The Extra Mile Podcast
Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich

(Announcer) Coming up on this episode of The Extra Mile…

(Andrew “FoFo” Gilich) We have a number of goals and challenges, you know, with coastal Mississippi, our new tourism, you know, organization that includes Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. And some, uh, some, uh, some leadership that understands the reach, you know, frequency and reach, frequency and reach.

(Announcer) Hey, football fans! Game day is here. To avoid delays on the way to the game, make sure the MDOT traffic app is part of your playbook. To avoid fumbles this season, MDOT encourages safe driving. That means buckle up, obey the speed limit, and avoid distracted driving, especially in work zones. For more information, follow @MississippiDOT on Facebook and Twitter.

[Music and Intro]

(Paul Katool) Welcome into another edition of the Extra Mile Podcast presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I'm MDOT Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Paul Katool, and as always, I'm joined by my co-host, Will Craft, the Director of Public Affairs at the agency.

And listen, uh, there is, uh, we're recording this episode on Monday, October 2. We're in the midst of one of the biggest, coolest events in Mississippi, in my opinion: Cruisin’ The Coast. Uh, happening right here in Biloxi along the coast.

Uh, so we are on location in Biloxi, Biloxi City Hall, and we're here to talk to Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich, who, uh, was elected Mayor of Biloxi by special election in May of 2015 and was elected to his first full term in June of 2017. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us today, having us in City Hall.

(FoFo) Great having you down here. We're always happy to talk about things happening down here. And of course, uh, you're good friends with Brad and that group up there. I've known him right after our special election, you know, when he was, uh, in, in D.C. with, uh, Keith Heard and the whole group of, uh, of, uh, Senator Cochran's group.

And it's just a tremendous group and work with, uh, you know, some real good folks over the years. I'm just, couldn't be more happy, you know, to work with, uh, MDOT and to work with, uh, somebody who understands. And, you know, what the goal is, and it's really a challenge every day, you know, with regard to the last three years has been unbelievable, and so the next three years will be, I hope, as unbelievable and good, because we've been in pretty good shape down here.

(Will Craft) I think they will.

(Paul) Love to hear it. Love to hear it. So, for all of our first-time guests, we like to get to know them a little bit better. So can you kind of tell us a little bit about your background, how you came to become an elected official, the mayor of Biloxi?

(FoFo) Do we, how long, we have an hour? We'll do the uh, short conversion of it.

Well, you know, uh. I'm originally from Biloxi, and my parents and grandparents came from Croatia. We'll get into a little bit of that last year, about 1900. And so, I've been, you know, the Biloxi DNA has been in me and my family. And, you know, I'm married to another Croatian person.

(Will) Okay.

(FoFo) And, uh, you know, again, it was something that you got to do for your hometown. My biggest opportunity. Look, my grandparents and my parents did something for me. I'm going to do something with my grandkids. In a nutshell, that's what drives me. It drives me every day. My foot is on the pedal all the time.

(Will) I know it's true.

(FoFo) Brad will tell you that. Brad will tell you that.

(Will) Well, keep it on that same line there, you know. I didn't know any of that about your history, so that's pretty fascinating. I would have never guessed. So, similar: the nickname, Fofo. Where’d that come from?

(FoFo) Well, I had two older brothers, and, uh, uh, one was 16 years older than me, and still around. He was tax assessor for 40 something years in Biloxi, Mississippi, or Harrison County, and he would read Jack and the Beanstalk, and there's a place, “Fee Fie Fo Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman,” right?

(Will) Yeah, sure.

(FoFo) And, uh, so he said, well, he'd read that, “Fo Fo Fo Fo,” all over the, oh, you know, I'm two years old, three years old. Anyway, at home.

(Will) It sure did.

(FoFo) And everybody in Biloxi has a nickname. You heard my buddy Ruby.

(Will) I did, yep.

(FoFo) Everybody has a handle. It's It goes back to a little bit of Croatian. We're kind of segwaying into Croatian kinds of, uh, so there's a convention that you're always named after your grandfather if you're the first male, so that's why I've got, uh, you know, 150 cousins and first cousins and second cousins around it. But you can always see there's an Antone or there's a Michael or there's an Andrew. So, everybody developed a nickname. Okay. Junior or, you know, so that's what a little bit of, like I said, in a nutshell, real fast. So you had to have a nickname and everybody did have a nickname off. He came in from out of town, like my grandfather, Gillich, uh, from the Gillich side. Uh, he came, you know, migrated from Croatia, about 1908, 1910, something like that to Chicago, came from Chicago to Biloxi.

(Will) Okay.

(FoFo) So, his nickname was what? Chicago.

(Will) Ah, look, let's just probably right off into that, you know, it is something we've got lots of great stuff to talk about, all things going on Biloxi, which is a lot. You guys are slam packed as far as scheduling and fun stuff going on, but, uh, one thing I did happen to see, we had the President of Croatia, and I know I'm going to mispronounce this, and I apologize, I'm just going to let you have it actually, uh, was it Zoran?

