Minutes of the Regular MeetingFebruary 19, 2009
The regular monthly meeting of the Caddo-Bossier Port Commission was called to order by President James Pannell at approximately 4:30 p.m., in the Garnet Salon, Diamond Jack's Hotel and Convention Center, Bossier City. Roll Call: Commissioners Lynn Austin, Ernest Baylor, Erica R. Bryant; James D. Hall; Ronald J. Miciotto, Capt. Thomas F. Murphy, James L. Pannell and Michael H. Wainwright were in attendance constituting a quorum. Commissioner absent: Steve Watkins. Public Comment/Introduction of Guests: Commissioner Pannell welcomed guests and any comments. Introductions followed. Commissioner Pannell recognized Mike Boydstun with the Red River Waterway Commission and reiterated his appreciation for the Red River Waterway Commission on behalf of the Board. Others Present: Mike Boydstun, Red River Waterway Commission; Cdr. Dan Norton, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Bob Fisher, Alliance, Inc.; Mike McQuillan, DiMatter & Associates, Inc; Anne Gremillion and Emi Fitzgerald, Gremillion & Pou and Associates, Inc. and Charles Tutt, Tutt, Stroud & McKay. Staff included Eric England, Executive Port Director; Brenda Levinson, Deputy Port Director; Hugh McConnell, Director of Operations; Gloria Washington, Director of Finance & Administration; Rick Nance, Director of Engineering & Planning; Alonzo Jackson, Director of Environmental & Safety, Mary Gilyard and Hettie Agee, Secretaries. Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of January 22, 2009: Minutes from the Regular Meeting of January 22, 2009 were presented by Commissioner Miciotto. Hearing no corrections, deletions or additions, Commissioner Miciotto moved for approval of the minutes. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Austin and carried. Financial Reports, January 2009: Commissioner Miciotto presented the January 2009 financial reports. Hearing no corrections, deletions or additions, he moved for adoption of the report. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Wainwright and carried. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Marketing Committee Report of February 9, 2009: The meeting was called to order by Committee Chairman James D. Hall at noon on February 9, 2009 at Sci-Port Discovery Center. Mr. Hall began with introduction of guests and an opportunity for public comment. Port Commissioners Lynn Austin, Erica Bryant, James D. Hall, Capt. Tom Murphy, James L. Pannell and Michael H. Wainwright were present. Others included: Charles G. Tutt, Tutt, Stroud & McKay, LLC; Robert Vinet, Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc.; Anne Gremillion and Emi Fitzgerald, Gremillion & Pou and Associates; Mike Causey, Hunt-Guillot; and Ken Francis, Wright & Percy Insurance. Staff included Eric England, Brenda Levinson, Hugh McConnell, Gloria Washington, Marilyn Haley, Rick Nance, Alonzo Jackson, Mary Gilyard and Hettie Agee. Mr. Hall called on Brenda to provide an update on Port customers. 1) Pratt Paper - During the month of January the mill continued to work toward completion of the project by getting the construction done. They finished the warehouse and it has been appraised. All of the equipment has been placed and electrical connections been made. Commissioning has started. The week of January 26 they started bringing in those from the mill in Conyers and Australia and vending reps on all the different pieces of equipment they have and are starting to test each piece of equipment to be sure it works. Their anticipation is if commission goes well, they will be making paper in February. On their staff, they've hired a Production Manager and will add support positions as needed. They have 35 paper machine operators. Their maintenance is staffed with 24 and anticipate they will add two to four more positions. The shipping and storage is staffed; the waste yard has 6 full time and 3 temporaries. They will be going to a full shift operation in 4-6 months and will be adding more people. Seven more have been added to the recycling side. On January 29, there were 104 employees. Brenda then said if they had driven down Hwy 1, there was a lot of litter on both sides going north and south. She visited with Allied and the perception is the trash is coming out of the Allied Waste trucks. On the Allied trucks, the recycling material is crushed as it goes in. Allied has talked with Donna Curtis and they're going to clean up both sides of Hwy 1, both north and south. With Pratt, there are a lot of contractors going in and out and also a lot of coming in and out of the truck stop. Morris & Dickson shared they're spending about 5 hours/week cleaning up debris on their side. They've talked to Pratt and when they have their safety meetings, they're going over this with their crews before they start the meeting. They've put out more receptacles for trash. At the MRF, the fence cannot be put up as part of this project until the concrete is