Washington Parish Council

Minutes

June 28, 2010

Regular Meeting – 6:00PM

Washington Parish Courthouse

Council Chambers

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

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

Item No. 3 – Pledge of Allegiance - Councilman Thomas called for the Pledge of Allegiance

Chairman Posey thanked everyone in audience for coming and thanked Kay Bell for her reporting of the meetings. He introduced and welcomed, to his first Council meeting, Reporter Richard Meek from the Daily News. Also, he thanked Mr. David Miller, Mt. Hermon WebTV for his support in assisting with onsite videos of recent parish projects.

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 Fussell to approve the minutes of June 14, 2010 meeting. All in favor and the motion carried.

Item No. 6 – Adoption of the Financial Report – Councilman Thomas offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Johnson to adopt the financial report. All in favor and the motion carried. (Attachment A)

Item No. 7 – Public Hearing on Ordinance No.10-522 – An Ordinance revising Ordinance 09-482 and 10-511 entitled “Improvement Requirements for Subdivisions and Land Developments”, as revised; Ordinance 09-481 entitled “Industrial, Commercial or Business Permit Ordinance”; and Ordinance 10-513 entitled “Mines and Ming Operations Ordinance”

There were no comments during the public hearing.

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

Councilman Fussell offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Johnson to adopt Ordinance No.10-522. A roll call vote resulted as follows:

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

NAYS: (0)

ABSTAINED: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

Item No. 8- Introduction of Ordinance No. 10-524 – An Ordinance to enter into a contract with Larry Kinlaw & Associates

Item No. 9 – Introduction of Ordinance No. 10-525 – An Ordinance to extend Washington Parish Recreation Districts Lines by Amending Ordinance No.10-488

Councilman Thomas offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Route to open the agenda to add an item. All in favor and the motion carried.

Councilman Route offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Wheat to add to the agenda Resolution No.10-478. All in favor and the motion carried.

Item No. 9A- Resolution No.10-478 – A Resolution of Request to Southeastern Louisiana University Business Research Center

Chairman Posey ask Councilman Wheat if he would care to discuss the resolution.

Councilman Wheat gave an overview of the resolution. The reason behind the resolution is request SLU to provide Washington Parish Government a Strategic Opportunity Study. This study can be used jointly by Parish Government and Washington Parish Economic Development Foundation to make proactive and responsive actions and develop such programs to improve the economic conditions within Washington Parish. This study will not cost the Parish any money.

Councilman Wheat offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Fussell to adopt Resolution No. 10-478. All in favor and the motion carried.

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

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

Item 11 – President’s Report – President Thomas stated he had received the resignation of Dr. Chris Foret from the Riverside Hospital Board, effective June 30, 2010.

Councilman Nassauer offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Fussell to approve Dr. Chris Foret resignation and send a ‘thank you’ letter for his service as a Commissioner. All in favor and the motion carried.

President Thomas announced he had received a letter from the Riverside Hospital Board requesting the appointment of Dr. Mark James to complete the term of Dr. Foret which ends August 31, 2010 and to serve on the hospital board as Medical Staff Representative for the 2 year term ending August 31, 2012.

Councilman Fussell offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Route to approve the request of Dr. Mark James to complete the term of Dr. Foret and serve on the board for the 2 year term. All in favor and the motion carried.

President Thomas announced that the Parish Council had received a certificate of appreciation recognizing the parish’s support of Progressive Agriculture Safety Day for May 26, 2010. President Thomas reported there were around seventy children attended and they learned not only how to be farmers, but also how to be safe farmers. The audience gave a round of applause in appreciation to all coordinators that were recognized by the President.

