It took 15 minutes of spirited discussion and a crash course on the winding processes of city accounting, but the city council on Wednesday approved more money for street improvements and paving the parking lot where Market Street Festival food vendors will set up in May.
The council added $1.1 million in internet use tax funds the city received in January to its paving coffers. That will combine with roughly $800,000 left over from the current paving program – for which bids came in under the city engineer’s estimates – giving the city about $1.9 million to pave more streets this year. Which streets have not been determined.
Further, the council approved spending an estimated $70,000 on paving the Alexandria parking lot behind Hollyhocks and J Broussard’s to accommodate Market Street Festival on May 3, which announced earlier this year it would move the annual event entirely south of Main Street. It also approved spending $13,000 to pave the parking lot at the Propst Park pickleball courts.
The Alexandria lot will be paved with proceeds from the city’s ongoing online surplus auction, which Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett said has raised $72,000 so far. The pickleball lot money will come from the city’s special projects fund.
Though the measures passed, the parking lots specifically rubbed Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart and Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard the wrong way, with both asking what the plan is to pave the much more expensive parking lot at the Municipal Complex, which houses the police department.
“Every time we ask about paving parking lots, y’all say, ‘We cannot use this. We cannot use that.’ Now today, all the sudden, we’ve got $70,000,” Beard said, referring to the Alexandria lot. “… It seems like a plan has been implemented to get this money for this parking lot, but there has not been a plan implemented to get the money for the police department’s parking lot. … (Chief Joseph Daughtry) has been asking. We’ve been knowing. But it’s like we’re not concerned about that parking lot.”
City Engineer Kevin Stafford noted paving the Municipal Complex lot would cost closer to $500,000. The Alexandria lot is much cheaper to fix, he said, and it’s more time sensitive, with the work needing to be completed in less than two months. It’s also “in really bad shape.”
Stewart argued Market Street is a “one-time event,” while the Municipal Complex lot was more heavily used daily. She moved to table the parking lot projects and advocated banking the money for the Alexandria project toward paying for the Municipal Complex lot in the future.
Mayor Keith Gaskin argued it would be “embarrassing” for Market Street to host vendors in the Alexandria lot in its current condition. Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco tacked on that someone being injured in that lot during the festival could open the city to liability.
“If we’re having Market Street mainly in that, and we have potholes, we’re taking a chance on people falling down and tripping,” DiCicco said. “If that’s where we’re going to be doing that event, it needs to have a good surface.”
City Attorney Jeff Turnage noted DiCicco’s point as valid.
A substitute motion from Ward 3 Rusty Greene to pave the Alexandria lot passed with a 5-1 vote. Stewart opposed it. The pickleball lot passed later without any resistance.
Lobbyist contract renewed
On a 4-2 vote, the council renewed the $72,000 contract for its lobbyist, Worth Thomas Consulting.
Thomas and Saleem Baird with the firm joined the council meeting virtually, reporting their role in landing the city $1 million from the state in 2024 for the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater and $6 million from the federal government for blight elimination since 2023.
“The credit is not for us, and what we were able to do. It’s for the congressional delegation and state delegation that were willing to help us get across the finish line,” Baird said. “… We’re constantly advocating on your behalf to keep your issues in front of them.”
The council was reevaluating the lobbyist contract after Greene requested it in February. On Wednesday, he moved not to renew the Worth Thomas contract and instead hire lobbyists “as-needed.”
“I don’t think we need to have a retainer of $72,000 for an open concept of them lobbying for everything,” he said. “If there’s something where we need a lobbyist to push for (it), I think that would be a wiser way to spending money.”
Stewart offered a substitute motion to renew the contract, which passed with only Greene and DiCicco opposed.
“This is a lot of money, $72,000, but it’s pennies compared to what they have done for us,” Stewart said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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