finished. So Pratt is using bales of cardboard as a barrier for fence against the paper that is put on the ground. They've also ordered the same type of nets that they use on the barges from Manhattan to Staten Island to put on their papers, so they're doing everything they can until the Port gets the fence built to make sure they're not littering the Port. 2) Omni did not anticipate a great January but the last week of the month it picked up. With the unexpected snow and ice storms they had to ship a lot of 2-cycle oil to municipalities to clean up the storm damage. The new gallon line is running very well and also affords them the opportunity not to have to bring bottles in their re-shipper boxes. They're out looking for new business so they can utilize that line to its fullest potential. Stihl benefited from the ice storms on the chain saws and the 2-cycle oil. So Stihl had a good January and they're already working on promotion and their February orders that started coming in late January were very good. Omni's business with O'Reilly continues to grow despite a lot of competitors making a run at the new stores purchased out on the West Coast. O'Reilly has not pulled that business away from Omni. It's a combination of quality product, packaging the products and the fact their on-time delivery is unbeatable. As long as Omni can maintain their service level and new added demand, if that holds true, then Omni's business with O'Reilly more than likely will be up potentially 30% this year. Lowe's has started early on their Spring Garden show. Omni is working on 1500 floor displays of 2-cycle and 4-cycle oil that have to be in all the stores by March 1. Lowe's is anticipating that with people staying home with the economy-people doing more of their own-they're starting the shows sooner and expect it will last longer and they will sell more product during this time. Omni's export business continues to grow. They're receiving orders coming from a lot of countries other than Mexico and anticipate a 20% increase with them. On the lab extension, they're hoping to get that out for bid and be ready to start building in March. Part of that is the need for some equipment that ties into testing for some new products that Omni's doing that tie into the oil and gas industry. They've hired 3 employees for this division and are expecting to see some good sales. 3) On Ternium, they had a low production month in January and had not anticipated to be making increases but to hold their own. The one thing that is a little disturbing is that they have not seen the market turn around in the steel and the metal side. They're continuing to work with Monterrey on synergies that they hope will put them in a very strong position once the market does come back and they're watching very closely their competitors who have multiple locations and are closing one or two of those and operating out from one in order to be more cost efficient to maintain their business entity. 3) TruSouth had a good January. 4) Carbo Ceramics continues to defy everything. What they're doing now does not tie in with the Haynesville Shale but by their own message back to us, their revenues are through the roof and '09 is going to be a great year for Carbo. On projects, by far the best is Project Pine and Deloitte is setting up meetings in Washington and probably will confirm the meetings when the stimulus package gets passed and they know for sure what's on the table as far as alternative energy because that is a driving force for them in trying to make a decision to come to the US. Project Superbird is the HVAC Company out of Houston. This is a major relocation of not only their facility but of all their service providers to work with them on a huge campus. When LED spoke with the company in January, they still want to make a change and get out of Houston. However, the economy is the factor. They're not backing away; they're probably going to put off the decision about what to do for several months. That's the same for Project Odin. It ties into the aircraft industry. It's the same story. On Project Aspida, this was an international company that's into gas processing, automotive machinery and plant construction. They do a number of things. They reviewed 36 sites in the US. The Port made the cut to 8 but did not make the cut to the final 3. The consultant's feedback was that the 3 cities they did select were larger cities than what we had as the combined, and that what they were able to offer better met their client's criteria. But the controllers were very complimentary of the package sent and their response to the RFP and representation of our area. They continue to work with 300 Mile who is involved in the possible purchase of a fraq sand operation up north. Commissioner Hall called on Eric for monthly reports and he said the contact report and PR report as well as the calendar were in the packages. He said on the calendar of activities that