The Mudcat Report Episode 11: Executive Session

The Mudcat Report Episode 11:  Executive Session 

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, ClarkCastPodcast Host, Director for the Harrison County Senior Services

GUESTS:

• Jim Simpson - Former State Representative District 120, Long Beach Municipal Court Judge, Pass Christian city attorney, Long Beach School Board Attorney
• Mike Thompson - District 48 State Senator (Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, Bay St. Louis, Waveland), Chair of AET 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Welcome to the Mudcat Report, community news, politics and culture with a local twist. Here's your host, owner and publisher of the Gazebo Gazette, Hunter Dawkins.

SPEAKER_06 0:22

Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins, and I am the host of the Mudcat Report, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community News Podcast. And this is the 11th episode sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Harrison County Independent Newspaper, Joseph Kelly, Attorney at Law, O'Dwyer, Realty Agent, Stephanie Mankowitz. And we're always in the U.S. Marine Inc. Studio. I'm here with the wonderful producer of the show. And at least I think he's my friend, Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-accomplished journalist, director of the Harrison County Senior Services. How are you, my friend?

SPEAKER_05 1:09

Dude, I'm I'm well, Hunter. I always like like that. Like I don't care about my accomplishments or where I've worked or what I've done. I just always like to when you introduce me as your friend. So that's what I look forward to the most on our podcast. But I I'm doing well, man. It's uh it's been a week, but uh getting ready to start another one because we tape the show on Sunday evenings.

SPEAKER_06 1:31

Well, and you know, the theme that we have on this one is executive session. Now, of course, all across Harrison County, all across the state, and virtually all across the United States, people have not asking me this, but all across the state, there are generally people uh that ask me what are executive sessions, what consist of these are these are fucking state, these are subscribers, these are average daily people. They just want to know, okay, if we're gonna show up to this uh municipal meeting, uh they're having executive session, what are they talking about? And more than anything, that's who our first guest is gonna be. The guy that is uh written in control of a whole lot of different scenarios uh with executive session. Uh Jim Simpson, the honorable Jim Simpson, because he is not only the former state rep, but he's also municipal court judge in Long Beach. He's a city attorney at Pass Christian and the school board attorney in Long Beach, as well as a couple a couple of other attorney positions as well.

SPEAKER_05 2:41

As I'll I like to always say, I don't care who's in the room, if Jim Simpson's in the room, uh, he's gonna be the smartest person in the room. I mean, just that's a fact. Uh Jim's a good friend of mine. I had the honor of working with his wife, Kendra. Uh, I was on her team at the Mississippi Aquarium for a few years. Loved them. You know, here's uh some trivia for you. Gus was Charlie was uh Gus's little buddy at school. You know, he sat with him during math and stuff like that. So uh, you know, good friends of our family, good people. Uh Jim's a very smart man. And as someone who works in county government, I can always uh I can assure you that my goal is to never be in executive session.

SPEAKER_06 3:22

Uh yes.

SPEAKER_05 3:23

Because I know I, you know, I know a fair my my knowledge of it's very limited, but I know it has, you know, most uh executive session has to do with legal stuff or personnel issues. Of course, Jim will go into this in in much greater detail. Uh you can't vote in executive session. You have to come out of executive session, go up back into general session to vote. But uh yeah, if if if I'm going into executive session with the board of supervisors, then it's either disciplinary reasons, myself or someone else, or lawsuit. Um so yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:01

That's right. I mean, it's definitely a uh definitely a controversial, you know, thing as far as not necessarily on what actions that you take. Now, of course, Jim will be able to break it down to a lot easier scenario for we can understand and that the listeners can understand. Uh and then we have you know Senator Mike Thompson coming on too, and he's gonna be able to discuss with us what's going on with his AET accountability, efficiency, transparency. I believe that's what it's called. But AET is easier for you and me, I think.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

So right on. Um I always hear Tim Holliman when they go into executive session uh at at the Harrison County Board of Supervisors say pending or potential litigation. He likes to use those words, uh you know, they they roll out the tongue pretty smoothly for for Tim Holliman. So I'm sure Mr. Simpson could uh explain that. And again, you know, this is why I like you doing this podcast. This is why I like to help you produce it because this is important stuff. People have a lot of questions about executive session, and uh, you know, now they'll have some answers. They'll they'll know because people, you know, it's just human nature, I think, that people want to uh there's the Amtrak coming by the house, you know. That's uh that's progress right there, folks. But you know, I I I think it's human nature for people to assume the worst, right? Like, oh, they're an executive session, they're hiding the ball, they're doing this, they're doing that, and that's not definitely not the case.

