The Mudcat Report: Mississippi Gulf Coast Community News & Guests
The Mudcat Report was an idea developed a few years ago from the Mississippi flathead catfish with a little tradition put into this about the blues, government and local community news. Decades of experience will be given to adopt the idea created in this podcast.
Over the last few decades, Americans have been increasingly doubtful about the outlook of government and the quality of the local community's reaction by them. The creation of the Mudcat Report is an evaluation of the local government so the community has a realistic acknowledgement.
HOST: Hunter Dawkins - Owner/Publisher of the award-winning newspaper - The Gazebo Gazette, SuperTalk Mississippi News contributor, Congressional Staffer, Public Relations for the Attorney General's Office
The Mudcat Report: Mississippi Gulf Coast Community News & Guests
The Mudcat Report Episode 10: Roads & Bridges
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The Mudcat Report Episode 10: Roads & Bridges
HOST: Hunter Dawkins - Owner/Publisher of the award-winning newspaper - The Gazebo Gazette, SuperTalk Mississippi News contributor, former Congressional Staffer, former Public Relations for the Attorney General's Office
PRODUCER: Jeff Clark - Award-Winning Journalist, Multimedia/Podcast Host, Director for the Harrison County Senior Services
GUESTS:
- Dr. Marlin Ladner, Harrison County District 3 (Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport) Supervisor -served since 1999, former Long Beach School District superintendent
- Long Beach Alderman-at-Large Donald Frazer - served for 9 years since 2017, served on the planning commission for 4 years previously
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Welcome to the Mudcat Report, community news, politics, and culture with a local twist. Here's your host, owner and publisher of the Gazeebo Gazette, Hunter Dawkins.
SPEAKER_07Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins, and I am the host of the Mudcat Report, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community News podcast. This is the 10th podcast sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Harrison County's Independent Newspaper, Jeffrey Hullum for Congress, O'Dwyer Realty Agent, Stephanie Mankowitz, and we're always in the U.S. Marine Inc. Studio. I'm here with my wonderful producer of the show and my good friend, Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-accomplished award-winning journalist, and he is the director of senior services. Jeff, how are you?
SPEAKER_06Good man. I'm doing well, Hunter. How are you?
SPEAKER_07I'm doing well. I'm doing well. You know, we have today is the roads and bridges. And of course, you know, I know this is not exactly the sexiest theme for every aspect, but it's something that's important to every single human being down here, especially in Harrison County.
SPEAKER_06Hey man, you can if you do not have the infrastructure, you do not have the economic growth, the economic development, the restaurants, all of that. I mean, you know, when I was the public information officer of the county, I could tell you, because I would do it like in presentations and stuff, how many miles of roads and bridges and stuff there were in Harrison County and how many bridges were out. And uh it's a lot. And and I'll say that uh back uh the day after Thanksgiving, we lost Tim Smith, who was the uh road manager for Harrison County. Tim did a fantastic job.
SPEAKER_07Timmy was a great he was a great guy.
SPEAKER_06Timmy was a good guy, you know. We we talk about him often on this podcast, but uh you know they the I say that to say that the board recently hired Todd Heron um to be the new road manager for Harrison County, and Todd has road department experience, and uh I'm sure he'll do a great job. So um, you know, kudos to the county for for finding the next person and and moving on. I know one of uh one of your guests tonight's uh Dr. Marlon Ladner, who is supervisor of Harrison County District 3. Uh full disclosure, he's you know, I work for for the board of supervisors, and Marlon's also a good friend of mine. Uh you know, I I Marlon knows the bri roads and bridges of District 3 better than anyone. And and that goes for the people in the city, the mayors, uh, all of it. You know, Marlon Marlon's an expert in in Harrison County Roads and Bridges, and uh he he spends a lot of his time as a supervisor making sure that they're up to code and working properly.
