Tag: Hancock County Alliance for Good Government

Other Voices | Lana Noonan: What Does Government Cost in Hancock County This Month?

It’s bill paying time all over the county of Hancock this week and next as all 3 cities, the county, and the 2 school districts publish their claim dockets on their agendas.

Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Diamondhead all have their first meetings of November tonight.

Bay St. Louis at 5:30pm in their council chambers behind the shell station at Highway 90 and Main St.

Waveland at 6:30pm at board room in city hall on Coleman Avenue

Diamondhead at 6:00pm at city hall in Diamondhead

The Hancock County Board of supervisors met yesterday, Nov. 1,  at 9:00am at government complex on Highway 90 in Bay St. Louis.  All of their meetings are archived for viewing by gong to their website, click on supervisors, agendas, and select meeting date.

Continue reading “Other Voices | Lana Noonan: What Does Government Cost in Hancock County This Month?”

Other Voices | Lana Noonan: Supervisors Made Right Decision on Funding for Consolidation Study

I would like to commend the Hancock County Board of Supervisors and County Administrator for deciding against including $15,000 in their current budget for a study to determine the feasibility of an Administrative consolidation of the two school districts in our county–Bay St. Louis-Waveland and the Hancock County District, not because I am against the concept of an Administrative Consolidation of our school districts. I have been on board with the idea for a long time, especially after reading many reports, comparing Mississippi with other states regarding top heavy administrative salaries, low teacher pay, and comparing us to other states with regard to financing education and academic performance. Just this past year Mississippi made the national news for our elected officials’ high dollar spending of school taxes at the administrative level and our poor academic performance.

Continue reading “Other Voices | Lana Noonan: Supervisors Made Right Decision on Funding for Consolidation Study”

A few thoughts about last night’s candidate forum

After catching myself up on last year’s Bay St Louis election forum I was reminded of the differences between the two communities in terms of the political environment. Waveland’s political scene is far more laid back with the various aldermen candidates agreeing with each other more than a few times. Even better from my standpoint on the panel was that every candidate that appeared for the forum last night was prepared and knowledgeable of the issues in the community, something that was not true last year in the Bay.

Geoff Belcher of the Sea Coast Echo and WLOX’s Doug Walker rounded out the panel and again we didn’t toss out any softies. Doug kicked off the Mayoral portion asking about the heart of Waveland being left out of the newly created opportunity zones. To the extent Waveland is still redeveloping from Hurricane Katrina I focused questions to both the Mayors and Aldermen about their visions for development on the Highway 90 corridor, including a tie vote Mayor Smith broke allowing live oaks to be cut. There was no such thing as a right or wrong answer to these questions. My goal, as it was last year, was to get the candidates to differentiate themselves on the issues and I think the panel accomplished that.

Here are the candidates that attended last night:

Ward 1 Alderman: Henry Tebbe (R), Jeremy Burke (I)
Ward 2 Alderman: Laronne Lewis (D)
Ward 3 Alderman: Shane Lafontaine (D)
Ward 4 Alderman: Charles Piazza (I), Sara Cure Clark (I)
Mayor: Mike Smith (D), Tommy Longo (I), Jay Trapani (I)

No Shows:
Ward 1 Candidate Jay Fountain, Ward 2 Alderman Bobby Richardson, Ward 3 Candidate Don Siebenkittel, Ward 4 Candidate Brice Phillips, Ward 4 Candidate Mark Kidd Continue reading “A few thoughts about last night’s candidate forum”







Other Voices | Lana Noonan: Hancock County Budget Season Update

It’s difficult to tell where to begin when it comes to Budget Season with our local entities. The number crunching has begun, and the departmental wish lists are presenting major financial challenges for our local officials.

Let’s begin with the City of Bay St. Louis. The seven guys on the City Council are working hard to get their budget together for the upcoming fiscal year of 2017-2018.

One little kink in the wheel that must be resolved sooner rather than later is WHERE IS THE 2016 AUDIT??????? Kind of hard to formulate a budget until you examine your auditor’s candid verdict on your books of account for the past fiscal year. The Auditor, Bobby Culumber, is MIA. They had better find him pretty soon. I think the audit was due on June 30, 2017 which would have given the City Council ample time before budget workshops to identify and confront their monetary issues and prioritize them.