next week on Wednesday night, the 18th, is when they would hold the Red River Waterway Commission Appreciation Dinner in conjunction with the Red River Valley Association meeting at Diamond Jack's Hotel and Convention Center. The Intergovernmental Committee will be meeting at the Port Office at noon on the 23rd. Markey Pierre with Southern Strategy will be at that meeting as well to discuss the upcoming fiscal legislative session as well as other issues. Our Board meeting is on the 19th, 4:30 p.m., at Diamond Jack's Hotel. Caddo-Bossier Port Commission - MinutesFebruary 19, 2009Page 3 Commissioner Wainwright asked if the Board meeting would be at Diamond Jack's and Eric said yes and the notice would be sent. Hearing no further questions or comments, Commissioner Hall adjourned the meeting at 12:17 p.m. Commissioner Hall presented the Marketing Committee report, and hearing no corrections, deletions or additions, made a motion for approval of the report. Motion carried. Operations Committee Report of February 9, 2009: The meeting was called to order by Commissioner James D. Hall at approximately 12:16 p.m. on January 12, 2009 at Sci-Port Discovery Center. Mr. Hall began with introduction of guests and an opportunity for public comment. Port Commissioners Lynn Austin, Erica Bryant, James D. Hall, Capt. Tom Murphy, James L. Pannell and Michael H. Wainwright were present. Others included: Charles G. Tutt, Tutt, Stroud & McKay, LLC; Robert Vinet, Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc.; Anne Gremillion and Emi Fitzgerald, Gremillion & Pou and Associates; Mike Causey, Hunt-Guillot and Ken Francis, Wright & Percy Insurance. Staff included Eric England, Brenda Levinson, Hugh McConnell, Gloria Washington, Marilyn Haley, Rick Nance, Alonzo Jackson, Mary Gilyard and Hettie Agee. Commissioner Hall began with an opportunity for public comment. Commissioner Hall called on Hugh to give the Operations report and he gave a rail operations visual presentation. It included a ground level presentation of present locations of all rail installations, lines and spurs for the Port, tenants and customers. Additionally future installations were shown and how they would be beneficial. Hugh said they had been talking with the UP Railroad about identifying the tracks and numbering them so that they would all be on the same page. They also discussed daily switching and daily operations. The storage yard was shown as running along John Holt Blvd. and holds 300-400 cars. Explanation was also shown on how they handle the aggregate on the 95-unit car trains that come in. In planning, they want on the South Whittington property to build some tracks that would work for a spot move for people that aren't leasing ground. Mr. Pannell asked him to show the proposed building site and Hugh pointed it out where I-69 would be cutting through. The aggregate moves for January were three 95-unit trains, two from Blount and one from C&S, 27,000 tons, 285 cars. The second biggest mover was ceramic proppant cargo a little over 90,000 tons, 110 cars. Third was the liquid petroleum sector which includes Omni, TruSouth, Red River Terminals and Custom Commodities, 7,697 tons, 94 cars. Ternium had a little over 5,000 tons railed in for January. They're buying material and processing so hopefully that is a good sign. In total, there were 726 new railcars, 53,000 tons of liquid, dry, bulk and break bulk commodities as compared to 20,000 for January of last year. The gas well industry is pushing the commodities through. In barge operations, they had 5 barges total, 10,625 tons, about a fifth of what they did in rail. That was primarily with Red River Terminals moving a couple of barges of liquid and Oakley receiving two barges of rock salt and one barge of pig iron. A great month in rail-it's still kind of weak in barge. Commissioner Hall moved to Port projects and called on Rick. They made the connection for the gray water line and it tied in just fine. It should be finished shortly. The City asked for some structure for the screen to be added and put in case there are solvents in the gray water. That's being drafted now and they should be able to send that drawing back to DOT. On the pump house, within 60 days that should be out for bid. The aprons for Pratt, the pours for phase 2, which is the concrete behind the MRF, have been completed. Phase 1 is about half way done, primarily is just the road going into the surface area for Pratt. The apron area for the storage for paper is almost done. They will start doing the curbing which will allow the fencing to be put in. They're about a week or so away from getting the fencing started. Phase 3, the north end where the trucks come in and receive the paper rolls for distribution, it's at fine grade right now. The testing of the compaction of it will be done this morning. If there's not too much rain in the next day or so, they will start putting rock down. On the South Whittington