SPEAKER_07No, the utility board meetings on Thursday, all the mayors that go to that, every time, every cycle in the county, they always get Marlin to go down there on Thursdays because he does he's the expert. Just like you said, everybody relies on what his knowledge of asphalt is, on what his knowledge of, and just like you mentioned, the mayors, all the the other board members, they they love and councils, they all appreciate everything that he has to say because he's been around it for quite a while. He's got the as my mother would say, the institutional knowledge of how things go.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, man, and there's a lot of terminology that that you have to know in that in that industry. Asphalt, uh, hot mix, cold mix, you know, and and and those things are sold at at different prices. And you know, I think most people, and and again, I used to know know these figures, right? And and I don't anymore because I I work in a different capacity for the county, but um you know it's expensive. The upkeep of our roads and bridges is very, very expensive. It it takes a lot of money, and you know, just in building new roads and things like that, the the cost of asphalt, the cost of hot mix, the cost of those things. I mean, it's uh it's a lot. So uh, you know, fortunately we have a county who's committed to a county board of supervisors, rather, who's committed to infrastructure and uh, you know, they they do a great job with it.
SPEAKER_07Okay, well, you know, I think we have we, you know, of course, the Mudcat report was an idea developed a few years ago from the Mississippi flathead catfish with a little tradition put into the blues, government, and local community news. Decades of experience will be given to adopt the idea created in this podcast. Over the last few decades, Americans have been increasingly doubtful about the outlook of government and the quality of local community reaction by them. The creation of the Mudcat Report is an evaluation of the local government so the community has a realistic acknowledgement. Jeff, we look forward to talking with you again. All right, thank you, Honor.
SPEAKER_00Jeffrey Hullum III is a retired U.S. Army sergeant major who believes real change happens when people work together. For nearly a decade, he has served South Mississippi, fighting food insecurity, supporting seniors and veterans, and building trust between communities and law enforcement. As a state representative, Hullum fought for affordable health care in every community, improved TRICARE access for National Guard families, strengthened law enforcement accountability, and secured critical infrastructure investments across South Mississippi. He's focused on a better quality of life for working families, strong public schools, jobs that pay a living wage, and standing up for veterans. Vote Jeffrey Hollam III for Congress, Mississippi District 4.
SPEAKER_07Paid for by Jeffrey Hullum III for Congress.com and residents who already know where to find the stories that matter to them. Our first guest is a legendary figure in Harrison County, District 3 Supervisors, Dr. Marlon Ladner. Ladner has represented West Harrison County for over 27 years as a supervisor and worked in the Long Beach School District for 34 years. Dr. Ladner, what do the count Harrison County cities provide to the Board of Supervisors for help with the roads throughout the county?
SPEAKER_08Well, Jeff, we we get an avalan general budget from the taxes uh for the whole road department, and when you reference in the road, it's the road department. Uh a year for the road department. That includes everything, not just paying. That would include equipment and personnel, etc. So uh for our road, our roads we budget uh roughly about ten uh to eleven million dollars.
SPEAKER_07Does the county have any obligation? You know, do I know that they have the the signed agreements, I'm not sure if that's any obligation from the cities, you know, to help out, you know, certain city roadways.
SPEAKER_08Yes, there's no uh really obligation, but we do have authority through interlocal agreements, uh honor to uh to uh work with each other. So we do provide services to the city. Yeah, so to have a local agreement. Most of the town the cities will request a resolution that we assess down with road, uh paving or other other projects as well. So we do have authority to uh work with the city, uh the city as well as to local agreements. The city actually the counties as well if we request it. I have a week. I'm not aware of any time that the county has requested any help in the city, but generally we provide services to the city as well as the school, as well as the school district. Uh we can provide services to them through the uh mechanized uh or excuse me, the method of uh local agreements.
SPEAKER_07Do the supervisors receive each one of you guys receive a priority list from the cities?
SPEAKER_08Uh they don't send us a priority list. What they will do if they feel they need something, they'll request specifically what they need from the county in reference to the city roads or any other projects that we can assist with. Yeah, they they send it to us through a resolution specifically requesting uh certain uh help from the county.
SPEAKER_07Does that resolution need to be unanimous or can it be just an approval?
SPEAKER_08No, no, it doesn't have to be unanimous. Uh it can be uh through majority, uh their majority vote, but not required unanimously, though we we generally work with the city to try to help them as much as we can.
