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 27: From the 2026 MML in Biloxi
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The Mudcat Report Episode 27: From the 2026 MML in Biloxi
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, South Alabama Beat Writer, Director for the Harrison County Senior Services
Guest List
Anthony Hall - H20 Innovation Water Director
Joseph Piernas Sr. - Ward 2 Alderman - city of Pass Christian
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SPEAKER_10Sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Harrison County's independent newspaper, the Beau Revage Resort and Casino, Nine Toes Brewing Company in Pascrashan, O'Doire Realty Agent, Stephanie Mankritz, Joseph Kelly's Attorney at Law, Coast Casual in Pascrashan, the insurance barn in Gulfport, the Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo happening this July 4th weekend. And we're always in the U.S. Marine Inc. studio. I'm here with my wonderful producer of the show, my good friend Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-accomplished award-winning journalist and the director of the Harrison County Senior Services. How are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_09I'm well, Hunter. Uh happy to be here. What an exciting day for you to be doing this uh from the MML. That's that's a great thing, you know, when whatever wherever I've lived when I was working in newspapers, where it's Columbus, Tupelo, whatever, you know, city council, city uh, you know, elected city officials are always happy to come down to the Gulf Coast and go to the MML. And now that I've lived here for you know several years, I understand why. Like what a great place, great place to visit. Uh there's so much to learn at MML and so much to do, so many people to see. But uh it's all I I I'm honored that the Mississippi Gulf Coast gets to gets to host it.
SPEAKER_10And absolutely, that's absolutely right, Jeff. It's the theme, our theme for the day is the 2027 Mississippi League here at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi, which this is the second day we're going through. It's been a uh a lot of classes, a lot of good learning and things as such, and we've run into some good people here from you know, Pastor Shann, uh one of the former aldermen, at least for a long time, and Pastor Christian, who is the H2O representative, Anthony Hall. And we really want to sit down and not only himself, but another alderman too, that is currently an alderman from Past Christian and talk a little bit, get a little bit of discussion about what this event means, not only to the city, but of course with Mr. Hall being from the coast. Um, and you know, is there anything you want to say about uh about that so far, Jeff?
SPEAKER_09I I I think it's no secret to anyone who knows me of how much I love Pascristian. Like I if I could live anywhere, I I think Kirk Kimball said it yesterday, and I agree with it. If I could live anywhere in the world, I'd live in Pascristian, I live right where I live on Davis Avenue. Uh it's my town, it's my adoptive hometown. So anytime anybody's gonna talk about the past, I'm always happy to hear it. So I'm gonna we'll go to our first commercial break, and then we'll get to our special guest. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_10The Gazebo Gazette is Harrison County's only independent newspaper, publishing news from Gulfport to debate St. Louis every Friday. Hi, this is Hunter Dawkins, owner of the Gazebo Gazette. If you're looking for local news without the hassle sorting through, story after digital story, log on to thegazeboazette.com. Add your name to the digital audience of 250,000 plus coast residents who already know where to find the stories that matter to them.
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SPEAKER_10And our first guest, we have the I believe it was 16 years that you represented Cash Machane or a Ward Alderman, award three alderman, am I correct?
SPEAKER_11Incorrect. 17. 17. I finished one year for the former Alderman, Michael Antoine. Okay, and then they had the election for a full term. I did four full terms, which makes it 17 total.
SPEAKER_10Well, the very honorable Anthony Hall, who is also now the H2O representative across the coast for, I believe it's water and sewer. Am I correct, sir?
SPEAKER_11Uh I guess they give me a title as water director. There you go. So I I actually currently run the uh wastewater treatment plants in Paskerstan and Delil. That's the one that Buck used to go into.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_11And uh maintain both of them and big time money with that. It's it's real nice. Uh and recently the company has starting a partnership with uh the Gulf War School District, where we're actually teaching seniors how to run the business and how to do it. So as soon as they graduate, they'd have opportunities to come work for the company as well. So we we're opening up this year for uh other school districts. Uh hopefully Pastor Stan will get some of his students in the program as well.