SPEAKER_06 5:35

You know, definitely not the case at all. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 5:39

Cool. Well, Hunter, I'm gonna I'm gonna dip out and I'll I'll join you at the end of the show, and uh I look forward to uh hearing hearing what your great guests have to say. Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

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SPEAKER_06 7:01

Our first guest, I have known for many years and has held many positions in the legislature, city attorney, school board attorney, current municipal judge, and a whole lot of other county positions. Your honor Jim Simpson, tell me the overall policy for executive sessions under municipalities in the state law.

SPEAKER_08 7:23

Well, good evening, Hunter. Thank you. Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. Um executive session is a tool, Hunter, for limited circumstances. Just a few things. For instance, if the city wants to buy a piece of property from Hunter Dawkins, and we're negotiating the price, um the city may want to offer you $100, you may want $200, and there's going to be a negotiation in the middle, right? Sure, sure. So we may go into executive session and the board will talk and discuss and figure out how much they think they can afford. And they may say, okay, we'll pay Hunter, um we'll pay Hunter $150, but let's offer him $125 and see what we can negotiate. So negotiations on real property, just like you would do, or confidential, you you you you that's that's one reason. Another reason is litigation. And when you have to talk about pending or threatened litigation in such a way that would hurt your the city's position. Another example. If a police car or somebody's been in an automobile accident with Hunter Dawkins, and Hunter Dawkins has been hurt and he wants to settle, and Hunter Dawkins has said he wants 10,000 to settle. Well, the city might go into executive session and say, Jim, uh, we'll pay him 8,000 to settle, but but see if you can get us out cheaper. Well, if we did that in open session, you wouldn't get out cheaper, would you? You pay the full you pay the 8,000. So that's another reason. Another reason in litigation is um I might we might go into executive session and I might tell him, look, Hunter's threatening to sue us. And between you and me, confidentially, my advice is we'll lose. We should pay him. And and and we can have a frank discussion that way. That's not the kind of advice a lawyer gives a client in public. Because if the client voted to defend the lawsuit, I certainly wouldn't admit in public that we were going to lose. Go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead. A last reason is is personnel matters. If Hunter Dawkins works for the city and some of the aldermen here from wherever, he's doing a bad job and we want to fire him, or they want to fire him. That's a that's a confidential matter, Heron. And you have to do that in executive session because if if one wanted to fire him, but four thought, no, he's doing a terrific job, we're not gonna fire him, absolutely not. Well, that's not a debate you have in public because it injures Hunter's reputation for no good reason. And and so that's the kind of thing personnel matters that directly affect an individual are are appropriate things for executive session.

SPEAKER_06 10:22

Now, tell me about this, Judge Simpson. That okay, the state legislature, I know which you were a part of for a little while in the late 90s or in the mid-90s too as well. But what I remember them a few years ago making the rule changes uh to executive sessions where you can go in, but you have to go in to make a ruling and then come out, and then you decide if it's worthy of an executive session.

SPEAKER_08 10:55

Exactly right, Hunter. It's it's a cumbersome process. Um, any member of a board has a right to ask for an executive session, but there's only certain topics you can go into executive session for, and if you if you stray or go beyond those topics, it's illegal, it's an ethics violation. And so the procedure is the a member says, I would like to close this meeting because I have a subject I want to tell you about an executive session. And what we do, Hunter, is we close, we have a vote, simple majority, we go into closed session and we say, What's this about? And if he says, Well, I want to talk about a tax increase, the lawyer would say, Nope, that's not executive session. We cannot do that. So we come out and they vote not to go into executive session because it's not legal. On the other hand, if he said, I want to talk about maybe firing Hunter Dawkins, he's not doing a good job here as in the city hall, the conversation would be, okay, that is an appropriate legal topic that we can discuss. We don't talk about why he wants to do that or what Hunter did or anything else. All we did was determine whether or not the topic is legal. As a lawyer, I would tell them, if you decide you want to, that's a legal topic. So at that point, they go back out into public and they vote on going into executive session. But the first you that first step is to determine whether or not the subject you want to talk about is legal. And that's a that's a very important critical step because it's important that you don't overstep and go into executive session and start talking about things that are not appropriate. It's the lawyer's job to tell them and it's their job to to to vote, you know, not not to go into executive session unless it's necessary.