Moving right along, the issues that have been discussed at the last two budget workshops are:

1. Going out for bids on the city’s insurance which is due to renew in Feb. or March of 2018.

2. On this same subject, since Council does not approve benefits for part time employees, they should also remove themselves from this benefit. Their position does not require them to spend every day at City Hall. ALL OF OUR PUBLIC ENTITIES SHOULD ELIMINATE THIS FROM THEIR BUDGETS. THINK OF THE MONEY WE WOULD SAVE.

3. Supporting the continued presence of a Tourism Office in Hancock County and lending financial support. Councilman DeSalvo also wants to solicit support from the Downtown Merchants since they benefit the most from Tourism events such as Cruisin’ the Coast. Continue reading “Other Voices | Lana Noonan: Hancock County Budget Season Update”







Where does the time go….

Its been nice to get away for a couple of weeks. That said some significant things have happened including the Hancock County beat losing Wes Muller. Tonight is Inauguration for the City of Bay St Louis. Worthy of note is incoming Ward 4 City Councilman Larry Smith showing Hancock County Alliance Chair Lana Noonan a text message that he purportedly received from Patricia Keating a week or so ago at a Hancock County Board of Supervisor meeting before threatening her with bad karma. I get the feeling that watching the City Council for the next 4 years may just be fun in a train wreck sorta way. We’ll see.

I’ll be checking in over the next few days with a few things – to set things up I highly recommend starting here.

Meantime have a safe and fun extended holiday weekend y’all.







A few thoughts on the Hancock Alliance for Good Government Municipal Candidate Forum

For those following along last night Slabbed put out two pictures but little else live as I was on the media panel that asked the questions.

After the forum an audience member asked where the panel got its questions which I thought was odd, my instant answer pointing to my brain was “from here”. Turned out he was upset because he thought we were picking on a candidate he supports. The operative term here is more colloquially known as a “closed mind”.

Wes Muller from the Sun Herald and Brad Kessie from WLOX rounded out the panel and we didn’t toss out any softies to either the Mayoral or the council candidates for office. Speaking for myself I asked questions that would help the candidates differentiate themselves, from the allocation of scarce tax dollars in the city budget to whether or not tax increases were on the table to deal with the current revenue challenged times derived mainly from declining gaming revenue. There was no such thing as a wrong answer to these questions and overall the candidates for office did a good job responding to the questions, including Hizzoner.

The panel also asked questions designed to find out if the Candidates knew what they were getting into in terms of the office they were seeking. Those questions also got very good responses and the candidates again differentiated themselves. Without going into the he said, she said specifics I’ll add WQRZ was there last night to record the event and it will be streamed on Saturday. I highly encourage those of you that did not attend last night to listen in Saturday.

Several people in attendance commented to me on what was evidently a pretty sharp contrast between the Republican-Democrat-NAACP Forum the night before which was promoted by a new, proxy registered, anonymous website BSL Beyond Politics and last night’s event, which focused heavily on financial questions. Wes Muller was at both and his story on the Republican-Democrat-NAACP Forum tells the tale: Continue reading “A few thoughts on the Hancock Alliance for Good Government Municipal Candidate Forum”







PSA: Hancock County Alliance for Good Government Political Forum for Bay St. Louis Municipal Elections

On Thursday, April 20, 2017 the Hancock County Alliance for Good Government is sponsoring a Political Forum for all candidates who have qualified to run in the 2017, Bay St. Louis Municipal Elections.

While The Hancock County Alliance for Good Government does not endorse candidates, since 2010, the organization has provided Political Forums for City, County, and State-wide elections as an opportunity for the voters and candidates to meet and debate the current issues of their government.

The Forum will be held at the Old Town Community Center in the Depot District on Blaize Avenue from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

Candidates can register to participate by calling—228-493-4358 or 228-363-9395.







Hancock Schools District Consolidation Study Committee Meets

By Lana Noonan – Special to Slabbed

The first meeting of the Committee to Study the Consolidation of the Two School Districts in Hancock County was held Tuesday in the Bay St. Louis City Council Chambers.

Ron Thorp, Co-Chairman of the Hancock County Alliance for Good Government put together a very well thought out and structured cost study program to provide information for the public with regard to what the taxpayers in Hancock County are spending to have two School Districts.