SPEAKER_10Absolutely. That sounds like a plan. Talk to me about this event. And I know you've been coming for quite a long time. I'm sure, you know, the 17 years plus the years you've been, you know, here just as a representative of H2O. What does this event mean to you from a business perspective?
SPEAKER_11Well, it's always about networking, finding out ways that you can uh better serve and help your community. The classes that they put on, they give you the tools and things to better uh go back to your city and help your city. Now that I'm on the other side of it, I know both sides. Now, as a representative of HCO, it's my part of my responsibility to talk to some of these cities to see if our company could help them uh in any kind of way, whether it be on public work side, uh running their public works department or running their ward or sewer treatment center. So it's sometimes when we come in as a private company, we might be able to save the city some money, whereas some things that the city has to do, now the responsibility is on us. So it's ways that we can help one another from a city and a company standpoint.
SPEAKER_10When you have individuals from, let's just say the city of Biloxi or the city of Gulfport come around, what do you guys offer them that you know you exactly wouldn't offer somebody else from, you know, just a local customer, or is it someone that you follow the same guidelines?
SPEAKER_11It's the same guidelines, same uh package. We you know, we focus on uh creating a partnership and uh partnership in a way whereas we take some of the responsibilities off the city. When you start dealing with MDEQ or Mississippi Health Department, then you contract us, that responsibility becomes our law. So therefore, we have to know the rules, the regulation, what to do, when to do it, when not to do it. Uh so therefore, that's a big help to the city because then if something happened as far as a violation, the city don't get it, it falls back on us per the contract that hold us responsible for that. So we have to pay that fine instead of the city have to pay that fine.
SPEAKER_10What's the important steps you think y'all are going to be trying to do? I mean, if there's something new that your organization is trying to make something happen, at least um from where y'all have been at. If if there's anything that you offer new or something that you you're trying to get more and more cities involved in.
SPEAKER_11Well, I think I think the biggest thing now we got uh our our company has a new uh membrane filter that is is used for uh uh filtering whether water or sewer, which is making it safer. It don't require a lot of land to do that. Um, we can put it in the middle of town where there's all kind of business, and you won't even know that it's a treatment. It's it's it don't even have the odors or none of that kind of stuff. So that's another thing that they're pushing now throughout the company wise, uh, our base company out of Canada.
SPEAKER_10So talk to me too about you'd mentioned earlier about Bucky's. Um, what does it take with y'all's organization to be able to put something in for that?
SPEAKER_11You know, I know there has to be a little bit of discussion about procedures and this, that, and so what happened when the Buckeys discussion first started, because we're a contractor with Harrison County Utility Authority. Yeah, I'm pretty sure uh Marlin Laden and all them sets on the board for Harrison County Utility. Yeah, they looked at the the plan off of La Buoy and said, Do it have enough capacity to be able to handle what Bucky's gonna send to us? Because they they they estimated how much flow based on the number of bathrooms and things that so they knew about how much flow Bucky's was gonna be sending to the treatment plant. So based on that, they they determined, yes, we do have enough flow in order to handle the Bucky's uh uh flow that they're gonna be sending to us. Sure. And so it's like anything else, any plant, even Pascastan, when it reaches 80%, 80, 85 capacity, MDEQ requires that there be some type of study going on of what we're gonna do to upgrade.
SPEAKER_10Well, that was another question, too. The good segue on that, too. How much of before MDEQ gets involved, how much what's the ratings, what's the level?
SPEAKER_11It's it's the capacity. It is when it reaches about usually with the the when it reaches about 50, 55, okay, you need to start looking. But when it reaches 85% capacity, it's one of those things you can't add no more houses, no more nothing until you got the room to be able to handle it.
SPEAKER_10And that's also that's going to help at least create new subdivisions based on what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_11But you can't have that new subdivision if you don't have the capacity at the treatment plant to take it. So it stops that subdivision from being built because you don't have the capacity.
SPEAKER_10Now, tell me about that. Now, I know you have conversations with these cities that come up to you and they're you know trying to create subdivisions and things like that. Do you let them know okay, well, this is what you need to have at least from not on my end, that's above my pay grade.
