Posted: May 22, 2014 at 12:00 Noon



Washington Parish Council

Public Hearing

Washington Parish Courthouse

908 Washington Street

Franklinton, La 70438

Council Chambers

June 21, 2018

Monday – 5:45

Public Hearing - Ordinance 18-635 – An ordinance to accept Pine Cone Lane as a Washington Parish Road.

Chairman Talley: read ordinance aloud and asked if anyone from the public would like to speak on ordinance 18-635.

No one came forward.

Public Hearing - Ordinance 18-636 – An ordinance changing a polling place in ward 2 precinct 1 from the current location of the Mt. Hermon old Library, 36015 Highway 438, Mount Hermon, Louisiana 70450 to the Ruritan National Club, 36101 Tennis Court Road, Mt. Hermon, Louisiana 70450.

Chairman Talley: read ordinance aloud and asked if anyone from the public would like to speak on ordinance 18-636.

No one came forward.

Public Hearing - Ordinance 18-637 - An ordinance changing a polling place in ward 9 precinct 1 from the current location of the Washington Parish Fire District number 2, 41280 Highway 10, Franklinton, Louisiana 70438 to the new location of Washington Parish Fire District Number 2 (now Ronda Sylvest Varnado Memorial Fire Station), 39618 Highway 10, Franklinton, Louisiana 70438.

Chairman Talley: read ordinance aloud and asked if anyone from the public would like to speak on ordinance 18-637.

No one came forward.

Councilman Anthony offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Fussell to close public hearing.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Washington Parish Council

Regular Meeting

Washington Parish Courthouse

908 Washington Street

Franklinton, La 70438

Council Chambers

June 25, 2018

Monday – 6:00 PM

Item No. 1. - Call to order – Chairman Talley called the meeting to order.

Item No. 2. - Invocation – Councilman Lewis gave the invocation.

Item No. 3. - Pledge of Allegiance – Councilman Bedwell led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Item No. 4. - Roll Call – Council Clerk Sarah Cook called the roll. Present were Perry Talley, Michael Fussell, Chris Workman, Levi Lewis, Phillipp Bedwell, Reginald McMasters and David Anthony.

Item No. 5. – Approval of Minutes – Approval of minutes dated June 11, 2018.

Councilman Lewis offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Bedwell to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of June 11, 2018.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 6. Wilson LaGraize – Presentation for the 2017 audit report.

Mr. LaGraize: “2017 audit report has been completed satisfactory and filed timely with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor and Federal Clearinghouse. The report has been approved and is available on their website. It was a clean opinion with no findings. I would like to congratulate the administration for a good audit. Washington Parish has come a long way and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your auditor.”

Item No. 7. Andre Stolier, Government Relation Specialist – Access Health Louisiana.

Mr. Stolier: “I work at Access Health Louisiana which is the family that Washington Parish Community is a part of. I brought Angela Houlemard, who is the manager of the clinic and Mr. Bobby Denson is the family Nurse Practitioner. Our clinic was opened in 2014 at 2807 S. Columbia Street, Bogalusa, La. 70427 which is conveniently located off Highway 21. Patients at the Bogalusa clinic can select from a variety of services in one location, including: Adult & Pediatric Primary Care, Behavioral Health, and Diabetes Education Classes. As a member of the Access Health Louisiana Network, The Washington Community Health Center provides healthcare services under a patient-centered medical home model. This means that we strive to provide integrated care and a wide variety of services to our patients, but also coordinate their healthcare through the continuum of other specialty services they may require. Our physicians and staff, many of whom are bilingual, continually exceed national standards by offering high quality care at lower costs. This means a better overall healthcare experience for our patients and a healthier workforce and more productivity for the parish. Patients are never turned away for car due to an inability to pay for healthcare. We accept commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and offer a sliding fee discount based on the patient’s household size and income. We also offer discounted prescription drugs for uninsured patients through our 340B pharmacy which provides discounted prescription drugs to the uninsured and can deliver anywhere in Washington Parish with next day delivery and we also have a local drug store that works with us. In a little over 2 ½ years, Washington Community Health Center has seen 3,094 unique patients and performed 21,176 encounters. This high number is indicative of the patient population in Washington Parish which is generally older and less healthy than other parts of the state. This demonstrates the importance of having a good source of primary care; as, without it, these patients would likely seek care in emergency rooms which are a burden on local hospitals. We have two (2) full time family nurse practitioners and we are also looking for a physician as well. We have a clinic phycologist and a license clinical social worker who provides the hater house services once a week. Really proud of some of our statistics with improvements:

• Weight Screening Follow-up is up 50%

• CAD (Coronary Artery Disease) Drug Therapy is up 10%

• Diabetes and Control is up 13%

• Blood Pressure and Control, we are stable but we need to make some improvements.

