Oct. 7, 2024

Keep our Local Hero’s LOCAL on November 5th | Local Leaders Podcast #206

Keep our Local Hero’s LOCAL on November 5th | Local Leaders Podcast #206

Jim Chapman sits down with Lt. Scobie of the DS Police Department and Alex Watts of the DS Fire Department discuss the proposed hotel tax on the upcoming ballot in Denham Springs. This tax that will not be a burden to the citizens of the City of...

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Jim Chapman sits down with Lt. Scobie of the DS Police Department and Alex Watts of the DS Fire Department discuss the proposed hotel tax on the upcoming ballot in Denham Springs. This tax that will not be a burden to the citizens of the City of Denham Springs aims to improve the salaries and benefits of both departments with no impact to local citizens. Lieutenant Scobie underscores the importance of educating the community on the tax’s purpose, while Watts shares the operational challenges faced by the fire department. They explain that the initiative addresses retention issues and competitive pay to attract skilled personnel. The episode highlights the tax’s strict allocation for compensation and its broader benefits for community safety and property values.

You can learn more about this tax by visiting
https://www.sosdenhamsprings.com

Timestamps
03:22 Proposed Hotel Tax Discussion
05:45 Understanding the Tax's Purpose
11:20 Exploring the Funding Mechanism
14:20 The Importance of Competitive Pay
25:20 The Impact of the Tax on Services
27:17 Voting on the Ballot
34:53 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

This episode is sponsored by Level Dumpsters You can learn more about Level Dumpsters by visiting:
https://www.leveldumpsters.com
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Hi, this is Lori Johnson with Hancock Whitney Bank and

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Local Leaders the podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to another

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edition of Local Leaders the Podcast. And you may or

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may not recognize these two gentlemen across from me, but

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they are here from the fire department and the police

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department here in the city. I'm gonna let him introduce themselves.

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Yes, sir, Lieutenant Scoby. Uh, you may know me a Scooby.

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Yeah you will come.

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Yes, I've been within a Spring the police department for

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seventeen years now, fifteen years in a retirement system.

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Wow, very good background.

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I'm a lieutenant with them. I helped the chief run

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the department of day to day Alex.

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Wats dim Springs Fire Department, been there about five years now. Yeah,

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come from along line of firefighters.

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Oh very good.

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Kind of falling into shoes.

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Well, you fight what I fear when I run from

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the fire. You go into the fire. So shout out

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to you for that. Scooby.

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Uh.

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I called you Scooby for a long time and my

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wife would correct me because somebody you graduated with as

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a good friend of hers, and she's like, it's Scooby,

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not Scooby. I said, it's Scooby the school year.

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If if somebody calls me Keith, I'm looking for my mom. Yeah,

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even if the mayor, I always say the mayor, the

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sheriff for the chief. If they say, if you say

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some cop named Scooby, they're gonna know who you're talking right,

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all right. I don't know if I even hear my

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real name around the office, it's Scooby.

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Well, before we go any further, I want to thank

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both of you for everything you do. As I said,

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you go into places that I run from, and you

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go to people that I run from. So that's that's

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not to be taken lightly, and it really is. It

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takes a special person to do what you guys do.

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So I'm sure I speak for everybody in not only

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Didnim Springs, but the entire state of Louisian And when

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I say thank you for that.

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Sir, I appreciate that. We really do.

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So we're going to get into what we're here to

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talk about today, and that is a hotel tax. That is,

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it will be proposed on the upcoming ballot, the presidential ballots.

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We're going to explain how that works. What if any

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effect on the citizens. And I guess Scoby will start

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with you.

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It is going to be on a November ballot. It

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was designed by that by legislation. We didn't have a

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choice in that.

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Yeah.

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So I've done eleven of these talk so far. Yeah,

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And I say my goal is is not you may

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hear me say once during this podcast, you know, vote yes,

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vote for us.

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Sure.

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Other than that, my goal is just to get the

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information out.

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Yeah.

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If I can get that information out, and as a

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citizen and as an adult that's voters and you make

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a decision, I can sleep good at night.

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I like that. And let me say this, I have

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seen several of the talks that you've given and that

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really is like half the battle right there. And I

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do want to compliment you and compliment you for taking

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the step of educating the voter. I think a lot

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of these things that are great ideas. And I'll say

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right off the top, I think this is a no brainer.

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But I think these great ideas sometimes maybe they fall

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short because of the education's just not there. It's not

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the fact of the tax itself.

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And so that's what we know when people go to

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that ballot, we all have lives, we all have families,

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we all have work, we all have the things, and

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they're going to go in that ballot and vote what

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they what they want to vote. For Sure, when they

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see tax that is alarming to people, and that is

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a dirty word for some people. And I understand it.

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I live in this pairs. I get it. My goal

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is just to go when they see task go. Wait,

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is this what Lieutenant Scobey talked about. Let me think

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a little bit before I make my decision. It's my

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only goal. And if you still say no after you've

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been informed, then it's just no. I'll promise you this.

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I have ten more years for I'm eligible to retire.

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You won't see me again for the same tax. I

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always fight for paying raise forty funders, but I won't

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do this again other people. I've spoken, you know, right.

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Very good, So let's get into it, and I guess

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maybe let's start with you and talk about the reason

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and the need for this. How did that transpire?

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Well, it's really an alternative effort to increase salary and

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benefits for fire and police. Yeah, without putting the direct

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burden on the citizens themselves. So it's kind of a

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creative approach to not put that burden directly on the citizens. Right,

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So it's going to be for out of town or

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staying in hotels, and it will just be an additional

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tax on the people staying in.

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Hotels, gotcha.

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So the chances of that being a citizen are very

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very low, and that's why we went with that.

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Approach, very good and scugby. One of the things that

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I really like that is actually written into this bit,

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I guess you could say bill, is the fact that

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if there's a natural disaster or an emergency of some

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sort that will require citizens to make use of these hotels.

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And when I say citizens, Denim Springs residents, the tax

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can be suspended by the mayor.