SPEAKER_06 12:51

Being the school board attorney, how is this the school board uh attorney or is the school board executive session different than the municipality executive session?

SPEAKER_08 13:02

It sure is, honor. It sure is, that's a that's an excellent, excellent point. Um, those same reasons they can go into access executive session, but there's also a real important distinction on student matters. If if if a student has done something at school and is recommended for suspension or expulsion, uh something like that, um, if if the if he's if a student is recommended for expulsion and wants to want the parent wants to ask the school board to reconsider, that's it goes into executive session. If you're going to talk about uh problems or issues with a specific child, things like that, that is absolutely executive session. Nobody wants those kinds of things talked about in public, and the the child has got a right to have their name and their reputation protected. So individual school matters. Now, other things are not pay raises for all the teachers. That's absolutely not an executive session topic. So again, you you have very strict rules about what you can do, but but schools also have the student matter exception for them.

SPEAKER_06 14:08

Okay, and as you you talked about a few times before, and I'll make this into a segue. If any bit of the information that either the school board or the municipality or the um you know utility authority, which I know you've been a turn around before, if any of this matter is financial, does any of this qualify for an executive session? No, no, sir.

SPEAKER_08 14:36

No, sir. Um financial matters, you know, generally, if we're talking about are we going to raise taxes or lower taxes, are we going to have pay raises, or how much are we going to spend on athletics? How much are we going to spend? None of those things can be talked about in private. They all have to be spoken about openly. Um, the the only financial matter that you can talk about in executive session is if you want to talk about a single individual, how's Hunter Dawkins doing on this job? And does can we does this he's asked for a pay raise? Are we willing to give Hunter a pay raise? You can speak about one individual's job performance in executive session, but if you talked about, well, let's talk about an across the board pay raise for everybody, yeah, that is not an appropriate topic. So it's only the individual personnel matter that could be talked about.

SPEAKER_06 15:31

Okay. Does once again, as you've been a member of the state legislature, does the state legislature or the ethics commission provide any input for matters of legal matters of executive session?

SPEAKER_08 15:47

If if if someone has an object, the legislature no, they pass the open meetings uh law and and and set the guidelines, but they don't enforce anything. If someone has a complaint, feels like executive sessions or open meetings laws are being violated, it's the ethics law commission that you you complain to or you go to and and and they enforce those laws. Um and I will tell you another thing, it's this curiosity, Hunter. Um, the penalty for violating executive session. You know, I represent a lot of boards and they all have different members, and I always tell my board members this. Now, this is executive session, it's supposed to be confidential. It it could hurt the city's um litigating or negotiating whatever position if you discuss these matters in public. So, but I always tell my board members this the penalty for disclosing what we talked about is nothing. There is none. It is strictly a matter of a of a member's responsibility and conscience and the way he does his job. There's no legal punishment if a member discloses something that happened in executive session.

SPEAKER_06 16:58

No defamation penalty or anything of such?

SPEAKER_08 17:01

No. If a member says comes out and says, here's what we talked about. Uh, we talked about firing Hunter Dawkins, and they all voted against me, but I don't like Hunter. There's nothing you can do about that. Um, now uh you know it might be different if if a student matter was discussed at school and confidential student matters were talked about, and and then a member came out and and spoke about that. That's a that's a different of what's called a FERPA, federal law, and and um that's educational privacy. But in general, um the members just as a matter of honor and duty and responsibility for their offer their offices um decline to to discuss what was what happened in executive session.

SPEAKER_06 17:44

Final question, Judge. Sure, ma'am. Final, uh does the the school district or the school board have more power in enforcing decisions made at this the school district uh that's hard to say.

SPEAKER_08 18:00

The school board is supposed to just be a policy making board, and the of course the superintendent is is the one who makes who runs the district. Um the school board sets a policy, but but it except for some rare cases. And there's some things if if a teacher's fired, the teacher's last resort is an appeal to the school board members. If a student is disciplined or expelled, the student's last resort is to the school board. But um other than that, the board just sets policy and the superintendent runs the district. If that if that was your question. Yes, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_06 18:38

Sir, we thank you very much and we look forward to talking with you more in the future. Like like Jim, uh Jeff said, you're always the smartest one in the room when you're in a room.

SPEAKER_08 18:49

So I'm not so sure about that, but Jeff was very kind to me. He knows I got a lot of respect for him. But anytime, Hunter, thank you for having me. Take care.

