Washington Parish Council

Regular Meeting – 6:00 PM

Washington Parish Courthouse

Council Chambers

February 22, 2010

Item No. 1 – Call to Order – Chairman Posey called the meeting to order.

Item No. 2 – Invocation – Councilman Wheat gave the invocation.

Item No. 3 – Pledge of Allegiance – Chairman Posey called for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Item No. 4 – Roll Call – Clerk Sharon Lyons called the roll. Present were Kenneth Wheat, Michael Fussell, Charles Nassauer, Andre’ Johnson, Randy Thomas, Greg Route and Aubrey Posey.

Item No. 5 – Approval of Minutes – Councilman Johnson, offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Thomas to approve the minutes of the February 8, 2010 meeting. All in favor and the motion carried.

Item No. 6 – Adoption of the Finance Report – Councilman Wheat offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Route to adopt the finance report. All in favor and the motion carried.

Item No. 7 – Public Hearing on Ordinance No. 10-513 – An ordinance adopting Mines and Mining Operations (Introduced by Randy Thomas)

Mr. Joseph Knight, resident on Highway 16, Franklinton, Louisiana ask the following question concerning no set backs for strip mining under Mines and Mining Operations under 4-3(c), then corrected himself by saying 4-3(e).

Councilman Fussell stated that Mr. Knight needed to look at 4-3(e) in the document it has a stipulation concerning mining operations and activities shall be set back a minimum of 50 feet from any adjacent property lines that have no commercial or residential sites. That deals with mining, but 4-3(f) deals with strip mining.

Mr. Joseph Knight stated he had a problem with strip mining right up to his property line. The grade would have no bearing on that, because the grade is where the end down to the water runs to the depth of the ditch.

Councilman Fussell stated, “With strip mining you have to back off--- you have to have a 3-1 slope. They are anticipating having a 10 foot depth you have to have a 3-1 slope ------ a 3 foot slope on every foot of depth, so that is 30 feet from the property line. That is being required for safety proposes. We do not want people walking or driving off the edge. That is for strip mining. Wet and dry mining have totally different requirements.

Mr. Knight asks, “How much set back do you have in that category, as you say, in dry mining”?

Councilman Fussell stated, “Dry mining has to meet the requirements just like strip mining. 3-1 slope when you are digging ------ with a track hoe you will have to have the slope in it on every pit.”

Mr. Knight stated, “Maybe I am misunderstanding it-------a slope is where you start digging to where you find the depth. Is that what you are referring to as the slope?”

Councilman Fussell replied, “Right. That is the slope on the bank.”

Mr. Knight replied, “OK, then it has no restrictions on where the slope can start.”

Councilman Fussell stated, “Well, that is true, because if you have a 10 feet depth-------30 feet. slope and it can go up to the property line. We did not set a setback minimum simply because on strip mining you can eat up a lot of material there by not having a setback, but we figured you were going to loose a lot of material there anyway. It is really there for safety purposes. Now, if it is wet Mining where you are pumping it out there is different requirements on that. You can put a setback there, if you wanted to, but our thinking on strip mining is if you have 10 areas and you want to dig a clay pit and you setback 50 feet or a 100 feet. inside the property line, then you already have lost a lot.”

Mr. Knight stated, “That is a lot of material. There is no question about it.”

Councilman Fussell stated, “We put that in here and we got to thinking about it. If I am going to do strip mining, then I am strictly digging for clay. I am digging for dirt. I am not going to have water in it, typically. There will not be an issue of drowning, but there is a safety issue there. Most clay pit dig up to the property line, now. So this would give you some easement off the property line------some kind of slope-------so if someone steps across a fence or property line-------.

Mr. Knight asks, “Do you have something for subdivisions or individual homes for a setback. How much setback is along the perimeter of the property?”

Councilman Fussell stated, “Adjacent to a subdivision?”

Mr. Knight replied, “No adjacent to property with just a house on it.”

Councilman Fussell stated, “I believe that is a 100 feet.

Mr. Knight asks, “That is the setback?”

Councilman Fussell replied, “Yes, sir.”

Mr. Knight stated, “I have another question about how much linear foot on the perimeter is included in it?”

Councilman Fussell stated, “You got to go the whole perimeter, because typically they do not mine the length of the property.”

Mr. Knight stated, “That was my main question. If it was 40 acres it would be 1320 feet.”

Councilman Fussell stated, “Our intentions were -------if that property is 1000 feet or 5000 feet. long and if you have a house on the other side of the property line, then you have to meet that 100 ft. setback next to the property line.”