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So written into the bill, sover one transparent it is

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for salary and benefits for police, fire and police and

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fire for Denom Springs. That is written in. That doesn't

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mean that the money can be used anywhere else. The

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chiefs can't say I want a helicopter and use those funds.

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It's got to be for police salary. So it's earmark

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that's in there. As far as some of my talks

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and maybe some other people mentioned that the mayor can

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do it with a city council, it would be brought

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before them. So we discussed this, me and the mayor

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personally before I put words in his mouth and wanted

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to make sure it was correct. And he believes with

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the vote of the council that he could pause that

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for those disasters, for hurricanes and things like that, if

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his citizens need to seek shelter in those motels. Yeah,

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that is beyond my capability. I catch bad guys for

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a living, sure, So if he's telling me that that's

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something that they can do as a counsel in him,

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than by all means I believe him.

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Yeah. And I think it's very important to uh for

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everyone to grasp the fact that this is not a

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tax on the citizens, uh unless you're staying in the

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hotel and you living denim and that may raise an

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eyebrow or.

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Two, right, right, So you know, I spoke at the

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school board lives in parish and they recently had something

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come up on the ballot for a sales tax. Sure,

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And I think in this parish, I truly believe in

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this paris that we can all agree that teachers, first

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responders probably need to.

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Make more sure.

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Where we're disagreeing. In my opinion is is where is

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that money coming from? And how much is it? I

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think in this parish everybody wants to see those those

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entities taken care of. We have to do a better

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job of explaining where that money is going, how much

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it is, and hold true to what that law is

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and where it's going to permanently go. So I spoke

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to the school board and and I got ate up

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for this and and some some news outlets that I said,

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we had to get creative. It's my job to figure

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things out that are difficult.

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I got no problem with being creative.

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I appreciate.

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I think that thinking outside the box has kind of

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led you to where you're at with this.

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I would hope. So it's just that sentence got picked apart,

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and hey, that's that's their their prerogative, that's where they

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live in America, right. But I wanted to touch base

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on getting creative. Wasn't mean I'm getting creative on how

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to tax our citizens and look at that in a

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bad like getting creative was I heard you. I heard

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you when you voted no for a sales tax, and

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I heard you when you say you're tired of sales tax.

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Yeah, I heard you.

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When Jeff Taylor comes on your podcast says, hey, get ready,

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the mills are going up. We're doing recent.

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I hear that.

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I listen. I pay attention. It's my job to think

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outside the box, get creative. Take it however you want

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with that verbiage. But we had to come up with

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something else, and we came up with a occupancy tax

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for our motels and hotels.

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I think it was a great idea. And you know,

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I say to my wife all the time, there's more

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than one way to get to Florida Boulevard. There you go,

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you know what I mean. So if you if you

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go one way and there's a lot of traffic, maybe

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you take a side street. What you did here was

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that I think is just genius. As you figured out

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a way to get the funding that you needed. But

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you were you're enabling yourself to do that without being

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a burden on the citizen.

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Yes, and I've been asked, hey, why isn't the city

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fund y'all's raises and salary and benefits? And you gotta look,

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the city has a city to worry about. And I'm

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talking about a street, Department of water, Department of Maintenance,

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billiing utility permits, they have animal shelter, they have a

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whole entity. I had a discussion with the mayor one

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year after the flood and said, hey, Scoby, you know,

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three hundred thousand dollars would do wonders from my pay scale,

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would do wonders. That's reoccurring. I need that every year. Yeah,

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he says, water pump went down at whatever station. My

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citizens need to fluster toilets and have water. You have

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to undred thousand dollars, sir. So I understand where he's

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coming from as managing this whole city. Fire and police

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is just some of that. And you have to to

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have a grown up conversation with your leaders and the

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other bosses to come together and figure out a solution.

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And the city is for us put in on a

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ballot for the citizens to vote.

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I agree. And you know you mentioned fire, and I'll

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tell you people may not think about this when it occurs,

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but the fire department is right there, hand in hand

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with the police. Many times, the fire departments first people

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on scene, you know, for some of these emergencies. And

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so one of the things with this particular ballot item

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that is going to be up on the ballot. Is

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the fact that you're splitting this money fifty to fifty,

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00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:41.600
which I thought was pretty cool. You know that y'all

233
00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:42.720
must get along a little bit.

234
00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:45.720
No, Look, I promised that when we're in this room,

235
00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:47.440
I wouldn't put my hands on him. He wouldn't.

236
00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:50.559
Yeah right. I want to keep no battle of the

237
00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:51.679
badge going on here.

238
00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:54.399
We have a you know, fire and police have there.

239
00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:57.240
We have that banter, and but we know when it's

240
00:10:57.240 --> 00:11:00.679
time to come together for calls and it it's written

241
00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.440
in the law that way. They can't get sixty percent.

242
00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:05.840
We can't get sixty percent. It's written fifty to fifty

243
00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:08.759
split between us. For those two reasons. Love that and

244
00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:11.600
why hotels we had to think us out of the box.

245
00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:13.080
We had to figure out how are we going to

246
00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:16.080
retain people. This all comes to retaining fire and police

247
00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:19.720
and paying for salary and benefits to keep good quality

248
00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:23.000
applicants here. We picked hotels and motels because this is

249
00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.000
not something new. We didn't think of this three weeks ago.

250
00:11:25.159 --> 00:11:27.399
This has been two years in the making for me personally.

251
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.919
The state capital. Other places do this exact same thing

252
00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.279
with the occupancy tax our numbers show that we spend

253
00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.720
a lot of time at the nine motels and hotels

254
00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:37.919
inside the city limits.

255
00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:39.240
In the New Springs. Yes, we just do.

256
00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:41.919
If people don't want to accept that or it's hard

257
00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:45.840
to hear, I'm sorry, I speak facts. We spend a

258
00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:48.600
lot of time between US fire and police there. Sure,

259
00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:51.919
so our residents are kind of paying for that the

260
00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:54.399
city limits of Dinner Springs. Residents are paying for us

261
00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.480
to spend a lot of time at those hotels and motels.

262
00:11:56.519 --> 00:12:00.759
So we're looking at altering how we receive funding for that.