(FoFo) Zoran Milanović.

(Will) There we go, and the first, Miss First Lady?

(FoFo) His First Lady was, was, uh, actually Sanja, but it's, it's spelled like music: Musić.

(Will) Oh, okay.

(FoFo) Musić Milanović and, and what a treat. And then we had, uh, Sanja Laković, who was the General Counsel from Chicago. And also the, the, the United, uh, the Ambassador to the United States, United States from Croatia.
His name was, uh, Pjer Šimunović and we knew Sanja and, uh, and, uh, Pjer from the previous, uh, visit, but about six weeks ago, uh, he, he said, uh, he said, “Mayor, I need you, I, you know, I have something for you to consider, a proposal for you to consider.” I said, “Well, anything, Pjer,” you know, cause we, like I said, visited with him, he's a good, very cool guy.

And all, everyone speaks English, like, you know, so they all, you know, two, three languages. But anyway, he says, okay, uh, the, the, the president of Croatia will be in, at the United Nations General Assembly. And And, uh, you know, there's a bunch of Croatian communities across the country. Uh, so anyway, he said, but I want, he wants to visit Biloxi, so… That was still on the 22nd. Now, I said, you can't say no. Now, but what just so happened, we were in the middle of our Slavic Invitational, this is our 48th Slavic Invitational Golf Tournament. That's over five golf courses, over 800 something people playing. That's going on in the middle of this visit. Okay. You can't imagine.

So, I'm, you know, this organization that I belong to, Slavic Benevolent Association, you know, in Slavonian Lodge, and this goes back a hundred years. Matter of fact, this year we'll be, uh, celebrating the 110th anniversary of the organization. 1913. So all this is happening, you know, last week, all this happening, and I probably lost about 10 pounds doing this, but this room was packed with Senator Wicker and, you know, our Speaker of the House, the Governor, and, you know, everybody, a lot of judges and, you know, just real cool event. Well, we'll show you some pictures. Uh uh, they'll have some, so maybe you can show it.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) And you know, these people were just so fascinating, so unbelievable. You know, I told 'em how friendly and how, how hospitable we are. That's a southern thing. Okay.

(Paul) Sure.

(FoFo) You might, Southern Croatian, whatever you, but this is, you know, a thing that, that brings everybody back. You know, I was just talking about conferences and conventions and so forth. Our trick for Mississippi and tourism is to get them here once and experience what we have and you coming back. You're coming back for a lot of reasons, and you may want to choose to, uh, to live, you know, here because, hey, it's cool. You know, uh, all these generals and, and, uh, colonels that come through Keesler, you know, I tell them, I say, look, if you don't choose to, uh, to retire here, you know, uh, I haven't done my job.

You know, this is, this is, uh, um, I'm, I'm going to ramble here a little bit. I'm going to tell you about, you know, Fred Haise. You know who Fred Haise is, Apollo 13. You know, one of the, just probably, you know, if you know, uh, you remember Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11, but you, everybody remembers Apollo 13. He was a Biloxian. And, uh, you know, uh, just a tremendous, so smart. We, we built a statue down at the, by the lighthouse.

But he tells the story about Biloxi. And it was true, you know, that, that this was a sleepy little town, had a little, uh, uh, hospitality, a little tourism of about 15, 18,000 people up until 1941. 1941 came along, what happened? World War II, right? Our grandparents’ generation said, “Okay, we want you to open a base, an army base, Army Air Force base,” right? 1941 comes along, uh, it pops to about 100,000 people almost overnight. And, uh, so that's why we hit along that street. Did you see in our background, almost every form of entertainment, you know, that you can imagine whether it was, you know, uh, food and drink and partying and, and, uh, you know, gambling and all this.

Fred tells a story that, um, uh, you know, he said, “I was a good kid off the paper, you know, did my paper route, my parents trusted me. I made good grades,” he says, “but I'll tell you one thing. They let me go to a place called, and the building is still there, it's called the Union Bar.” He says, “I learned geometry from all these pool hustlers coming from all over the place on pay day.” Cause they let all these people out on pay day and they come to these ballrooms and they watch top notch, you know, you know, the hustler kind of pool games. He says, “I really did learn geometry from watching that.”

So, I mean, it was just a, you know, just a great, a great place to live and it still is, and for me, the best, you know, other than when I was in Houston and doing those things for school. You know, I'm back here and like I said, I'm got my foot on, on the, you know, the pedal to, uh, uh, to make sure that it goes on and on and on and on. 324 years right now, as far as Biloxi.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) It's going to go on. As a matter of fact, the President of Croatia, uh, uh, Milanović, said, I didn't, you know, “Biloxi's not anything new for me. Cause one of my favorite plays was Neil Simon's ‘Biloxi Blues.’”

(Will) Oh, really? Okay.

(FoFo) So, you know, so that was, you know.

(Will) So he's used to it. He's like, he's coming back to familiarity.

(FoFo) Yeah, so we, we welcomed him, you know, our, in our own Croatian way, in our own Biloxi way, welcomed here, and he enjoyed it, really did.