rail, within a week he will approach UP Railroad about making a connection on the UP. Regarding Ternium's dock, they redid the crane aspect where they had the two bids and have now rolled it back in to the dock at large and are finished with the design and going back to DOT for a final scrub and approval. There's a little bit of tweaking primarily due to the new bid laws for Bid Sync etc. The Administration Office is proceeding well. Kevin met with Anne and Emi last week to talk about branding and they are going to meet with the FFE consultant this week. He is meeting with some security specialists to discuss possible issues related to the server and building security aspects. Tomorrow, we will meet regarding video conferencing. Commissioner Hall called on Eric for the monthly reports and he said they had been covered through the presentations but there were reports in the packages. Commissioner Hall called on Alonzo for the Environmental & Safety Report. Alonzo reported they were making plans for the upcoming quarterly Area Maritime Security Committee Meeting that was going to take place on Wednesday, February 18, 2009,at 1:00 p.m. at Diamond Jack's. It will be held during the Red River Valley Association Convention. In this meeting the Captain of our Port, Mike Gardiner, will be discussing the exercise that's coming up in April because this was his recommendation. He has set up the Coast Guard to do the training meeting planning for this and we want to show him that we are working with all our agencies to make sure that it does take place. On the 26th of February they will have a mini drill at the Port and that's going to involve just the First Responders from the area-the local guys. They are going to meet with all of our tenants to show them what could happen in case of a 911 Event. Some of our tenants have used 911 and some of them have never used it so they want to show them how that would operate-put a name and a face and some locations in the building, and then that will tie into the "Hard Water" exercise coming up in April. Our goal is to make sure that all of the agencies that are involved with both the mini drill and the "Hard Water" exercise make a contribution to our exercise in our mini series. They can do this as long as they are aware of what's happening at the Port where if something should happen, whether it's a small emergency, a large emergency, a terrorist attempt, a terrorist attack or either a natural disaster that everyone would know their place and what they should do if possible. They want a link from the smallest landowner or tenant etc. all the way up to State agencies, Federal agencies all the way up to the Coast Guard. That is the purpose of all these and to have a triage of everything coming down from the Coast Guard, and we'll work toward that so that Captain Gardiner understands. They continue meeting with the dock personnel and getting them formal training with the Ark-La-Tex Safety Council. Also the safety plan is being updated and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the first quarter. A grant request was submitted in September for a card reader for the TWIC cards and the funds should be coming in with some left for security training. The application for Round 9 grant has been submitted with everyone in the office participating in the request. This would be a request for funding for the Emergency Operations Center in the Administrative Building. There have been no major safety or security issues for the month of January. The Sheriff's Office has been contacted regarding the trash and litter situation. There's no such thing as a citation warning for drivers dropping trash on Hwy. 1. The Sheriff's Office pointed out there are other parts of the parish with the same problem. They have applied for a State grant for manpower to take care of this. They should be awarded the grant in March and have added Hwy. 1 and the Port to be monitored. Regarding the Leonard Road project, DEQ gave a verbal communication regarding what was going to happen and we await the written information in order to move forward. Also CCS has made some additional comments on what they would like to do, sent it to us, the landowner made their comments and has been put in draft form for submission to DEQ. Following up on some matters pertaining to Alonzo's report with regard to the Leonard Road property, the landowner is Frank's Management and they are also fifty percent owner in the Cupples tract on the west side of the highway from our offices. They had the appraiser, with the blessing of the landowner, shifting gears from the Leonard Road site to the Cupples tract. This is in addition to the Gardner tract. In previous discussions about having the Port Expansion Committee meet, they wanted to go ahead with that appraisal process. With regard to Hugh's report and following up as well, they're scheduled for a follow up conference with the Federal Railroad Administration to