feet south of West 70^th Street, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, from I-1, Light Industry District, to B-3 Community Business District, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (E/Webb)

9. Ordinance No. 17 of 2007: ZONING – C-4-07: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport Zoning Ordinance by rezoning property located on the north side of West 70^th Street, 920 feet east of Mansfield Road, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, from B-3, Community Business District, to R-3, Urban Multiple-Family Residence District, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (F/Shyne)

10. Ordinance No. 19 of 2007: An Ordinance amending the 2007 Capital Improvements Budget and otherwise providing with respect thereto.

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Shyne, seconded by Councilman Wooley to introduce Ordinance No(s). 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 19 of 2007 to lay over until February 13, 2007 meeting. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

Mr. Thompson: Mr. Chairman, for the record, on No. 10 that was just introduced, (inaudible) as I read it yesterday and not as it appeared on the official agenda. It’s an ordinance to amend various sections of Chapter 82 of the Code of Ordinance of the City of Shreveport Subdivision ordinances. I just wanted the record to be clear on that.

INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES (Not to be adopted prior to February 27, 2007)

1. Ordinance No. 18 of 2007: An ordinance authorizing the purchasing agent to dispose of surplus real property, and otherwise providing with respect thereto. (D/Wooley)

Read by title and as read, motion by Councilman Wooley, seconded by Councilman Bowman to introduce Ordinance No. 18 of 2007 to lay over until February 27, 2007 meeting. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE (Numbers are assigned Ordinance Numbers)

1. Ordinance No. 1 of 2007: An ordinance closing and abandoning a 15 foot-wide utility easement and drainage easement including the south adjacent drainage pipe, and easement located in Lot 8 of Southland Park Center Subdivision bounded by Truly Lane, and Summer Grove Drive in the SE ¼ Section 4 (T16N-R14W), Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (E/Webb)

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Webb, seconded by Councilman Shyne to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

2. Ordinance No. 2 of 2007: An ordinance amending and replacing Sections 94-115, 207 &208 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Shreveport by clarifying provisions concerning individual sewage treatment systems and compulsory connection to community sewer service, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto.

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Shyne, seconded by Councilman Long to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

3. Ordinance No. 3 of 2007: An ordinance enacting Section 22-1 of the Code of Ordinances for the City of Shreveport, schedule of Permit and Inspection Fees, and otherwise providing with respect thereto.

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Long, seconded by Councilman Wooley to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

4. Ordinance No. 4 of 2007: An ordinance amending the 2007 Budget for the Community Development Special Revenue Fund, and otherwise providing with respect thereto. (A/Lester)

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Bowman to adopt.

Councilman Lester: Thank you Mr. Chairman and Members. I would like to ask if we could get Mr. Dan Russell to come forward please. Mr. Chairman and Members, we have with us Mr. Dan Russell, who will come to you in his own way. He is an expert in the field of Community Development and Economic Development. He has put on workshops, seminars and training throughout the width and breadth of not just the State of Louisiana, but this nation. Many people talk about bringing positive things to the area, and we talk about bringing expertise. And I think Parish Commissioner Lindora Baker spoke about one of the trainings that she went to and that’s Neighbor Works. And I’ve been fortunate on more than one occasion to attend some of the Neighbor Works Training in various places in the country, both in New Orleans and Washington, D.C. This is the gentlemen that trains the trainers. And he is proposing which I think is an outstanding idea, a proposal to teach neighborhoods community faith based, as well as non-profit organizations. Not just how to be fed, but teach them how to feed themselves. And bring their communities up by their boot straps. And he has a presentation that he would like to do, and I would ask for your indulgence and allow him to make his presentation. And then if you have any questions on the proposal that we’ve passed out to you, I’m sure that he would be more than willing and able to entertain any questions at that time. Mr. Russell, the floor is yours and thank you very much.