Each member received a packet of the subject areas to be investigated and their particular topic to gather facts on and report back next month. The subject areas to be studied are: Legal expenses, Transportation, Alternative School, Travel/Special Student Expense, Purchasing, Consultants, Administration/ Debt Consolidation, School Board Consolidation, Insurance, Maintenance, State Fees, Dues and Organizations.

Some early figures were obtained by the committee members. For instance the current Maintenance Budgets for the two Districts are:

Hancock School District Current Maintenance Budget–$3,969,883.20, which includes $820,000 insurance, with custodial services, grass cutting and lawn services out sourced to private contractors. These expenses are being incurred for a student body of 4,552 students and 7 campuses.

Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District Maintenance Budget— $2,766,136.83, which includes facility employees ( no number given), janitorial employees (no number given), supplies, equipment, and repairs for 1,865 students and 4 campuses. Bay-Waveland’s insurance cost approximately $800,000 two years ago, and was not included as part of the Maintenance Budget. Continue reading “Hancock Schools District Consolidation Study Committee Meets”







A couple of nuggets from a very somber Bay St Louis Council meeting

Slabbed was there as was WLOX and the Seacoast Echo. The latest meme out of the Fillingame camp involves asking the rhetorical question Who is the Hancock County Alliance for Good Government? It is the exactly the meme the Library folks whipped out after Slabbed pointed out that the Library system and its supporting Foundation had spent $2,400 to Gold sponsor the annual Chamber of Commerce gala, a night of recognition, revelry complete with firewater less than a year after closing East Hancock County Library citing a lack of funds. Since the ideas can’t be refuted when all else fails attack the messenger. A clue for you Facebook Warrior hens, it is possible have an organization without a Facebook page. As an experienced webmaster I’d personally recommend organizations steer clear of Facebook because the company plays too many games with its news feed but that is another post.

Of course it is a very poorly kept secret that the easiest way to find a member of the Hancock County Alliance for Good Government is to attend a meeting of the Bay St Louis or Waveland City Councils, the County Board of Supervisors and the School Districts. Sadly you seldom see the Facebook warriors at any of these thus the need for news organizations like Slabbed, The Sea Coast Echo, WLOX, The Sun Herald, etc. Slabbed was at last night’s special meeting of the Bay St Louis City Council and sure enough I found three members of the Alliance, Co Chairmen Lana Noonan and Ron Thorpe along with Libby Garcia (Miss. Libby), who was giving an interview to Make Lacy of WLOX when I arrived to cover the meeting for Slabbed:

Here is a short version of yesterday’s story and WLOX interviews with Lana and Miss Libby: Continue reading “A couple of nuggets from a very somber Bay St Louis Council meeting”







The Hancock County Alliance for Good Government has released the following letter to the Bay City Council

Lonnie Falgout, President
Bay St. Louis City Council

Dear Councilman Falgout:

On behalf of the Hancock County Alliance for Good Government and in view of the recent and tragic events in the city of Bay St. Louis Administration, we feel a Special Called Meeting of the Bay St. Louis City Council is in order, and are requesting you poll the Council for a Special meeting for the following:

Mayor Les Fillingame in recent statements in the local news media has confirmed that he suspended without pay, late Bay St. Louis Chief of Police Michael De Nardo, because the Mayor had been informed by the Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam that De Nardo, was the subject of an investigation.

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department has now confirmed that the City of Bay St. Louis Payroll Department is the subject of a Federal investigation for Payroll Fraud.

Using the same premise under which Mayor Fillingame suspended Chief De Nardo without pay, we are asking the Bay St. Louis City Council to request Mayor Fillingame, Payroll Clerk Pat Tice, Acting City Clerk Paula Fairconntue, Comptroller Sissy Gonzales, Human Resource Director Gus McKay, and any other city employees or elected officials who either prepare or present payroll and benefits for Council approval, to step down without pay until the Payroll Fraud investigation by the FBI is concluded.

If the aforementioned publicly compensated individuals will not voluntarily step down, we are asking the Council to call a Special Meeting and suspend their pay and remove them from their positions immediately and until the investigation is completed.

Lana Noonan, Chairman
Ron Thorp, Co-Chairman