Pass Christian News and Views by CI

20/02/2023

Post Pass Parade pictures….a good time was had by all….2024 Pass Parade is 11 February 2024….let the planning begin…

09/02/2023

Forthcoming Article Coming Soon; Pass Christian Board Approves $250.000 City Parking Lot By a 3-2 Vote….more to follow.

11/12/2022

We are “One Mississippi “….

Abridged 3-minute version of "One Mississippi," the official state song of MS by Steve Azar. Featuring a whole lot of help from his friends, some of Mississi...

23/09/2022

Good to know info….

22/09/2022

In a surprising move the Harrison County Board of Supervisors have announced the closure of one of the main hurricane evacuation routes for Pass Christian residents during the peak of the 2022 hurricane season. As noted below Menge Avenue will be closed from October 3 - December 19 2022. When asked about this issue, neither the Mayor of Pass Christian nor any of the Board members were aware of this closure. Although it’s important that this work needs to be done, the timing of this work is questionable. Not only are there several potential storms brewing, Crusin the Coast is just around the corner. Furthermore social media has been lit up by concerned citizens expressing their outrage on the timing of this work. Regardless citizens need to be aware of this and plan to use alternate routes during the closure of Menge Ave.

UPCOMING ROAD CLOSURE - Menge Avenue for underground road work. Please use caution and be patient.

22/09/2022

Pass Christian Board Approves Mississippi Municipality & County Water Grant Submission and Declares a State of Emergency Due To A Public Safety Threat Gor Tropical Disturbance Invedt 89L

The Board voted 4 to 1 to allow Mayor Jimmy Rafferty to submit a grant to apply for $1,550,546 in support of repairing water and sewer projects within the City. Projects include various repairs and/or replacement of several City Pump Stations, replace fire hydrants and installation of water service on Demourelle Road.

These projects were based on recommendations by a committee comprised of City Engineer Bob Escher, City Attorney Malcolm Jones, City Clerk Ron Duckworth and Kermit Anthony from Wastewater Plant Services Company. They were prioritized based on the current highest needs of the City. The only dissenting vote came from Ward 2 Alderwoman Regina Charlot whereby no explanation was given for her vote.

On another note the Board declared a State of Emergency due to potential tropical storms in the coming days and weeks. This is a precautionary measure and citizens are encouraged to prepare accordingly and to stay tuned in to local media sources for updates.

16/09/2022

A very cool thing to do on a beautiful Saturday morning....

That's right! Bring the children to read to the therapy dogs from the Visiting Pet Teams of South Mississippi this Saturday from 10am to noon

😀

16/09/2022

Another great example of our excellent community support for our award wining school district....if you see a teacher....thank a teacher..

14/09/2022

Come out and support our PC Pirates as they prepare for celebrating homecoming......Go Pirates!

TONIGHT!!!! Our student council has planned an awesome Homecoming Parade & Pep Rally in the park. The parade will roll at 5:30pm starting at the middle school, then left on 2nd St- then right on Heirn- Takes a left on Scenic- Takes a left on Davis- Right on Davis and ends at the park.
PEP RALLY TO FOLLOW with food(trucks) & drinks. And some sweet treats provided by the Student Council!

06/09/2022

BOLO….be on the lookout…unfortunately there are thieves amongst us…

06/09/2022

Pass Christian Mayor Asks for Pay Raise for Second Straight Year

After only being in office for a little over a year Pass Christian Mayor Jimmy Rafferty has asked for another $4,000 pay raise. Mayor Rafferty took office in July of 2021 and a month later asked for an immediate pay raise. This in spite of the fact that the previous Mayor, Chipper McDermott had recently increased the Mayors salary by $1,500. As stated by Alderman at Large Kenny Torgeson, in Mayor McDermott 's 24 years of public service, he had never asked for a raise but had sought the raise not for himself, but for his successor.