Mr. Russell: Thank you very much. Not that I think it would be a problem, but if you have a problem hearing me since I’ll be away from the mic on and off, just sort of wave your hand and let me know and I’ll shout a little louder. Are we up? This is about the Project and Business Development Training Program that as I understand you all have seen a synopsis of the proposal and some case studies that have been attached to it. The objective that we have today is literally to not drill down on that proposal, but to have a discussion with you that will help you with your understanding of the appropriateness of this kind of program for the City of Shreveport. Our assumptions are real simple. We’ve got less than 30 minutes to get through this including questions and answers. So, as a result of that, we have to work on the assumption that you have had the synopsis of the proposal, seen some case studies. We will not drill down on it. If you have not actually read the synopsis of the proposal, or the case studies, certainly I would think there would be time to do so after this. But we want to make sure that cover some things that were not included in the material that you were given. We have also suggested that if you do want to drill down on any aspects of the material you’ve already been given, then we would do so during the question and answer period. So, the three questions that we have decided that we think would be appropriate to address with you today are: Why does the City of Shreveport need to implement this program? It’s a question of need. Second thing, how would the City of Shreveport benefit? There have to be real cost benefits. It’s real simple thing. Either you get something out of it that makes it worthwhile or you don’t. And will this program actually work in the City of Shreveport? There’s no sense talking about something that’s pie in the sky, that’s not going to work here in Shreveport. So, the first question is why do you need to do this? We want to make sure that you understand that we’re coming to you as the people who are suggesting that we would facilitate this program for you. But we don’t want you to think that we don’t have some vested interest in what we’re presenting here today. Being straight forward about it, yes we do. Myself as principal (inaudible) development, I would be responsible for program, design and implementation. I’d be one of the trainers, I’d be one the project consultants, and manage the trainers and consultants that come in from around the country to work with the program. Understanding that this program is about very simply, not just simply teaching people how to run some numbers on a computer. This is about teach people how things actually work, and at the end of that program there’s actually brick and mortar you can kick that they’ve completed, that they’ve financed, they have built. There are people living in the houses, there are tenants in the properties, there are stores in the shopping centers that they built, etc., etc., as well as the fact that there are businesses that have been created as a result of the work that they do. So there is something real tangible that you can kick, and touch, and feel, and smell at the end of the process that says yes this worked. My partners in this would include Lisa Archey of Archey and Associates in Maryland. I’ve worked with her for years in doing these training programs. Councilman Lester referenced some of the programs around the country that he’s been involved in and a number of people in the City of Shreveport have been involved with, the Neighbor Works, I’ve created a lot of programs that Neighbor Works uses. I’ve created a lot of programs that they use to train their own organizations across the country. So, this is nothing new that we’re talking about. And here we have our partner here in Shreveport, Ernestine Williams-Smith, whose been my business partner for years on many projects that we’ve worked on developing houses, developing other properties around Texas and Louisiana. She would be involved in program development (inaudible). She works as a project consultant and be responsible for program management. So, (inaudible) program is very simple. The City of Shreveport would be providing tangible resources to support multiple specific, very specific projects, real estate developed projects and business developed projects in the city. The bottom line is you can’t get into the program of business development training program unless you come in the door with a project in your hand. You can’t get into the program unless there’s specific businesses you’ve committed to create. You can’t get in the program. Because in the end to graduate from the program, you have to have your real estate project either under construction or financed and ready for construction, or completed, or you have to have your business already organized, financing specifics in place, ready to start to build the facility to start operations. That’s how we measure success. Tangible means you can touch and feel, okay? The key is how do we get people from not knowing how to do that to completing something that tangible. And so that’s basically what the program does. So, here’s the resources that we’re suggesting and this proposal that you provide is the actual technical training that they would need, and the professional advice that they would need to get that transition completed. This technical training would last for a 12 month period a time and it is very intensive, and it is very interactive. Some people compare this to the kind of alternative training the military uses where you go to West Point, or the Air Force Academy or the Naval Academy for four years, you get an education, a four year college education, and you come out with a commission with the military. The alternative that the military uses is that you go to a private university or public university, get your four year degree and go to what they call Officers Candidate School. And they compress four years of West Point or Annapolis down to the six months. What we do here is compressing that kind of training into an intense period of 12 months over a series of trainings and involvements, and engagements at the project level. Right? Approximately ten community based organizations would be represented with approximately 20 participants, so it would be anywhere from 1-2 participants per organization. That means this program would have somewhere between 10 and 20 real live projects under development from the beginning to the end of the program. We would guarantee a minimum of 120 to 240 hours of project level professional consultation to the participants to the program. 120 to 240 depending on how many projects. That’s the minimum. I didn’t say anything about a maximum. If it means we have to have 240 to 480 hours to get it done, then that’s what happens. But the minimum is 120-240. Approximately 220 hours of intensive interactive in classroom training. This is not lecture stuff we’re talking about. This is 70% case studies, practical exercises, role plays, negotiating sessions, team work, and presentations. Exactly the way the private sector does it. Behind closed doors. The same approach they take to getting their project developers ready to get the job done. Also, there’s a mandatory work plan performance requirement. And what that boils down to is at the end of every classroom session, you leave with a work plan you’ve put together, and that becomes the measurement whether or not you completed your assignment between the training session and the next training session, during which you get the consulting work from the consulting team. That’s when you actually go get stuff done on the project. You get the financing, you get the plans drawn, you acquire the real estate, you get whatever it is that’s necessary to make it happen. So, why does the City of Shreveport need to implement this program? We decided the best way to do this is to bring some realities home visually. So, when we say why you need to implement this, we see these as opportunities. What you’re about to look at is a series of photographs of real estate and business across all of your seven districts in the City of Shreveport which suggest you that there are opportunities (I’m sorry about the quality of - - - with the lighting), but this should suggest to you that there are opportunities all across the City of Shreveport for community based organizations to take on projects that will revitalize communities, that will revitalize neighborhoods, turn the situation around - - - these photographs were just taken last week across the city of Shreveport, so this is reality today. As you notice with these photos, there are projects here that are both residential, commercial, industrial, and business. And there is a scale, as you pay attention to the scale of these properties and these businesses that are of the scale small organizations could take them on and successfully complete them. We’re not talking about them doing mega regional mall shopping centers. We’re not talking about 200,000 square foot office buildings, we’re not talking about 500,000 square foot industrial parks. We’re talking about stuff that’s of a scale that most small community based organizations can successfully taken on and complete in a relatively short period of time. And as you can visualize looking at these properties, and these project opportunities, and if they look different than they look today, especially if there’s a critical mass of this improvement of these properties, renovation, weatherization, rehabilitation, redeveloping, demolition, new construction, in a concentrated area of neighborhoods. That’s why we’re saying the City of Shreveport needs to, because the opportunities are right there now to do it today. So, Why won’t the private sector just do this? Very simple. The profit is what gives you the weight. This is not meant to be demeaning about the private sector, I talk to the private sector. I am the private sector. The bottom line is the private sector can’t afford the chronological time required to create this critical mass of redevelopment, this critical mass of redevelopment, this critical mass of business development and still meet this short term return on investment requirements. It takes too long to do the kind of stuff we just looked at to get short term return on investment. That’s why you don’t see the private sector beating the door down trying to do this stuff right now. That’s why those photos could be taken last week. The financial investment required to turn around abandoned, blighted, and deteriorating communities, because it’s often greater than the market value of the property. Which is why you have to be able to go to the federal government and the state government, and the philanthropic organizations to get the kinds of things necessary to make it work. In other words, you have to learn, and this is what this project does also. It teaches people how to finance all this stuff using multiple layers of financing which involved the federal government and state government and local government and philanthropic organizations, etc., etc. The level of community participation to sustain this sort of thing is far beyond what most private sector organizations want to deal with. They don’t have the capacity to put up with community participation. It’s just something that works in their paradox. Community based organizations are motivated however, by a different criteria. They are measured by a different criteria, rather than short term return on the investment. The seldom are guided by strategies that require buying property, fixing it up, creating market value that higher than what it was, and cashing out with your capital gains on the other end. That’s not the kind of strategy that most community based organizations work with. Most of the substantial soft money source is suitable for this sort of thing, actually require the participation of a non profit designation. If you’re going to go to Ford Foundation, going to go to Mariah, you’re going to go to the federal government to the Hope Program, to the home program, thinking to acquire some kind of participation even if you’re talking the new market tax credits, they’re looking for non-profit participation. Community based organizations often bring flexibility that private sector players can’t bring to make the deal work. You can have four players in a deal, and everybody wants their piece, and nobody’s giving an inch. But if somebody would just give an inch, then the whole thing could come together. For non profits have the ability more often than not to give that inch, to make the whole thing come together. The level of community participation is consistent with what most community based organizations are actually looking for. They want that level of community participation. So here is the compatibility here. What community based organizations need to get it done, what they actually need to get it done. They need managers who have the knowledge, skills to execute the project. This is not something people can do blindfolded. This is not the blind leading the blind. You either know what you’re doing or you don’t. And if you know what you’re doing, you have to get it done, if you don’t, you won’t. So, this is about making sure people have the actual knowledge in their heads, and the skills they practice with their hands, and other tools to get it done. Full access to all appropriate city financial (inaudible) resources. Now that sounds mundane. Think about it, now a lot of resources the city has, has nothing to do with money. But people can’t get to them for a variety of reasons, and I’m saying part of what the city has to do is make sure those resources are available to people in this program. They must support the actions to bring outside financing or funding into the city. That sounds silly also. Who would not want people to bring money into Shreveport? You would be surprised how often cities don’t do what’s necessary to help money come into the city. We’re saying you need to make a commitment to that support. You need to support the actions of these organizations to bring new businesses into the city, so that does take certain actions on the city’s part. And access to the same type of professed expertise is available to the private sector developers. That’s what we’re talking about making sure they have. So, how will Shreveport benefit? It gives back to this issue of reestablished blighted communities as productive access. Things that are actually contributing to the well being of the City of Shreveport. This can be productive. This can be productive. This can be productive. All of this can be productive, all of this can have operating facilities on it. These are things that can be housing businesses. There could be people, there could be houses, there could be stores, there could be jobs created in their facilities, these are all opportunities that exist across the City of Shreveport today to make productive assets out of the resources that exist in the city right now. So, how will Shreveport benefit? Increased property utilization and value. You increase the utilization of your property, you’re going to get more value out of them. You get more value, you’re going to get new property tax revenues, because you get new values. You increase (inaudible) expenditures in each district resulting from people buying houses, renting homes, provisions of consumers goods and services, and business goods and services. How will Shreveport benefit? New prominent and periodic employment for residents in each district, increased overall attractiveness of the City of Shreveport. You want people to come back? Make them want to. You want people to come back to live in the city? Give them a reason to. Attractiveness. New residences. Importation is the word of new consumers and business expenditures. So here’s how the equation works in terms of it being cost effective. You can take the same amount of money it takes to fund this kind of program, the same amount of money, and put it one big project that may or may not do what it’s supposed to do. A lot of cities here discovered with all the taxes incentive and all the leveraging, and everything else, sometimes that big project doesn’t do what it says it’s going to do. However, you take that same amount of money, put it in this program, and you invested into arbitrarily, because I don’t know if it’s 10 projects or 20 projects yet, but invest it into 15 projects completed by the participants in this program, what you get is a cost per project that is substantially lower than it would be if you put it into one project. Which means the return to the city is going to be much higher. There is also a benefit of the city actually starting to establish and build upon the infrastructure of human expertise capable of completing additional projects in the future. So you don’t invest this money one time, and it’s gone. You invest it, and they use it, and they use it, and they use it because you don’t lose knowledge, you don’t lose skills, if you use it. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. But the key is you make that investment one time, and teach them how to fish so they can go back and fish, and fish, and fish, and fish, and come back and turn some of these situations around (inaudible). So will this program actually work as implemented in the City of Shreveport? I say yes it will. Yes it will. This program has worked. These are just some of the organizations that we’ve worked with, that I’ve worked with, that have used this type of program, or this specific program across the country. Across the country. These are some of the projects that have come out of this program being used. And let me make another point here. I decided to grab this and bring this with me. This is not new. This is not pie in the sky. This is real stuff that’s already been proven to work. This is just a few we pulled out. I just threw together out of our data base just this simple binder, and these are one page success stories. Just one page each. That’s all I decided to carry down here with me. I didn’t want to bring the rest of them. There’s no mystery about this anymore. There are more success stories for this kind of thing today across this country than we even need to bother to try to count. So, it’s not whether or not it will work, it has already worked. And there are examples of where it has. Cost is (inaudible) hundreds of thousands of housing units have been developed by using the capacity built by this kind of training with organizations. Millions of square feet of retail, commercial, and industrial facilities, thousands of new business operations, public and cultural spaces and facilities, (inaudible) and investment programs. When you look at these success stories, probably a fourth of them is creating whole new ways to bring money into the city to provide financing that didn’t exist before through investment funds. The sustainable and effective community revitalization programs are things that have come out of this program. So, will this program actually work as implemented in the City of Shreveport. We say yes, if implemented correctly and fully. Not halfway. Correctly and fully. Community based developers must be adequately trained and counseled in the knowledge and skills necessary to execute to the level of their project. There is no substitute for knowledge and skills. And so, when we talk about training, this is the kind of stuff we talk about. It’s intensive, it’s interactive, it is them being in the thick of it, as opposed to them sitting through lectures. It is a constant teamwork effort. They work in groups for everything. You see this group of people here? There are four projects represented in that group of people right there, and they’re all working together, working with each other as well as a team of consultants and the trainers. Okay? When you look at the kind of work that goes into that, this is an example of one manual binder from one workshop out of all five workshops that will take place. This particular workshop would be on housing development finance. We may leave this one week, 44 hours, 4 day, 44 hour workshop. They will have used every page in this binder, worked up everything in here, and they will know everything in it because they worked with it. Then we go to the consulting part. The consulting is what takes place between the workshops from the periodically, and at the project level wherever the participants happen to be. The consultants go to the projects, or to the team. And it’s there where the problems gets solved. So the question then becomes will this work? Yes. And as I said before, the only way you get to this kind of a graduation, cause this is a scene from a graduation, the only way that you get there is that your project is financially ready for construction, or it’s in construction, or your business is financed, organization planned, ready to acquire a facility, and ready to go. There’s no other way to graduate from the program. I’ve been advocating for this kind of program for over 16 years, and fortunately most of the major national non profit organizations around the country have adopted it, and used it in all of the affiliate programs. (Inaudible) lower initiative support corporations, enterprise foundations neighbor works organization, neighborhood housing services, etc., etc. Will this program actually work? Program participants are serious about their commitment to fully participate and get the work done. It will work. If the organizations they represent are committed to fully support them and their project, it will work. If the City of Shreveport leadership participating organizations leadership and other participants are on the same page. In other words everybody agree. These are projects that need to happen in this district, these are projects that need to happen in that district, these are the projects that are - - - if everybody’s on the same page, and yes the city will allow access to it’s resources like any private developer would get, yes. Will this program actually work? The City resources typically available to the private sector must be made available to the non profit sector. Understand, these are businesses. Non profit businesses are businesses that are a part of an industry. So, it is critical to understand that you have to support their efforts. When they go to out to bring money into the city, you’ve got to do your part to say yeah, we want the money. When you go bring businesses in, you have to do your part to say yes we want the money. So, we believe you have the knowledge, we believe you have the skills and experience to establish and implement this program in the City of Shreveport, and when you look at where we come from. We come from the real estate development and finance industry. We come from the mortgage and banking industry. We come from small business development and financing. We come from large and small business mass. We come from training and technical assistance. We come from managing performance based projects. We come from organizations that are major developers and Wall Street connections with the banks and the major lenders, and etc., etc. We come with the experience of urban community revitalization, and affordable housing development and training technical assistance, community based organizations assessment and community building. Creating public-private partnerships. Managing organizational development and curriculum development. With major organizations across the country. So bottom line is look at some of our selected clients. These are some of the selected ones that we’ve worked with around the country. These are the people who know this stuff, who’ve use it and have made it work for them. So, questions?

Councilman Long: Great program, I like the concept, and I’m sold on the concept. Now I have some other questions that I’d like to have answered. From the standpoint of a community be it a neighborhood or a district, or whatever it is, I think it’s important that one of the steps that occurs is that people involved, they have to agree on what it is that they want. Does this program get into that at all at any level? I mean, do you identify and come to some consensus? You said people have to come with a project when they show up. I guess my point is one of the things that I’ve not seen done, and maybe Councilman Lester could address this or Bonnie, is that I’ve seen lots of things that are going on that are kind of fuzzy out there, but - - - and stuff that are sort of topped down as opposed to bottom up. I mean, have we had serious discussion and research done on what it is that these truly want and how they want to identify themselves? Of is this a situation where, hey we’re going to do this for you and then you’re going to figure it out?