SPEAKER_11Sure, sure. We have engineers and people that that do that type of uh calculation and studies. Um, I mostly focus on the operation side of it. Okay, so once it's done and it's built and is upgraded or whatever, then my job is to operate it to make sure it meets the uh permit requirements that's set by MDQ and EPA.
SPEAKER_10Final question for you. What does this event mean to you? I mean, just coming around here, seeing friends, people that you've known for years, how do you feel every every year you come to this?
SPEAKER_11I love seeing all the old friends that I've I met over the years when I was on the board and I came to these conferences, but at the same time, it allows me to have a good relationship uh with them. That way, if for some reason they're thinking about contracting their public words to their water, they already got a contact. I'm the man.
SPEAKER_10Well, we thank you very much for not only for this, but for your service, City of Patch Machine. Thank you so much. Take care. All right.
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SPEAKER_10Now we are here with the Alderman 2 from the city of Pascushan, Joe Piernos. You know, Mr. Piernos, you kind of you were in elected office before Katrina and all the way through a little bit after Katrina, and then you won recent in 2025 the election to bring yourself back here. What does this event mean to you? Coming here, being a part of this, just talk to me about what this means to you, at least and what you guys are learning from the city. Talk to me about what it means to you.
SPEAKER_03What I learned when I first got in office, um the mayor then was Billy McDonald. And Billy Billy called me to his office the day after the election and said, Look, if you want to be a good, effective author for your job. He said, Go to the event called Mississippi Municipal League. And it was being held here at Colisea within a couple of weeks. And he reads it.
SPEAKER_10Or was did they even have the convention center? It was it was it was not that I mean to interrupt you, but I was just It was at the convention center.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Yeah, it was here and uh I learned a lot. You know, I learned about how to how to uh city finance, how that works, uh Mississippi laws, a lot of things that I needed to be a good all the city of Pascal Stand. And I've been I attend it every year. And we had here at the summer convention, and when they have a mid-winter convention in Jacksonville, and I attend those. But I take basically, and what you do is you take training classes and you get a certification. Uh Mississippi Mills League certified leader. That's what they call it.
SPEAKER_10And if you don't mind discussing with me, you don't have to get down to specifics, but discussing with me about what what avenues you guys are looking for to improve in the city of Pasco.
SPEAKER_03Things that I think that I look for is coming in and finding if there's any special grants up there. Special grants for the infrastructure, special grants for anything that we want to do in the city. And so what I do is I come here, I get an update on the laws, municipal laws, legislative laws, you know, because they also take effect July. Of course. And I try to take that back to the city to say, hey, this is opportunities and and you build networking, you meet a lot of people, you meet your legislators. Uh, my biggest ally in Jackson was Richard Bennett. If anything ran across his desk, even from Pascal State, he didn't send it to the case.
SPEAKER_10I'm sure. Well, and that also, too, is you know, we we had spoken with Mr. Hall before, previously, Alderman Hall. Do you guys have not only yourself but the mayor and things and such, do you guys have any contact with individuals and organizations like that so that way you can maybe find some grants, some other things to be able to go about?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, definitely. What you do, you also build yourself a network of people. You know, the elected officials throughout the state is here. And uh what I do is to build a network. So if we there's something we want to do, and I know they did it in Hattiesburg, I'll call, you know, I know people up there, the elected officials up there, I can call instead of reinventing the wheel, what you do is you build a network. And he was able to call on people. And it was really, really good for me when Katrina hit us and we lost everything. And I had elected officials throughout the state calling and saying, Hey, what can we do about you know, how can we help you know that's important, especially getting those business cards and things like that.
SPEAKER_10Exactly. Um that being said, you know, as far as can you walk me through some of the things that you learn in these, like an open meetings act class or something, something that helps bring you back to where maybe you need something that the city needs to work on, not necessarily you.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, part of uh being a part of this MML, they also have they also work with Mississippi State University and they print out the uh state laws about laws for the municipalities and the counties and stuff. And we all get a copy so that we can see we can look it up ourselves to see what the law specifically states on how to conduct a meeting, how to publish how to publish uh meeting notices.