SPEAKER_06 18:59

The Gazebo Gazette is Harrison County's only independent newspaper, publishing news from Gulfport debate St. Louis every Friday. Hi, Mr. Hunter Dawkins, owner of the Gazebo Gazette. If you're looking for local news without the hack on scoring third, story after digital story, log on to thegazeboazette.com. Add your name to the digital audience of 250,000 plus coastal residents who already know where to find the stories that matter to them. I would love to welcome my recurring guest, District 48, State Senator Mike Thompson. Senator Thompson is the chair of the powerful AET committee in the Senate. Senator, what's the next deadline for the Senate? Good evening, Hunter. Good evening, Jeff. How are you guys doing today?

SPEAKER_09 19:50

We're doing well. We're doing well. Good. Our next deadline is Tuesday, the 17th. Is the deadline for appropriation bills and revenue bills originating in the other chamber to be passed through. So we are we've got a series of deadlines this week on appropriations and revenue bills. That'll be the main focus of the legislature here the next week or so.

SPEAKER_06 20:20

Tell me about how much you guys use the staff attorneys to help craft language for a bill. Even though I know you're an attorney yourself, you know, uh how much do you guys use for the parliamentarian knowledge of the staff attorneys to help craft language for a bill?

SPEAKER_09 20:39

Well, we're fortunate. We've got some very talented uh staff attorneys. We've got a couple of folks who have been around the legislature for a long time, you know, 30 plus years. And there's a lot of institutional knowledge there that we can pull from just about how something came to be. Um, other resources that we have available to us, there is a uh school at the University of Mississippi uh law school that is a that is available to do legal research for us. If you've got something that you're handling that's been litigated over the years, you may rely on them to go and do some legal research for you to show how that statute has been litigated, how it's been revised, maybe in response to that litigation. Um they're a very they're really an underutilized group up there, very, very capable, very solid legal research. Um and then just I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the folks at the legislative budget office who provide support to the appropriations committee uh throughout the session, before the session, and throughout the session, as we're working through the budget to make sure. We keep a balanced budget.

SPEAKER_06 22:03

How many you know, okay, so we're talking about now the deadlines pretty much finalizing here pretty soon. What what's the process when you guys get these bills to the floor eventually? Uh is there gonna be an amendment process? I mean, is what what process do you have to walk through to be able to get these to finally go through?

SPEAKER_09 22:28

That's a really good question. A lot of people, you know, when we all watched that cartoon as a as a kid about how a bill becomes law, I don't think they mentioned anything about conference. And conference is the process where if I send a Senate bill over to the House and the House makes any amendments to the bill, so it's gone through the Senate committee or committees, it's come off the Senate floor, it's gone to the House Committee or committees, it's come off the House floor. If they've made any amendments to the bill while it was on the while it was in the house, and the same is true for for house bills that get amended by the Senate. Any changes are then sent to the other chamber for what we call concurrence or non-concurrence. Um sometimes the changes have been negotiated between the chambers while it was in the other chamber, and when it comes over, we'll concur. Sometimes we don't agree with the revisions. This the house or the other chamber has made a a revision to maybe bring in another code section or you know, have made changes to the bill that we don't agree with. We can say we we can do something that's called not concurring and invite conference. And what that means is the bill goes to conference, and it's a the conference committee is made up of three senators and three representatives, and they hash out the bill. It's gonna be the chairman of the committees from which the bill came, and then two other members, either of that committee or of a similar committee, who are gonna work on the bill uh in conference, and then that deadline is gonna be probably the very end of March. It's gonna be that very last week of March, first week of April, when those conference reports are gonna be due.

SPEAKER_06 24:23

Now, I know I'm not sure if you're on this committee, but I do know the the processes of the in the past, and I know I probably should have talked with with Jim Simpson about this, but of the local and private committee. Now, of course, every, you know, uh pretty much every little town, Pas Christian, Long Beach, Gulf Port, Biloxi, everybody wants to be able to either put up a bond or to raise some taxes for this, that, or the other. Uh, but they do have to send this bill usually to the local and private, if I'm correct about that, Senator.

SPEAKER_09 25:05

But that's right. Any any anything that a city or or a county is looking for for raising taxes, for a bond, um, anything like that needs to go through the local and private committee. Local and private runs on its own deadlines, uh separate from general bills and constitutional amendments. I think their deadline is actually the end of the week this week uh for the introduction of local and private bills. Um local and private requests. So when I when I get a request from municipality for a hotel motel tax or you know, anything, those requests have to come with a resolution from the board or the city council, uh confirming that that's the request of the city.