Councilman Lester: I can answer that question. Thank you Councilman Long. Part of what has been done in the Faith Builders and if you can give me a moment, just for the Council’s edification, what we have here is a map of the city of Shreveport. If we could get Mr. - - - to - - - can y’all see this? Well no. You have the 16 targeted CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) areas of the City of Shreveport. And if you notice, we have projects in literally in every area of the city, not just, and I wanted to dispel - - - I don’t know if it’s a myth or what. Faith Builders is not a District A project. As you will notice, you have 1, 2, 3, 4 participants in the Martin Luther King area. Apostolic Deliverance Outreach Center, St. Luke Baptist Church, (inaudible) Development Corporation, Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association, I think there’s one missing, because you’ve got the Martin Luther King Community Development Corporation. Then in Allendale, you’ve got Holy Tabernacle Church, Inc., Lane Chapel C.M.E., (Inaudible) Development Corporation, Temple of Vision Ministries, Grace Project. That’s in Allendale. In Lakeside, District G, St. Augustine Missionary Baptist Church was part of the program. That’s in Lakeside. I believe, this is also the biggest part of Queensborough, Ms. Bowman, CIC Human Resource Center, Stonewall Street. Citizens International (that’s on Jewella), you’ve got Turning Point Services on Lakeshore Drive. You’ve got Northwest Louisiana Community Development Corporation, they had a representative here, that’s District G, but on the borderline of District F. You’ve got Emmanuel Church of God in Christ, Forest Oak Neighborhood Association, District F. Church in the name of Jesus Christ, they were participant Brantway, I believe that’s in the - - -

Councilman Long: All these guys were involved in the first phase?

Councilman Long: All of these guys. Christ Temple Holiness Church, I think that’s District B. You’ve got Harmony Faith Ministries, Hollywood Ave, I believe that’s District (inaudible). Morningstar Baptist Church, District F, Faith (inaudible) Church, W70th Street, I believe that’s either going to be District E or District F, Joe would tell us on the borderline. (inaudible) Baptist Church, got Unique Child Care Services, Pine (inaudible), I believe that’s coming close to District E down there. Friendship Family Church, Kingston Road, that’s District E. Got I think it’s Word of Faith International on Linwood, that’s District E. And then you’ve got tremendous participation in the Cedar Grove area, Olive Branch Ministries, (inaudible) Evangelist Ministries, Church of God In Christ (inaudible), all that’s District D. You’ve got Zion Baptist Church Urban Corporation on Southern Ave, I believe that’s District C or District B. (Inaudible) Word of God, Creswell, that’s District B. Habitat for Humanity, 106 Kings Hwy, that’s District C. You’ve got St Mary A.M.E. Church on Rex Street, that’s in District B. So you’ve got a program that’s pretty well comprehensive and representative throughout the width and breadth of the city, so it’s not a scenario where we’re just thinking that we’re coming up with some ideas, and people don’t know. These are people that have already gone through a 16 week program, and many of them, there are several members people have gone through a program that are here, that will speak to you about what they have done with Faith Builders, and how they have already with Phase I gotten the training, and have gone outside the city to get additional resources to invest in economic development as well as housing development projects within the City of Shreveport. So, as you can tell by this map that’s very colorful, but these are areas not only CDBG block grant areas which are the colored areas, there are a number of them that are in the white areas which are non-community development block grant areas, and I think it’s pretty representative of the width and breadth of Shreveport.

Mr. Russell: Let me also say that part of what we do, we have an assessment tool, and that assessment tool must be first be (inaudible) and specific (inaudible) and we explained it to them. We sit down and explain it to them. (Inaudible) and then we actually take our assessment tool to the organizations that have been identified to participate, and we actually assess their present capacity, and where they think they want to go, so we build the curriculum to bridge between where they are, where they want to go, to be in alignment with where the city is, because if the city is committing its resources to this, we need to make sure that all the organizations are planning to do things that can take advantage of those resources as they bridge from where they are to where they want to go.

Councilman Long: How have y’all measured the results? Let me ask you this. How long has this particular program as you’ve described, how long have you been -- - ?

Mr. Russell: Since 1990.

Councilman Long: Okay, do y’all have quantitative data to support the results of the program?

Mr. Russell: No. The only quantitative data is the type of things that most of the major organizations like Neighbor Works, Neighborhood Housing Services, Enterprise, this and others publish every year with their success stories to help them go to Ford Foundation and Rockefeller and others to get money to continue to fund their organizations so it gets quantified in the form of publicly published case studies as success stories. And anybody can assess, that says look we put these people through this training, here’s what they went out and did. And if you look at some of these things that we’ve shown you in terms of success stories, they were all over the place. They were from housing for sale, (inaudible) and rentals, they were organizations that created their own real estate companies, non profit real estate brokerage companies to specialize in the marketing of affordable housing in their communities. They were companies like (inaudible) in Washington, D.C. that created it’s own mortgage banking brokerage operation to do nothing but provide mortgage funding for affordable housing to low and moderate income people in one of the highest cost areas in the country, in District of Columbia. So, they come at it in different ways. There are people who develop housing like Easy Breathe Housing. That housing is a project developed just for people who have severe allergies. They had a huge problem in their community where they live and so they had to figure out a new way to build houses to help people survive the environment where they were living, so they created a whole new type of housing. So it’s that innovative and those success stories are all out there.

Councilman Long: Once the training is done, Bonnie what sort of follow up programs - - - how do you, is there an ongoing I guess through your Community Development Department, you follow up, and monitor - - - you’re there to help resolve issues? Or further assistance? Is that kinda how it works?

Ms. Moore: We have dedicated staff persons that work with Faith Builders I. We follow them to date. A lot of them are here today we provided training opportunities for them, we’ve helped them with grants and other things, and we also followed and made sure that planning and development during Faith Builders I is carried out, and have provided financial resources.

Councilman Long: Okay, alright. Thank you I appreciate that.

Councilman Webb: I have a question. How many people are in your organization that are going to be involved in this?

Mr. Russell: In our organizations there are four people. Myself personally, Lisa Archey, who is one of my original protégés and trainees, in fact I started training her (inaudible).

Councilman Webb: And what kind of timeframe are we looking at or you anticipating doing what you feel like you would need to do?

Mr. Russell: We had assumed that this would be a first quarter of ’07 start up.

Councilman Webb: Okay, so we’re talking about multi-years of service?

Mr. Russell: No, no. In terms of what we do on the front end, what we do on the front end runs from 12-18 months. Now, at that point, you should have a cadre, a substantial cadre of organizations of expertise in this city who can take it to the next level. So instead of lets say the organization doing one house a year, now they’re doing 20 houses a year. Instead of doing one retail facility a year, now they’re doing strip shopping centers. Well, that sort of thing goes on, and on, and on into the future. They may decide they need some additional training, for instance the kind of training that Lisa was doing with Neighbor Works, and Harvard University last year, was for the seasoned project developers who had already done substantial projects who were ready to take it to the next level and start doing 50, 60, 70, 80, 100,000 square foot facilities or hundreds of units of housing at a time, etc., etc. So, the question of how long we were involved we were involved really is up to you all. What we do is to build a foundation, and make sure that it works, so that it can be built upon for the next stage. That’s not a mandatory that comes with that, you may come back and say we’ve got a cadre of people now that are really ready to take it to the next stage. We’d like to see some more sophisticated training, and that’s fine. Because that can be done. Today, the kind of training that we do takes the participants into the banks, into the investors. You may want us to do training that takes your participants into the intermediaries with Wall Street. The Fannie Maes, and the Freddie Macks of this world, to do deals with them. That’s a whole different kind of deal than doing a deal with Chase Banking. Whole different kind of deal.

Councilman Webb: Okay, and the four people on your staff that are here, I guess I’m thinking about the money part. I mean how do you get paid? I mean, and what percentage of this goes to your organization? And what percent goes into the actual project?

Mr. Russell: Right. The four people, myself, Lisa Archey, Ernestine Williams-Smith, and Dottie Russell. Okay? Those are the four people in house we work with. Now, we have consultants and trainers all over the country just as the first program did, that we bring in that specialize in certain kinds of things that we think we need to have somebody to come in and drill down on. On the training. Now, the way we get paid is we get paid fees like everybody else in the total budget. When you look at the total budget, and understand you’ve got some real advantages here, because you’re only talking about the city of Shreveport. Most of these trainings in the past have been regional. So it had to include housing for people, for the in classroom workshop. We’re talking about no hotel cost, none of that sort of thing, because it’s all Shreveport people. We think that if we do this at Southern University, we could have facilities locally that we could cut the cost down. So the amount of the percentage of the front end that comes to our organization is what is left after all of the expenses covered for each of the participants, and all of the facilities, and the food they have to be fed, and the production of all the training materials, and the printing, etc., etc. Based on the budget that was included in the original proposal, it’s probably about 67% would come to overhead, for the trainers and consultants.

Councilman Webb: That’s what I needed to know. Thank you.

Councilman Lester: We have an opportunity to bring in a nationally recognized consultant. You talk about the dollars that we spend and whose going to make the money. As I appreciate it, we spent I think and Ms. Moore if you could - - - is Ms. Moore here? Ms. Moore, can we - - - do you remember what the budget was for Faith Builders, Part I? How much was that?

Ms. Moore: We actually spent $57,000.

Councilman Lester: Okay. We spent $57,000, it was an investment from the City’s standpoint. As I appreciate it, and I know Mr. Cary has to leave, and before if you could take us - - - Mr. Cary could you come really briefly, because I know you have to leave. I appreciate you coming down. Just really briefly, and I appreciate you coming, as I appreciate it, you are with Grace Project. Could you kinda give us your experience with Faith Builders and what you’ve done?