SPEAKER_10And are there contact numbers associated? So you can be able to contact these people just if you have a question about something, yeah, you know, this way or the other.
SPEAKER_03Yes, Mississippi State Extension Extension Services, and there's an individual that you can call and point you in the right direction, and it helps you to be a better ultimate representative of your town, it helps you uh be able to go out there and find out what grants if you want to fight, like one of the biggest things we talk about is the sidewalks on North Street and I've got some good contacts for that today, good avenues three twenty-two going toward uh m. You know, to try to get some grants, and we don't have to do all of the North Street at once or wherever it's gonna be, we can do it in phases.
SPEAKER_10That being said, using using that, you know, I know there was some time between well when you served as alderman, you know, between how much have you learned differently from when you were previously here and how different now?
SPEAKER_03Well, one of the first things I did when I got re-elected, well, actually before I got re-elected was I brought myself up to speed on the changes in the laws. You know, we a lot of laws have changed because I was out 12 years and I know the laws have changed, so so I'm here learning anything I can do, I can do better. I mean, the times have changed, things have changed, the way you do things have changed. And I want to make sure I'm up to speed so I'm doing the right thing. Don't have to reinvent the wheel, just make sure and and keep us as a whole, you know, keep us out to date.
SPEAKER_10How many people would you encourage? I mean, these would not only recently elected, but people that have been for years. Is this something that you would encourage every year, you know, future alderman, city council, things like that to go to?
SPEAKER_03Definitely. They have sessions for the aldermans, they have sessions for the city clerks, you know, the mayors have a special session that they can go to. But yeah, I encourage you, I encourage everybody. If you have intentions of being an elected official or an elected official, this is the place to be. You need to be under this rule.
SPEAKER_10Good deal, good deal. Well, is there any way that uh we can contact you or the city just to find out the information on what's going on and what you guys, you know, all the grants that you guys are are looking or searching for.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_10But I mean, do you have that? Was it three three three one zero or four five two uh the city hall?
SPEAKER_03That's right. There you go.
SPEAKER_10There you go. Anything we can do for you, let us know.
SPEAKER_03Same here. Anything I can do, let me know. Appreciate it.
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SPEAKER_04The 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_10And here we are talking about Realty again with our O'Doire Realtor Agent sponsor, Stephanie Mankowitz. Let's talk about the tips this week from Stephanie about what realtors should be doing for you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Hunter. As always, it's a pleasure to review realtor topics and uh hopefully it helps people, right? So, what should we do we be doing for you, the buyer or the seller? First thing I would say is, and it's in the actual disclosure everybody signs when they work with an agent is ensure all parties are represented fairly and honestly. It's called fair and honest dealings. And if I'm helping you or anyone out before I can even show you a house, you know, you sign that disclosure, and it's not even a contract, it protects you as a person, and I'm supposed to explain that for him to you and say, hey, before we do anything real estate, I am licensed, I am liable, I am here to help you, give you fair and honest dealings, get the most I can for your house, confidentiality. I'm not gonna, if you're a seller, I'm not gonna tell people your bottom line, that's a secret. So um, so we'll start with that. The first thing is that we are fair, and sometimes realtors get a bad rap, and sometimes there's realtors that have caused that. But uh I know I'm one of the realtors that considers myself pretty by the book and just trying to solve the problem. I just want to be part of the solution, right? So if you're selling a puppy or Avon, whatever it is, there's liabilities when you're selling a house times three times ten. Okay. All right, well, I would say uh another thing we do, we we make sure that the people who maybe they were they've never sold a home before or they've never bought a home before, we make sure that we weed through the shaky buyers for the sellers, buyers that maybe aren't a good idea to deal with. We can see problems coming before they start when a realtor's been doing this 10 years. And if it is a buyer, we're also looking for sellers that might be a problem. You know, if we're putting in a really healthy offer and it's like full price or near full price, and then we hear there's a multiple offer situation, it doesn't mean you panic. You know, sometimes you leave your offer right where it is, even though there's other offers. So we're making we're weeding through the shakiness and the things that come up that seem unpredictable. And one of the other unpredictable things, like for sellers, is you know, they get an offer and it's got 10 contingencies on it, and the price looks great, and they say they're cash, but there's all these contingencies, so um, you know, you're not you're not really aware how much we help you until you actually deal with a good realtor. That's one thing I would say, and and we want to help them determine the value that's correct if they're selling.