(Will) That's two, that's two questions in a row I've got a lot of history context on. I didn't know either one of those, at all. And, and, and we'll just keep right on rolling. I mean, as you just mentioned, foot on the pedal. That is, could not be more true. Uh, hopefully everybody doesn't have too heavy of a foot, cause you got Cruisin’ The Coast going on right now.

(FoFo) We expect about 5,000 cars, right, on Wednesday afternoon.

(Will) It's grown every year, hasn't it?

(FoFo) 9,000, I think, registered already.

(Will) Wow.

(Paul) Wow.

(FoFo) It's the biggest in the country. You know, a little bit, a while back, it's kind of modeled after, uh, Hot August Nights.

(Will) Okay.

(FoFo) In, uh, Reno. But it's, you know, like I said, now it's spread over 12 municipalities from Waveland all the way to Pascagoula.

(Will) We learned on the way down.

(FoFo) Yeah, as you can see, we just went to lunch, and we're always arguing.
But, you know, I'm a product of the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. I used to build model cars, so I could tell you from building what year –

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) – to the seventies and eighties after I got married in ‘68. I've been married 55 years. You know.

(Will) Congrats.

(Paul) Yes, congrats.

(FoFo) But, uh, congrats to my wife, 'cause putting up with me for 55 years… But like I said, a little Croatian girl that lived up down the street, but you know, it, uh, it, it's amazing 'cause all these, all that, that bunch I hang around with, you know: “Oh yeah. No, that's a ‘57. That's, no, that's a ’56,” you know –

(Will) So, y’all love this.

(FoFo) Oh yeah. No, it, it, it's like heaven really is.

(Will) So, I think, it got started yesterday?

(FoFo) I had to sell my ’65. I graduated ‘65 from high school here. And I want to, uh, up until, I think I bought a ‘65 Chevelle with a little bit of a hot engine, you know, 383 stroke engine, all the bells and whistles, 4 speed. And, uh, but my wife convinced me, says, you know, “It's time. You don't put too many, you gotta drive these cars.” And I don't go to other shows or anything. I just crank it up, go through the gears, but I did sell it last year. So anyway.

(Will) So, no – any plans to get another?

(FoFo) No, no, not yet. No, I don’t know. You never can tell. I won't say no.

(Will) You just go ride with other folks.

(FoFo) Yeah, that's a, that's the ticket.

(Paul) There you go. Yeah, listen, we wish everyone a very successful Cruisin’ The Coast this year. Really, really cool stuff, but there's also some other stuff going on. It's spooky season out there. What's going on with Halloween in the City of Biloxi?

(FoFo) Well, yeah. Halloween. Like I said, it comes every year. It used to be Ole Miss and LSU when - that happened last week. And, uh, long story. My, my grandson, uh, about second oldest grandson was one of the “Mike the Tigers”, Mike, uh, mascot. He's been at LSU for a number of years, but anyway, uh, no, there's a, there's a lot of cool things happening in the neighborhoods and, and, uh, you know, come out the woodwork and everybody, you know, sees this 20-foot, uh, skeletons and things like that, but you know, it's like I said, safe, friendly and beautiful. Beautiful. That's a, that's, that's our, you know, our mantra and we hope it continues.

(Will) Well, and one thing you mentioned, beautiful. You know, safe, friendly, all those things, beautiful. We have recently launched our new anti-litter messaging getting out there, but I did see on the community calendar, you have a couple of cleanup events. I mean, how important is that to you guys?

(FoFo) Oh, it is. I mean, first thing, you know, you go to Disneyland or Disney World in Florida. Hey, that's a big thing. You know, today, that's what some of the challenges we had, you know, coming over the last three years since 2020, you know. People, keep them engaged and doing the things they need to do.

But we've been very fortunate about the number of visitors we've had, you know, 4. 3 million visitors. You got 7,000 hotel rooms right here. And so, you know, within a mile radius from this spot.

(Will) It's crazy.

(FoFo) You know, you get above about 1,700 right there. About 1,200 here. Another IP and then down, by the Golden Nugget is another few thousand.

(Will) And I have seen them all booked.

(FoFo) Yeah, it's amazing on the weekends. I mean, they get some good prices and they're full. You know, our challenge is to put people in those – “heads in beds” during the middle of the week. You know, some of those conferences that people, you can get some challenging, some really creative rates, you know, a hundred dollars, 20, $149 and that. Those kind of things that are doable -

(Will) Very competitive.

(FoFo) - uh, uh, you know, in midweek. So, we have a number of goals and challenges, you know, with coastal Mississippi, our new tourism, you know, organization that includes Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. And some, uh, some, uh, some leadership that understands the reach, you know, frequency and reach, frequency and reach.

(Will) It seems like there's just always outdoor, you know, fun stuff, activities going on down here and, and, and no - knock-on wood. I don't want to put this evil on you guys, but it seems to be clean, relatively clean always. Folks do a good job. I would say, I guess, maybe there's a good culture of, of taking care of stuff around here.