263
00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:02.320
Sure, that's what I came up.

264
00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:03.519
We came up with thought.

265
00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.080
I think in luck you mentioned it there, but you're

266
00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.360
not reinventing the wheel. This is not something that is

267
00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.240
uncommon in other parts of the country and including Louisiana.

268
00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:17.919
Is it going to be termed an occupancy tax or.

269
00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:21.120
It is an occupancy tax? It's up to six point

270
00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.960
seventy five Yeah, so is that a high percentage if

271
00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:25.759
we were talking about sales tax? Oh yeah, you know,

272
00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.200
Oh yeah, it's an occupancy tax. So it's going to

273
00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.440
go off of we we we tossed around the idea of,

274
00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:34.120
you know, a set three dollars per room. But as

275
00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:37.759
you know, three dollars five years ago, three dollars now

276
00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:41.159
everybody now, So we had to do a percentage, and

277
00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:43.840
we did the law up to so if there is

278
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.679
four more hotels and we get you know, five story

279
00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:49.080
luxury hotels and we have an abundance of money, we

280
00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:50.840
can just roll back the percentage.

281
00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:53.679
Right, Let's talk about where this money is going. So

282
00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:56.440
what what directly would this be used for? I'm I'm

283
00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:57.639
gonna turn to you first on that.

284
00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.200
Particularly for us, we need to fix our pay scale,

285
00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.759
especially with inflation. It's really killing us as far as

286
00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:08.919
being competitive down the road. Our start and pay is

287
00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:13.279
very comparable to most departments around here. But when you

288
00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:17.080
look at a Baton Rouge's pay scale over time, when

289
00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.240
they put in twenty twenty five, thirty years, they're going

290
00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.759
to be making a whole lot more. So that's what

291
00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:25.879
we're trying to get competitive with. And then you have

292
00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:28.919
to look at it from the standpoint. Last time we checked,

293
00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:32.679
there were thirteen hundred civil service scores that we could

294
00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:36.440
pull from, and that's from the whole state. So you're

295
00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:40.200
competing with all these other departments that have better long

296
00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:43.399
term pay scales than us, and we're losing because of that.

297
00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:46.360
Wow, and what about yours?

298
00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:48.679
I'll touch base on the fire department too. That they

299
00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:52.840
have a local district fire company that makes way more

300
00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.639
their pay scale is something I'm jealous of. And that's

301
00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.919
you don't have to uproot mister Watson to take his

302
00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.679
family and change schools and move. He can just drive

303
00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:05.240
four miles down the road to that department and just

304
00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:06.679
make more than what he's doing now.

305
00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:06.960
Right.

306
00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:09.279
That is hard. That is hard for that agency to

307
00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:12.120
deal with. And I've said this before. When we have

308
00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:14.840
our employees and when you do maybe an exit interview,

309
00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:17.919
they don't ever say that they don't like policing in

310
00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:20.799
them springs. None of my officers complain that, oh this

311
00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:22.480
is so hard, we don't like it. We don't like it.

312
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:25.120
They don't ever say that they like them springs. They

313
00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:26.799
either grew up here, they want to stay here. They

314
00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:29.639
want to keep it the way it is. It's just

315
00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:33.000
the finances, it's the benefits, it's the insurance. It's I

316
00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:35.200
had a kid, but my wife can but the kid.

317
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.240
It's those technical things, man, you know, we have to

318
00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:42.679
fix that. Why am I losing applicants? Or losing officers

319
00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:45.399
a year two years in we train to get them

320
00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.840
post certified and trained to do the job, and then

321
00:14:47.879 --> 00:14:49.639
they go seek a different employment at one of these

322
00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.120
various agencies that just we just can't compete.

323
00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:54.960
With, and that training is expensive, and it's an it's

324
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:58.480
not only an investment monetarily, it's an investment in that

325
00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:02.840
person with time and training and all these things that

326
00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:06.480
you do to make sure that they are are ready

327
00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.240
to go out on the right and police right.

328
00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:10.440
I say this all the time. Do you want the

329
00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:15.320
upset officers showing up to your doorstep to take your complaint?

330
00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:17.240
When you call nine on one and you have one

331
00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:20.279
of us there, it's probably a low point. You're having

332
00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:22.919
a bad day. And do you want the officer who's

333
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:25.759
just upset because he's working mandatory over time because the

334
00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:28.440
shifts are short. No, you don't want that guy. I

335
00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:30.759
understand that I lived inside the city for many years.

336
00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:33.039
I flooded in the city with everybody else with you.

337
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:36.639
I understand those things. So we have to keep those

338
00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:39.799
applicants happy. We have to keep them wanting to stay here.

339
00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:41.919
We have to keep their knowledge and continue to grow

340
00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:44.600
where they have fifteen sixteen seventeen years and make lieutenant

341
00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:48.000
where they're not making lieutenant with four years. You don't

342
00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:50.039
get that education that comes with it.

343
00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:52.639
In all the knowledge, one hundred percent agree with that.

344
00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:55.759
And we have this conversation off camera. I think it's

345
00:15:55.799 --> 00:16:00.639
worth saying on camera. You know, you may look at

346
00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.080
this and say, well, it doesn't really affect me. Maybe you,

347
00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:06.080
maybe you live in in a really nice subdivision. You

348
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:09.960
don't hardly get any calls, any complaints. Uh, it affects

349
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.399
all of us because if your police department goes down,

350
00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:17.559
if your fire department goes down, uh to a substandard level,

351
00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.159
your schools go down to a substandard level, it's going

352
00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.320
to drop your property value. That's why it's so important

353
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:28.000
that your police departments and your fire departments in your

354
00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.559
schools because even if it may not directly affect you

355
00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:35.000
because you don't live next to a hotel technically or

356
00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:38.279
something like that, it affects you. It just affects you

357
00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:39.120
in a different way.

358
00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:39.600
Correct.

359
00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:42.840
You know property values. You want to keep your property value.

