Posted: May 22, 2014 at 12:00 Noon



Washington Parish Council

Regular Meeting

Washington Parish Courthouse

908 Washington Street

Franklinton, La 70438

Council Chambers

February 13, 2017

Monday – 6:00 PM

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

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

Item No. 3. - Pledge of Allegiance – Councilman Thomas 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, Pete Thomas, Reginald McMasters and David Anthony.

Item No. 5. – Approval of Minutes – Approval of minutes dated January 23, 2017.

Councilman Workman offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Anthony to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 23, 2017.

Roll call of vote as follows:

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

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 6. – Public Participation –

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

Merlin Duke 1318 Colorado Ave, Bogalusa La: “I am here as a private citizen and to remind you that in 2019 this Parish will celebrate its bicentennial. I have a gift for all of you tonight to help you remember and perhaps make some plans for the future. On this pin, you will see the water running through the middle which is the Pearl River, Ferris wheel for the Washington Parish Free Fair, Half Moon Bluff church, the smoked stacks of Bogalusa, Pine trees of the Parish and an Indian Tepee for our Native Americans. I hope you all enjoy.”

Chairman McMasters: “Thank you for our trinket and we will wear it with pride. Is there anyone else that would like to come forward?”

Al Barron 825 Free St. Washington Parish Library: “In the last few years the Library has taken on a few addition roles. We have a vehicle and are making regular rounds to reach out to folks in assisted living centers. We are trying to address some of the learning needs of more mature folks in the parish. This goes back to about 3 to 4 years ago; Mr. Wyble of the School Board asked what we could do for Hackley, Mt. Hermon and areas that we don’t have a fixed location. What I have to offer some service of those areas, this is the first of our hot spots for the Library. We are going to offer free computer classes in late March or early April. This is a Google chrome book; many of you are familiar with laptops that cost $1,000. This little machine has all the functionality of the bigger machines and it is $180.00. We have launch pads and this little thing can keep a toddler busy for about 100 miles, trust me I know. We are doing some computer training in Franklinton and Bogalusa. We have a movie matinee coming up on February 22, 2017 at 3:15pm, February 20, 2017 an African American History program and April 25, 2017 an outside concert in Franklinton singing civil war songs. We are doing as much as we can to reach out to the public. We had a puppet show and had 180 kids show up in Bogalusa. I will have all the handouts available if anyone would like a copy. Thank you for your time.”

Chairman McMasters: “Thank you Mr. Barron. Is there anyone else from the public that would like to come forward and speak?”

No one came forward.

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

Roll call of vote as follows:

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

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Item No. 7. - President’s Report –

Adopt Resolution 17-775 –A resolution of appointment to the Board of Directors of the Washington Parish Planning Commission.

Councilman Lewis offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Thomas to appoint Jerome

Warren to the Washington Parish Planning Commission for a 5 year term expiring 2021.

Roll call of vote as follows:

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

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Board of Commissioners of the Washington Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 (Riverside Medical Center) appointment –

Chairman McMasters: “The personnel committee met on February 7th to consider a recommendation to the Council for the Washington Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 (Riverside Medical Center). Personnel Committee decided not to make a recommendation in that meeting. They decided to take both applicants to the full Council for a decision. The two applicants are Rachel Gill and Lori Schilling, at this time will open it up for discussion by the councilman. Being no discussion from the Council, I will now open up for public comments. Would anyone from the public like to speak? Being no discussion from the public, I would like to close public comments. At this time I would like to entertain a motion for Resolution 17-776, Board of Commissioners of the Washington Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 Riverside Medical Center appointment.

Councilman Anthony offered a motion, seconded by Councilman Talley to appoint Lori Bond Schilling to the Washington Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 (Riverside Medical Center) for a 6 year term expiring 2022.

Roll call of vote as follows:

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

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

President Thomas: I received a letter from Washington Parish Fire District #8 for reappointments of one year on Terry Stogner, Rickey Byrd and Keith Voth. We will have a resolution for appointment at our next council meeting on February 27, 2017.”

Donna Graham: “I presented to the Council a preliminary financial report for December 31, 2016. I will be working this week on some concerns from a couple of our agencies that have requested additional funding. I will get back with the finance committee later this week. If you have questions after you review it, please contact me.”

Leo Lucchesi – Public Works Director: “Last meeting we updated you on the bridge to culvert program. We have 25 locations where we are going to rebuild our old bridges to new culvert structures. That’s going to be a 2.15 million dollar project and that is the engineers estimate. The bid on this will be March 3, 2017.”

Donnell Merritt – Transportation Supervisor: Month of January.

• Drainage projects on 23 roads covering 12 miles.

• Hauled 30 tons of cold mix on 19 roads covering 34 miles.

• Hauled 288 tones of hot mix on 26 roads covering 42 miles.

• Installed 10 culverts.

• Graded 141 roads covering 212 miles.

• Hauled 420 yards of gravel on 13 roads covering 26 miles.

• Bush hogged 161 roads covering 231 miles.

• Picked up 367 bags of trash covering 22 roads.

• Cleaned and straightened 97 road signs.

• Installed 30 road signs

• Installed a total of 27 other signs.

• Maintained 7 Parish locations.

President Thomas: “I just came from a meeting that is part of our State government, the Louisiana Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit. Mr. Pat Forbes is over this and he told how much money is being able to help flood victims. Washington Parish had 1,121 homes not counting businesses damaged in March of 2016. Unfortunately over 400 of these homes received additional flooding with a double whammy that was put on us in 2016. I believe we are up 1.27 billion dollars and the Governor is asking for more money. We need close to 3 million dollars to take care a lot of these things. Also, Parish Government Offices will be closed Monday, February 20, 2017 in observance of Presidents Day.”

Item No. 15. Council Discussion –

Councilman Lewis: “I commend the road crew and administration for a job well done. Thank you to all who has come tonight. I would like to commend the library presence. You mentioned free computer classes; will those classes be at each location?”

Mr. Barron: “Yes.”

Councilman Fussell: “I commend the administration for doing a good job. Thank you all.”

Councilman Talley: “I have an announcement on the Parish wide Fire District meeting. They said they were going to try and do a parish wide page out of the 911 center on March 4, 2017. I just wanted to pass that information on.”

Councilman Workman: “I would like to thank Leo Lucchesi for some help with an individual regarding navigating the flood waters and I thank the administration for their help. We have a lot of good things going on in this parish and a lot to be proud of but the garbage is just appalling. I would love to see us improve this, so any ideas will be greatly appreciated. I want to thank everyone for being here tonight, I love the participation.”

President Thomas: “I wanted to bring up that in the next few weeks we will be starting our blacktopping of roads. I would also like to thank Councilman Scott Ard of Bogalusa for being here tonight.”

Chairman McMasters: “I would like to thank the administration, Ms. Sarah, Attorney Kuhn, Councilman Ard of Bogalusa, Library and everyone that is here. It makes me feel good to see some participation out here. Following our next meeting, on February 27th, we be having a Home Rule Charter meeting and it will be open to the public.”

Item no. 16. – Adjourn – No further business to come before the Council, meeting was adjourned on motion by Councilman Fussell, seconded by Councilman Workman.

Roll call of vote as follows:

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

NAYS: (0)

ABSENT: (0)

ABSTAIN: (0)

Order of Voting:

Chris Workman David Anthony

Levi Lewis Perry Talley

Pete Thomas Michael Fussell

Reginald McMasters

Next meeting will be held on Monday, February 27, 2017

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)839-0105 or .)

“This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.”

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