Mr. Knight stated, “That clears it up and thank you.”

Resident Terry Miley of Seven Mile Road, Angie, Louisiana came before the Council. He said the parish was being ordinance and permitted to death, and he was against adopting any more ordinances or permits for this parish. He felt people should have a right to do whatever they wanted to with their property. People of the parish need jobs, but no more permit fees. The Council needs to spend more time working on creating jobs in the parish. He expressed he would be back, at a later date, to discuss this subject again.

Councilman Posey stated, “Let me make one comment. The permit fees were already established when the present council came into office.”

Councilman Wheat asks to be recognized and ask that his statement be written on record. He stated, “Let me clear something up concerning the permits. We are getting blamed for something that was mandated on us. We were given a choice where we enact it or allow the Parish to follow into a situation where the insurance writer would not write a policy for the parish. What does that mean? We had to weight the facts and if we did not enact that state permit fees or building codes, then they would not write any insurance or the banks would cease to write any loans for new construction. This would have seriously shut down this Parish. As for the ordinances we have adopted; I have had people tell me if we want business to come to this Parish, then give them some protection.”

There were no further comments during public hearing.

Councilman Route offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Johnson to close the public hearing. All in favor and the motion carried.

Councilman Thomas offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Fussell to adopt Ordinance 10-513. Roll call vote resulted as follows:

YEAS: (7) Route, Posey, Wheat, Fussell, Nassauer, Johnson and Thomas

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAINED: (0)

(Ordinance 10-513 can be seen in its entirety at the Office of the Clerk to the Council at 909 Pearl Street, Franklinton, Louisiana)

Item No. 8 –Public Hearing on Ordinance No. 10-514 – An Ordinance to adopt the Budget Adjustment No. 2 to the 2009 Annual Operating Budget for the Washington Parish Government (Introduced by Ken Wheat)

There were no comments during public hearing.

Councilman Thomas offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Johnson to close the public hearing. All in favor and the motion carried.

Councilman Wheat offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Route to adopt Ordinance 10-514. A roll call resulted as follows:

YEAS: (7) Route, Posey, Wheat, Fussell, Nassauer, Johnson and Thomas

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAINED: (0)

(Ordinance 10-514 can be seen in its entirety at the Office of the Clerk to the Council at 909 Pearl Street, Franklinton, Louisiana)

Item No. 9 – Public Hearing on Ordinance 10-515 – An Ordinance to amend the adoption of the 2010 Annual Operating Budget and the Capital Outlay Budget for the Washington Parish Government (Introduced by Ken Wheat)

There were no comments during the public hearing.

Councilman Route offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Fussell to close the public hearing. All in favor and the motion carried.

Councilman Route offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Wheat to adopt Ordinance 10-515. A roll call vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Route, Posey, Wheat, Fussell, Nassauer, Johnson and Thomas

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAINED (0)

(Ordinance 10-515 can be seen in its entirety at the Office of the Clerk to the Council at 909 Pearl Street, Franklinton, Louisiana)

Item No. 10 – Public Participation – There were no comments during public participation.

Councilman Route offered a motion to close public participation. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All in favor and the motion carried unanimously.

Item No. 11 – President’s Report – President Thomas presented Mr. James Merritt, Bridge Inspector, a plaque for 42 years of service with the Washington Parish Government and expressed his best wishes for a great retirement. He expressed that Mr. Merritt would be greatly missed due to his knowledge and his devotion.

President Thomas stated, “Right now we are working on our new roads and we actually are going to be able to do some new blacktop roads this year. We have 18 miles of roadway we are going to be able to fix and Senator Nevers helped us get emergency money through the flood program. Also, we met with the Road Committee and we are working on 15 more miles and this will be a total of 33 miles. We will hopefully have finished these by the June. After June we are determined to keep striven to get some more roads done. We are looking at maybe purchasing some different equipment. We are proud of our men. They are working real hard. We are working hard to try to get some of these roads blacktopped.”

Leo Lucchesi, Public Works Director, ask the Council to approve the request as follows:

Subject: maintenance of existing parish road – Inventory #8-54

· Goss Hart Lane .84 Miles (Approx. 4,450 feet long) is off the west side La. Hwy. 430 and generally runs in an east to west direction.

· Currently .47 miles (approx. 2500 feet long) of this road is on the parish inventory list for maintenance. Over several years the next 1,950 feet was improved with 5 residential structures.