360
00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:46.679
Pay your police, pay your fireman, pay your teachers. That

361
00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:48.919
would be my advice right off the bat, and I'm

362
00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:51.639
not you know, the teachers haven't paid me to promote this,

363
00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:52.879
but I love teachers.

364
00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:54.759
Yeah, and we all because how many people said they

365
00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.960
move to lives in parish for their public schools. Yeah,

366
00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:00.679
well that says that said something. So I encourage that

367
00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:02.679
school board to try to figure out a way to

368
00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:05.000
keep them teachers happy. My kid is in a public

369
00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.519
school and Livingston Parish and he special needs, and the

370
00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:11.119
programs are nice and the teachers are great. I want

371
00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:13.640
that to continue. So I encourage them to think outside

372
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:16.240
the box and find some information and get some things done.

373
00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:19.920
As we have, and my little committee has. It's difficult.

374
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.480
You're talking about a tax. Nobody likes you when you

375
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:26.000
talk about a tax. I'm sitting here today knowing that

376
00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:29.400
I'm going to have feedback about another tax. I understand that,

377
00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:31.200
but it has to be done. We have to have

378
00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:32.880
a discussion, and it's very important.

379
00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:36.640
It's not it's a tax on people that are staying

380
00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:38.960
in hotels. It is not something you're going to pay

381
00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:42.039
when you go to Walmart and buy your grocery or

382
00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:45.400
you buy a vehicle or anything like that. This is

383
00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:49.880
something that people coming in they're paying what is a

384
00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:53.519
common tax all over the place. I stayed in Florida recently,

385
00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:58.319
and it was a pretty high occupancy tax. I believe

386
00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:02.440
it was over ten percent at that particular hotel. Uh

387
00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:04.200
this one at six point something five.

388
00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:07.240
Yes, you know, and they do have some taxes on

389
00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:09.559
that I can see for the hotels already, and we

390
00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.440
would be adding to that. So obviously, the hotel owners

391
00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:15.599
they're they're they're against me. And I understand that if

392
00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.599
this is something that's going to affect their Christmas or something,

393
00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:22.480
I do understand that. I do believe they would probably

394
00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:25.799
just pass it on. It's all, but I don't run

395
00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:26.319
their business.

396
00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:29.359
Then they run their back to this point on the

397
00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:34.440
verbiage of creativity, we were getting creative for the citizens

398
00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:36.680
to keep that money from coming out of their pocket.

399
00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:41.200
That's why we use that term in the first place. Yes,

400
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:43.240
we wanted to do what we could to not put

401
00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:45.559
this tax on the people themselves.

402
00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:48.920
I love it and I think it's important. Look, you

403
00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:52.519
got outside the box. That's the great thing about what

404
00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:55.680
you've come up with. It was that second way to

405
00:18:55.720 --> 00:19:01.400
get to Florida Boulevard without affecting people that already live here.

406
00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:04.440
I can't hammer that down enough. It's probably the most

407
00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.200
important statement on this particular podcast, and.

408
00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:08.839
That's why we're all on board with it, because it

409
00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:14.079
feels very considerate from us, Yeah, to consider the way

410
00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:16.440
they voted in the past on these tax increases, and

411
00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:18.960
we get it. We pay taxes to that's why it's

412
00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:22.160
more of a situational tax for and it's going to

413
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:24.359
affect people coming out of town more so than the

414
00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:25.359
citizens themselves.

415
00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:27.400
So and that's what I really like about it.

416
00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:31.279
And I would imagine from both your standpoints, the calls

417
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:36.400
that you're getting to the hotels now are prevalent relative

418
00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:40.200
to where they were maybe ten years ago, five years ago,

419
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:41.960
common to currents.

420
00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:44.519
So would you say you can contribute out to more

421
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:46.839
hotels and hotels Russian Road has seen in the last

422
00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:49.680
ten years, probably with at least those three taller ones.

423
00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:52.799
And we are responding. And so as fire and the

424
00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:56.480
overdoses are high, the suspicious people around those areas and

425
00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:00.519
walking that interstate, those calls are high. And then when

426
00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:02.359
we deal with you as a fire police and it

427
00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:06.200
is an overdose or suspected criminal activity and we pull

428
00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.359
your id and you live local, why are you staying

429
00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.000
in our hotels committing crimes? And you have an address

430
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:15.759
a few miles down, right, So that's that's concerning. It's

431
00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:18.799
usually typically not the person from Iowa, Florida passing through

432
00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:21.240
that I'm dealing with. It's somebody who is using those

433
00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:23.240
to shelter their criminal activity.

434
00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:27.880
Yeah. I actually this is a little side story, but

435
00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.000
something people might find entertaining. At what At one point

436
00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:34.440
I went to uh one of the hotels and then

437
00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:37.279
I'm one of the uh Hampton I think it was,

438
00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.319
and our AC was out. My wife doesn't stay in

439
00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:44.000
the house when there's a c so I go get

440
00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:45.799
the room and the lady looks and she says, you

441
00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.319
love and Denim, And I'm like, it's not like that.

442
00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:53.640
My wife's in the car's excited. Yeah, yeah, AC's out.

443
00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:56.799
But so sometimes it does happen. But I'll go ahead,

444
00:20:56.839 --> 00:20:58.680
pay the six boys up vibe a big deal.

445
00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.079
Uh. It's better than the miss is getting very hot

446
00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:07.480
inside the house, that's for sure. But so it's very important,

447
00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:12.880
very important that those people pay for the services that

448
00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:17.039
they're using, you know, at these hotels. If I will,

449
00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:20.359
if I were calling the police department, the fire department

450
00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:23.240
two times a day or even one time a day,

451
00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:26.319
I should pay more than someone that never calls the

452
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:29.680
police or fire department. Right, it just seems like we.

453
00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.640
Have residents in our city that have paid their dues

454
00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:35.039
and their mills, and their taxes and their sales taxes,

455
00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:37.799
and they've never utilized our service. They're still paying for that,

456
00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:40.000
and then we have people who aren't paying for the service.