• Tobacco Cessation is up 17%

It is important for us to be somewhere where people can go when they get sick but it’s also important to prevent health circumstances because we want people to be healthy productive members of society and come to us for preventative services. The only reason I am here is because we want to tell you what it is we are doing and how we are contributing. We appreciate the leadership you offer obviously after giving the legislative report you are doing a phenomenal job. It is an honor to be a part of the efforts in helping improve the health care and we just wanted to make sure that you are aware of it and help spread the word that we are a resource to the community as well. We look forward to working with you in the future. I would like to invite everyone to come out on Saturday, July 28, 2018 form 10am to 11:30am we will be giving out free school supplies along with snowballs. We did this last year and had a great turn out, with giving out right at 500 backpacks and this is for all grades levels and all schools. We will be registering patients too.”

Ms. Angela Houlemard: “We are a certified Medicaid application center so anybody that needs to apply for Medicaid, they can come in the office and we will help them get signed up.”

President Thomas: “I appreciate you coming and telling us all about the Access Health. I look forward to getting with you in the next few weeks to talk about our health units.”

Item No. 8. Adopt Ordinance 18-635 – An ordinance to accept Pine Cone Lane as a Washington Parish Road.

Chairman Talley: “We just had a public hearing on ordinance 18-635. Would anyone from the public like to speak before the council votes?”

No one came forward.

Councilman Bedwell offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Workman to adopt ordinance 18-635.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 9. Adopt Ordinance 18-636 – An ordinance changing a polling place in ward 2 precinct 1 from the current location of the Mt. Hermon old Library, 36015 Highway 438, Mount Hermon, Louisiana 70450 to the Ruritan National Club, 36101 Tennis Court Road, Mt. Hermon, Louisiana 70450.

Chairman Talley: “We just had a public hearing on ordinance 18-636. Would anyone from the public like to speak before the council votes?”

No one came forward.

Councilman McMasters offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Anthony to adopt ordinance 18-636.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 10. Adopt Ordinance 18-637 – An ordinance changing a polling place in ward 9 precinct 1 from the current location of the Washington Parish Fire District number 2, 41280 Highway 10, Franklinton, Louisiana 70438 to the new location of Washington Parish Fire District Number 2 (now Ronda Sylvest Varnado Memorial Fire Station), 39618 Highway 10, Franklinton, Louisiana 70438.

Chairman Talley: “We just had a public hearing on ordinance 18-637. Would anyone from the public like to speak before the council votes?”

No one came forward.

Councilman Bedwell offered a motion, seconded by Councilman McMasters to adopt ordinance 18-637.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 11. – Public Participation –

Chairman Talley: “Would anyone from the public like to come forward and speak? Please state your name and address.”

No one came forward.

Councilman Workman offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Fussell to close public participation.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 11. - President’s Report –

President Thomas: “LSU Ag Center has submitted their quarterly report and you should have a copy in your packet. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Henry Harrison.”

Donna Graham – Finance Director: “I would like to recognize and thank the accounting staff for their hard work this year and in the past. Without teamwork we wouldn’t have the positive financial report that was presented tonight. I would like to recognize: Kristin Spears, Comptroller; Patrick Galivan, Accounts Payable Accountant; Picola McClain, Payroll; Brenda Allen, part time finance assistant; Charlet Lewis, road department assistant; and Brad Toney, Fleet Manager. I thank them for all the support they give.”

Public Works Director – Ken Wheat: “We have finished several roads with the three-shot blacktop program. We will start stock piling limestone for a “chip seal” program and I’m pretty excited about this. We have our transportation program in a good place right now allowing us to actually do this. Bridge to culvert program is going good and we will be starting with River Road and Mitch Road soon. We met with the Magnolia Chapter this week, regarding the animal shelter, they are still on board offering to help. Lastly, we found the source of a leak in the Criminal Division of the Clerk of Court, located in the Courthouse basement, that has been going on for about 30 years and we have stopped it and repaired the area. Hopefully we can get them back in order the first of next week.”

President Thomas: “Washington Parish Government and Choctaw Landfill will be closed on Wednesday, in observance of July 4, 2018. Donnell Merritt had to miss the meeting tonight, however he submitted his report for the grounds crew of the Transportation department for the first two weeks of June 2018.

• Picked up 173 bags of trash.

• Sprayed around 53 road signs and bridges.

• Put up other signs.

• Mowed

o Courthouse

o Health Unit

o Permit Office

o Pools Bluff

o Location 3

My office is receiving calls from parish residents thanking the road crew for a job well done on picking up the trash around the parish. They are grateful of seeing the job done. We don’t get a lot of help on picking up trash, it is our employees of the Washington Parish Government doing that.”