SPEAKER_06 26:07

Now, let me ask you this. Yeah, let me ask you this question now, Senator. Now, of course, back in the day, from what I remember and what I can recall, that those resolutions have to be, well, they had to be. I don't know if they still, but they it from what I remember was they had to be unanimous from that city. Is that still the way that it that it goes?

SPEAKER_09 26:31

That's still the way it goes, yes. And I that's that's something I think every local and private chairman uh requires is that those requests or those resolutions be unanimous.

SPEAKER_06 26:43

Although there are very there are a few uh cities at least that I've seen that have done those resolutions where they have not been unanimous. And I'm I'm not sure if the chairman or if any of the members you know have contact with with the uh the legislators uh for that reason why, but that's that's something that is definitely indicative that I wasn't exactly sure if that was still the action by the uh the committee, but if it is, that's something that is very important. It is.

SPEAKER_09 27:18

And I I think it's a good policy, right? If you've got something that the city wants, whether they want uh, let's say let's use the example of a of a hotel-motel tax or of a tourism tax. If they want, if they want that tourism tax, whether they want it to be a 1% tax or a 2% tax or a 2.5% tax, that's not up to the legislature to determine. That's something that the city, through its board or through its city council, should be able to negotiate amongst themselves and have a have a finite resolute request from the legislature. That way, you know, all the details, right, have been negotiated at the local level so that when the local and private request comes in, you know, we don't want to have a rescinding vote or dissenting vote or two, uh, where you know something comes through and it's just it's just passed the city on a majority, and so then we're gonna take it up. It's really, I think, a good policy to have those locals uh have a get to a unanimous uh decision amongst their governing body before the legislature gets involved.

SPEAKER_06 28:37

Well, now tell me this. Now, after you told me that the local and private committee is on their own deadline, well, now after that decision is made by the local and private, and I'm guessing then they usually pass the resolution through the committee, gets to the floor, they pass it to the floor. What happens then? Does it do the same as usual, pass, goes to the house chamber, then goes to the governor and sign into law, or is it to have to go back down to the municipality and they have to put it on a referendum? Kind of help me out with where that's going with that.

SPEAKER_09 29:14

Sure. On the on the on the on the revenue bills, on any kind of tax bill, it goes back on a referendum. Okay.

unknown 29:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 29:21

So it'll go back to the local to the local government to be put on the ballot and be voted on by the people before it becomes before that tax would be enacted.

SPEAKER_06 29:34

Is the budget and everything looking like it's okay in the Senate this time?

SPEAKER_09 29:38

Yeah, I think the the the pre-session LBO revenue estimates were like right at three 7.3 billion um in general funds available. That's after the the two percent rainy day fund is set aside. Um so that's the number that we've been working in. That's actually down a little bit from uh FY26. Uh so we've got we've we've got a little bit of a tight budget in that sense. There, we have had a very good year revenue-wise this year up until February. We took a we we took a pretty significant we came in way under uh budget estimates. That happens, you know, there's some there's some some some self regulation inside inside the fiscal year. You know, we have a revenue estimate, some months were over, it stands to reason it some months will be under. But I think that we're looking pretty good at that 7.3 number total. There's a little bit of a difference of opinion right now uh between the House and Senate on exactly how much we have uh to appropriate for FY27, but I don't think we're worlds and worlds apart. I think that we'll we'll be able to get it resolved.

SPEAKER_06 31:01

Final question. What does it look like from your point of view? I know you're you're not speaking for everybody, but I'm I'm just asking you your opinion, Senator. What is it looking like a potentially uh special session?

SPEAKER_09 31:17

From me personally, from from from looking at the vote, we're talking about a special session on school choice, I assume.

SPEAKER_06 31:24

I'm just asking it's just a question. It can be on anything, but yes, I know what you what you're referring to, though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 31:31

Well, I don't think I think that we'll I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll get a budget done this year. You know, what happened last year at the end of the session, we were the House and Senate positions were very far apart. We were not able to get a budget done. The governor brought us back into special session, uh, I want to say in late May, uh, to get that budget completed before the end of the of the fiscal year. It's unfortunate that it that it transpired that way, but I think it was for the best in the sense that it gave everybody a break. I don't see that this year on the budget. I think that we're working diligently to try to get that resolved. Matter of fact, it's it's Sunday night and I'm driving up to Jackson right now to be there uh early tomorrow to get back to work on my budgets and try to get try to try to try to get to where we can uh we can get conference reports on appropriations bills done and filed here in the next couple weeks. Um I've heard some talk about a special session on school choice. I just really don't think that's that that there's that much support inside the legislature right now, coalesce around any one of these school choice options uh to warrant a special session on that. And I think there's still some fact some negotiation to be done on that issue.