discuss with them the Port's decision on their citations. They also have made the contact and established the structure for the person to help with the operating policies as discussed at the last Board meeting. With regard to new laws in the State of Louisiana, Rick had mentioned the bid forms with regard to Bid Sync. There is another element of bid forms they're investigating with regard to Act 727. With regard to a compliance issue, it's their goal to have the Disclosure forms to the Board on about March 20th. These are the ones that are required under Tier 2.1 of Disclosure and have a May 15th deadline. Also, he had asked Charles to provide information on Ethic's Training and he believes the Board will not be required to participate in training until 2012. There will be an authorization on the February agenda for a coop for the Red River Waterway Commission. They have chosen to increase their participation in our warehouse project from $2 Million to $4.5 Million. Following up on Kevin, there have been a lot of follow up items. Rick did address several of them such as the server room, the security features and the teleconferencing and is moving rather expeditiously on following up and making sure he meets the deadline. Commissioner Hall asked Eric to comment on Act 727 and Eric explained his interpretation was that bid forms would be defined by law to include only a limited amount of items. And, for example, the Port's ordinance would not be a part of future bids but an item taken care of prior to the execution of the contract. Commissioner Hall said so you can put your ordinances that were previously in existence and instructions, but the form has to replicate the form that was passed by that Act. Eric said yes and those can be conditions that will be met prior to contract execution, but the bid form itself is defined in the law. They're making sure that they follow the law now with all future bids. Commissioner Murphy asked Charles Tutt if there was a web site where they could verify and see what the Disclosure form looked like. Commissioner Austin said he downloaded it and Charles said Eric had a copy to send or he could google and go to the Louisiana Board of Ethics. He said he would do that. Hearing nothing further, Commissioner Hall adjourned the meeting at 12:46 p.m. Commissioner Miciotto presented the Operations Committee report, and hearing no corrections, deletions or additions, moved for approval of the report. Motion carried. Personnel Committee Report of February 9, 2009: The meeting was called to order by Committee Chairman Jimmy Hall at 9:45 at Sci Port Discovery Center. Committee, Commission and staff members in attendance included Lynn Austin, Erica Bryant, James Pannell and Eric England. Following a public comment period, Jimmy Hall called on Eric England to discuss the first item on the agenda which was outsourced payroll administration. Eric referred to the information contained in each of their packages from the two firms recommended by staff. The firms included ADP and APS. Eric provided an overview of the proposals and commented on the fee structure of each. Given that there was a considerable price difference in the two, he also provided a briefing on how references had been provided and contacted for APS. Clients contacted included Heard McElroy and Vestal and Sci-Port Discovery center, two entities in which the Port has a close working relationship. Following discussion, no action was taken by the Committee members present as a quorum was not present, however Commissioner Hall stated the recommendation for the Board to select APS would be made at the February 19th Board of Commissioners meeting. Following the discussion on outsourcing payroll was an overview of third party Human Resources services. Eric informed the committee that several organizations were contacted regarding services, however staff size prohibited these firms from making comprehensive proposals. After discussion, it was recommended that staff continue its working relationship with Price Barker and recommended HR firms regarding the development, update and review of Port Hiring Policies, Grievance Procedures, Open Door Policy, Code of Conduct, Job Descriptions, Personnel Policy and Procedures, Training and Development and other applicable HR policies, procedures and related items. Discussion was also held regarding the committee's view of there not being an apparent need to hire a full time HR Director. Recognizing a need for these services to be coordinated at the staff level, it was determined that Marilyn Haley would be the staff point of contact as well as the coordinator between third party service providers and human resources legal counsel. Gloria Washington would also interact and assist Marilyn as needed in these efforts as there is partial integration between the two departments with regard to Human Resources. The next order of business was a follow-up to discussion held at the November