Mr. Roy Cary: (4615 Monkhouse Dr) I am the Executive Director of Grace Project, Inc., which is a faith builder or non profit organization in the community of Allendale where Pastor Blake and Mt. Canaan Baptist Church had a vision about revitalizing and rebuilding the homes around the church and in the neighborhood of Allendale. We had an opportunity, first of all, I just want to say thanks to the Council for allowing the presentation, but if I think if we look at it, I think we’re talking about $180,000. The last Faith Builders Workshop that I attended, which was a great success, cause he gave Grace and some other - - - there were about 40 non profits, Mr. Walford that were in attendance in that meeting for 16 weeks. 40 of us, and we attended that course every week, because it was mandated, Ms. Bowman, that we be there in order to get graduated. But we attended that course. As a result, I had very little experience in doing anything towards development, and on a large scale, even though I own real estate in my business, but we were able to after that get funded and have already gotten five houses under construction right now in the Allendale community. And we’ve also gotten funded from the state, and like he said, there are foundations that when you collaborate with these non profit organizations, their foundations, and other grant agencies out there who have a vision to do nothing but maybe revitalize the inner city. Because that’s a big, big need now. And it’s been shown that the cities and I think the gentlemen list them in his presentation, there are cities that have shown success of this program working. I just want to say $180,000 is a small investment, when you talk about if you get just 10 people to build one house, the City of Shreveport couldn’t do that on its own and with the budget and with the budget constraints, but what you do is you enable, you educate, you empower those individuals who are in the Faith Based organizations to get leverage and go out and to build capacity to become faith builders and to build homes for the inner city in their communities. They’ve met with the neighborhood people, they’ve met with the neighborhood associations, they’ve gotten all the data that’s necessary to know what the need of that particular district or that community is. So you then now have a plan and most, like in Allendale we’re in phase with the total commitment, which is the overall plan that Shreveport has adopted about revitalizing Allendale. So, that’s a program where you know what the needs are, housing. You know if you need economic development, you know infrastructure, and those things. But you give the faith based, because government can’t afford it, private sector ain’t gonna do it, you’re going to only get it done by faith based organizations. Those are the people who are going to spend the time to write grants. They’re going to be trained how to write a grant. They’re going to be taught how to go out and manage a property. They’re going to be taught how to do applications for special funding. All of those things will empower that agency, and those organizations to become self sustaining, so that $180,000 down the road, will turn probably into $5,000,000 in homes, in tax revenue, in jobs, and economic development, and things of that nature. So I just want to urge you that from a personal aspect that knowing that we just started about a year ago, and we now have four homes under construction, and because of our base of already acquiring some adjudicated property, Mr. Shyne, we will be acquiring more adjudicated property to continue development. We’re talking about putting houses back into the tax market. We’re talking about creating revenue for the city, and I don’t know, there’s a program, I’ve heard of it, and the Mayor and I spoke about it, the Nehemiah program. Some of you may have heard of it. But I think it was from out of New York, where the same somewhat effort, and the same plans were used in how they revitalized the whole community. This works, it affects each of your districts, I’m saying when you divide $180,000, and they’re going to be probably training anywhere from 40 to 50 non profit organizations. You’ve done yourself a great favor, you’ve made a wise investment, and I urge you to support the legislation. Thank you for letting me come down. Any questions before I leave.

Councilman Shyne: Mr. Cary I would hate to have to campaign against you.

Mr. Cary: Thank you Mr. Shyne, I would hate to have to campaign against you Mr. Shyne. Bless you, thank you.

Councilwoman Bowman: I just want to basically say Mr. Cary thank you for coming and sharing that information. However, I do reside in Queensborough, and Lakeside is a part of my district, and that’s an inner city area. And you know the blight, and we all know about, those of us who reside in these areas, those of us who represent people in these areas, we know about all of the abandoned property, and if we want to truly revitalize those areas, we need to do whatever is in our power to try to fix them up. And I do support your efforts, I’m quite pleased with the total commitment over in Allendale, and I’m about to try to put some type of initiative over in Lakeside, and Queensborough is really trying as far as revitalization is concerned with first time home buyers, and trying to build up property, and tear down old houses, rebuild new ones. Those are things I’m looking at. So, because of those things, because I want our communities to be better, and the neighborhoods to be better, that is why I support this. I was over in Lakeside the other day, and believe me I thought that there was some terrible living conditions over in Queensborough, but when I got over there, and started driving around, I said Lord, I need to come back over there, there are a lot of things that are going to have to be redone. And I would certainly like their neighborhood Mr. Ellis, and others over there to get involved with this and take advantage of it. Because that’s the only way I can truly start to revitalize that area.

Mr. Cary: Ms. Bowman, when you said CHDA, I didn’t even mention either at the time I went through the training institution that Ms. Moore and her staff put on earlier, Grace Project at that time Mr. Wooley, was not a CHDA. A CHDA is a Community Housing Development Organization, and when you become certified as a CHDA, you become eligible for other funds through the state, through the federal government, you could even provide first time home buyers training counselor. You can also get funding for financing homes and the HAPPI funds, and there’s a lot more eligibility for funds when you do it. We got Ray certified as a CHDA by going to the training institute that Ms. Moore and her staff put on. And now the state, just to show you how, I think this gentleman spoke, and I’ve not met him but I’m in agreement, because I’m aware because I’m in the Neighborhood Training Institute, one that’s in Atlanta. But the state itself Ms. Bowman is providing training this month. Louisiana Housing and Finance Agency from January 29 through the 31^st for non profits, to no expense to you on how to get funded, on how to do your applications on financing, on how to do development, on how to get your board structured. They’re all for that as another tier at no expense once you become certified as a CHDA. So that’s an important thing, and I’m glad she mentioned that that was something else that derived from us going through the training institute. Thank you. Any other questions?

Councilman Long: I have a question for the Administration. Why wasn’t this program part of the 2007 Community Development budget? Why are we looking at it separately now as opposed to being a part of the original budget?

Mayor Glover: Mr. Long, I cannot speak to that question specifically, but here’s what I can speak to. As a member of the Louisiana Legislature, I was privileged to go to Baton Rouge, and help secure state funding to help support this effort. I along with Senator Jackson, and I’m not sure which other members of the delegation managed to deliver some significant state dollars to help support this particular effort and initiative. Because in my estimation, it represents exactly what’s going to be a key part of trying to rebuild and reclaim substantial portions of Shreveport. Mr. Cary is right on point, and others when they talk about the benefits that the City has achieved and attained even at this point from what’s already been done. I was very pleased to see the type of effort that was put in place. Types of organizations and groups that stepped forward to get involved. The commitment that they had to attending each and everyone of those 16 or 18 classes, and the requirements and the standards that were put in place. That’s been a part of the vision that I talked about as a candidate for the Mayor of the City of Shreveport that in order for us to truly be able to reclaim and to repopulate so many of our neighborhoods, is going to take a multi level effort. Most importantly, those folks in the community, in the neighborhoods out there right now who are closest to it, both the faith based entities as well as the neighborhood associations, community development corporations stepping forward joining hands with local government, with state government, with local government with the four property development communities in developing these types of partnerships to be able to put forth this effort forward. I will say to you, we all got elected on at some point, by November 7^th, we were do to pass a budget by December 15^th. This was not a part of the executive budget that ended up being included as our first budget, but I’m here to tell you that if it were not for Councilman Lester here today, attempting to advance this effort, then it would not be long that I as Mayor, would be sitting here today making this same argument, offering this same vision and telling you that this is going to be a big part of what we’re going to be doing throughout the City of Shreveport.

Councilman Long: Okay, I appreciate that. My concern was that is coming out of Riverfront Development Fund which is somewhat, shall we say spoken for at this moment and time, and my concern again is that if we spend this money, then that fund is pretty much left, not unless our CAO can inform me otherwise, is pretty well tapped out. So, I mean, if there’s any other important things that might or may come up as the year progresses, do we have other sources that we can draw upon Mr. Dark, or do you have any thoughts on that?

Mr. Dark: Mr. Chairman, is it okay if I just answer?

Councilman Long: Yeah.

Mr. Dark: Actually we tried to leave a little room in the Riverfront fund each year because I felt like there would be some issues relative to the inner city, and we’re fine. We’re spending less money than we bring in on that fund for this year, and this is a good use for it.

Mr. Cary: Mr. Chairman, may I respond to that?

Councilman Walford: Certainly.

Mr. Cary: I just wanted to - - - I understand and I think Ms. Bowman, Councilwoman Bowman made it very clear on her opening statements about where we’re putting our priorities. When we talk about putting houses back on the market, properties now that are being maintained by the city, Code Enforcement is overwhelmed with, adjudicated properties, that they can’t afford to cut. When I was on the City Council, they were a big responsibility, Councilman Shyne and some others can tell you, I assure you, it’s probably an even greater responsibility. How is it that this city can compromise not making an investment in some entities, that are proven, shown and is showing that they are building homes. Now, lets just say that they put 10 more houses on the tax roll that wasn’t there. To me, not being a very smart business man would tell me that’s revenue, instead of expense. And if you’ve got skills by keeping it cut, by having drug addicts hanging out, and then this program offers a good program that shows you how a lot of homes can be rehabilitated. Homes that are in good standing, just need to be gone in and taken, and you can rehab those homes. And you can salvage some of those homes and provide decent quality (inaudible) houses if we’re talking about this city being the next greatest city in the south, and we’re talking about bringing individuals back to Shreveport, my question to this Council and to this City is where are we going to put them? Are we going to let them live outside the city limits in order to be able to do what they need to do within the city? No, because there won’t be any housing if we don’t address this concern. And this is not something I like doing, but I feel compelled to do it because of the fact that there is so much blight in the inner city that if we don’t do something, we’re going to find a big doughnut central, where there is going to be no tax base. You won’t have a riverfront, you won’t have a river boat gaming activity. Shreveport will be broke and we’ll be in a dire disaster, if you don’t get the non profits and the faith based people motivated because it takes time, it takes a lot of money that’s already been spent on the part of the faith based because a lot of people giving their time, they’re donating their service, and they donate - - - like me, their expertise. So, I want to submit to you that if you’re going to measure $180,000 compared to building the type of homes that you (inaudible) that this faith based group will have built at the end of the year, and you compare that with the revenue that the city will get in taxes so you will get a lot of income versus expense.

Councilman Long: Thank you I appreciate that Roy. And I hear what you’re saying loud and clear. And in the context of all that, my other concern is that as you develop this capacity for these folks, and this is probably directed more to Mr. Russell, is that the situation that - - - I know that especially in the Allendale area, there are other initiatives from outer, I want to say out of town non profit housing groups that are trying to operate and building that area. And as you build capacity with these different organizations, competition is going to enter into the market place at some level. And I sense that that’s already been going on already here at some level locally. So, I think it’s important that there’s assurances that as a city, that we promote a level playing field for all groups who want to be involved in revitalization, and who want to build in these particular neighborhoods. And that no barriers be put up against anybody that’s a legitimate effort, and if the money’s being provided, wherever it’s coming from, cause again, I’ve heard some stories, I can’t substantiate ‘em but I think it’s important that we have a level playing field and we treat everybody equally.

Mayor Glover: Council Member Long, I appreciate and acknowledge your concern, but here’s what I want to say to you. The biggest problem that I hope I have the opportunity to deal with as Mayor of the City of Shreveport, is to have people stepping over each other competing for an opportunity to develop in Allendale, and in Cedar Grove, and in Mooretown, and in Cooper Road, and in all Hollywood, and in all of the neighborhoods across this city, where we have as Roy Cary, a former Council Member Roy Cary just made mention of, where we have so many vacant and adjudicated lots that we are over burdened with trying to take care of right now. If I as Mayor am given the responsibility and the challenge of trying to figure out how to meet all of these different individual groups and entities that are trumping at the bit to get into these neighborhoods, to begin to bring this level of investment, I will welcome the 20 hour days that that will bring with it, and we will be well on the way to becoming the next great city of the south. So, I can assure you we’re going to make sure that everybody is treated fairly, everybody is going to be dealt with above board, but I hope that you will help hasten us getting to that point where I have to sit and put on my striped shirt, and play referee as we decide which one of these groups will get a chance to develop in these communities that needs this investment so much.