SPEAKER_07If a new administration comes into the city, can they change one of the old priority lists that they've given to you guys?
SPEAKER_08Yes, they can. Uh they they do that. If if a new administration, a new board of autumn, uh count uh city council, they would simply change the resolution send as a different resolution, requesting a specific help. They can do that, yeah.
SPEAKER_07What are some of, and I know I'm not sure if you're ready to talk about this yet or not, but are what are some of the upcoming road projects for the county that you know of, especially in your district?
SPEAKER_08Well, what we do, uh we we prioritize uh the the uh request for road improvements. Uh we got a limited budget with uh, as I said, that's $11 million road budget doesn't include savings, but generally what we do is evaluate our roads based on priority, like the amount of traffic and the condition of the roads and how long it's been road to every start. That priority. Uh uh just uh give you an example of great when I first came on the board roughly somewhere around $28 a ton. Fop now is about a hundred and twenty-five dollars a ton. Uh how much it costs like to pay a mile road, you're a map road.
unknownYou're talking about a hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars per mile.
SPEAKER_08Wow every certain wow.
unknownSo uh it's very, very expensive. You can just do the calculation, you know, three or four mile road, you can tell what that costs, you know.
SPEAKER_07Especially on the highways, too, Dr. Ladder.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Uh give you an example, we pay a Landman Road uh in my district. Yeah, that costs roughly six, seven hundred thousand dollars, maybe eight hundred thousand dollars. Wow, remember correctly. So that one road, you know, uh puts a a a real burden on on the budget as far as money stuff. Do you don't resurface roads?
SPEAKER_07Do y'all ever receive any grant money or any any funds you know related to from an MDOT plan or anything as such?
SPEAKER_08No, we don't receive any funds from MDOT, uh, and generally not grant uh grant money as well. We do it through taxes to our local taxes. Um now we have on occasion and we do on occasion to uh we pass uh we we sell bonds, we issue bonds, and we dedicate some of that fund money to road painting. So we use fund money. We I have a uh uh the escrow account which uh we can get uh through avalore and taxes. So we dedicate our avalar uh uh bond money when we have them or uh the tax money from escrow uh uh taxes so that we can use that money toward paving roads. But it's very expensive, as I indicated.
SPEAKER_07One of the big projects I know, Dr. Ladner, and you're really in your service, but in the last few years is the construction of the Bucky's Bridge in in your area right up near Delil. Um, and that was obviously a big bonus for the county because as you're aware that Bucky's is is going every day lots and lots of people, so y'all are getting a great bit of the sales tax. What what was the the creation of especially of the bridge that y'all had to work through? Did y'all have to to take out a bond at least for that to be able to help redo what they wanted for the bridge?
SPEAKER_08Yes. Uh what happened is Bucky's indicated that they would not locate there with that single-lane bridge uh over the interstate pin, that we were gonna have to put in, you know, several lanes, turn lanes to accommodate the traffic that uh Bucky's would generate. So what the Board of Supervisors did was to issue a bond. We issued a $15 million bond to uh help pay for the bridge. Now Bucky's the bridge cost a little more. Uh the bridge cost around $18 million. So Bucky contributed roughly three million, and the Board of Supervisors through a bond issue contributed to $15 million to do the uh the road, uh the bridge over the interstate.
SPEAKER_07When uh when do when in your estimation are y'all really gonna start seeing the return on that, or if you have already started seeing return on that? Well, what we what we've done also, we uh created a test district that tax has an implement uh district.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so that what happened is the taxes that are generated by the bucket uh to uh both the sales tax and the sales tax, the state death to local and private legislation allowed the county to receive a portion that's eighteen eighteen percent of the seven percent of the sales tax to go towards uh uh the infrastructure of money. So we we can receive the sales uh a portion of the sales tax to uh of course pay for the bond. Now, once that bond is paid for by that infrastructure, then we will no longer receive sales tax.
unknownThe county does not receive sales tax. Okay.
SPEAKER_08The state shares a sales tax with the municipality, the county is just primarily on Avalon of a property tax.