457
00:21:40.359 --> 00:21:42.200
And in twenty twenty one, we had close to one

458
00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:45.640
thousand calls between both of our agencies, but close to

459
00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:48.079
nine hundred and eighty somewhere around there. Close to one

460
00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:51.039
thousand costs multiple times a day, every day, three hundred

461
00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.000
and sixty five days a year. That's a lot for

462
00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:53.559
our city.

463
00:21:55.319 --> 00:21:58.920
Of those calls when it is an overdose, a lot

464
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:00.759
of times it comes through as pay should not breathing.

465
00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:04.119
So you're already sending two trucks. So you have two

466
00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:06.759
trucks tied up in a city that has three stations,

467
00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:09.759
and there's one truck per station that's manned. Right, So

468
00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:14.559
two thirds of your city's out of commission working something

469
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.480
where they would possibly have to be performing CPR. That's

470
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.000
why you have the manpower down there. So you have

471
00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:22.559
one truck running calls for the whole city in that

472
00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:25.519
thirty minutes to hour stretch that that call may take.

473
00:22:25.799 --> 00:22:30.319
Wow, and that's expensive, I would imagine, right that ain't cheat, No, and.

474
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:35.519
Then you know, so somebody else goes down, then you

475
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.759
just have one truck. You have to probably get some

476
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.000
kind of mutual aid assistance from another department.

477
00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:43.960
Right, and let me ask you from both of your perspectives,

478
00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:48.240
this is going towards salaries and benefits specifically?

479
00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.279
Yes, yes, So our goal is is we have to

480
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:55.559
fix our retention problem. We have to stop stop the bleeding,

481
00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:57.720
as they would say, so we have to fix those

482
00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:00.359
pay scales, salary and benefits. My goal at the is

483
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.440
to at least fix that pay scale to retain people,

484
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:05.279
and then we'll entertain using some of those funds to

485
00:23:05.480 --> 00:23:08.519
hire additional people. People have questioned me, hey, are you

486
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.079
going to beef up the police department with these funds?

487
00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:13.799
Because it can go to salary and benefits. You can't

488
00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:16.480
buy the unit, can't buy the laptops, can't buy the uniform,

489
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:18.000
so that the city's gonna have to come up with

490
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:20.200
that funding. There's a lot of moving parts. Sure, but

491
00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:22.079
what good is it for me to beef up the

492
00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:25.079
police department through a thirty four man department when I

493
00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:26.319
can't fill the thirty that we have.

494
00:23:26.759 --> 00:23:28.920
Yeah, well you got to fix step one before you

495
00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:33.960
can move to step two. And step one is retaining them,

496
00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:37.000
because you know, if you have the money there to

497
00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:40.880
hire additional people, but you're still not where you need

498
00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:43.400
to be on pay, they're still gonna leave. It's not

499
00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:45.920
going to stop them from doing that. And these are

500
00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:48.680
good officers in some cases, people you'd like to retain,

501
00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:52.519
but you know, we're I'm a business owner and if

502
00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:56.519
somebody left me for more money and better benefits, yeah,

503
00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:58.480
I hate to see them go, but I get it. Jim.

504
00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:00.720
How about this When they leave you and they don't

505
00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:02.759
seek a different kind of employment because they didn't like

506
00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:04.920
the job, but they leave you to another employment that's

507
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:07.200
doing the exact same thing you were doing. That means

508
00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:09.440
to tell me that that's not being a police officer.

509
00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:14.480
They're wearing another sheriff badge or another agency because they

510
00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:16.680
didn't they still wanted to be a police officer. They

511
00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:19.839
left for that. That hurts me, going, man, we didn't

512
00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:21.680
do what we needed to do here because they still

513
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:24.039
are a police officer and been for I know many

514
00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:28.079
for years after they left us, they're still unemployed at

515
00:24:28.119 --> 00:24:29.079
the place that they left us.

516
00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:31.680
And same on your end, same on our end.

517
00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:35.359
It's a little different because, like I said, our start

518
00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:39.759
and pay is comparable to most departments around. But where

519
00:24:39.799 --> 00:24:44.279
it hurts is you're not increasing like you would a

520
00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:48.640
barage or another neighboring department. So you end up losing

521
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.559
guys with ten years experience because they should be much

522
00:24:52.599 --> 00:24:55.400
further along than they are. They have more kids and inflation.

523
00:24:55.160 --> 00:24:56.960
And that's the ones you want to keep exactly.

524
00:24:57.079 --> 00:24:59.559
So then you're losing experience, and then you have to

525
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.759
a lot of times we don't get somebody coming from

526
00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:05.759
another department. A lot of times we get a green employee, right,

527
00:25:05.960 --> 00:25:09.279
and that cost four to five thousand just to train them,

528
00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:13.359
and then three thousand in gear. Wow, and that comes

529
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:17.799
from the budget. Yeah, so it hurts us with the

530
00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:21.119
guys who have the experience and everything leaving.

531
00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:22.200
Yeah, that's.

532
00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:26.359
That can't be replaced for a long time, just in

533
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:27.839
terms of experience, you know.

534
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:33.079
Right, So makes sense, and Scoby, So let's let's give

535
00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:36.039
you a scenario here. Let's do it all goes as

536
00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:39.119
it should go. If this gets passed with flying colors,

537
00:25:40.279 --> 00:25:41.319
is it going to fix a problem.

538
00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:46.400
I would like to hope, so can I. I can't

539
00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:50.279
see the future. Sure, I know there's there's even I

540
00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:52.480
wouldn't say fights, but there's discussions we have to have.

541
00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:54.839
If this passes, we have to worry about the dollar

542
00:25:54.839 --> 00:25:57.440
amount that's going to come in. I can see tax

543
00:25:57.559 --> 00:25:59.920
is not set every year that they're going to pay

544
00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:02.119
the same every year. So I can't ask the city

545
00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.599
to give me x amount of funds when they don't

546
00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:06.839
know how many people are gonna rent hotel rooms for

547
00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:08.920
the next year. It's going to be reoccurring. Whenever I

548
00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:11.640
create a pay skill and the city council has to

549
00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:14.200
vote on that, that that's that suckers there, yea, So

550
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:16.880
their worry would be Okay, hold up, we use this

551
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:20.079
amount of money off of this projected occupancy. But those

552
00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:23.240
hotels didn't get filled in twenty twenty six like they should,

553
00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:26.000
so we have to agree to a safe number. We're

554
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:28.440
trying to agree on fifty percent ocupancy. So let me

555
00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:30.680
go off of what that. If that tax does pass,

556
00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:33.759
the ocupcy of fifty percent, use those numbers to create

557
00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:36.519
a new pay scale. There's a lot of things, but

558
00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:40.079
it would least make us comparable with the other agencies.