President Thomas gave report as follows:

• Police Jury Assoc. reported successful session
• Parish Funds remain the same funding as 2009
• State Transportation Act maintained same funding
• Portion of Stimulus Money used for Bridges, etc.
• LGAP Program maintained
• Pipeline Project cancelled in parish due to changing market

Transportation Director John Taylor gave report as follows:

Blacktop Roads - Completed

v Jarrell Town Road – 2.4 miles

Blacktop Roads – Prepared

v Thigpen Road

v Sanders Road

v Williams Road

Culverts

v 80% installed

Bridges

v Dollar Road Bridge - removed completely

v River Road Bridge – removed piling

Financial Director Donna Alonzo gave report as follows:

v Audit - completed

v Audit report – July 12th

v Exist conference – scheduled

A video presentation was given on the fly ash product used on the Nellie Byers Road. (Producer of video by David Miller, Mt. Hermon WebTV)

Item No. 12 – Council Discussion – Councilman Nassauer made recommendations that the council submit proposed resolutions to the Police Jury of Louisiana for the regional and state meetings. If approved, these resolutions would be forwarded to the Louisiana legislative with the Police Jury Association’s support.

Councilman Thomas stated, “I want to comment. Since I have been sitting here, I have been trying to instill about ‘SHOP AT HOME’. I just heard one of the radio stations have picked up on that and I would like to pass that on to Mt. Hermon television, Daily News and The Era Leader to emphasize ‘SHOP AT HOME’.”

Councilman Wheat commended parish employees for the progress being made with different programs and projects.

Councilman Route stated, “We want to remind all the residents of Washington Parish make sure you get prepared for Hurricane Season. Hurricane season is upon us. We got Alex out there in the gulf now, so you need to check your generators, get plenty of batteries and whatever it takes in your Hurricane Preparedness Kit.” Councilman Route asks for an update on the Wilson Road tree cutting project in his district.

Councilman Wheat asks for an update on the Lees Creek Road tree cutting project in his district.

President Thomas stated he knew some of the cutting of trees were to be contracted out (due to height and power lines) but he would need to research these work orders and look at the schedule, then he would give them an update.

Chairman Posey ask if Mr. Parden would like to give an update on the High Speed Service project and the Washington Parish Census. The report as follows:

High Speed Internet Service

• Working various avenues to bring to Washington Parish

• Bring TV and generally free long distance for homes
• Plan to build a fiber optic network parish-wide
• Working with very large and technical company called Level III
• Looking at grants to complete this project
• Have survey to determine demand
• Take survey at online-www.@ wpgov.org or forms at local libraries, business places and parish government office
• Encouraging AT&T to broaden their network
• The lack of Broad Band availability is close to not having four lane highways in the parish
• Will allow a lot better inter-parish communication between departments. (Sheriff, police, mayor, etc.)
• Type of emergency communication within parish even if the rest of the world was removed.
• School system – save money on internet connection
• Governments agencies - better internet connection

Councilman Wheat stated he felt this will be another tool to help encourage industrial industry into the parish which creates jobs for employment.

Councilman Nassauer asks, “Are these lines buried lines?”

Mr. Parden replied, “Buried lines are about 40 to 50 percent more expensive. We will have some buried lines for the emergency communication, so the governmental offices will be connected to a buried line. They will be buried deep enough so if we have a Katrina type of event and as long as we can provide power to our facility the offices can communicate through email or phones during times of emergency. We would not have to depend on cellphones.”

Census report as follows:

• 68% return of questionnaires
• 64% Louisiana State average on returns
• Canvass completed
• No official count given at this time

Chairman Posey announced, “This weekend is July 4^th and we should be thankful for the freedom we enjoy. We talked earlier about children. I ran into Curtis Taylor’s sister this afternoon and that young fellow is putting on another football camp for children on July 10^th. This is another example of somebody that is done well and giving back to the community.”

Item No. 13 – 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.

(All Ordinances, Resolutions and Attachments in its entirety is available at the office of Clerk of the Council at 909 Pearl Street, Franklinton, Louisiana)

_____________________________ _______________________

Sharon Lyons, Clerk to the Council Aubrey Posey, Chairman

Washington Parish Washington Parish Council