SPEAKER_07Ah, okay, okay. Final question for you, Dr. Ladner. And I've been hearing a lot about these during the, and of course I know you guys are quite aware of these, but when a subdivision is created in the county, when y'all approve the the creation of a subdivision, what does the county have to provide for these new houses and roadways in this area?
SPEAKER_08Basically, on the subdivision, the developer has to provide uh has to put in the road system. Okay, they have to put in the water and sewer system, uh, sewer and water distribution. And once they do that, once they fill those roads with county specification, then they if if they do it correctly, the county will accept those roads as county maintenance, and will accept, of course, accept the water and sewer uh facilities as well. So the developer is primarily responsible for putting in all that infrastructure, and once that infrastructure is put in properly, the county engineers check it out, and if the roads are built with specifications, the water and sewer uh uh is put in specifications, then the county accepts those that infrastructure to maintain it.
SPEAKER_07Okay, we thank you very much, Dr. Ladder. We appreciate you sharing your institutional knowledge with us, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
SPEAKER_08Appreciate it, honor. Thank you.
SPEAKER_07Take care. Now we we introduce our guest, our recurring guest, uh Long Beach Alderman at large, Donald Fraser, represent or Alderman Fraser has represented the city of Long Beach for the last, you know, you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong, Alderman, but I believe eight years eight and a half, nine years, and then you were on the planning commission before that. Am I correct?
SPEAKER_05Yes, sir. You are correct about uh I am actually in my third term as Alderman at large, and I did serve on the planning commission for four years prior to running for office.
SPEAKER_07And especially with that, you know, with the subject that we're talking about today, about roads and bridges, that's been quite as I had Dr. Ladner on talking about you know the different intricacies. What do you guys as the city, what who do you work with at least to get not only to be able to pave roads? I know you work with the county, but as far as do you work with a specific city engineer, developer, or anything as such, just to be able to pave these roads and go across the board?
SPEAKER_05So let me let me go back uh four plus years on that, and and honey, you stop me if I'm going off track on this, but um we worked with Kristen Gunter and SMPDD, and we had a study done for every road in the city of Long Beach. Um, and this third party group came in and they rated each one of our roads from worst to best and and gave us timelines and options on how to get the most life out of our roads, um, whether it be and and I'm gonna use some terms. Now I am not in the paving business, um, but you know, uh they were talking about fog sealing, uh seal coating, things like that that uh make these roads last longer, and you're you're using the best uh you know technology uh for the money that you can spend, especially with a long uh small city.
SPEAKER_07As far as um bridges and things and the new subdivisions that you guys have coming on, because as you know, you guys have quite a number of subdivisions, although I know you want to kind of hold on to where it's at right now, but uh as far as you know the creation of these subdivisions, are y'all working as far as the roads, are y'all working with the county? How does that work?
SPEAKER_05So we partner with uh three different people when a developer comes in um and wants to uh develop a larger scale uh neighborhood, they have to put some skin in the game for access roads, widening the entrance or uh storing lanes uh turning in and out of the neighborhoods. Uh so we we do uh get buy in from the developer. Um on certain projects, we work with Dr. Ladd. And the county regarding paving because of them being bigger, the county is much bigger than the city of Long Beach. Uh price is you know less than what we could go out and get it. But we were also able to bid it out our uh paving for this year, and we're working with Warren Paving, and that's been a great relationship so far.
SPEAKER_07As far as now what Dr. Latiner was telling me was that the county doesn't accept tax sale. But then my question to you is is that something that y'all accept, you know, from tax sale? Uh at least are you speaking on the internet sales tax?
SPEAKER_05Whatever as far as so roughly, roughly the uh in January and July of each year, the city uh receives the city of Long Beach receives right at a million dollars uh from internet sales tax uh that goes towards uh roads and bridges. Um, you know, and so with what I was saying earlier, the study, it basically takes out the the personal preferences or uh uh or hey, I want this road done or this road done, unless there's a major project that's come up on it. We as a board are going down the list and and going to our engineering department uh firm, uh Overstreet and Associates, and we're saying, here's what we're allotting this year for paving. Um go down the list and see what's the best bang for our buck and stretch that money as far as we can.