During the FY 2021 budget cycle, the Board disapproved Mayor Rafferty's pay raise request. At last Thursday's FY 2023 Budget Workshop held on September 2022, the majority of the Board expressed their opposition to the mayor's latest pay raise request. Alderman at Large Kenny Torgeson commented, "Administration doesn't need a raise, that's what I feel about it." He added that he felt raises were needed for Police, Fire, Harbor, Beautification and Public Works. Ward 4 Alderman Victor Pickich added, "I'll go with that, I agree."

Ward 1 Alderwoman Betty Sparkman appeared to be the only Board member in favor of giving the mayor a raise. Alderwoman Sparkman attempted to justify her support of the $4,000 pay increase. She commented that she agreed with the "no increase for the Board of Alderman", however, she added, I am going to ask for an increase for the Mayor because this is the person who's just got 13 million dollars and he didn't do it just by sitting here." Alderman Torgeson retorted, "I didn't take this job for money, so Administration, no." He also commented that everyone that ran for office "knew what they were getting into when we got this job", especially as it pertains to pay.

Although silent during most of the previous Budget Workshops, Ward 3 Alderman Kirk Kimball stated that he respectfully disagreed with Alderwoman Sparkman's opinion on the mayors pay increase. He added, "I want to do everything possible and exhaust all means to give the men and women of this great City a raise. For me the priority is the great men and women of this City, not us. We are public servants and you do not get into government for money." In a response to these comments and at around the 54:26 mark of the meeting, Mayor Rafferty could be heard saying, "This is a joke."

When Alderwoman Sparkman tried to give the Mayor credit for bringing a lot of money to the City, both Alderman Torgeson and Alderman Pickich immediately responded, " No way, you are totally wrong, 100% wrong!" Alderman Toegeson went on to laud the efforts of former Mayor McDermott. He commented, " Our last Mayor made more money for this City than any mayor ever since the dawn of time in this City, so that's not right at all."

Does the Mayor of Pass Christian deserve a pay raise? As it currently sits the Board doesn't think so however, there's still time remaining on the clock so the pay raise remains alive until a final vote is taken. At least two meetings remain before a final vote is taken on the FY 2023 budget, tonight, Tuesday, September 6, 2022, 6 pm at the City Hall Auditorium and tomorrow, Wednesday, September 7, 2022, 6 pm at the City Hall Auditorium. Tomorrow night's meeting will allow public input. Per State law, the FY 2023 budget must be approved no later than September 15, 2022.

05/09/2022

Less than a month away….check it out…https://cruisinthecoast.com/schedule/

Cruisin' The Coast® has become a major tourism boom for the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the biggest special event in the state of Mississippi. Car enthusiasts from over 37 states and Canada drive to the Mississippi Gulf Coast once a year to showcase and to cruise a variety of antique, classic and ho...

29/08/2022

Second Budget Workshop More Positive

The Pass Christian Board of Alderman resumed it’s budget talks on Thursday, August 25, 2020 with less drama and no noticeable confrontations. City Clerk Ron Duckworth walked the Board through his revenue projections for next year while Department Heads explained their need for their Capital Expenditures.

Duckworth began by telling the Board, “Your City is in sound financial condition.”. He then went on to provide the status of the reserve account, an update on all grants, FEMA projects as well as his rational for his proposed FY2023 budget. Duckworth projected revenue increases of 2.9% in the Water Department, 4% in the Harbor and an overall increase in General Operating Revenue of 8.5%. His report noted that last year in FY2022, the Harbor operated at a deficit of $65,000.

The Board was given the opportunity to see and discuss the capital expenditure wish list as explained by the various Department Heads.
Requests from the General Fund included: the Fire Department asked for $332,000 with the biggest ticket item being the renovation of the bunk room at Fire station #1; $208,700 for the Police Department; $95,075 for Public Works; $43,426 for Technology Services and $19,434 for the Beautification Department.