(FoFo) Yeah, I think so for the most part. You know, it does get you upset. You see somebody throw something out the window. You know, I go ballistic, but, you know, road rage and some of these other things you got to put, because, you know, it's crazy this this world, you know, with, you know, just a few miles down the road - I'm talking about in Louisiana, sometimes in Alabama, too - that, you know, you don't want to see these, you know, kids and, you know, adults getting, get sideways with stuff and wind up with something that –

(Will) Oh, yeah.

(FoFo) Doesn’t do, you know.

(Will) Yeah. To the best of our ability, we want to keep going, right? We're just trying to get home.

(FoFo) Yeah, that's right. That's right.

(Paul) For sure. So, don't trash Mississippi. Don't trash Biloxi. Listen, we want to take this back to MDOT a little bit. I know you mentioned, uh, you work at, even though this is a local, a local city, you work with MDOT, you work with Brad White. Um, talk about maybe the I-110 bridge repairs. Anything else going on with MDOT?

(FoFo) Yeah, before I get into I-110, you know, cause that, that was, that was, uh, you know, kind of tragic in the timing with it. But even, I think it was two years ago when Brad and I in, in coastal Mississippi, you know, over the years, about four years ago, we had a little buildup of sand. See that saying coming off the beach, right?

(Will) Yeah.

(Paul) Yep.

(FoFo) And that's MDOT maintains the Highway 90, and we do part, you know, uh, uh, the north side and the county has some of the beach side and so forth, but you know, I mean, tons and tons and tons. It was a 2 million project jointly we did to clean it up prior to, uh, the, uh, the, you know, Cruisin’ The Coast. Two years ago, right after Ray was –

(Will) That’s right.

(FoFo) – there.

(Will) And Ms. Myrtis Franke was wearing me out about it, man.

(FoFo) She, she does. She's, I call her my guardian angel because she knows when to show up, where to show up. I can tell you, it's just like, you know, having her on my shoulder right now.

(Will) If she tells me it's a good idea that needs to be done, I just move forward with it.

(FoFo) Brad knows that.

(Will) That's right. That's right.

(FoFo) So, uh, yeah. But, you know, the I-110 you know, uh, it's more complex. Nobody thinks about the steel and some of the stuff that's in there. The precast, you know, post tension stuff that, you know, you've seen it in 9/11. When you get heat on something, it causes problems. And it's not an easy solution. So, I, I, I know we're trying to, you know, put the resources where we can get that stuff more gracefully off to, off that, that bridge and, and, but, you know, it all kind of wraps in. You - some, some homeless and some, some trash.

(Will) Sure.

(FoFo) And, you know, you, you gotta meet those challenges and, and, uh, you know, uh, I, I kind of thrive on stress. Okay. So, you know, that's sort of the thing. It's always something that's going to say, no. I can promise you, stay in that office with me. You know, won't be bored.

(Will) There's gonna be something pop up. Yep.

(FoFo) But Brad's been tremendous. And, you know, the whole group. And I know, uh, that's, that's going to be done, taken care of in a timely manner. And hopefully, you know, I can't tell you when, but I know how things are when you get in that construction mode. You know, I came on board in 2015, I had 55 miles of street torn up in a $340 million Katrina recovery. That's deep sewer, you know, storm drain water and, uh, you know, those kinds of surfaces and so forth.

We've got about $100 million of that left right now. And so, it's a lot of work. Yeah, that's a lot of work. And so, you could see some of the progress in boring and going over something you know, it's, it's been challenging. I know it's probably multiplied by 10 the things that MDOT has to deal with. One of that instances now: if, you know, a 34-foot hole is a deep hole.

(Will) It’s a pretty big one.

(FoFo) In Biloxi, it's, you know, mud down here. So anyway, we used in this Katrina recovery, we had a number of lift stations all over the city - about 170, 180 of them. So, you know, you had to pump it up so it'd go far. You know, until it gets - see we had two wastewater, we still have two wastewater treatment plants.

Well, the Katrina Republic, uh Katrina project, recovery project was like, okay, we're going to let gravity be your friend, go from about 19 feet down to 34 feet down. So, gravity is pushing that. And you don't have to pump it up and then pump it out. Well, you know, that runs into all kinds of things. Well, at one point in time, down where the old Biloxi Cemetery was, uh, they ran across some bones, okay? And this is, it cost us, this was in 2007, 2017 I believe.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(FoFo) So, the first thing that happens is everybody has to time out.

(Will) Yep.

(FoFo) Okay, make sure it's not prehistoric, being Indian graves and so forth. But, you know, over the years, they put a, the four-lane highway over the two-lane highway, and anyway, wind up covering some of that stuff in the right-of-way.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(FoFo) So, it really took about a year to determine, and we send it up to the laboratories and archaeologists and so forth at the state. And they analyzed the bones. Of course, you know, it's probably a 200-year bones that was buried in a cemetery, but they determined that it was flat on one surface. So, therefore, it was not prehistoric. Indians didn't bury their dead in caskets. So –

(Will) Right. Sure.