· On February 9, 2010 inspection /survey was made for the purpose of adding the 1050 feet on to the DPW maintenance inventory.

· The current residents hereby request that this roadway extension be added to the maintenance list.

Councilman Route offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Thomas to extend Goss Hart Lane #8-54 by 1,950 feet. All in favor and the motion carried.

Mr. Lucchesi gave a report on Seven Mile Road Bridge. He told the Council the bridge would be opened by the end of the week. Also, he spoke on the subject of work orders written in January. Due to the rain and flooding the crews responded to the emergency orders first, which put some work orders 4 to 6 weeks behind schedule. The crews are working hard and will complete each work order as soon as possible. Mr. Lucchesi finalize his report by giving an update on the work orders concerning dead pine trees along the roadways near power lines. The project is being coordinated with WST Electric concerning equipment and safety issues when working around the power lines. The staff is working on scheduling and completing these assignments.

President Thomas stated, “I want to comment on some the earlier statements made. People should already understand we were forced into doing the permits. We have talked about it many times. I know and you know that unemployment is a big factor here in Washington Parish. Also, infrastructure and education is one of the biggest things about Washington Parish. When you have no ordinances and running the parish like the “wild west”, then businesses are not coming here. I think people need to understand that we have hungry children and drug problems in the Washington Parish. We have lots of problem we need to solve. I have asked people to join together and help solve these problems. We are 61 out of 64 for health. There is a reason there. The school system is the second poorest system in the State of Louisiana as far as wealth. These are some of the problems we have. I appreciate you, the Council, for working on issues to try to improve this Parish. The things we have done has not hurt anyone. I can truthfully say I can not understand why the public cannot see this. We have not hurt anyone------- we have helped.”

Item No. 12 – Councilman Discussion – Councilman Johnson thanked Mr. Merritt for his years of service. Also, he touched on the subject of the permit process and told the public he worked in St. Tammany Parish in construction and the restriction in that Parish is much demanding. The Council is trying to keep the permits fee reasonable. The Council is trying to serve the public fairly.

Councilman Nassauer stated, “I want to mention that Perry Mickenheim’s term on the Washington Parish Planning Commission has been completed and I was notified to find a replacement for him. We actually do not appoint a replacement, but the Governor does the appointments. Perry represented my district and I just want to put the word out if anyone is interested in working with the Planning Commission in taking his place, then I would recommend to the governor the appointment. Also, if it is appropriate, I would like the Council to send a letter to Mr. Mickenheim for his good work. He did a good job as co-chairman. They have worked hard, under a lot of pressure, trying to go in the right direction. As Ken talked earlier, most of the costs of these permits were mandated by the State. A lot of it evolved after Hurricane Katrina. Katrina hit and the insurance companies had such a liability that so much money was involved in the rebuilding. The Insurance Commission met with them and part of it was they wanted stronger building codes passed statewide. They had certain standards and they implemented those statewide. We were mandated by the state to pass these ordinances and have these building inspections and you have to pay to have this done. This caused a fee. It caused an increase in the cost of building a house, but it is going to insure that the home is built properly to meet these requirements. As Ken mentioned, we could have said, “We are not going to do this. This is a state mandate and the state cannot tell us what to do ------- we are just not going to do it.” We were told if we don’t do it, then the insurance agencies would not recognize Washington Parish as having the mandates and they would not write home insurance. You have to have homeowners insurance. As far as these other things------- I respect comments made earlier with disagreement with permits, but the first statement he made was everything has been fine and dandy with Washington Parish for the last l00 years and why do you want to mess it up. Then he started talking about problems of our kids leaving the parish not finding work. That is nothing new; I graduated from Bogalusa in 1973. Back then everyone couldn’t wait to get out of town and go find a job, unless you worked at the paper mill. That was pretty much it, so that hasn’t changed a lot. I love Bogalusa and I love Washington Parish, and we have a lot of great things here. We recently had a forum where citizens came in and talked about and listed what was good and bad about the parish. The number one consensus about what was best about this parish was the people. The people were our greatest assets, but we have a lot of problems. Jobs, drugs and education are some. There was a poll that came out about the happiest parishes. Did you guys see that? Washington Parish was ranked one of the least happy parishes. Things need to change. We respect property rights. You own property and we respect what you want to do with it. Also, you have to respect your neighbor’s rights. I kind of say this as a joke and sincerely say to everyone in Washington Parish --------Nobody wants you to tell them what to do with their property, but they want you to tell their neighbor what to do with his property. It has to be equal and fair so everyone can benefit. Like Councilman Wheat said earlier. These businesses are not coming in without the assurances of some guidelines on how the Parish is going to be developed. I think the ordinances we have adopted are very mild compared to the other parishes. We do need change. It is hard. We respect people’s rights, but you have to look at what is best for the entire Parish to get jobs and better education. That is my position on it. As far as the Planning Commission appointment-------it doesn’t have to be in my district. We just want to recommend the best person for the appointment.”