The Harbor has it’s own account that had a request of $230,000 which included a pickup truck for $51,000, vacuum truck for $150,000, Kubota utility vehicle for $22,000 and a pick up broom for $7,000. The Water Department also has it’s own funds whereby they’re requesting $777,500 for installation of new water meter readers, a used vehicle at $25,000 and $2,500 for other equipment items.

Although the Board seemed amenable to most of the requests, several Board members questioned not only the need for some of the proposed capital expenditure purchases, but also the City’s ability to pay for them.

Budget discussions will continue on Tuesday, August 30, 2022, 6 pm at the City Hall Auditorium whereby no input will be taken from citizens; a public hearing on the budget will be held Thursday, September 1, 6 pm at the City Hall Auditorium whereby the public will be allowed to ask questions or make a brief statement.

Citizens interested in viewing the proposed budget can do so by dropping by City Hall. They can also contact the Mayor and/or their Board member to ask questions or offer input

Send a message to learn more

27/08/2022

Still brewing is the proposal by Pass Christian Mayor Jimmy Rafferty to purchase some land on Scenic Drive to develop a public parking lot. Estimated overall cost is approximately $500,000 to buy the land and construct a parking lot that will offer around 14 new
parking spaces. The debate rages on between business owners, citizens and Board of Alderman as to whether this is a wise investment or not.

The current status is that the Mayor doesn’t have enough votes to make this project happen. The Board disapproved this project by a 3-2 vote….Ward 2 Alderwoman Regina Charlot, Ward 3 Alderman Kirk Kimball and Ward 4 Alderman Victor Pickich voted against the matter while Alderman at Large Kenny Torgeson and Ward 1 Alderwoman Betty Sparkman voted for it.

Sources claim this matter is still alive with the administration hoping they can flip one of the dissenting vote.

26/08/2022

Be on the lookout….

25/08/2022

2023 Budget Meeting Less Productive Than Expected

The first workshop for developing the 2023 Budget for Pass Christian began with Mayor Jimmy Rafferty offering a positive view of the City’s financial condition. Reading from a letter presented to the Board of Alderman dated August 22, 2022, Mayor Rafferty offered the following, “The City of Pass Christian is very fortunate. We are growing and our financial situation is stronger today than it was a year ago. The Employees of Pass Christian, the Board of Alderpersons and the Mayor have worked hard to make the Pass an even more desirable place to live, work and play. The future of the Pass is very bright with the Board approving $77M in potential new developments in FY2022 (West Pass Station and St. Paul’s).“

The Mayor also noted that “over the past year, 53 new homes have been built. For FY2023, which begins on October 1, 2022, we are projecting 8.5% growth in revenues. “This compares to a 5.33% growth in revenues from FY2021 to FY2022.”

In spite of the positive results mentioned for the last fiscal year, many challenges still remain. The staggering impact of inflation is negatively impacting cities throughout the nation. The Mayor quoted that inflation has grown to “greater than 8%“ and this has drastically increased the costs of operating the City. He also pointed out that insurance costs have grown significantly. Couple that with the City’s never ending battle with recruiting and retaining a highly qualified work force and the need to invest in capital improvements (i.e. vehicles, equipment, infrastructure, etc.), FY2023 may end up being a challenging year for the City of Pass Christian.

Even with proposed salary increases for lower wage employees, the addition of one Patrol Officer and one Fire Inspector as well $12,000 to help cover part of the costs for a new Pass Christian Main Street Director and $25,000 to conduct a recreational sports complex study, the Mayor is expecting only a 7.5% increase over last year’s general operating budget. 1.4% of the increase is to accommodate the proposed compensation increases as well as the two new positions previously noted. According to a document provided by the City, the FY2022 budget was $7,102,969 while the proposed FY2023 budget currently rests at $7,634,672.

During budget deliberations Ward 2 Alderwoman Regina Charlot made a motion that will only allow Department Heads and possibly Main Street to speak at the next budget workshop. Her request was based on last year’s budget meeting debacle that featured a full house of citizens and employees, countless unsolicited and sometimes rowdy input from citizens which resulted in four hour plus meetings. Alderwoman Charlot also asked Police Chief Daren Freeman to have officers available in case they were needed to es**rt unruly attendees out of the Board Meeting.