(FoFo) – so, but bottom line, we just in case we saw these in other anomalies, you know, over about a 300-feet section, they drilled down. So, they jack and bore underneath that. And that cost about, you know, It's eight, nine, 10 months. And then, you know, about a million dollars.

Other thing that ran across: on the Point, which is east, east of Biloxi, the last part, you know, from, uh, the bridge on down this way. They, uh, about 19 feet down, down, they ran into creosote. Okay. Your creosote pools up over the years. It's like a, you know, a little pond of creosote is 19 feet down, which is, you know, they don't let you use creosote to put in pilings there because it's so dangerous.
So, we had to remove 2500 cubic yards of that in order to move forward. Yeah. So, time out.

(Will) I’m learning some stuff today.

(Paul) For sure.

(FoFo) No, it's because you know, Biloxi had oyster shells everywhere. They use that as, instead of limestone. They use that as base.

(Will) I did not know that actually. Okay.

(FoFo) You can see pictures and so forth, but bottom line, that's another thing we ran into about about a year ago. So, having to take 12, 2500 cubic yards and take it to a hazardous landfill.

(Will) Oh my gosh.

(FoFo) And you know, anyway, you don't want to hear about all those war stories, but I'm gonna tell you, I learned more about construction than I really wanted to know.

(Will) Well, talking about that, I mean, do you feel like the coast is fully back or maybe further than pre, you know, Katrina, pre-Katrina?

(FoFo) Yeah, as far as infrastructure and far surface. We got most of the peninsula is new roads, you know, new storm drains, new water and new sewer. That's the main thing. You know, you got these force mains. If you don't process their waste water and waste and not just garbage – I’m not talking about, that's two different things I’m talking about – you talk, look at how much, how many homes that would be equivalent to: 1,700 hotel rooms over there.

(Will) Oh, yeah.

(FoFo) So –

(Paul) Wow.

(FoFo) – 1,100, 1,200 down here.

(Will) I can’t imagine.

(FoFo) So, I mean, it's like, you know, it just multiplies the complexity of –

(Will) Quickly.

(FoFo) – what do you have to do? And, you know, you got all kinds of challenges with pressures and where it needs to wind up here on this side of town and in the west side of town, which we call it, uh, you know, the west treatment plant. But, you know, it is what it is. I mean, we got to understand, you know, the complexity, I guess the operations, what happened, what needs to happen, when it needs to happen. Of course, things break down. You know, we're over 300 years. Things break down. The initial, the initial sewer system was installed in 1957.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(FoFo) Now I'm 10 years old, in 1957. And it was only supposed to last like 20 years.

(Paul) Wow.

(Will) Still rolling.

(FoFo) Yeah, we're kind of rolling. Yeah, still rolling, still breaks every day.

(Paul) That's wild.

(FoFo) But, you know, the different technologies, and so we, thank goodness for that PVC and some of these things that you use and, you know, the types and, uh, what methods of, of concrete and some of those things that you see it every day. You go up 49 and see what has been set up, and hopefully, like the Romans, for another couple hundred years.

(Will) Look, I mean, I was not from the coast per se, but I love the coast, love to get down, but it feels like it used to, to me. I don't, I don't so much remember, you know, Katrina. And when it was going on, I was in junior high, you know, I just got a couple of weeks out of school from, you know, what I remember. So, I had a very easy experience to it, but it kind of feels like everything's back to normal, you know.

(FoFo) It’s getting there. Like I said, we were worried. I was worried about, you know, the temperature of the water, you know, and something happening bad. I'm still worried. We're not out of this step yet.

(Paul) Sure. Yeah, that's what I was about to mention. I know Will's, Will’s about to hit you with some fun questions, but just one, one more thing. And it's, you're the perfect person to kind of get this message out there. It's, it is still hurricane season until November 30th. So, just kind of let everyone know the importance of still being prepared and having everything ready in case something comes.

(FoFo) I mean, you never know. We had a couple of late storms and it really did some, some, some, uh, even, even, uh, tropical storms that hit, you know, the, the, the, it always hits you when you're, you know, kind of least expecting. “Oh man, gotta deal with this more,” or, or, or, you know, “what, what's in the?” and then, then you wrap the economics of the situation. You know, what, what's gonna happen, you know, “what about Cruisin’ The Coast?” It did happen to us one time.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) Cruisin’ The Coast. Then, again, Brad's favorite subject with me, you know: evacuation routes and bridges. Okay. So, we, Brad, this is for you. So, we have one drawbridge, right? That if it gets stuck, you got to be open for marine traffic. That's the main thing. It was marine traffic was there.

So, we're making sure at least the two, you know, it should be four-lane. Oh, like after Katrina, they built a $300 million bridge. It requires no draw and the, the, the marine traffic will not have to be impacted. So, you could just go, right. So that was a goal is, and you know, those things just jumped from, you know, from $75 million to, to $200 million. And, and, you know, and it's a challenge. It's a big challenge, but I mean, that's part of the whole preparation.

