Once the July 26 Washington Parish Council meeting was called to order, the council began by accepting the minutes from the previous meeting. Afterwards, the meeting progressed and the long awaited audit report was to be given.
Ms. Michelle Treschwig, from Kushner LaGraize, an accounting and consulting firm, was present at the meeting and briefed the attendees and council members on the recent audit report. Treschwig explained, "The audit was completed timely, it was submitted in June, it has been reviewed and approved by both the Legislative Auditor's Office and the Federal Audit Clearinghouse." The report also described that from the year 2020 to 2021 the net position of Washington Parish, including assets and liabilities, has increased about four million dollars, from fifty-nine million to sixty-three million. According to Treschwig, this growth, "is mainly just due to the increase of revenues over expenditures."
Other than the parish's net position, it was also announced that the governmental funds increased an additional 1.4 million dollars. Regarding the town's report, Treschwig explained that due to recent and recurring natural disasters as well as the current pandemic it is very rare that all of the parish's funds ended with a very positive fund balance. While concluding her report, Treschwig commented that, "The parish is in a really good financial position right now."
After the audit report was completed and congratulations were offers to Director of Finance Donna Graham and to all those who worked on this year's positive audit report, the council moved onto the next item on the agenda: the continuation of the previous meeting's discussion and vote surrounding the proposed permit for Mr. Benny Nixon's motocross track located on Prentiss Miley Road, east of Pine.
After council discussion, it was clear that one of the concerns council members had was safety, specifically due to the hilly and curvy highway located at the entrance of the track. One councilman noted that the current location for the track's entrance is too dangerous, and proposed the construction of two separate driveways in a location which was deemed the safest for visitors to enter and exit. From the audience, Mr. Nixon replied and said he would be willing to build two driveways at the requested location.
After the concerns from several council members were voiced, Councilman Reggie McMasters replied, "I believe Mr. Nixon has met all of our demands.”
“I want to protect the community with conditional use, I want to protect the landowner… If we are putting all these conditional uses on him and he is willing to meet everything, I just ask, how can you say no?"
Before the vote for the permit was made, the council read the conditions of the permit aloud for the record; the conditions are as follows: The business must have both an entrance and an exit located at the coordinates requested; hours of operation will be 2 to 3 days per month open from 10am to 4pm, and the track will not open on Sunday to avoid interfering with other public gatherings in the community; also, guests will park before signing in to avoid traffic on the road connecting to the entrance; furthermore, all riders must wear safety gear such as boots and helmets, and will also ride slowly anywhere besides the track; riders should also be separated into three categories: small, slow, and fast big bikes; bikes must also have full exhaust with header pipes, silencers and mufflers in place before riding; there will also be no alcohol and biking; signs must be placed a quarter and three-quarters of a mile from the track alerting drivers and new arrivals to slow down; lastly, entrances must have a flagger present and must be wide and set back 40 to 50 feet. If Mr. Nixon's track was found to be in violation of any of the listed conditions, the business will be shut down.
Once the conditions were listed, the council opened the floor up for public discussion. Michael Rice, one of the neighbors from Prentiss Miley Road explained, "It's wrong, it's not right. The people there do not want it. So if it was in your neighborhood and you didn't want it, y'all would be standing up here like I am." After Mr. Rice concluded his statement, more concerned neighbors took the opportunity to share their concerns surrounding the motocross track.
After public discussion, Councilman McMasters made a motion to accept the permit and its conditions. However, when it came to the vote, other than Councilman McMaster's "yes", the rest of the council voted no, and turned Mr. Nixon's conditional permit down. The vote concluded the council's agenda for the evening, and after the departmental and president's reports the meeting was adjourned with the next scheduled for August 8th.