Councilman Lester: And to ducktail on what you said Mr. Mayor, is the whole purpose of this is more than just a house, because housing is one need. But there are places in Allendale that there’s not a grocery story in Allendale. I mean if you live in Broadmoor and places like that, it seems axiomatic to say that you have shopping options. But there’s no place to buy gas in Allendale or Lakeside. Okay, and if we ask for the market place in a private industry to come in and come in and come in, and they haven’t, but as a governmental body, you have a responsibility to bring something to the people. And that’s what it’s all about. If - - - listen, I had a meeting with one of the biggest developers in Shreveport before I came here, and we had a long discussion about this issue, and I asked him what is it going to take to bring investment back into inner city Shreveport? And he gave me a laundry list of things, and some of those things we’re going to work towards, and even some of those things I don’t know if we can. But if you have faith based non profit organizations that have gone through a training process thus far and are willing to be trained and take on the responsibility to bring both not only housing, but economic development to the areas in which they serve, and we’re talking about $180,000 to teach ten organizations how to fish for themselves, Mr. Webb, this is not a program that we’re looking to do every year. We’re looking to train these people so that they can go on about their business, and learn and we don’t have to deal with this anymore. We spend in the Department of Community Development’s budget every year, $1,000,000 cutting grass. And most of it is adjudicated properties that’s dilapidated property that are taking neighborhood property values down. And if we can spend $180,000 to take some of that property that’s a haven for drugs, miscreants, vermin that’s taking property values down, that has senior citizens scared to leave their homes every night. If we can take $180,000, put ten people in a room over a 12 year period, take a nationally know trainer, and one of the pictures that went by so fast, that you missed maybe, there is a picture of Mr. Russell addressing the National Press Club.

Councilman Webb: I saw it.

Councilman Lester: National Press Club, Washington, D.C., that’s up here. Everybody just doesn’t get to walk in and address the National Press Club, okay? That’s willing to come to Shreveport, Louisiana to teach people in inner cities how to fish for themselves, that is the definition of, as I appreciate it, my reading of Ronald Reagan and republican dogma, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. So, how can we be against teaching people to fish, letting them pull themselves up by their bootstraps, because they have determined the neighborhoods in which I live in still have value, and I want to make something happen there. And if they try, and they fail, if they try and they fail, dog gone it, we tried. And it’s worth the try, and we owe it to the people that live in these neighborhoods, to give these options. In a few minutes, we’re going to vote, and it’s probably going to be 7-0, and I think it’s the right thing to do, cause I brought it up. We’re going to rebate taxes to a segment of this population to help them be competitive against people in Texas. Something I think we absolutely, positively have to do. But if we’re going to be about economic development, we’ve got to be about economic development across the scale. We’ve got to rebate people’s taxes to help them become competitive in Agurs. But we also have to look at those inner city areas that desperately need it, that desperately need it. What do we lose if we spend this money, not so coincidentally, less money that several organizations that get money from Riverfront Development Fund, that have no economic development purpose whatsoever, and I’m just going to leave that where it is, and someone just takes one projects and builds a shopping center. Somebody gets a job. Nine times out of ten, it’s going to be somebody that wasn’t working that’s now working, now they’ve gone from being a tax burden to being a taxpayer. You’ve got someone that’s going to be an entrepreneur and nine times out of ten, it’s going to be someone that lives in that neighborhood. So, now you’re buying into the entrepreneurial mindset. And we’re talking about how much money does that cost? We can’t afford not to do this, because our city has been allowed to have all one side of town developed, and the other side of town not being developed and we rush right by it and say those poor people. We’ve got to be a better sitter than that. And rather than to just blanket out give people money, give ‘em checks and give ‘em handouts, people in these neighborhoods want to have pride in themselves. You’ve got neighborhood organizations represented. Rev Bright is here, they’re doing some outstanding things. He’s gotten some money from other organizations outside the city to bring in to leverage the dollars that he’s doing. Rev. Humphries is in the Martin Luther King area, he’s gotten money from Faith Builders I, they’ve got adjudicated property, they’re bringing in dollars from other - - - they’ve engaged the Community Foundation of Shreveport to do things. Roy Cary’s here with Grace Project, they’ve gotten money from the state. Rev. E. Edward Jones has built a multimillion dollar market rate townhouse and apartment complex in the middle of Allendale. And I know people told him he couldn’t do it. And he’s looking now that’s he’s built that type of money, he’s now looking to give those people that live in Galilee City some shopping options. So, if we’ve done this part, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got to continue this process. I don’t want to sit here. I don’t want the next Councilman for District A or the next council to have to sit here and have this discussion about why there aren’t any gas stations in Allendale. Why aren’t there any other options in Cedar Grove? Why is Hollywood looking the way it is. You know each one of our districts has an area that is blighted. We’ve got an opportunity. We’ve got the resources, we’ve got committed people, we’ve got Department of Community Development that has shown that they can administer programs like this to help people get it done. It’s a no-brainer. $180,000 versus years of decline versus a million dollar every year cutting grass, that is a paltry sum, but it can be something that ‘s tremendous because we can make a difference in people’s lives. And again, it’s not about Calvin Lester, it’s not about District A, because as I’ve showed you on the map, each one of those organizations has a participant. It stretches across all seven city council districts. And I would ask that you would support it. Ms. Moore, let me ask you one other thing, and I’m going to try to be quiet.

Mr. Cary: Can I be excused?

Councilman Lester: Yes, yes. Thank you for your presence.

Mr. Cary: Thank you. Councilmen, I thank you all for allowing me to share with you. Thank you, God bless you.

Councilman Lester: I kinda get worked up, and I apologize for that. Ms. Moore, there’s another success story that I’ve forgotten about. Would you tell us about what Word of Faith has done? I think this is what - - -

Ms. Moore: Ms. Atkins was here. She’s out there, they attended the class and all classes, and as a result of her attending these classes, their non profit applied for a grant, and got $1,000,000.

Councilman Lester: $1,000,000. Grant.

Ms. Moore: I think from the Department of Health and Human Services. And we also matched that grant. We matched that grant for them as well. So, they have $2,000,000 actually of what we’re to develop housing and education.

Councilman Lester: And that’s just one participant in the Faith Builders I, that has taken the training they have gotten locally, and gone out and secured $1,000,000. They could pay for the grass cutting.

Councilman Long: Lets do it.

Councilman Lester: Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Councilman Webb: Well, let the record show that our grass cutting will go down (inaudible).

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 6. Nays: Councilman Walford. 1.

5. Ordinance No. 5 of 2007: An ordinance amending the 2007 Budget for the Riverfront Development Special Revenue Fund, and otherwise providing with respect thereto. (A/Lester)

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Bowman to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 6. Nays: Councilman Walford. 1.

6. Ordinance No. 6 of 2007: An ordinance closing and abandoning the 50 foot-wide Chase Cove public right of way located between Lots 49 and 50 in the Chase Wood Subdivision and extending thru the drainage easement to Lots 83 and 84 of Pine Hill Park Unit No. 3, located in the SW ¼ of Section 10 (T16N-R14W), Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (E/Webb)

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Webb, seconded by Councilman Shyne to adopt. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

8. Ordinance No. 8 of 2007: An ordinance to amend and reenact Section of 1.17 of Ordinance No. 96 of 2980 to provide a sales and use tax exemption for charges for the furnishing of repairs to tangible personal property under certain circumstances, and to otherwise provide with respect thereto

Having passed first reading on January 9, 2007 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Lester, seconded by Councilman Bowman to adopt.

Councilman Lester: Thank you Mr. Chairman, members. Yes, we have some members from the (inaudible) industry, if they could come up and identify themselves? Lindy could you bring ‘em up for us please?

Ms. Lindy Broderick: (Shreveport Chamber of Commerce) Kurt Foreman had referred to two business people who were here to make a few comments to you, unfortunately they weren’t here at the time, and if you will allow them to make a few comments at the moment, I’ll turn it over to them.

Councilman Walford: If you would state your name and address for the record please sir.

Mr. Ken Fagin: (7401 Atkinson ) One of the things that I wanted to talk to y’all about is the tax that we have and both and Charlie and I managed businesses here that was most of our employees were previously employed by three different companies, of which have moved out, not only out of City of Shreveport, but out of the State of Louisiana. Not necessarily totally I’m sure because (inaudible) pretty strong (inaudible). As a result of that, there were some 125 employees of those businesses that ended up jobless. Since that period of time, both Charlie and a couple of other business as well as my business has started. Both of our businesses are young, in that we’ve only been in operation a few years, has put those people back to work in the business. Most of our repairs that we’re asking you people to look at, the taxes on those repairs very closely is from work that we get outside the state of Louisiana. We’re competing with our competitors in states such as Texas, the west coast, up in New England. We bring business from all over the United States into Shreveport here to keep our companies going here, but one of the things that’s really hurting us is this tax. Because our competitors they don’t face this tax and it’s a pretty significant amount of money for us percentage wise of our contracts. As an example, presently we’re negotiating with a large prior utility company that has plants in over eight states in the U.S. For us to compete against that national contract, we’re bidding against some of the larger companies, of which one was here in Shreveport years ago, and left. But we’re competing such that only a small percentage is going to determine whether this company goes with us or goes with one of these other larger companies. So when we get to a national contract like that, it’s significant in that usually it’s determined in a very small percentage of the bid as to whose going to get the project. Quite frankly, it’s all about money with this type work. But what that does for us, and I’m sure I’m speaking for Charlie and some of these other companies, just like my company. If we’re successful in getting that contract, you know there’s no doubt in the period of the next 18 months, we will be expanding our plant. But that’s just the first step. So the trickling effect in a positive sense for a company such as ours, because the next step would be for us to start designing testing and manufacturing our own pumps. And I don’t know if you remember, but wasn’t too many years ago, we had (inaudible) company here that employed over 360 employees, both Charlie and I were employees of that company. They manufactured some pumps and some all over the world. We started American Pump, both Charlie and I worked for American Pump Co. We started very similar to what our companies are at this particular point. We started as an after market company. We struggled pretty difficult to get the companies up and going during a very difficult time in Shreveport/Bossier area. At that time, we brought the company American Pump up, and employed almost 50 people, 48 people at peak (made a bad decision) and sold it to a company from Europe. But that ended up being Textron. They were found here in Shreveport, and again Charlie was the manager of that facility. And one of the determining factors of them closing their facility and moving out of Shreveport was again, this tax. Again I’m not standing here telling you that this has been the main reason for these companies leaving here, but it is significant, and companies that are after market type companies such as ours with the potential of being later on manufacturing companies to be able to have the freedom to get these national contracts or doing repairs, and compete against people outside the State of Louisiana, but we have to have some help in these areas to do that. So I appreciate your listening to me, and I don’t want to set here go on too much, but that’ll pretty well let you know what we’re up against on this type of tax, and what it does for us.