Councilman Thomas stated, “First I want to welcome Ms. Alonzo to Washington Parish Government. As far as bringing jobs in, I would love to see everyone get behind Highway 3241. That would open up to get jobs in here. You have to have means to get here, hire people and get your product out of the parish. Highway 3241 is the most logical means to do this. The Development Plan fell upon this new Council and as the Infrastructure Committee Chairman it was given to me to come up with a plan. I had help from people who wanted to be involved in that particular segment. I had some help from the Planning Commission and Councilman Fussell, Councilman Posey and Councilman Wheat. We all pitched in to get it together. It would be nice to jump back some 50 years to just live and let live, but unfortunately we are in a society where there are those who would take advantage of their neighbors. Our goals------- just like Mr. Knight came in tonight to see that industry doesn’t take advantage of the neighbors. It is to prevent the subdivision from coming in and throwing up the houses and telling the buyers don’t worry about the roads the Parish will take over the roads. They sale the lots and there is no way the parish can take over a road in such a state they left there in the development area. The Development Plan encourages growth. A person comes into the Parish and then they have some ideal what is expected of them. They are able to make a road suitable for us to assume with no financial burden to the Parish. That was our goal, also. The Development Plan does encourage growth. The other thing I always say is ------SHOP AT HOME---. Also, I want to thank Mr. James who is my friend and neighbor and we will miss him greatly.”

Councilman Wheat expressed his thanks Mr. Merritt for his hard work through the years. Also, he said if people come to Washington Parish and opened a business and compared the cost and guidelines with the other parishes surrounding us, then you would see a big difference. Often, the members of the Council have repeated the same information over and over, but that is part of this job to see that the people know the real facts. There has been a lot of time and thought put into the legislation that has been adopted by the council.

Councilman Fussell welcomed Donna and thanked Mr. James for his years of service to the parish. At this point he addressed Mr. Miley about the permit issue. He recalled when the Department of Health and Hospital passed the sewage law in the 60’s the people didn’t like it, but now people are reaping the benefits of that law. Some laws benefit us in the future and that is the purpose of a lot of these ordinances the Council has adopted. Members of the Committee talked to people on both sides and the mining ordinance was created with a lot of input from miners and landowners. This ordinance was developed with a lot of thought. Hopefully it will not hurt anyone. The ordinance was developed so both sides could live with. Councilman Fussell stated “The Council sometimes is mandated by the State to have these laws. Our hands are tied and we have to move forward with it. I don’t like it any better than you do, but that is the facts of life. I hope we can all get along with it.”

Councilman Route told Mr. James he would be missed and he wished him a wonderful retirement. He welcomed Ms. Alonzo to government. He asks the newspapers to write an article and inform the people how the permit office came into existence. He felt this would help the public understand and know the true facts.

Councilman Posey thanked Mr. James for his long service to the government and he welcomed Donna to government. Also, Richard is working on an informational program to go into the districts to inform the public concerning the issues the parish is working on at this time. Mr. Posey ask if the meeting date scheduled for March 22, 2010 could be moved to March 29, 2010. Councilman Route talked about revising the Home Rule Charter, so the Council needs to look at the process and how to implement this project.

Item No. 13 – Executive Session - Under LA R.S.42:6(1) to consider a Personnel Matter and under LA R.S. 42:6.1A (2) concerning the matter of Deer Enterprises L.L.C. verses parish Council of Washington Parish, #099580-1, 22^nd Judicial District Court, Washington Parish, Louisiana

Councilman Route offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Fussell to enter into Executive Session. All in favor and the motion carried.

After executive session was closed, Chairman Posey declared the Council meeting back in regular session. Chairman Posey reported that during the executive session an update was given and no action was taken at this time on either issue.

Item No. 14 – Adjourn – No further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned on motion by Councilman Fussell, seconded by Councilman Johnson. All in favor and the motion carried.

___SIGNATURE______________ SIGNATURE___________

Sharon Lyons, Clerk to the Council Aubrey L. Posey, Chairman

Washington Parish Washington Parish Council