FEMA declines 90% flood match
Police Jury President Scotty Robinson said the Federal Emergency Management Agency declined a request to give a 90 percent match to local funds for March flood damage.
Robinson said the governor and Louisiana delegation had also requested the increased match. Robinson said he learned that the request was declined just before the meeting, but Congressman Ralph Abraham, R-Alto, is planning to ask President Barack Obama to allow the change.
Parish Engineer Kevin Crosby will act as the primary contact between the jury, FEMA and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness on 14 projects tied to the flooding including damaged roads, drainage repairs, levees and other flood control projects.
Police jury asks FEMA for 90% flood match
Road work bonds
After lengthy debate, the police jury voted to take out $7 million in bonds over 10 years for roads projects on the western side of the parish. On April 9, voters in the West Ouachita Development District approved a 0.39 percent tax to be collected over 25 years. The tax will be used for road and drainage projects on the west side and is expected to generate $1.75 million per year.
Jack Clampit, District B, said he was worried 75 percent of funds from the tax were going to District A roads.
Robinson said Crosby did not select the roads to be repaired based on where they are but on the amount of traffic that travels them daily and what can do the most good.
The jury approved the issue of $5 million in bonds for the East Ouachita Recreation District to build recreational facilities.
Hannah's Run 'tied up'
"I hate to do it, but I think we're going to have to resubmit Hannah's Run because we're not getting on the (State) Bond Commission for whatever reason," Walter Caldwell, District C, said.
Crosby said to get it on the Bond Commission agenda, it had to come through the Division of Administration.
"It's hung up in the governor's office," Caldwell said. Shane Smiley, District E, asked what that meant.
"The agenda items are coming out of the governor's office, then it goes to the Bond Commission for approval or disapproval," Crosby said.
House Bill 2 included $500,000 in state funding at Level 1 priority during the regular session and survived additional cuts made during the special session. The structure became unusable after the pipes corroded. It was designed to help flood control in the Treasure Island and Black Bayou area. The structure is kept in the open position most of the year and allows water to drain from Black Bayou Lake in Bayou DeSiard. The jury has been working to get the structure repaired since 2009.
In September, the Ouachita Parish Police Jury received a letter from Director of Facility Planning and Control Mark A. Moses stating that because the project did not receive a line of credit by Sept. 15, General Obligation Bond appropriations aren't considered funded until approved by the State Bond Commission. Requests for lines of credit can be granted throughout the fiscal year. If the line of credit is not approved, the police jury will have to apply to have the project included in the capital outlay bill for the next fiscal year by Nov. 1.
Clampit said he also wanted to see the parish's Phase II and Phase III projects submitted to the Bond Commission to get them in line now.
Police jury lines up road work
Employee insurance
Total costs for 2017 employee health insurance increased 5 percent for the same benefits offered in 2016. Dental and life insurance benefits will remain the same with no increase.
The jury opted to increase the employee-paid share on insurance by 1 percent. Smiley said it was part of a long-term plan to increase the employee share of the plan so there's not a larger, more detrimental increase in a single year or cause to decrease benefits to maintain the same cost to the parish.
A temporary no wake zone will be in effect Oct. 15 through Dec. 31 in portions of Bayou Bartholomew Cut-Off Loop, or Lake Bartholomew, while the water is drawn down to give property owners the change to repair structures damaged in March flooding.
The police jury also declared Oct. 3-7 as Ouachita Parish Manufacturing Week.
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