Mr. Charles Goodrich: (9444 Wrenwood Blvd) I echo everything that Ken has just told you. I’m a native of Shreveport. Almost four years ago when Textron announced they were closing the plant, I had an opportunity to leave Shreveport, and I had a feeling in my gut that I didn’t want to leave this area. I turned down a good job in Battle Creek, Michigan to stay here, me and three of the other managers or two of the other managers of the company decided to roll the dice and open a company. Doing the same thing repairing large centrifugal pumps (inaudible) pipeline and utility business, and invested every cent we had, all our 401K. We were going to make this company go, or we were going to live under a bridge somewhere. That’s just the way it was. The company so far has been very successful. Our start of about four employees, and we have 19 employees now, and we’re aggressively looking for more at this present time. We looked in E. Texas when we started, we all lived in this area, and we wanted to give something back to this community, to Shreveport, Caddo Parish and Louisiana and we didn’t want to abandon our home. This tax that we’re asking to be abolished has really hurt us in the repair business. We send the tax out on our bills to our customers. Most of the ones out of state refuse to pay it. Which means that we pay it. They’re out of state, we have no authority to collect taxes from people out of state. There’s no law enforcement that can help us collect that. So, we’re left holding. And what this does is take money away from investments. We invested, our company invested over $200,000 in that plant, out of just three individuals with not a whole lot of capital to start with last year to make this plant better for employees. And when we take this tax that we have to pay, that’s money we can’t reinvest in that company, and we want to grow it, and we’re asking your help to abolish this tax, so that we can grow and put more people to work. Appreciate it.

Councilman Lester: I want to make one statement and then I’ll turn it over. Mr. Chairman I appreciate these gentlemen for coming down here. I’ve never met them before, they don’t know me from Atom’s Aunt. This whole scenario started because in driving around my district, particularly in the Agurs area, there has - - - Agurs as you may know was the industrial heart of the City of Shreveport, before there really was a City of Shreveport, there was Agurs. And as you drive up and back and Councilman Walford, I know you know more than anybody, the scenario of seeing all of those large manufacturing places being shut down and closed it’s almost mind boggling what happened. If we could do something to bring a segment of that industry back. And yet as you drive up and down Market Street and Aero Drive, and all you see are these businesses that were once thriving, that were paying people good wages, and taking care of families, employing people, building houses in North Highlands, the whole nine yards. And so I approached Kurt Foreman with the Chamber and said what can we do for these guys? And he said well you know there is a tax that is really affecting them probably more disproportionately than anyone else, and that’s how this whole process got started. Again, this is about economic development, it’s about keeping jobs here, but more than that, it’s about making Shreveport competitive, not just with other cities in the state, but on the national level. And anytime that we can do something that can help local business owners, small business owners, help develop their companies, hire our people, train our people, contribute more to our economy, it’s something that we definitely want to do, and certainly it’s going to help the folks in Agurs, but it’s also going to have the appeal ability across the width and breath of the city. So I would just ask that you would support this, because this Mayor has been on the vanguard in terms of even as a legislature moving forward with rebating and dealing with getting rid of some aggressive taxes, and I think this should send the signal not only to these folks, but hopefully with the Chamber’s help, nationally that Shreveport is a place that we want you to do business in, and we have a very business friendly character. So, I would ask for your support. Thank you for your support.

Councilman Shyne: Mr. Chairman, I’d call for the vote, and I think we’ve all been convinced and I think we all are in favor of what you all are doing, so I’d call for the vote at this particular time.

Councilman Walford: If that’s a call for the question that ends debate, I don’t think it’s necessary. Unless someone objects, I think we’re ready to vote.

Councilman Shyne: Well, I was hoping so, but with this Council, you never know. I thought I could talk.

Councilman Webb: That’s an understatement.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

9. Ordinance No. 215 of 2007: ZONING – C94-06: An ordinance amending Chapter 106 of the Code of Ordinances, the City of Shreveport, zoning ordinance by rezoning property located on the west side of Hutchinson, 190 feet north of Greenwood Road, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana from R-1D, Urban, One-Family Residence District,, to B-4, Buffer Business District and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (A/Lester) (Postponed January 9, 2007)

Having passed first reading on December 26, 2006 was read by title, and on motion, ordered passed to third reading. Read the third time in full and as read motion by Councilman Shyne, seconded by Councilman Lester to postpone. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

Councilman Walford: Before we move onto Unfinished Business, I would like to make a motion for reconsideration of Introduction of Resolution 11 of 2007.

Councilman Webb: Second.

Motion by Councilman Walford, seconded by Councilman Webb to reconsider the introduction of Resolution No. 11 of 2007.

Councilman Lester: As I appreciate it, that has already been introduced. Is that correct?

Councilman Walford: That can be reconsidered.

Councilman Lester: Okay, alright. As I understand it, that takes a two-thirds vote?

Ms. Glass and Councilman Walford: Majority vote.

Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Walford, Long, Wooley, and Webb, 4. Nays: Councilmen Lester, Shyne and Bowman. 3.

Councilman Walford: At this time, I would - - - Mr. Thompson, you’re going to have to help me with a motion. A motion to reconsider and ask for a ‘NO’ vote. Would that be appropriate.

Motion by Councilman Walford, seconded by Councilman Wooley to introduce Resolution No. 11 of 2007.

Councilman Walford: I would ask for a “NO” vote on this. Ms. Bowman?

Councilwoman Bowman: Yes sir, can you explain your reason?

Councilman Walford: I intended to vote No on introduction.

Councilwoman Bowman: Can you explain to me your reason?

Councilman Walford: Yeah, I think it’s a very, very, bad resolution. I voted against the same resolution twice previously, I’ll vote against it again if it’s introduced.

Councilwoman Bowman: Mr. Thompson, would you read that resolution again? And the reason I’m asking for that to be re-read is because most times, when I haven’t been here in Council Chamber, and I’m at home watching this, and you say Resolution 11 or this and that, the General Public does not know what you’re talking about.

The Clerk read the following:

Resolution No. 11 of 2007: A resolution authorizing the Mayor to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with United Steel Workers, AFL-CIO (USW), and to otherwise provide with respect thereto.

Councilman Lester: I would simply ask to the Council and to the Membership, certainly if you are not in favor of item 11, you have the opportunity to vote against it at the point that it’s going to be voted on. This is not a scenario where I attempted to add the particular agenda item on a Monday or a Tuesday meeting, and for all intents and purposes, there is nothing that would prevent me at the next meeting from timely putting it on the agenda. I would just simply ask the Council to at least allow us to have the discussion. If any of the members believe that this is not something that they would want to do, then certainly you have that ability at that time to vote no. But for us to not vote to introduce a resolution that has been done timely, I think it sets a bad precedent. Regardless of whether it has something to do with an issue that I am advocating for, and I certainly don’t expect for everyone to support every issue that I bring to the Council, but I think that out of basic common courtesy to the Council Member, if you follow the procedure in terms of asking the Council’s Office to place something on the agenda, and you’re timely, and the Council Office places it on the agenda, and I’m not asking you to vote for it, it’s simply for introduction. If you don’t want to vote for it, then at the appropriate time, not vote for it. But I think it sends a negative scenario when we try to keep resolutions and ordinances and things of that nature off of the Council’s agenda, simply because we don’t vote for it. There are things and there are times when we are going to allow a member to have, for lack of a better term, his day at the public forum, and if it’s an issue that’s important to your constituents, I think your constituents would ask at a minimum that you at least be afforded the opportunity to bring your agenda item before the Council, and have it voted down. And either vote it 7-0, or 6-1, or if the vote fails 4-3, then at least you have had your opportunity to come before this Council. But I think it sets a very negative precedent. And it sends a bad message that a Council Member is not allowed to put something on for introduction, and we’re voting to take their particular ordinance or that particular resolution off, and because it’s not something that you support. I have not lobbied any of the Council Members, other than to say that this is something that I was introducing, and in fact, two Council - - - well Council Meeting before, I asked that it be placed on the agenda, and it wasn’t on the agenda, simply because there was some miscommunication between myself and the Council Office. So, I understand that Councilman Walford is not going to be for this, I respect that. I don’t agree with it, and he’s consistent in his position, and that’s fine, but I would simply ask for the Council out of respect, if not to me, but for the people who asked me to move forward with this particular legislation, which are constituents of mine and yours, and City workers. At least allow them to have their day in court. As a practical matter, if you don’t want to vote for it, don’t. But please know even if the vote is NO, I’m going to be moving to introduce this every single Council Meeting., for the time that I’m on here until I get a vote, so I mean, if we’re going to continue to vote 4-3 No, that’s fine, but I just think it sets a bad precedent, and it’s not - - - I don’t think that’s the type of tone that we want to have in terms of our interpersonal relationships in dealing with issues with our constituents. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Councilwoman Bowman: I have a question. Okay, so when the vote goes up this time, and a yes vote means that we agree with not being able to introduce.

Mr. Thompson: A yes vote will introduce it. A no vote will remove it from the agenda and it would not be introduced.

Councilwoman Bowman: Just wanted to make sure we’re clear.

Motion failed by the following vote: Councilmen Walford, Long, Wooley, and Webb. 4. Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Shyne and Bowman. 3.

The adopted ordinances and amendments follow:

ORDINANCE NO. 1 OF 2007

AN ORDINANCE CLOSING AND ABANDONING THE 15 FOOT- WIDE UTILITY EASEMENT AND DRAINAGE EASEMENT INCLUDING THE SOUTH ADJACENT DRAINAGE PIPE AND EASEMENT LOCATED IN LOT 8 OF SOUTHLAND PARK CENTER SUBDIVISION BOUNDED BY TRULY LANE AND SUMMER GROVE DRIVE IN THE SE ¼ SECTION 4 (T16N-R14W), SHREVEPORT, CADDO PARISH, LOUISIANA AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO.

WHEREAS, today the Property Management Section of the Department of Operational Services has received a request to close and abandon the above Utility and Drainage Easement.