The motion easily passed by a 4-1 vote with only Ward 1 Alderwoman Betty Sparkman registering the only dissenting vote. The public will be allowed to ask questions and offer their input at the September 7, 2022 budget workshop.

Several Board members expressed their concerns and disappointment about not being given enough time to review the budget proposals before Tuesday’s meeting as well as the fact the it was not a complete budget.

Allegedly the incomplete/partial budget materials were delivered on the Monday before the Tuesday meeting. Alderman at Large Kenny Torgeson was adamant about his unwillingness to vote on next year’s budget without having all of the information to make an informed decision. Ward 4 Alderman Victor Pickich commented, “We need the information so we can discuss it!”

Mayor Rafferty publicly commended and thanked current City Clerk Ron Duckworth for his outstanding efforts towards developing this year’s budget. Mayor Rafferty added that Duckworth had worked extremely hard, to include nights and weekends to ensure the budget materials were ready for the Board.

Unfortunately at about the 30 minute mark of the meeting sparks began to fly as it appeared that Alderwoman Sparkman took exception with a comment made by Alderman Pickich. It had to do with how much time, access and involvement that Alderwoman Sparkman had spent on the FY2023 budget. Alderman Pickich commented, “I’m saying it sounds like you know this budget inside and out and you’ve had a lot of time to deal with it.” Alderwoman Sparkman responded, “I’ve spent about three weeks.” Whereby Alderman Pickich retorted, “We’ve only had it since Friday”.

In a manner not seen before from Alderwoman Sparkman, she stated, “Don’t you know your way to the City Hall?” Alderman Pickich responded by saying that he was told that the budget wasn’t ready yet. Alderman Torgeson added, “We’re not supposed to interrelate with the general activities of City Hall.”

Alderwoman Sparkman went on to explain that she had a “mathematical mind” as well as extensive experience with budgets. She added, “I do know more about this because I took my personal time and went up there and ran reports for Ron to analyze. I didn’t contribute to what they decided on, I ran reports.”

She then challenged the Board by asking them why didn’t they offer to help with the budget? Alderwoman Charlot reminded the Board that unlike this year, last year the Board wasn’t given access to the City Clerk. Alderwoman Sparkman then interjected, “So somebody wants this City to fail?”

At this point Mayor Rafferty stepped in and tried to refocus the group on the mission at hand, the FY2023 budget. Mayor Rafferty commanded, “Let’s focus on the positive” and “let’s get what’s right for the people of Pass Christian. That’s the important thing!”

An interesting observation was the fact that Ward 3 Alderman Kirk Kimball was extremely quiet throughout most of the drama that occurred during the meeting. Although normally very vocal during Board meetings, Alderman Kimball’s reticence was quite noticeable. Was his silence a strategy or was there really nothing to say?

There’s only a short time remaining for the Mayor and Board to meet the State mandate of having an approved budget for the next fiscal year by September 15, 2022. The clock is ticking and here is the current remaining budget meeting schedule for FY2023:

Thursday, August 25, 2022, 6 pm at the City Hall Annex, Budget Workshop to include presentations by Department Heads and Main Street. The Board will also discuss possible capital expenditures for next fiscal year. The public is welcome to attend but will not be able to speak.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022, 6 pm, City Hall Auditorium, Budget Workshop, open to the public and citizens will be given an opportunity to speak. Typically citizen input is limited to 3 minutes and is controlled by the Mayor.

23/08/2022

Pass Christian Board Overturns Mayor’s Veto

In a surprising 4-1 vote, the PC Board of Alderman voted to override Mayor Jimmy Rafferty’s veto of the Board’s decision not to approve the construction of a new house on Scenic Drive. This all started when Dr and Mrs Dunham requested a special meeting of the PC Historic Preservation Commission to obtain approval to build their new house at 744 East Second Drive.