You know, you have one, this is a peninsula surrounded by three sides by water. You know, you get towards Gulfport, you still have a little bit of the industrial seaway, but they have some, some bridges, but we, we have, you know, up to Katrina, we had three kind of opening and closing bridges. That’s a big challenge.

(Will) No doubt.

(FoFo) And so you always worry about that. What we did, think is about four years ago, have a scare and we have, you know, we can see all these trailers and things, RVs, and we mean like a thousand of those, you know, on the beach said, “No, this thing's coming.” It turned out to be not so, so bad, but we said, “Okay, it's time to go.”

(Will) It's kind of the only way to be, yeah. It’s kind of like our election – you know, scared and unopposed, you know, either there is a storm or there isn't. We don't grade it in between.

(FoFo) That’s it.

(Paul) For sure.

(Will) You just got to get out of town.

(Paul) And go to the, let's go ahead and tease those hurricane prep resources you mentioned, evacuation routes. So, visit GoMDOT.com/hurricanes. You can find everything you need to know about your evacuation route. So, anyway, we got the non-fun stuff over with.

(FoFo) Ha!

(Will) Well, look, I’m –

(FoFo) This is fun! I mean, like, yeah, I’ll talk about anything you want to.

(Will) I know. We gotta come down for a part two on this. I feel like I've gotten so much info. I gotta write it all out. Well, look, two quick mentions wanna throw out here. Not directly related to your city here, but to the coast in general, coming this way. We got the Buc-ee’s that everybody's all excited about, man.

(FoFo) It is. I mean, it's a, it has its gravity.

(Will) Doesn’t it?

(FoFo) You can go down there, go to the east and go to the west. Uh, you know, towards Texas and especially, you know, in, in, uh, Alabama, uh, Florida area. Man, it just, it just sucks it in, like a black hole, it brings you in. You know, 120
parking or, uh, gas pumps. So, it's great.

(Will) I think they've got that many stalls inside too. I mean, it's the cleanest, nicest, biggest bathroom I think I've ever been in. And then another big one, fun thing, great thing that's coming on down here, the, the mega grant, uh, MDOT secured a couple of years ago, partnership with it. You got an I-10 going to six lanes, right?

(FoFo) Oh yeah, and that's a big thing. I know when you travel, if you've got six lanes, then you can do some things that make it graceful. I noticed between Orlando and where I-10 tees into 75 and 85. And I don't know what the law is, but most of the 18-wheelers, which you, you know, at night, you know, when you have three lanes, you can park those 18-wheelers in the middle. And, and only, you know, have a safer, cause you don't want to get boxed in when an 18-wheeler…

(Will) That’s right.

(FoFo) That three lanes, you know, in each direction really makes a difference, and I, and, and that, I'm excited about that. And you look at the, you know, the traffic count.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) You know, and you look at the marketing studies.
You, you look at those traffic counts on, on I, on I-10, you know, uh, and that, that turns into economics.

(Will) There are quite a few people riding around out here.

(Paul) Yes.

(FoFo) Even, you know, the gaming.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) You know, you're going to say, if that's pumping 60,000, 100,000 a day. I'm gonna get, I mean, this is, this is science, this is not rocket science, this is economic science. I'm gonna get my share.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) That gives me opportunity. I mean, so, you know, not, not directly. I can't give you a formula.

(Will) Sure. Right, right.

(FoFo) I can guarantee you that's part of these people that know that business. You know, you look at me, traffic counts are different spots, and you know, Brad knows all of this. He understands, you know, it may not be obvious to, you know, to why would you do, put all this money in a, in this kind of road or this kind of opportunity? Because it does translate to, to a real dollars and you know, eventually the quality of life and the economic opportunities will show itself.

(Will) As we've been talking about, uh, we have a 269 coming up on our five-year anniversary. Opposite end of the state, but talking about strategic investments and looking at something like that. It's kind of the same thing we're talking about, I-10, you're connecting all this existing industry and commerce that's already going and just expanding that, getting traffic moving faster.

We're, as a state, we love it. We love these strategic, well-thought, forward thinking, you know. I'm glad I'm not the one making those decisions. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that are glad it ain't me making them, but we're very appreciative of them.

And you've talked a lot about relationships with Brad, uh, and commissioners. I know you have Commissioner King coming up on retirement here. Um, and then we'll have another commissioner coming in and uh, Commissioner Simmons. Have you ever worked with Simmons, uh, Commissioner King or Simmons in the past?

(FoFo) With King, yeah.

(Will) Sure.

(FoFo) And, uh, you know, uh, it's always something. I understand, you know, their position. I understand Brad's position. I mean, it's, it's, it's complex. And, you know, everybody kind of jockeys on this one to me, and Brad's in the middle of it.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) He's in the jackpot, you know? But, uh, I, you know, he can handle it.

(Will) That’s right.

(FoFo) So he, he's, uh, but, you know, it, it is complex and, and what he had done in his prior life, you know, with regard to, with the governor and with all, with the, of course, Senator Cochran and, and, and some of the budgetary things. I mean, he's got a grasp of what the, what the real deal is. You know, what. So, how do you balance and how do you juggle?