WHEREAS, Water and Sewerage Engineering has reviewed this request and has no objections to this closure and abandonment.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport in due, legal and regular session convened, that the 15 foot-wide Utility and Drainage Easement located in Lot 8 of Southland Park Center Subdivision bounded by Truly Lane and Summer Grove Drive in the SE ¼ Section 4 (T16N-R14W), Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana and as shown and as indicated on the plat attached hereto and made a part hereof, is hereby closed and abandoned.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that a certified copy of this ordinance be filed and recorded in the official records of the District Court for Caddo Parish, Louisiana.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof is invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without invalid provisions, items or applications and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all ordinances or resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

ORDINANCE NO. 2 OF 2007

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AND REPLACE SECTIONS 94-115, 207 & 208 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT BY CLARIFYING PROVISIONS CONCERNING INDIVIDUAL SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEMS AND COMPULSORY CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY SEWER SERVICE, AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO.

By:

WHEREAS, the City has a strong interest in eliminating, as quickly as possible, sewage leaks from malfunctioning septic systems and other individual wastewater treatment systems (“individual systems”) which may occur within the City limits and/or in the Cross Lake Watershed, to protect the health of its citizens and the surrounding environment;

WHEREAS, the City also has an interest in requiring premises served by malfunctioning

individual systems to connect to discontinue use of such systems and connect to the City’s sanitary sewer system (or other community-type system) whenever such is available; and

WHEREAS, current ordinances, specifically Sections 94-115, 94-207, and 94-208, need to be clarified in order to ensure that these important interests are carried out in as prudent a manner as is possible;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in due, legal and regular session convened, as follows:

(1) Section 94-115 of the City’s Code of Ordinances shall be amended and replaced so as to read as follows:

Sec. 94-115. Compulsory connection to city sewerage system.

The provisions of Section 94-208 shall apply to all residences or buildings required by the building code to have toilet facilities and every residence or building containing a sewage fixture or privy.

(2) Section 94-207 of the City’s Code of Ordinances shall be amended and replaced so as to read as follows:

Sec. 94-207. Inspections.

(a) The department shall inspect individual systems to ensure their proper functioning and performance in accordance with all laws, rules and regulations, and is authorized to enter upon private premises at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner to inspect such systems.

(b) The following procedure shall be used in the event of a malfunctioning individual system:

(1) If plumbing fixtures within a structure are required to be connected to a community-type system pursuant to the provisions of Section 94-208, the individual system serving said fixtures may not be repaired or replaced unless the owner is instructed to do so by written notice from the department. Pending connection to the community-type system, the department may require that the malfunctioning individual system be repaired or replaced, and/or that leaking of sewage be eliminated, upon ten days written notice from the department to the owner.

(2) If plumbing fixtures within a structure are not required to be connected to a community-type system pursuant to the provisions of Section 94-208, the individual system serving said fixtures must be repaired or replaced, and/or the leaking of sewage be eliminated, as soon as possible, and in no event later than ten days after written notice from the department to the owner requiring such action.

(c) Failure to comply with the provisions of this Section or the requirements of a notice issued by the department pursuant to this Section shall constitute a violation of this article and, in addition to any other penalties specified under this article, shall authorize the department and/or health unit to declare the structures involved uninhabitable and to order the structures vacated until the system is functioning properly. In addition, if the premises is served by City water, such violation shall entitle the department to terminate water service to the premises. The city attorney is hereby authorized to undertake any appropriate legal action to enforce such order.

(3) Section 94-208 of the City’s Code of Ordinances shall be amended and replaced so as to read as follows:

Sec. 94-208. Mandatory connection to community-type systems.

(a) All plumbing fixtures within any structure shall be connected to a community-type system (including the City’s sewer system, if available) when required by state law or regulation or applicable parish ordinance, and in all other cases where such structure is not served by a properly functioning individual system and is located on property which abuts a street, alley or other public way in which a gravity sewer line from the structure can be connected to a gravity sewer main having sufficient capacity to handle sewage from the structure.

(b) When plumbing fixtures within a structure are required to connect to a community-type system pursuant to Subsection 94-208(a), such fixtures must be connected to the community-type system, at the owner’s expense, no later than 120 days after written notice from the City to the owner requiring such action, or such shorter time as may be required by state law or regulation or applicable parish ordinance.

(c) Failure to comply with the provisions of this Section or the requirements of a notice issued by the department pursuant to this Section shall constitute a violation of this Article and, in addition to any other penalties specified under this Article, shall authorize the department and/or health unit to declare the structure involved uninhabitable and to order the structure vacated until connection is properly made. In

addition, if the premises is served by City water, such violation shall entitle the department to terminate water service to the premises. The city attorney is hereby authorized to undertake any appropriate legal action to enforce such order.

(d) The requirement to connect to a community-type system may be waived or deferred for a specified time period if the department determines that the community-type system has an inadequate capacity or that the required connection would result in an unreasonable hardship or practical difficulty due to the horizontal or vertical separation of the structure to be connected and the sewer main or lateral, or due to other topographical, physical or geological considerations.

(e) The basis for approving a waiver or deferral, as well as the terms and conditions of such approval, shall be specified in writing, and attached to any permit issued for installation of an individual sewage treatment system.

If any provision or item of this ordinance or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are hereby declared severable.

Ordinance No. 3 of 2007

AN ORDINANCE TO ENACT SECTION 22-1 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT, SCHEDULE OF PERMIT AND INSPECTION FEES, AND OTHERWISE PROVIDING WITH RESPECT THERETO

BY:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport in due, regular, and legal session convened, that Section 22-1 of the Code of Ordinances for the City of Shreveport, Schedule of Permit and Inspection Fees, is hereby enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 22-1. Schedule of Permit and Inspection Fees.

(a) The schedule of permit fees for any person approved to receive a permit for all construction shall be:

(1) Commercial Construction (new construction and new additions)

a. New construction permit fee will be calculated at $5.00 per $1,000.00 or fraction thereof of the contract price up to $5,000,000.00; thereafter, $2.50 per $1,000.00 of contract price.

b. Contract prices will be rounded to the next $1,000.00 when between $1,000.00’s.

c. In the absence of a contract for new construction, the permit fee will be calculated at $0.50 per square foot for all occupancies except storage occupancies, which will be $0.20 per square foot.

d. The minimum permit fee will be $30.00.

e. Permit fees for repairs, alterations, or renovations will be $5.00 per $1,000.00 or fraction thereof. In the absence of a contract or affidavit, the permit fee will be calculated at $0.50 per square foot.

f. The permit fees for miscellaneous construction (fences, paving, retaining walls, fire sprinklers, etc.) will be calculated at the $5.00 per $1,000.00 and will not require a separate permit when included in initial plans and permit. This needs to be noted on the permit application when applying for the permit; otherwise, a separate permit and fee will be required.

g. Additional combinations have been added to the phased construction section.

h. Twenty-five percent (25%) of the permit fee will be added for all plan reviews.

(2) Residential Construction

a. Permit fees for new construction will be calculated at the following rates per square foot:

Dwelling (1, 2, or 3 units) $0.12

Townhouses and Patio Homes $0.20

Assessory uses $0.05

All other residential uses $0.20

b. Residential occupancies with four (4) or more units will be considered commercial and the permit fee will be calculated accordingly.

c. Permit fees for repairs, alterations, and renovations will be calculated at the rate of $4.00 per $1,000.00 of contract value.

d. The contract will be rounded to the next $1,000.00.

e. The owner or contractor must submit a copy of the signed contract or an affidavit stating contract price on all work other than new construction, which is calculated on square footage. A contract cover sheet indicating location, type of work, contract price, and the signatures of owner and contractor without all the general or special conditions may be used. Also, an itemized work order with a total contract price, signed by the owner and contractor, is acceptable.

f. The minimum permit fee is $30.00.

g. Miscellaneous construction (fences, paving, retaining walls, swimming pools, etc.) permit fees will be calculated at the rate of $4.00 per $1,000.00 of contract amount. Note that fencing, paving, and retaining walls have a special provision in the absence of a contract or affidavit.

h. The gross footage of the structures will be used in calculating the fee for new construction.

i. No extra fee will be charged for the driveway when constructed with the dwelling initially.

(3) Demolition, House, and Mobile Home Moving Permit Fees

a. Residential Demolition (1-3 units)

Single story up to 400 square feet $30.00

Single story 400 square feet and above $30.00

Two or more stories $100.00

Selective interior $4.00/$1,000.00

Minimum permit $30.00

b. Commercial Demolition (includes residential with 4 or more units)

Single story up to 40 square feet $30.00

Single story 400 square feet and above $30.00

Two stories $100.00

Three to seven stories $200.00

More than seven stories $500.00

Selective interior $5.00/$1,000.00

Minimum permit $30.00

c. House and Mobile Home Moving

Mobile Homes (tie down inspections, etc.) $30.00

All other buildings and structures $50.00

d. Sanctions: Any individual commencing the above mentioned work without first obtaining a permit will be assessed double the fees, plus a penalty of $50.00.

(4) Inspections outside the city limits of Shreveport: There shall be a fee in the amount of $65.00 per inspection for inspections performed for Caddo Parish issued building permits.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any provision or item of this ordinance or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all ordinances or resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

ORDINANCE NO. 4 OF 2007

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2007 BUDGET FOR THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL REVENUE FUND AND OTHERWISE PROVIDING WITH RESPECT THERETO

BY: Councilman Calvin Lester

WHEREAS, the City Charter provides for the amendment of any previously adopted budget; and

WHEREAS, the City Council finds it necessary to amend the 2007 budget for the Community Development Special Revenue Fund, to adjust appropriations, reflect current revenue estimates and for other purposes.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in legal session convened, that Ordinance No. 166 of 2006, the 2007 budget for the Community Development Special Revenue Fund, is hereby amended as follows:

In Section 1 (Estimated Receipts):

Under "Fiscal Year 2007 Funds", increase Transfer from Riverfront Fund by $180,000.

In Section 2 (Appropriations):

Under A2007 Revenues@

Administration

Increase Other Charges by $180,000

Adjust totals and subtotals accordingly.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that the remainder of Ordinance No. 166 of 2006 shall remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any provision or item of this ordinance or the application thereof shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications; and, to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are hereby declared to be severable.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all ordinances or portions thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

ORDINANCE NO. 5 OF 2007

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2007 BUDGET FOR THE RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL REVENUE FUND AND OTHERWISE PROVIDING WITH RESPECT THERETO.