559
00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:42.799
It would least give us an argument when we do

560
00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:45.119
these interview in these higher boards where they're like, wait,

561
00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.200
how much what is it? You know, I need some

562
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:51.319
ammunition to go. Hey, let's let's reinterview this guy. Let's

563
00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:54.039
offer him something that another agency can offer him. Sure,

564
00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.880
as you know, when Sean Kelly got murdered and passed

565
00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:00.200
away for US Corporate Kelly last year, we didn't get

566
00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:03.759
any applications, right, we were probably seven down. Nobody wants

567
00:27:03.799 --> 00:27:05.519
to do a job when they see a cop get murdered,

568
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:09.680
and then you have a less competitive pay skill, and

569
00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:10.759
then they really don't want to do it.

570
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:12.880
Yeah, and that's just what I have to deal with.

571
00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:17.559
It's important to also mention that this is on a

572
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:20.759
pretty big ballot. It's on a ballot with a president.

573
00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:23.119
You know, we've got a presidential election for those of

574
00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:25.519
you out there that have been living under a rock,

575
00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:29.240
maybe the presidential election that day, and a ton of

576
00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:33.480
other stuff on that ballot. This being with it, how

577
00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:35.839
will it be termed on the ballot? Are you aware

578
00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:36.440
of that yet?

579
00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:39.119
I'm not aware of that. Hotel tax I do have

580
00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:40.880
the verbiage of the tax, but I don't know what

581
00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:43.680
the ballot number is yet. I'm not aware on that.

582
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:47.200
I know legislation put it on the November ballot. It

583
00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:49.240
wasn't our choosing, it was the state level.

584
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:53.359
That right, right, And so it will be something that

585
00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:57.599
if you're a Denim Springs resident you'll have the opportunity

586
00:27:57.640 --> 00:27:59.759
to vote for. So you have to live in the city.

587
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:01.759
It's correct, right, Yeah.

588
00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:03.599
On it doesn't apply to the parish. It only applies

589
00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:06.200
that incorporated city limits and Dinner Springs, and it only

590
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:08.720
affects the hotels and motels in the city limits in

591
00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:11.279
the Springs, so not the parish, not walker, none of

592
00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:13.680
them are affected citizens or the hotels.

593
00:28:13.880 --> 00:28:16.359
Yeah. So if you, I know a lot of you

594
00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:19.480
out there, the lesson you have a Denim Springs like address,

595
00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:21.400
but you may not be in the city limits. I

596
00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:23.440
know people get confused on that all the time, so

597
00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:27.400
I like to clarify that if it's if you're in

598
00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:30.640
the city limits, you'll see it as you vote, you'll

599
00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:32.960
see it on there. If you don't see it, don't panic.

600
00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:35.160
You may not live in city limits. You may be

601
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:38.000
outside of Sydney limits, but have that Denim Springs address,

602
00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:41.759
and so that's why you wouldn't see it, and it's

603
00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:45.079
something that will only affect I'm glad you brought that

604
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:47.759
up Denhim Springs Hotels. So if it's a Walker hotel,

605
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:50.880
they got their own deal, correct, right, They might copy you,

606
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.440
but they got there, and I don't know.

607
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:56.000
We had we had a feel day legislation at state level,

608
00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.680
and I don't know if they are are concerned of

609
00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:00.279
people copying and seeing that this may be he is

610
00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:01.400
a good idealer Avenue.

611
00:29:01.559 --> 00:29:02.960
Yeah, that's not my job.

612
00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:03.839
I'm not a legislator.

613
00:29:03.880 --> 00:29:06.960
I mean, you know, I think it's a no brainer.

614
00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:11.200
This is just a great idea for this city and

615
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:16.079
to get the people that deserve it, the policeman, the fireman,

616
00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:20.279
some more money in there so these people can be paid.

617
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:23.680
This is something I don't you know, Jim Chapman doesn't

618
00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:26.240
want to chase criminals. I just don't want to do

619
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.400
it because it takes a special human being like you

620
00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:34.039
to do that. I sure ain't running into fire. I'm out,

621
00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:36.640
yeah you know, I ain't even grabbing the water hose.

622
00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:40.039
I'm getting out and calling you at bottom line, So

623
00:29:40.599 --> 00:29:42.720
I think those people should be paid. I don't think

624
00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:46.880
you could ever pay you folks enough to do what

625
00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:49.039
it is you do. But this is just to get

626
00:29:49.079 --> 00:29:51.319
you competitive. You're not gonna be millionaires off of.

627
00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:53.400
That's right, That's what I was going to say. We're

628
00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:56.160
not even getting starting pay up to twenty five hours hour.

629
00:29:56.599 --> 00:30:00.279
We're maybe first police responder, first police officer, that's seventeen

630
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:01.920
dollars hour. I'm trying to get it up to nineteen

631
00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:05.480
twenty this if this passes that people are looking at

632
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:07.880
men six point seventy five and all these hundreds of

633
00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:10.200
thousand dollars, it doesn't go that long because I have

634
00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:12.599
to pay into those retirements. Also, we have to cover

635
00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:15.480
all aspects of it. So we're not going to be millionaires.

636
00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:17.839
I'm just trying to get us to buy some more groceries.

637
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:22.200
Right, We're trying to create stability in our departments.

638
00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:24.880
And be competitive with other departments. What's wrong with that.

639
00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.480
There's nothing wrong with that. And this mayor this city,

640
00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:30.359
he loves the city and loves the citizens in the city,

641
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:33.079
and people a lot of time blame us for things

642
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.359
that are out of our control. I've taken a blame

643
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:38.680
for what they're doing in South Range Avenue. I can guarantee, Lieuteniscob.