SPEAKER_07As far as the bridges, now I'm not sure exactly, I know they're close by, but I think one on 28th Street and one on Pineville where your your bridges kind of interrupt with the the Long Beach Canal, is that something that y'all have to be concerned with, or is the Long Beach Water Management District responsible for that? I'm trying to kind of figure out.
SPEAKER_05Sure. No, that those are our responsibilities. Uh so there's a couple, and I'll give you one example on uh Cleveland Avenue, uh just north of where the Dolphin uh complex is and Keesler Federal, there was a bridge there that uh we had widened a couple years back. Um, you know, and these are the things that we have to think about. We we have to think about that you can't just go widen a road and have a bridge that's not uh wide, you know, wide enough to complete that road. Um and these take a lot more time than just repaving roads. So we can take this this internet sales tax money or tax diversion money and use those as our share uh towards a grant. Uh most grants you're looking at 20% um investment from the city. And so this is where we can leverage that money to do bigger jobs. So uh, for example, you mentioned the one on 28th Street. You know, if we're gonna widen that intersection, it would be nice to have a a holding lane where you have one that go uh a lane that goes east and west both sides, uh, and then a turning lane at both of those. In the afternoons, that would sp that would move traffic more. Um that would complement the work that we're getting ready to start doing at the intersection of uh Klondike and Commission, uh yes, Klondike and Commission, sorry. Um so so it's it takes this planning, and this stuff doesn't happen overnight because you're having to acquire property, um, things like that. But when you look at the big picture, and you mentioned it earlier in your conversation about these neighborhoods, we have to think about the roads, you know, 10, 15 years out. What's it gonna do when these uh neighborhoods are complete?
SPEAKER_07Tell me this now, uh Alderman. Now, of course, do y'all you had mentioned about the grants and you know, um kind of some uh some way to receive funds. Do y'all work with a group like like SMPDD to be able to help? I I remember in the past there were some speaking about that in one of the meetings, but this was years ago. I'm not necessarily sure if y'all are using them, you know, also to get these this grant money for these roads and bridges.
SPEAKER_05Well, we we've actually worked on several different avenues. Uh we've worked with SMPDD in the past. Uh we've worked with uh our engineering firm that's helped us uh secure grants. Uh we've uh even worked with uh some private uh uh grant writers. Um and then you know we've had department heads that go out and find grants as well. Um it's really a team effort, and and as a small city, that's what you have to have. You can't just rely on one person to do it just because of the affordability. Uh, you know, we have to look at every avenue and stretch our dollar as far as we can.
SPEAKER_07Alderman, we thank you very much. And can you uh let everybody know how to get contact you at least uh whenever they they need information like this?
SPEAKER_05Sure. So my uh email address is at large at the cityoflongbeachms.gov. Um my cell phone number is 228-343-2082. Um, all of that information is on the city website. Um, I can be reached at any time.
SPEAKER_07Alderman, we thank you very much. You take care.
SPEAKER_05Hunter, I just wanted to end with I want to thank you and Jeff for this uh podcast. I really being the second time on here, I really have enjoyed it. I tune in uh each time you you send me the link, and I do listen to it during the day and get a lot of information out of it. And I think this is really a good uh avenue uh for the coast to learn what their city has and what it what's available out there and what we're doing for them.
SPEAKER_07Thank you, Alderman. Until Lisa said hello.
SPEAKER_05I will, thank you. Bye-bye now.
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SPEAKER_02Uh, would say there's a lot to know. Indeed, purchasing a home as a primary residence is a process or even as an investment, but there's a definite checklist for first-time home buyers.
SPEAKER_07What's the checklist? Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_02So the first on the checklist is have you prepared your personal and employment documents? I mean, you're asking a bank to write a loan for a house. Have your W-2s and your uh possibly your tax return depends on what loan. Um if you don't have those documents, you can't get the pre-approval. So if I want to write an offer on your neighbor's house and my client doesn't have a pre-approval, I'm dead in the water. I'm dead in the water. I am not supposed to submit an offer without a pre-approval. That is just the seller's not gonna respect it. The second thing on the checklist is you kind of want to avoid changing jobs. Like, let's just pretend, let's just say your wife's a nurse.