SPEAKER_10What are some of the things that determine the value?
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay, that's a good one. Let's start with location. You know the old saying, location, location, location. All right. Uh let's start with what are things selling for around you? If you're in a nice neighborhood and and you think your house is a castle, we all kind of feel like that when we love our home. Doesn't mean it's worth three times what the market says. Uh so people will hear realtors say, Well, the market says your house is worth this. And some sellers don't want to accept that. No, no, it's it's got to be worth more. I've got a double granite countertop, I've got a fountain that shoots out gold in the backyard, and I've got three kittens with it. So I think I should get a hundred thousand more. And we have to rein people in and say, I love your kittens, I love your granite. And the last year in your neighborhood, people have paid this amount, and though, and that's where we start thinking like an appraiser. So we're like, okay, wait, we can go out two miles and look at the last sales in the last year within two miles of this property, and we can see what people have been paying. And we also look at the square footage, and that's really important, Hunter, because if your house is 2,000 square feet and you saw one sell for a million and it had 3,000 square feet, and you're like, Well, mine's worth that too. You're a thousand square feet smaller, so I can't even count that house as a comparable sale, right? When we determine the value is the critical, probably the most critical thing we do as your listing agent, because that price is the first thing they see, just like the pictures. And if we priced you so high that you seem ridiculous, they're not coming. And then guess who you don't like? Me, the realtor. You don't like me anymore. So I'm kind of an upfront realtor, I think a lot of us are after we've been in a while. And we say, look, in all honesty, right now, this is what the market says your house is worth. Other things we're gonna help you with is um determining what is the inside of the house worth. Um, appraisals are gonna change next year uh across the country, and there will be different data inputs into determining what your house is worth. So we're gonna be on top of that. Um, and so if you're trying to sell on your own, you know, we can be really helpful and deal with all these unexpected things that happen when you try to uh sell on your own. Um and you know, we've talked about sellers a lot, so okay, I'm just gonna put this out there. If you're thinking of selling on your own, that some of the things we're doing for you, the seller, to make it easier is photos, professional photos. We pay for those. A lot of our photographers have drones. We're taking the calls because it's our number on the sign. So if it's a looky loo, it's not an ideal buyer. We've got our radar out there, so we're taking that hassle, you know, out of it.
SPEAKER_10If you are thinking about selling on your own, maybe ask Steph. If you would like to talk to Stephanie to help 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 directly with Stephanie. We gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast. Thank you again, Jeff. We want to thank all the sponsors, including the Bo Revise Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Nine Toes Brewery in Pascushan, O'Duire Realty Agent, Stephanie Menkowitz, Joseph Kelly, attorney at law, Coast Casual in Paskrishan, the insurance barn in Gulfport, and U.S. Marine Inc. Jeff, this is a great event. We had a lot of fun here and definitely trying to get as much information as possible.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, man. It was great, great guest. Glad you're able to uh to do this. Like it's really cool for you to be there with our guest on video at the at the Coast Colosseema Convention Center, man. It was awesome.
SPEAKER_10Good deal. Make sure you check us out on YouTube under the Gazebo Gazette Productions or to follow us on thegazeboGazette.com where virtually the podcast will be posted later on next week, as this will also be on Facebook.com backslash the real gazebo. Jeff, I know we want to promote that YouTube as as much as possible, and this will be a great, great addition having this event for us here.
SPEAKER_09So absolutely, and we will be doing more of it in the future for sure. You know.
SPEAKER_10Thank you, sir. And on X, you can follow us at Gazebo Gazette as the handle. The Mudcat Report is also available on all podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music under the Mudcat Report tag. Signing out, this is Hunter Dawkins, is the host of the Mud Cat Report. Now you know the rest of the local story. Good night.