644
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.279
We had nothing to do with the plans of South

645
00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:43.400
Range and the medians that they're.

646
00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:44.079
You didn't come up with that.

647
00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:46.039
I did not come up with that. But people are

648
00:30:46.119 --> 00:30:48.079
going to blame the police because, hey, look what you did.

649
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:51.960
We just worked the accidents. We were forced to write

650
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.519
the citations whenever you make that turn, whenever it says

651
00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:56.279
you can't turn on red. Now, I didn't come up

652
00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:58.920
with that, but I got to do my job, or

653
00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:00.960
my officers have to do their job. But a lot

654
00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:04.599
of times, just because of misinformation, they blame us. We didn't.

655
00:31:05.160 --> 00:31:06.920
I drive the road just like you do. And I'm

656
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:08.599
looking like, okay, maybe.

657
00:31:08.519 --> 00:31:09.400
This was a good idea.

658
00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:12.920
Maybe it wasn't a good idea, right, but we're here recently.

659
00:31:13.400 --> 00:31:15.519
I did this according to the public. No, no, I

660
00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:17.400
no say so about side frames Avenue.

661
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:20.519
Scoby's changing the whole traffic.

662
00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.480
And to be clear, there's no animosity towards the hotel

663
00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:27.759
owners in Dentim. It's just the nature of the beast. Yeah,

664
00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:31.440
it's there's no ill will or anything like that. I

665
00:31:31.559 --> 00:31:34.279
understand they're running a business. I completely get that. I

666
00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:37.960
run a side business as well. I just wanted to

667
00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:38.640
put that out there.

668
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:41.839
Yeah, no, and that's right. I mean, nobody's picking on

669
00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:48.000
them for sure. Six point five percent is this tax.

670
00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:50.880
I don't think that's a heavy ask for anybody. I

671
00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:54.680
would imagine that being someone that's a business person. If

672
00:31:54.680 --> 00:31:56.839
that were me, you know, I'm just raising my rate

673
00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:00.599
six percent. It's not major four bucks.

674
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:03.079
I didn't bring that up here at night. We did

675
00:32:03.160 --> 00:32:06.119
the studies on all the hotel room rates, and we

676
00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:08.599
made sure when we when the legislation wrote this, and

677
00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:10.720
it is up to six point seventy five, we didn't

678
00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:12.960
price them out of business. Yeah, we added that too.

679
00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:16.039
If they priced it to the consumer, they're still comparable

680
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:18.759
to the other hotels and hotels and back breach. We didn't.

681
00:32:19.079 --> 00:32:20.599
We're not trying to put them out of business. It

682
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:22.559
only helps us if they stay at one hundred percent

683
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:24.319
in occuracy, If the citizens vote for this.

684
00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:27.319
And a message to them out there that because I

685
00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:29.200
know they're going to be listening to this, I can

686
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:34.920
guarantee you a message to them. This benefits you because

687
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:40.519
a good fire department and a good happy police department

688
00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:43.920
are going to protect your hotel. They're going to keep

689
00:32:43.960 --> 00:32:46.720
it cleanse they're going to keep the referaf out of there,

690
00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:49.359
and you should want that. As a business owner of

691
00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:51.680
a hotel, I don't want refraff at my hotel. If

692
00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:52.640
I am one, you should.

693
00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:56.000
And they did oppose me at the city council when

694
00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:58.039
I spoke there, and the hotel owners did come to

695
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.480
state level and oppose me, And I get it. They're

696
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:03.039
fighting for their business, sure, But like I asked the

697
00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:05.680
city council to put it on their agenda, it's not

698
00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:09.359
a vote for fire and police and against the hotel owners.

699
00:33:09.559 --> 00:33:12.039
I'm just asking for a vote for the citizens to choose.

700
00:33:12.279 --> 00:33:14.119
That's all I was asking for. At the state level

701
00:33:14.200 --> 00:33:17.039
the city level was hey, can you say yes to

702
00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:19.160
put this on a palot so our citizens can make

703
00:33:19.240 --> 00:33:21.680
up their mind. That is what I truly believe America

704
00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:23.640
is about. And let them decide.

705
00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:28.200
Absolutely. Let the people have the say, and the people

706
00:33:28.279 --> 00:33:31.359
will have to say. But I will say this. A

707
00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:35.319
businessman sat down in this chair across from him one

708
00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:38.799
time and he said, you know a lot of things

709
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:41.559
I say as a business person I don't necessarily agree

710
00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:45.480
with as a personal human being. And it's true, business

711
00:33:45.559 --> 00:33:49.359
owners for hotels or whatever, are going to say something

712
00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:51.759
looking at it from a business perspective that from a

713
00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:54.480
personal level they might say this is probably the right

714
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:54.960
thing to do.

715
00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:55.640
So.

716
00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:59.440
And I refuse to believe that anybody out there would

717
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:02.920
think the police don't deserve to be paid and competitive,

718
00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:05.640
Like I said, no, but he's being millionaires off this,

719
00:34:06.839 --> 00:34:11.000
but just competitive, be able to retain your people. I

720
00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:12.679
can't hammer that down enough.

721
00:34:12.920 --> 00:34:17.800
I think they they're just worried about Okay, if I say, yes, Scooby,

722
00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:20.519
where is that money going, I'm telling you, it's in

723
00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:22.880
the law where it's got to go. Yeah, it has

724
00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:26.360
no sunset date. We mean that it's there. Legislation can

725
00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:28.199
pass to change it later on down the line. I

726
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:30.639
can't control what they do, but there is no sunset date.

727
00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:33.039
But it's written in the law. We can't go buy

728
00:34:33.639 --> 00:34:36.639
new vehicles and remodel the PD and put two stories

729
00:34:36.679 --> 00:34:38.599
on it. And it's got to go to our guys

730
00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:40.480
and girls pay and benefits.