The PC Historic Preservation Commission met on July 6, 2022 and approved the Dunham’s building request. However at the August 2, 2022 Board meeting, an appeal of the PC Historic Preservation Commission’s decision was submitted by the O’Dwyer family. A long, contentious and tense discussion ensued that included accusations of a potential physical threat as well as differences of opinion on the entire matter, different interpretations of the various city ordinances and several Commission members allegedly stating that they didn’t know what they were voting on.

In the end Board voted 3-2 to override the Historic Commission’s decision and denied the Dunham’s request to build their new home as proposed. Alderman at Large Kenny Torgeson was unsuccessful with getting the Board to send the matter back to the Historic Commission for reconsideration. After the vote was taken Mayor Rafferty stated that he was going to veto this vote.

At the August 16, 2022 Board meeting Ward 2 Alderwoman Regina Charlot took the floor and spent a great deal of time both explaining her understanding of the matter but also the various ordinances that she felt were pertinent to her final decision. She commented, “I got a lot of phone calls and I want to be in compliance with our ordinances “. She added that the Board was “in a dilemma” and suggested that the matter should be sent back to the Planning Commission as well as the Historic Commission.

Alderman Kenny Torgeson reiterated his point that due to alleged confusion and differing accounts of the matter, this request should be sent back to the Historic Commission. He said that he was “conflicted “ and had even talked to the Historic Preservation Commissioners and discovered that no one had admitted to being confused with respect to how they voted. He added later that regardless of how the Historic Commission votes after they reevaluate this request, he would vote to support the Commission’s decision.

Ward 4 Alderman Victor Pickich stated, “I’m not for the veto but it should go back to the Historic Commission”. Ward 1 Alderwoman Betty Sparkman who has consistently voted for whatever Mayor Rafferty proposes added, “Commissioner’s knew what they voted on.”

The 4-1 vote not only overrode the mayor’s veto but it also sent the matter back to the Historic Commission as well as the Planning Office. The only vote to uphold the Mayor’s veto was Alderwoman Betty Sparkman. The hope is that these two entities can appropriately use all applicable rules, laws and ordinances to render a fair and equitable decision. Once that’s done the matter may be brought back to the BOA for the final decision.

Somewhere in all of this “muddied water” lies the truth. Only time will tell if the right action has been taken on this highly contentious matter. Until then the Dunham’s will have to either wait in limbo for a final decision or consider seeking a legal remedy through the court system.

Absent from this meeting was the proposed parking lot land purchase on Scenic Drive. Although several sources confirmed that the mayor had previously promised that this matter would be addressed at the August 16, 2022 BOA meeting, it was not in fact included on the agenda. Several sources commented that this was due to the fact that the mayor still didn’t have enough votes to purchase the property and build a City Parking lot for $500k.

Send a message to learn more

18/08/2022

PCPD working to keep our community safe….when in doubt….don’t drink and drive…stay safe..

The Pass Christian Police Department will be participating in the nationwide DRIVE SOBER OR GET PULLED OVER campaign as part of their commitment to reduce the number of accidents caused by impaired driving. The campaign will run from August 19, 2022 through September 5, 2022.

16/08/2022

Long time business owners announce the sale of their extremely popular business....here’s the FB post offered by the owners of C&J...good luck to the Allison family as well as to the new owners...

“As most of you have already heard, we have sold C&J. It has been an honor and pleasure to be part of this great community for a little over 23 years. We want to express our most sincere Thank You to all of you for your patronage throughout the years. We have met some wonderful people and made some great friendships that we will forever be grateful. We will see you all around town; We are not going anywhere. Pass Christian will forever be our home. So once again, “Thank You”!!!”

Tommy & Erica Allison

16/08/2022

Always an awesome “must attend” event in The Pass….creates a wonderful start to the Christmas season…

15/08/2022

Check it out….

Come join us next Saturday as we kick off our “Carnaval” season! And meet our 2022-2023 Royalty!!! 💜💚💛