Chairman Talley: “Before we get to Council discussion, I would like to entertain a motion to suspend our Home Rule Charter meeting until our next scheduled Council meeting.”

Councilman Bedwell offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Anthony to suspend Home Rule Charter meeting until our next council meeting.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 12. Council Discussion –

Councilman McMasters: “I would like to compliment Donna and her staff for a great audit report and is very much appreciated. We appreciate the public participating tonight. Also, I would like to thank everyone for the condolences for my wife’s mother. It is a process and we are getting there. Lastly, I would like to complement the road crew for all the hard work they are doing on cutting the sides of the roads, they look marvelous.”

Councilman Workman: “I would like to congratulate the administration and everyone here on the audit report. I think that sometimes that can be taking for granted, but if you look around the state, there are many governments that aren’t as fortunate as we are and I think that goes a long way. Also, I would like to pass along my condolences. We lost a good person in our community, Mr. Buddy Fornea, he passed away and he will certain be missed with some big shoes to fill. I want to thank everyone who attended the landfill meeting, it was a great success. I want to congratulate the Chairman of that committee, Mr. Phillipp Bedwell on running a very professional, precise and productive meeting. Lastly, I would like to wish everyone a happy Independence Day and don’t forget what we are celebrating.”

Councilman Bedwell: “Congratulations on the good audit. Landfill meeting did go extremely well but what a lot of people don’t realize for that hour and half meeting a lot of folks from the administration put in hours of work getting everything ready to make it go as good as it did. With all the background work that all those folks did, it was easy to stand up there and run the meeting. I appreciate everything that all the administration did on that. I would like to invite everyone to Bogalusa for the 4th of July parade next Wednesday. It starts at 10 and normally ends around 12 at Cassidy Park.”

Councilman Lewis: “I would like to welcome the Parish President back from vacation and I hope the rest of his family looks as rested and reserved as he. I would like to commend our visitors and friends for your presence and support of the Government. One of my constituents, Mr. Peters is here tonight. Thank you Mr. Peters and I would ask that your presence be more frequently. I would like to commend the staff for such a good audit report and the Council for working with the administration that we can have a smooth operating government and improving it at the same time. We want to thank the Access Health for such a clean and impressive report for taking care of our citizens in an economic way. God Bless everyone and have a great 4th.”

Councilman Fussell: “Good job on the audit. One thing I would like to comment on, is being debt free. That means so much to the parish and we can move forward with all these other programs and we can continue to have a clean audit. Sorry I missed the joint solid waste meeting, I heard it went very well and hopefully something can be productive out of that. Glad to see you back Mr. President, I hope you enjoyed your time off. Glad to see all the visitors here and I wish everyone a Happy July 4th.”

Chairman Talley: “Commend the administration for a lot of hard work in a lot of different areas form account, public works and our roads. There is a lot of work getting done out there and I believe a lot of people are noticing. I would like to give a special thanks to our attorney for the work he does for us and the help we get from him. It is very valuable to us and this parish. I would like to thank our counter parts on the Bogalusa City Council, thank you for accepting the meeting. I would like to give a special thanks to Gloria Kates, Doug Ritchie and the other committee members. I thought the meeting went very well and I’m very hopeful to see a resolution come out of it.”

President Thomas: “I see we have a flyer on the Forgiven Tour and Councilman Anthony had put this together. Councilman Anthony, could you brief us on this, because I know I want to be there?”

Councilman Anthony: “This all started when our daughter was murdered one year ago. I have two national Christian artists coming, a local artist and some good speakers. We must love and forgive everyone. This will be held on August 31, 2018 at the Washington Parish Fair Grounds form 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm on the main stage. I invite everyone to come join us.”

Item no. 13. – Adjourn – No further business to come before the Council, meeting was adjourned on motion by Councilman Fussell, seconded by Councilman Lewis.

Roll call of vote as follows:

YEAS: (7) Talley, Fussell, Workman, Lewis, McMasters, Bedwell and Anthony

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Order of Voting:

Perry Talley Reginald McMasters

Michael Fussell Phillipp Bedwell

Chris Workman David Anthony

Levi Lewis

Next meeting will be held on Monday, July 9, 2018

In accordance with the Americans Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance, please contact Sarah Cook, Clerk to the Council at 985-839-7825 Ext. 313 describing the assistance that is necessary.

(All Ordinances, Resolutions and Attachments in its entirety are available at the office of Clerk of the Council at 909 Pearl Street, Franklinton, Louisiana or at (985)839-7825 or .)

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