The Washington Parish Council met on Monday, September 23 in Council Chambers. The meeting began with a public hearing at 5:45 pm on two proposed ordinances. One was to amend the 2024 Annual Operating Budget. Citizen Ben Sarro raised the question of "what is being amended?" Council Chairman Joe Culpepper explained that when there is a plus or minus of 5 percent, an amendment must be made to give an actual representation of what is in the account. Director of Finance Donna Graham added that fund balances are estimated and must be adjusted to what it will end with. She further explained that sales tax has been greater than expected this year and adjustments to capital outlay are also needed for what is expected to occur by the end of the year. Mrs. Graham also emphasized that there are no major adjustments. Mr. Sarro asked if the fundamental process of an ordinance was necessary to adjust the budget, and both Mrs. Graham and Chairman Culpepper replied yes.
The Council then began the regular meeting at 6:00 pm with an invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. The first item of business was approving the minutes for the September 9 meeting. This was followed by the Assessor's Board of Review for the 2024 tax roll. Chairman Culpepper prefaced this by sharing that 17 items would be read along with each one's assessment, and then the Council would vote for each to be upheld unless a taxed representative was on hand to dispute the assessment. The laborious process was completed fairly quickly as no one was present for any of the assessments listed on the board of review and the voting of the Council for each item was completed.
Moving forward, the Council adopted an ordinance to accept Barney Lane west of Franklinton as a parish road.
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During the President's Report, Parish President Ryan Seal stated that the parish will now maintain the road; however, residents should not expect it to be paved soon as there are other parish roads that have been in line to be paved for some time.
The Council then adopted an ordinance to amend the 2024 Annual Operating Budget for the Washington Parish Government as well as authorizing the Parish President to sign agreements and memorandums of understanding between the Washington Parish Government, East Carroll Parish, and Tensas Parish for Washington Parish Inmates Housing due to overcrowding in the Washington Parish Jail.
Sheriff Jason Smith approached the microphone during Public Participation and jokingly suggested that he should probably be a regular item on the agenda. In all seriousness, Sheriff Smith feels the Council and he benefits from his regular attendance and information shared at the twice-monthly meetings. The Washington Parish Jail currently has 218 total inmates with 180 housed locally and 38 at other facilities. These numbers indicate that 36 inmates must be moved to avoid issues with overcrowding. He shared that East Carroll had an incident at its parish jail last week and has halted housing other parish's inmates temporarily. Sheriff Smith feels that it may be best to enter into an agreement with Tensas Parish as that will make coordination easier. There is a sheriff’s department owned facility in Varnado that the Sheriff is hoping to use to eliminate some of the overcrowding but that is a work-in-progress, and plans have not developed further since the last Council meeting. Finally, Sheriff Smith noted that a representative of Congresswoman Julia Letlow's office has toured the facility and will be meeting further to help determine funding sources for a new facility.
Director of Finance Donna Graham explained to the Council that she and staff will begin working on the 2025 budget in the next few weeks and a Finance Committee meeting will be necessary in late October. She will be contacting all the sub agencies meanwhile to get financing requests. Mrs. Graham also informed the Council that all capital projects using COVID funds are being completed.
Public Works Director Alex Sumrall gave the Transportation monthly statistics in the absence of Transportation Manager Danny Knight. Eleven signs were ordered, and crews installed ten signs on seven roads. They also cleaned and cut at 12 locations and picked up 99 bags of trash on seven roads. On September 10 and 11, over 1200 sandbags were filled and distributed to the public prior to Hurricane Francine. After the storm 125 roads were cleared of debris. Sumrall then gave the Public Works report. First, he thanked all the workers and supervisors who helped before Hurricane Francine and once the storm passed through. He also thanked Bobbie Jo Breland, Director of Emergency Preparedness, and Britt Watson who stayed at the EOC and kept everyone informed throughout the storm and helped get supplies to those in need. Sumrall also noted that President Ryan Seal was on hand at the EOC throughout the storm and remained until all the roads were cleared and safe to drive on. He appreciates President Seal's dedication. Hughes Mechanical has been performing preventative maintenance on the HVAC system at the Washington Parish Jail which included cleaning the coils and changing the disconnect on A and B block. Finally, Mr. Sumrall extended condolences to the Mirtice Baham family. Three of Mrs. Mirtice's children work for parish government. He also reminded everyone to continue prayers for Mrs. Terry Morgan who is hoping to return home from MD Anderson in Houston in the coming weeks.
President Ryan Seal ended with thanking everyone for their hard work and response during his first hurricane as parish president. He especially noted his administrative assistant Danielle Folks for maintaining social media posts throughout the weather event. The storm did bring to his attention the need to purchase eight more chainsaws as well as fire extinguishers for all parish vehicles and equipment. He feels this extra safety measure will make the parish more prepared for dangerous weather events. President Seal noted that the Washington Parish Animal Shelter manager Kelsey Knight is doing an outstanding job. Recently, KatVet spaded and neutered 138 animals and microchipped them. Another such event is scheduled soon.
Council members ended the meeting by thanking everyone for their efforts during Hurricane Francine, especially the linemen for WST, Entergy and CLECO. They also noted the efforts of Bobbie Jo Breland who Councilwoman Kim Wagner stated was "phenomenal."