SPEAKER_07Wow, that sounds pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she makes good pay. So uh we don't want to hurt her in the process if she gets a better offer to make more money at a different hospital. She's like, Well, I want to buy this house, but I don't want to change jobs, but I've got this opportunity to get more pay. Well, it's different for her because she's a nurse, she wants to change hospitals, right? That's a jump loan. I mean, she can still buy a house. We don't have to wait until she's been at the job a year. She's taken a better job in the same field. What is usually required is a 30-day letter. She's been with us 30 days over here at this new hospital. This hunter is awesome, and we continue to employ her. When she's been at the new job 30 days, we continue with our loan process. You can still buy the house you originally wanted. Does that make sense? Um, probably the last couple things on the list is the zone. Where do you want to buy? It's not our job as a realtor to stare to steer you. And if you like to have a cow and you don't want to give up your cow, so you want to be a little more rural. Um, I need to know that. Let your agent know what you want. Maybe we can't get it all. But if you want to be rural, you might get zero-down USDA zone. So you got no down payment requirement. Speaking of down payment hunter, the final checklist item. You need to have this thing called closing costs. And some people might laugh right now and say, Of course, I know what closing costs are. But there are a lot of first-time home buyers, and even some of my repeat buyers who don't realize closing costs have gone way up in the last three years. So have $5,000 set aside, expect $10,000 or more in closing costs for attorneys and loan fees. That's that can be $10,000 or more. But if you've got half of that set aside, I, as the realtor, will fight to get the seller to give you a credit for the other half. It can be part of negotiating it into the price and turn into a win-win, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_07Sounds like to keep it simple, they need to ask a realtor about this checklist. If you would like Stephanie to help you determine your next steps, call today at 228-563-0471. Or call her at the office and ask for Steph at 228-452-4242. Steph has the latest information to help you get through the process with a reasonable expectations again. That's 228-563-0471 to speak direct with Stephanie. Jeff, we gratefully appreciate you know everyone listening to this podcast, and this was a great show, and I think we got a lot of good information out of this.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I think so too. You know, uh uh Alderman Fraser, uh, Dr. Ladner. Dr. Ladner, again, such an expert and well spoken in roads and bridges and maintaining the roads and bridges. And I felt like he uh laid it out how it's paid for. I told you it's expensive, and and he actually could give you the get or gave you the figure of what it costs to uh to pave a new road. So yeah, it it's a good episode, man. And uh you can listen to us, find us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, uh all the all the podcast spots.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, and and Jeff, you know, trying to to get not only with the county officials, but with the city officials trying to kind of weigh and and see where those those lie. And you know, I didn't really even know that the county didn't accept uh sales tax. I thought that was just a a other avenue things, but of course that's Dr. Ladner lays it out right there for you.
SPEAKER_06So I used to uh, you know, when I when I was the PIO, um I I think it was Dr. Leitner was first, if not, maybe he's my second year. But one of the things I was tasked with uh when I was the PIO was writing the uh state of the county address that's given every year through the Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce. And I, you know, I I knew those facts. And Dr. Leitner and I like when when I wrote or helped him write his presentation, like it was very data-driven, numbers, money, facts, facts, facts. And you know, when when I had the honor of serving in that position, I I used to have that stuff memorized. I could tell you how many, you know, all I remember from it now, really, is that we have 26 miles of sand beach, one of the largest uh man-made sand beach, human-made sand beaches in the world. But um, I used to be able to just spout that off pretty rapidly, and it's always good to hear Dr. Ladner quoting those stats, you know.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, if I can tell you, and if you didn't have those, he certainly would help you.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, absolutely. And that was one of the things was like I would tell that, or we would say it in every presentation the county does not get any sales tax, you know.
SPEAKER_07So there you go. Well, we make sure you follow us on the gazeboazette.com where the podcast will be posted next week, as well as on facebook.com backslash the real gazebo gazette. Additionally, as Jeff said, the Mudcat Report is on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio under the tag The Mud Cat Report. Signing out, this is Hunter Dawkins, the host of the Mud Cat Report. Now you know the rest of the local story. Good night.