731
00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:45.239
That's right, that's right. And to wrap this up, this

732
00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:50.400
is not a tax on the citizens of Denim Springs

733
00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:53.719
unless they were to stay in the hotel and they

734
00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:55.840
live in Denim. That's the only way they're going to

735
00:34:56.039 --> 00:35:00.679
end up paying this tax. Correct sir, Okay. Good for

736
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:05.599
everybody out there that has questions about this. I'm going

737
00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:10.800
to put some links into the video here that you're

738
00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:14.880
watching or if you're listening into the audio, where you

739
00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:17.559
can get more information on it. I'll be posting. I

740
00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:19.480
have some flyers and I'm going to be posting on

741
00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:23.000
the Facebook page so you can check those out as well.

742
00:35:23.239 --> 00:35:28.679
And again, early voting starts on October eighteenth. Everybody go

743
00:35:28.760 --> 00:35:30.920
out there and early vote. Look, this is going to

744
00:35:30.920 --> 00:35:33.280
be a busy election. It is busy election.

745
00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:36.719
I see the library with early voting on Florida Boulevard.

746
00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:39.360
The line start at all the other elections, so you

747
00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:40.239
can imagine this one.

748
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:42.360
Yeah, a lot of stuff going on, a lot of

749
00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:45.480
stuff going on. So if you can early vote, early vote,

750
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:47.719
because it's going to be a line a mile long

751
00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:52.400
on election day. Now, I've always had a tradition personally

752
00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:55.039
voting on election I don't know why that is, but

753
00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:56.639
I'll sit out in my line for hours, and I

754
00:35:56.719 --> 00:36:00.599
think that's kind of cool. I love it that, you know,

755
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:03.119
we all love this parish, and I love it that

756
00:36:03.280 --> 00:36:08.679
we all, uh, you know, get together and exercise at

757
00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:11.840
least every four years with a presidential election. We need

758
00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:14.760
to be better at voting on every election. But we

759
00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:17.119
get out there and we exercise our right to vote.

760
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:19.760
And many of us have military people in our family

761
00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:21.760
and people that have died for the right for us

762
00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:23.880
to do that. I can't tell you how important that is.

763
00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:26.440
And and I love to see people out there voting.

764
00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:28.199
And this is going to be on that ballot. Any

765
00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:31.960
final thoughts from either one of you on what's to come.

766
00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:33.920
I think you can hit the nail the nail on

767
00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:36.000
the head with with it's not attacks on our citizens.

768
00:36:36.119 --> 00:36:38.239
We did try to think of an alternative other than

769
00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:42.079
that seals tax again and those meals that Jeff Taylor

770
00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:44.960
are bringing up that's coming, So you kind of touch

771
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:47.920
base on all that. Like I said when I started

772
00:36:47.960 --> 00:36:50.280
this thing, I'm not saying yes or no. I hope

773
00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:53.079
my job says you know, I kind of kind of

774
00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:56.480
want some help to relief, but uh, I'm just here

775
00:36:56.519 --> 00:36:58.559
to educate. So when you do get to that button,

776
00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:02.280
think about it felt what's in your heart, and make

777
00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:04.840
a good decision. And if it's still no, I'm still coming.

778
00:37:04.880 --> 00:37:07.000
When you call it on one, it doesn't change anything.

779
00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:08.679
Yeah, And any from me.

780
00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:12.480
Same thing. The fact that it's not a tax on

781
00:37:12.599 --> 00:37:15.440
the people. I think that's our biggest point that we

782
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:16.280
want to get cross.

783
00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:17.519
Very good.

784
00:37:18.599 --> 00:37:20.960
But yeah, I mean to create the stability in our

785
00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:24.760
apartment that is much needed, especially with the guys that

786
00:37:24.760 --> 00:37:26.679
are going to be leaving the next five years retiring.

787
00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:29.800
We really need a good wave of new hires coming

788
00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:32.800
in and who will be there for the long term.

789
00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:35.760
I appreciate it. And look, before we get out of here,

790
00:37:35.800 --> 00:37:37.920
I want to reiterate and say again how much I

791
00:37:38.039 --> 00:37:41.800
appreciate both of you and all of your colleagues that

792
00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:43.679
go out there every day and do what you do.

793
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:46.960
I really mean that. I'm pro police and I'm profied

794
00:37:47.079 --> 00:37:51.559
more than anybody, and you just can't you know, in

795
00:37:51.639 --> 00:37:54.000
my mind, you can never pay some money enough to

796
00:37:54.119 --> 00:37:57.159
do what you do. But I think this is more

797
00:37:57.199 --> 00:38:01.440
than reasonable. Awesome job coming up with it. And look,

798
00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:03.800
I don't usually tell people how I'm gonna vote, but

799
00:38:03.800 --> 00:38:05.360
I'll tell you what I'm gonna vote yes on this

800
00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:09.079
one for sure. So if you got any questions, reach

801
00:38:09.159 --> 00:38:12.400
out to me. Reach out to I'm sure if they

802
00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:14.880
send you an email, you'll be happy to figure it out.

803
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:17.679
I'll give you the facts of it and that's it.

804
00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:20.519
So thank you very much, Thank y'all for coming on.

805
00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:25.159
I appreciate all of you for listening and watching. Look,

806
00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:30.280
we're coming up on one million views on YouTube, which

807
00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:33.920
blows my mind every day, I know it. I can't

808
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:36.719
believe it. But it's really the guest I have on Look.

809
00:38:36.760 --> 00:38:39.079
They hear me talk every day. It's people like y'all

810
00:38:39.199 --> 00:38:41.719
coming on here that they want to listen to. But

811
00:38:41.880 --> 00:38:45.000
super blessed over here. So thank you to everybody. Please

812
00:38:45.079 --> 00:38:48.280
share this podcast. This is one that's very important to

813
00:38:48.360 --> 00:38:52.119
share so that we can make sure people understand what's

814
00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:57.039
going down with this tax and so thank you so

815
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:00.360
much for coming on. And until next time, I'm Jim

816
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:04.960
Chapman reminding you love your community, support local business, local police,

817
00:39:05.079 --> 00:39:08.199
local fire departments, and keep leading. Thank you very much,