BY: Councilman Calvin Lester

WHEREAS, the City Charter provides for the amendment of any previously adopted budget; and

WHEREAS, the City Council finds it necessary to amend the 2007 budget for the Riverfront Development Special Revenue Fund to adjust appropriations, reflect current revenue estimates and for other purposes.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in legal session convened, that Ordinance No. 165 of 2006, the 2007 budget for the Riverfront Development Special Revenue Fund, is hereby amended as follows:

In Section 2 (Appropriations):

Decrease Operating Reserves by $180,000

Increase Transfer to Community Development $180,000

Adjust totals and subtotals accordingly.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that the remainder of Ordinance No. 165 of 2006 shall remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any provision or item of this ordinance or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications; and, to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are hereby declared to be severable.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all ordinances or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

ORDINANCE NO. 6 OF 2007

AN ORDINANCE CLOSING AND ABANDONING THE 50 FOOT-WIDE CHASE COVE PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY LOCATED BETWEEN LOTS 49 AND 50 IN THE CHASE WOOD SUBDIVISION AND EXTENDING THRU THE DRAINAGE EASEMENT TO LOTS 83 & 84 OF PINE HILL PARK UNIT NO. 3 LOCATED IN THE SW ¼ OF SECTION 10 (T16N-R14W), SHREVEPORT, CADDO PARISH. LOUISIANA AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO.

WHEREAS, today the Property Management Section of the Department of Operational Services has received a request to close and abandon the above public right of way.

WHEREAS, Water and Sewerage Engineering has reviewed this request and has no objections to this closure and abandonment.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport in due, legal and regular session convened, that the 50 foot-wide Chase Cove public right of way located between lots 49 and 50 in the Chasewood Subdivision and extending thru the drainage easement to lots 83 & 84 of Pine Hill Park Unit No. 3 located in the SW ¼ of section 10 (T16N-R14W), Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana and as shown and as indicated on the plat attached hereto and made a part hereof, is hereby closed and abandoned. Water, sewer, utility and drainage easement servitude is hereby retained.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that a certified copy of this ordinance be filed and recorded in the official records of the District Court for Caddo Parish, Louisiana.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof is invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without invalid provisions, items or applications and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all ordinances or resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

ORDINANCE NO. 7 OF 2007

AN ORDINANCE REPEALING SECTION 2-1 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO.

BY:

BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in legal session convened, that Section 2-1 of the Code of Ordinances is hereby repealed in its entirety.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any provision or item of this ordinance or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications which can be given effect without the invalid provisions, items or applications; and, to this end, the provisions of the ordinance are hereby declared to be severable.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all ordinances or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

ORDINANCE NO. 8 OF 2007

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AND REENACT SECTION 1.17 OF ORDINANCE NO. 96 OF 1980 TO PROVIDE A SALES AND USE TAX EXEMPTION FOR CHARGES FOR THE FURNISHING OF REPAIRS TO TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, AND TO OTHERWISE PROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO.

By: Councilman Lester

WHEREAS, La. R.S. 47: 337.10(F) allows any political subdivision to exclude from “sales of services” for the purpose of levying sales and use taxes, charges for the furnishing of repairs to tangible personal property, as defined below, when the repaired property is delivered to the customer in another state either by common carrier or the repair dealer’s own vehicle; however, as to aircraft, delivery may be by the best available means; and

WHEREAS, the Shreveport City Council hereby finds that said exclusion will promote economic growth within the city and provide parity with surrounding areas within and outside the State of Louisiana.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Shreveport, in due, legal and regular session convened that subsection (7) of the second paragraph of Section 1.17 of Ordinance No. 96 of 1980 is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:

1.17. Sales.

* * *

(7) the furnishing of repairs to tangible personal property, including by way of illustration and not of limitation, the repair and servicing of automobiles and other vehicles, electrical and mechanical appliances and equipment, watches, jewelry, refrigerators, radios, shoes and office appliances and equipment. Charges for the furnishing of repairs to tangible personal property may be excluded from sales of services, as defined in this Subparagraph, when the repaired property is delivered to the customer in another state either by common carrier or the repair dealer's own vehicle, however, as to aircraft, delivery may be by the best available means. For the purposes of this Subparagraph, tangible personal property shall include machinery, appliances, and equipment which have been declared immovable by declaration under the provisions of Article 467 of the Louisiana Civil Code, and things which have been separated from land, buildings, or other constructions permanently attached to the ground or their component parts as defined in Article 466 of the Civil Code.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that this ordinance shall become effective on April 1, 2007.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any provision or item of this Ordinance or the application thereof is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, items or applications of this Ordinance which can be given affect without the invalid provisions, items or applications and to this end the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby declared severable.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all Ordinances or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Mr. Thompson: Mr. Chairman, item no. 6, MPC APPROVAL – SC-102-6 was remanded to the MPC on December 12^th. I have in my possession a letter from Meridian Court, Limited Partnership, dated January 11, 2007 which Mr. Taylor states that they are withdrawing this subdivision application, and therefore I assume they are withdrawing their appeal.

1. Resolution No. 100 of 2006: Authorizing the release of mortgages and cancellation of promissory notes executed by Shreveport Publishing Corporation (now Snap Property, LLC) in favor of the City of Shreveport in connection with the neighborhood improvement leveraging project and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (Introduced June 13, 2006 – (Tabled - November 28, 2006)

2. Ordinance No. 122 of 2006: An Ordinance to amend portions of Chapter 90 of the Code of Ordinances relative to traffic and vehicles and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (A/Lester) (Introduced August 22, 2006 – Tabled - November 28, 2006)

3. Ordinance No. 131 of 2006: Amending certain sections of Chapter 38 of the City of Shreveport Code of Ordinances relative to housing and property standards and to otherwise provide with respect thereto. (Introduced August 22, 2006 – (Tabled November 28, 2006)

4. Ordinance No. 204 of 2006: An ordinance amending the 2006 Budget for the Riverfront Development Special Revenue fund and otherwise providing with respect thereto. (Disparity Study) (A/Lester) (Introduced November 14, 2006 – Tabled December 12, 2006)

5. Ordinance No. 205 of 2006: An ordinance amending the 2006 Capital Improvements Budget and otherwise providing with respect thereto. (Introduced November 14, 2006 – Tabled December 12, 2006)

6. MPC APPROVAL - CASE NO. SC-102-06: Property located on the north side of MLK Drive approximately 830 feet west of Hilry Huckaby III Avenue. (Subdivision Request – No Ordinance Required) (A/Lester) (Remanded to MPC December 12, 2006)

Motion by Councilman Shyne, seconded by Councilman Lester to remove MPC APPROVAL – CASE NO. SC-102-06 from the agenda. Motion approved by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmen Lester, Walford, Long, Wooley, Webb, Shyne and Bowman. 7. Nays: None.

7. PROPERTY STANDARDS APPEAL: HBO0600239 – 4133 San Jacinto Avenue (G/Bowman) Mr. & Mrs. Ricky Swift, 3020 Regent Street, Shreveport, LA 71109 (B/Walford) (Postponed December 21, 2006 until March 26, 2007)

8. PROPERTY STANDARDS APPEAL: HBO0600281 – 2524 W. College Street Mr. Billy Draydon, 2536 W. College Street, Shreveport, LA (G/Bowman) (Postponed December 26, 2006 until March 26, 2007)

10. PROPERTY STANDARDS APPEAL: HBO0600290 – 4000 Pixley, (F/Shyne), Mrs. Beatrice King, 3805 Lakeshore Drive, Shreveport, LA 71109 (G/Bowman) (Postponed January 8, 2007 until February 12, 2007)

11. PROPERTY STANDARDS APPEAL: HBO0600291 – 3430 Palm Rd, (F/Shyne) Mr. Freddie Albrite, 3425 Palm Road, Shreveport, LA 71109 (F/Shyne) (Postponed January 8, 2007 until February 12, 2007)

Councilman Walford: Is there anything else under Unfinished Business?

Mr. Thompson: I don’t know of anything else that we need to take up at this time.

Councilman Walford: Does any Council Member have anything to come off?

Councilman Webb: I have something that I wanted to ask you about neighborhoods.

Councilman Walford: Well, right now we’re on the Unfinished Business items.

Councilman Webb: Well, it’s not something that’s been brought up before, so I don’t know if it could be considered Unfinished Business or not.

Councilman Walford: If it’s not one of the 8, 9, 10 items?

Councilman Webb: No.

Councilman Walford: I’ll catch you in just a minute under Councilmen’s comments if I may. Moving to New Business.

NEW BUSINESS:

PROPERTY STANDARDS APPEAL:

HBO0600221 – 831 Prospect Street (B/Walford), Mr. Michael Scarlato, 831 Prospect Street, Shreveport, LA 71104 (B/Walford) (Postponed January 8, 2007 until January 22, 2007) Decision rendered January 22, 2007.

TAXI DRIVER LICENSE PERMIT APPEAL:

Mr. Michael Weaver, 405 5^th Street, Benton, LA Action Taxi, S. Lakeshore Drive, Shreveport, LA. (Postponed January 8, 2007 until January 22, 2007) Decision rendered January 22, 2007.

ANIMAL SERVICES APPEAL:

Mr. Rob Wallace (c/o Mr. Joey W. Hendrix , 617 Market Street, Shreveport, LA) 6130 Land O Trees, Shreveport, LA 71119 (A/Lester) Decision rendered January 22, 2007.

ABO APPEAL:

Mr. Marcus Stephens, 8500 Jackson Square Apt., #18E, Shreveport, LA 71115 (D/Wooley) GiGi’s Martini Room, Commerce Street, Shreveport, LA) (B/Walford) Decision rendered January 22, 2007.

Councilman Walford: We handled the various appeals yesterday.

Mr. Thompson: That’s correct.

REPORTS FROM OFFICERS, BOARDS, AND COMMITTEES:

Councilwoman Bowman: Yes, I just want to remind everyone about the Public Safety Committee Meeting on Friday at 2:00 in the Conference Room.

Councilman Walford: Mr. Lester, any time soon, can we put together a Property Standards meeting?

Councilman Lester: Sure.

Councilman Walford: And meet the new members. And to all the Council Members, I’m looking for input on our Citizen Members of the Civic Appropriation Committee. So, if any of you have any recommendations, I would certainly appreciate those, if we could get our Citizen Members, then we could have our first meeting.

CLERK’S REPORT: None.

THE COMMITTEE RISES AND REPORTS: (Reconvenes Regular Council Meeting)

ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting adjourned at approximately 7:09 p.m.

____________________________________

//s// R. M. Walford, Chairman

____________________________________

//s// Arthur G. Thompson, Clerk of Council

Clerk Note(s):

*** The special meeting to address an appeal for the revocation of permit to sell alcoholic beverages at Phat Katz Lounge, 4303 Greenwood Road, Shreveport, Louisiana, has been rescheduled for February 12, 2007. The meeting will be held in the Governmental Chambers, 505 Travis Street, Shreveport, Louisiana, at 4:00 p.m. or immediately following the regular Shreveport City Council Administrative Conference, whichever occurs later. (G/Bowman)

*** Items postponed until a specific date may be considered prior to the postponed date.