(Will) Yeah, glad it’s him. Glad it's him, not me. Well, Paul, kick us off with some of the fun questions. Man, I want all of them.

(Paul) Let's go. I'm not going to take your food question. That's the Will Craft question. But I will take the music question. We love food and music in Public Affairs at MDOT. So, go ahead and tell us your favorite musician, maybe band.

(FoFo) Well, I go back a long way. From the 60's, okay? From the ninth grade, I got a picture in that room over there. And I'll let you take a picture. When I was in 10th grade, and that's the first time we appeared, I had a little part of a rock and roll band with a few horns.

(Will) No kidding?

(FoFo) It brings me back to, uh, there was a band out of South, out of the Carolinas called The Swinging Medallions. There was a, uh, “A double shot of my baby's love.” I don't know if you've heard that.

(Will) I have not.

(FoFo) But that was some of my, and I never. I’d play a little bit of the keyboards and holler and scream a little bit. But there's a place called Ground Zero right on the corner, right?

(Paul) Oh, yeah.

(FoFo) Okay. Anyway, a couple of the bands, of course, The Beatles and some of these other things that you kind of grew up with me in the 60s and, and the rhythm and blues, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett and, uh, you know, those kinds of things with plenty of horns, you know, plenty of things. And, uh, of course today, you know, we've got every kind of performer at the Coliseum, but it's, it's, it's, I've been had a real fortunate to, uh, be able to, Billy Hughes is a tremendous drummer and a tremendous talent, but I never took any music because I just played by ear. But we got up and we played in, uh, uh, in Havana, Cuba, and, uh, they thought I was Paul McCartney.

(Will) No kidding? Really?

(FoFo) Ha, but, uh, of course, I played things. There was a band called The Kingsmen. Louie Louie: “Louie Louie. Oh, no!”

(Paul) Yeah!

(FoFo) Anyway, uh, so I played that and “A Double Shot” and, uh, a couple of other ones. I'm trying to, but anyway, that's the kind of, and I got a strange sense of music. So, I mean –

(Will) I love it.

(FoFo) – so, from, from one, you know, even Taylor Swift, to where we are. It just, I hear it. I'll go bang. I got a, you know, I got a piano and, uh, keyboards and so forth. So, if I hear it, it's like therapy. I'll go home and play 10 minutes of music if I hear something that I kind of grew up with. But, uh, you know, those are the kinds of things that really, you know, uh, get me rolling. But that's, that's Biloxi. You know, everybody had a little band. I was in the generation in the sixties and, and, uh –

(Will) That’s awesome.

(FoFo) – we, we we played all up and down, you know, between, uh, we played at Ole Miss a couple of times, and we played it, um, uh, in Florida, you know, uh, Panama City, and uh, it was a, it was a great experience for a kid, you know.

(Will) No doubt.

(FoFo) And, uh –

(Paul) It’s cool.

(Will) What about, so, uh, all right, all those travels and going, what about your favorite concert that you ever got to go to?

(FoFo) Well, I tell you what the favorite, my favorite concert was a few years ago in New Orleans: the opening Paul McCartney tour.

(Will) Really?

(FoFo) It was the best concert. I've ever been. I mean, that's of course my concert days with James Brown, Ray Charles, and just you know. I didn't get to see The Beatles. Saw Dave Clark Five and really, we had to play music in one of the places, uh, that night at The Beatles, you know, in, in New Orleans, and, uh, it was in ‘64, I believe. I think we made $200 for the gig, and I miss, I missed seeing The Beatles that night.

(Will) Oh, man, for $200.

(FoFo) So that was, uh, you know, crazy, but anyway, that's part of, you know, part of the beauty and love of music.

(Will) That’s awesome.

(FoFo) But it always, it gets me moving.

(Paul) Love it. Love it.

(FoFo) Yeah.

(Paul) Alright, let’s hit the food question. Let’s eat!

(FoFo) Let’s eat.

(Will) Absolutely. So –

(FoFo) “See food,” you can eat it, man.

(Will) That's right. Yeah, and he said he's on a “seafood diet.” If he sees food, he eats it down here.

(FoFo) I do. I do.

(Will) Well, look, I know it may be a little, uh, difficult to pick a favorite spot, kind of in the district here, in the home base, but if you have one, we're certainly happy to listen. What about maybe outside, where you don't get to get to very often, but anytime you're in this neck of the woods – woof - gotta go there?

(FoFo) Well, you know, right down the street, Half Shell Oysters, and they're the best bang for the buck. I mean, we'll hit there for lunch. If Brad comes in, we'll go. That's where we'll go to lunch.

(Will) Oh, yeah.

(FoFo) You know, Keith Heard, you know, and we have, you know, the, uh, Ground Zero, which is pretty different kinds of stuff, same that it was in the Delta.
But, you know, and you have Mary Mahoney's, which is, that's where we took the President of Croatia. So, and, uh, you know, some of the real flavorful things, you know, uh, uh, uh, the shrimp and of course the stuffed, uh, Snapper and some of these other things that are part of it. You just, I mean, you can really knock yourself out on: “Hey man, this is what I feel like today.”