Executive Committee regarding the Port's proposed organizational chart. Discussion began with the restructuring of duties of the Deputy Port Director to include the positions of Director of Operations and Director of Environmental and Safety. This structure was recommended by DiMatter in their recent Operational Review. A Secretary II would need to be hired as soon as possible for these positions. In addition, the structure provided for the addition of an Operational Clerk to assist the Director of Operations and Superintendent with the increasing amount of administrative tasks associated with Port operations. The DiMatter review also proposed a team structure for the operations dividing the Port operators into separate teams for rail operations, general cargo operations and maintenance and repair. The railroad team structure would be developed for 7 day per week operations to better service existing and future customers. While this has not yet developed among the customers, the structure is in place to pursue at the ideal time. The position of Operator I would likely need to be filled within the next 18 months. As the Port is in the process of designing a new administrative office, discussion was held regarding the hiring of a Facilities Manager to report to the Director of Engineering and be responsible for the overall operations and maintenance of the office and other Port assets. With regard to the conference and banquet facilities, the Committee concluded the Secretary III position would be responsible for the coordination of third party and office use of the conference rooms, council room, emergency operations center and banquet facilities. In addition, the Secretary III position would work under the Board as well as the Executive Port Director. The Secretary II position would be modified to reflect the duties of a receptionist as well as other office support functions. With regard to Human Resources and as discussed earlier in the meeting, the Public Affairs Manager position would be modified appropriately for these additional functions. Discussion centered on the division of duties within the Finance department to provide adequate internal controls and provide the Director of Finance and Administration increased time for coordination and supervision of activities. With the outsourcing of payroll, the committee agreed one Accounting Clerk/Secretary be added to the staff. The committee also agreed that Heard McElroy and Vestal would be consulted regarding the potential need for a second Accounting Clerk/Secretary. The position of Accounting Clerk/Secretary would also provide clerical services in support of Port operations as needed and as directed by the Director of Administrative Services. Upon conclusion of organizational structure discussion, staff was directed to develop the organizational chart and make the discussed changes to the existing and proposed job descriptions reflective of the agreed upon structure and place all on the February 19, 2009 agenda for adoption by the full board. There being no further business, the meeting concluded at 11:15 a.m. Committee Chairman Commissioner Hall said they had a meeting on February 9, 2009. They discussed staff job descriptions as a beginning point. They also considered separating payroll duties. They had two proposals. There are two approvals on the agenda today reflective of the items discussed. One of them is to approve the Automatic Payroll Solutions, Inc. which will be turn key so that there is a separation of those duties. The other was a result of the discussion they had as far as a layout of staff responsibilities and how they will be reported within the system and they can discuss them and tweak as they become necessary in the future. After conferring with legal counsel, Commissioner Pannell said the matter would be taken up under New Business. NEW BUSINESS: *Resolution No. 4 - Authorization to Sign Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with Red River Waterway Commission for Construction of a 100,000 sq. ft. Transit Shed and Ancillary Facilities: Mr. England said this was the authorization to sign the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with the Red River Waterway Commission. They had a previous agreement with the Waterway Commission for funding for $2.5 Million. That agreement will be terminated and this new agreement will provide funding for $4.5 Million; Port Priority is matching with $4.5 Million with the balance of $3,750,000 being provided by the Port to build a 100,000 sq. ft. warehouse. A motion for adoption was made by Commissioner Hall, seconded by Commissioner Wainwright and carried. *Resolution No. 5 - State Project No. 578-09-0015(324), Port Improvements, Roadways, Rail, Dock, and Water Utilities (Formerly Paper Company) - Dock Structure and Crane, Phase IV - Request Authorization to Advertise for Bid: Mr. England said this was a request for authorization to advertise for bids for