SPEAKER_06 32:59

We thank you, Senator, and you tell everybody how they get in touch with you.

SPEAKER_09 33:06

Sure, absolutely. Always always call my uh coast uh office at 228-265-5010 or my Senate email, mthompson at senate.ms.gov. We thank you, sir. Thank you, Hunter. Thank you, Jeff. Y'all have a good one.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

The following is a paid advertisement by O'Dwyer Realty Agent Stephanie Mankowitz. Call Stephanie today at 228-563-0471 for all your realty needs.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Uh, 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_06 33:48

What's the checklist? Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

So the first on the checklist is have you prepared your personal and employment documents. And then you're asking a bank to write a loan for a house. 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 paper'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_06 34:34

Wow, that sounds pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Yeah, 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 line. She can still buy a house. We don't have to wait till 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. The center 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 repay 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 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_06 36:44

Sounds 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 reasonable expectations again. That's 228-563-0471 to speak direct with Stephanie. We gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast. Jeff, we always thank you again. It was a really good show. Very informative of all the legal procedures throughout the state with what's going on, and I only think it's going to get better.

SPEAKER_05 37:38

Yeah, it was a great show. Uh, you know, Jim and uh Senator Thompson both were uh great guests, a lot of really good information. And I say it every week, but that's what this is about. It's about the policymakers and the stakeholders and the people of the community just talking, you know, and uh and uh Jim Simpson answered a lot of questions, I'm sure people have, and uh, it was great having Senator Thompson on as well.

SPEAKER_06 38:03

Well, and you know, especially right now with as much as much donkeys and elephants are going around, you know, needing this clarity, needing this community output is really it's really helping. And it's it's providing information that what people are looking for.

SPEAKER_05 38:20

Yeah, absolutely. Um it was a great show. I'm looking forward to uh you always put good guests together. I'm sure it will uh will continue. And uh just kind of on a self-promotion moment because that's I was gonna do it for you. No, go ahead, man. Do it, hit me up.

SPEAKER_06 38:38

But you know, definitely I also want to mention to uh to listen to Jeff's uh podcast and his own personal Clark Cast, too, as well, which has got some great people on there. And I'm promising you guys are gonna like that. If you like this show, you're definitely gonna probably like that one more in hell. You might even like it better than all of them.

SPEAKER_05 39:01

Well, we're uh we just I I I I've just started my second season. I put out four episodes. I have nine episodes total of five in my first season. Uh so now I'm I'm into my second season, which is gonna be a uh a much lengthier season, but I've I've done four episodes so far uh this year. It's called Clark Cast Podcast. It's available on all the spots, Spotify, Apple. Um, one of my sponsors is the uh Gazebo Gazette, so very proud of that. Um and my guest on the episode that I just released, uh Father Braxton Me Case, who's he's a lovely person, man. He's so interesting. Grew up in the kill. He's the associate pastor, associate vicar at St. Thomas, where I attend church. That's my parish. Um great guy, big music fan. Um, so I have him on. I had my buddy Walfred Orez Jr. an episode before that, who's a drummer for Chicago. Um, had my son Charlie, Angelica Espinal, who owns Stelomaris at uh, you know, St. Davis Drugs.

SPEAKER_06 40:10

Yeah, she's definitely uh she's a good woman. She's got a bunch of boys, and uh, you know, I also like her husband, too.

SPEAKER_05 40:17

One of the one I love Angelica and Mo, man. I mean, they're they're a couple of my favorite people. Mo does a fantastic job, or they both do, and and Chris Colbert as well, of helping the veterans on the Gulf Coast, like kind of filling the needs that Julia Richards can't uh can't reach. It's uh they're great people. So if you're interested in any of that, uh check it out, Clark Kath Podcast.

SPEAKER_06 40:38

Absolutely, absolutely. Hey, well, Jeff, we definitely appreciate you on all that. And you know, uh, I'm definitely hoping we're we can get more and more stuff going on, and uh, we can have a whole big uh a big podcast for all of us. And so 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, the Mudcat Report is on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music podcast under the tag the Mudcat Report. Jeff, we're signing out, and this is Hunter Dawkins, the host of the Mudcat Report. Now you know the rest of the local story. Good night.