Even tacos. Okay. I love tacos. You know, and, uh, uh, actually my wife makes some good ones, but you know, we've got a couple of, about $50 million worth of redevelopment of the old Barq’s building down there where, uh, you know, Ground Zero is. And, uh, it’ll be different kinds of venues of food and beverage, of course.

(Will) Anything you've been to lately that's kind of new, that you hadn't really been to before?

(FoFo) Uh, Empanola.

(Will) Okay.

(FoFo) Yep, you know, uh, it's right down the road. It's got little pockets of, uh, I'm not sure what you call it, but that's, you got two –

(Will) Empanola.

(Paul) Empanola. Okay.

(FoFo) It's right down the road. Coffee and breakfast and, you know, salads and stuff like that. That just recently opened two of them here in Biloxi.

(Will) We came into Patio 44 for lunch today, so…

(FoFo) Yeah, that’s good too.

(Will) It was very good.

(FoFo) We call it “Patio FoFo.”

(Will) Oh, there we go!

(FoFo) That’s a good reason. I usually eat the pecan chicken. I don’t know if there’s –

(Paul) One of our people got it.

(FoFo) Yeah. Yeah.

(Paul) I want to add one. My favorite late-night spot is The Fillin Station.

(FoFo) Oh yeah, it’s right around the corner.

(Paul) The crawfish nachos are just excellent.

(FoFo) Parrain’s is down there. That's another Cajun. It's right around by the Saenger Theater. We're working on trying to get that little event tied into all of the downtown, but that's a good nice little walk-up restaurant right by the Nativity BBM Church. And anyway, there's a lot of cool stuff that, uh, you know, you just happen to, what do you feel like today? And you can pull up to anything.

(Will) We're going to have to go eat “second lunch.” As Roy, I think, mentioned by the way, we're going to have to do second lunch.

(Paul) No doubt.

(Will) That's awesome. Those were great suggestions. Great suggestions.

(Paul) For sure. For sure. Well, Mayor Gilich, we appreciate your time. We appreciate, uh, the education on a variety of topics. Thank you so much.

(FoFo) Well, we just started. We could do another hour if you want to.

(Will) I love it.

(FoFo) We’ll save it for another day.

(Will) Absolutely.

(FoFo) How long y'all gonna be down for? You gonna be around here Wednesday?

(Paul) We’re…

(Will) No, we're headed back today. But like, hey, we'll come back, man.

(FoFo) Come back Wednesday.

(Will) Yeah.

(FoFo) We're gonna do a little bit of super talk. You know, uh... Wednesday's gonna be the block party.

(Will and Paul) Okay.

(FoFo) You don't have to work, just come on back.

(Will) I love it. Brad, you heard that.

(Paul) Yes!

(FoFo) When you go out there, I take, usually every day, we have a shrimp tour train, and Carla Beaugez, Carla Taconi, drives and tells everything about Biloxi.
Drives, you know, like a little, uh, two trailers of people. Well, they'll come up here, and they know I'm working in the corner room, they'll see my car, truck outside. And they'll say, “FoFo, FoFo, whoa, FoFo!” I'll come out there and go through that window and maybe take your picture. We'll do another little shot.
But you go out there, you feel like you're the pope or South American dictator. That's every day. It's pretty much every day.

(Will) I love it, man.

(Paul) Love that.

(Will) Yeah, we got a sneak peek of the setup out here, but we're definitely going to have to come back and see it live in an action.

(FoFo) Yeah, well, like I said, it happens three or four times a year. First, you know, of course, this block party, which will be rock, you know, be all kinds of music on across the street. It'll be a band, uh, stage over here. And some of my buddies that have some of the old cars that I grew up with, there'll be about, about 40 cars right here in that parking lot that they, they, they knocked me over and say, “I need, I need a space. You got a space?” But then everything that you can think from this way to that way. There'll probably be 4,000 cars here.

(Will) No shortage of good times.

(Paul) No shortage of good times.

(FoFo) Of course, at Mardi Gras, you know, the parades come right by here and the St. Patrick's Day is always really cool.

(Will) Oh, I’m sure.

(FoFo) Yeah, you get a chance to get some green beer and some, uh, Jameson Whiskey, you know, so, uh…

(Will) Absolutely, right? Yeah. Man, I love it. We got to spend more time on the coast, I tell you what.

(FoFo) Everybody does! Everybody, send the word.

(Will) Yeah.

(Paul) Here we go. Well, we will be back for Podcast Part 2 at some point. Again, thank you so much for joining us. We'll just go ahead and wrap things right there. We always want to thank our listeners tuning into the Extra Mile Podcast. You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com/theextramile. Follow us on social media - @MississippiDOT is the handle there. We want to thank our editor Drew Hall who made the trek down with us, makes everything go behind the scenes. And remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi Highways.

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