the dock and crane project that will be located within the Slack Water Harbor, commonly referred to as the Ternium dock. A motion to adopt was made by Commissioner Miciotto, seconded by Commissioner Wainwright and carried. (To be forwarded to DOTD and copy placed in permanent records) *Staff Job Descriptions: Mr. England said following up from the February 9, 2009 Personnel Committee meeting as well as follow up to Commissioner Hall's report, the existing staff job descriptions have been modified and new job descriptions developed to reflect discussions of the Personnel Committee. The staff job descriptions are also to be reviewed annually and adopted in accordance with the By-Laws of the commission. A motion to adopt all existing job descriptions as well as the new positions of Operations Clerk, Accounting Clerk/Secretary, Secretary/Receptionist and Public Affairs/HR Manager was made by Commissioner Hall, seconded by Commissioner Murphy and carried. *Authorization to Select and Enter Agreement with Automatic Payroll Solutions, Inc. for Third Party Payroll Services: Mr. England deferred to Commissioner Hall who said it was an acceptable monthly rate for the number of people at the Port and the feedback they received from the clients was substantially good about their capability of responding quickly. Additionally, at the end of the year they would prepare W-2's for the employees. A motion was made by Commissioner Hall, seconded by Commissioner Wainwright and carried. Commissioner Pannell said they had one more item under New Business and called on Commissioner Murphy who said information had been sent to them regarding barges and boats. An additional supplement had been sent with a description of smaller barges. He said he believed they were getting the point they soon would need their own service vessel and barge. Therefore he made a motion that they authorize the staff to pursue obtaining a suitable barge and a suitable service craft for the Port. Commissioner Hall seconded and asked if our personnel will be able to handle the craft and be taught to operate those. Capt. Murphy answered yes. The vote was taken and carried. Port Director's Report: Mr. England said they would have an Intergovernmental Committee meeting Monday at the Port Office at noon. Commissioner Baylor is the Chairman of that committee and a draft agenda has been prepared and will be furnished to each of you. He said one other date they had recently learned about was the Interstate 69 Mid-Continental Coalition annual meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. March 10 - 12. They have a strong reason to support I-69 and a strong delegation will be participating in this event. If there are any commissioners that would like to attend, just let him know. He thanked Commissioner Pannell for representing the Port last night at the Appreciation Dinner for the Red River Waterway Commission and said he did an outstanding job. In talking with the folks at the Valley Association meeting today, they are very pleased. Several Red River Waterway commissioners have expressed their gratitude for the event and especially within our staff. Marilyn coordinated that event. Gremillion & Pou, Anne, Amy and John were to be thanked. Commissioner Pannell asked Eric the status of Project Pine and Eric said an email update had been received from Deloitte that provided an update of where they were in terms of what they were going to be working on. Commissioner Baylor said that would be one of the topics discussed on the agenda of the Intergovernmental Committee on Monday. Executive Session - Discuss legal issues of the Port: A motion to go into Executive Session to discuss legal matters was made by Commissioner Austin, seconded by Commissioner Wainwright, and carried. Commissioner Pannell then asked guests to excuse themselves before they go into Executive Session, with the exception of Eric England, Charles Tutt, Rick Nance and Hettie Agee. A motion was made by Commissioner Hall and seconded by Commissioner Austin to go out of Executive session and go back into the regular meeting. The motion carried and guests were invited to return. Mr. Pannell said the Port Commission held an Executive session to discuss legal matters. There was no action taken in the executive session and there was no action to be taken in the regular session as a result of the discussion. Hearing no further business to come before the Board, he entertained a motion for adjournment at 4:55 p.m. The motion was made by Commissioner Austin, seconded by Commissioner Miciotto and carried. Respectfully submitted, Ronald J. Miciotto Secretary-Treasurer MEETING NOTICES!! Date and Place of next Regularly Scheduled Board Meeting: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 4:30 p.m. Bossier City Hall, Mayor's Conference Room, Bossier City Marketing & Operations Committee Meetings, Monday, March 9, 2009, NoonSci-Port, 820 Clyde Fant Memorial Pkwy, Shreveport |
