Avoyelles Police Jury receives ‘Phase I’ of state grant

After a few frustrating years, it seems the long-awaited state capital improvement appropriation for two parish roads has been released and work should begin within six weeks.

Scroggs Road in Effie and Zion Road outside Cottonport are “Phase I” of the almost $1 million of state funds secured by state Rep. Robert Johnson two years ago.

As of now, only the first $250,00 has been released for work to begin.

The projects have been stalled due to the Police Jury’s efforts to meet the “matching funds” requirement for the state grant through in-kind services and/or actual cash payments from parish road funds.

Each of the nine Police Jury districts has a road in the overall project. Any other project will not be awarded until 2019. If all or part of the remaining $700,000 of the promised appropriation is released, the two jury districts in Road District 2 may be allowed to go next -- of the RD2 Commission approves paying the local matching funds to secure the state funds for those projects.

It could be 2020 before all nine of the designated roads are addressed.

It has been a long, hard road to get the project to this point.

Juror Marsha Wiley, whose district includes the Effie area, initially asked the jury to submit a grant application to the state only for Scroggs Road.

After some discussion and “me too” comments among jurors, the decision was made to seek a large grant for one road in each district.

Comments at the time were that it was a longshot and would most likely not get approved. However, Johnson delivered on his promise to work hard on the jury’s behalf and the capital improvement grant was awarded in two parts -- $250,000 for Phase I and $700,000 for Phase II.

The Scroggs/Zion project has been awarded to Diamond B Construction for $260,428, which includes $250,000 in state funds and $10,428 in local matching funds or in-kind contributions to the project.

GRANT FROM TRIBE

In another matter, representatives of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe and Paragon Casino Resort addressed the jury to deliver a $50,000 grant.

Police Jury President Charles Jones said it will be put to good purpose to serve the people of Avoyelles Parish. He thanked the tribe and the casino for their past support of the parish and for being the largest employer in Avoyelles Parish.

The delegation also posed for photos with a symbolic “big check.”

“This is the real check,” Tribal Vice Chairman Marshall Sampson said with a laugh as he handed Jones the actual $50,000 check.

In other business, the Police Jury:

-- Supported Assessor Heath Pastor’s assessment of Aaron’s Rent-to-Own tax liability of $5,663 for its inventory. Aaron’s disputes that, saying the tax owed should be $1,500. Pastor assessed the total value of Aaron’s in Marksville at $586,267. Aaron’s says the value should be $156,000.

The difference stems from the parish considering all furniture and appliances owned by Aaron’s, including items physically located in customer’s homes. Aaron’s contends those items are under rent-to-own contracts and should not be considered property of Aaron’s.

Pastor said if the customer fails to pay their payment for the property, Aaron’s has the right to repossess it -- which means it is still the company’s, in the parish’s opinion.

Aaron’s has filed suit in another court district over this issue. It’s last three years of taxes have been paid under protest pending the resolution of that issue.

TRICIA PARK SEWER FEES

-- Discussed the need to raise sewage fees for residents of Tricia Park and to address problems with residents not paying their sewer bill. Jurors asked that Ward 3 Water District, the entity collecting the sewer fees for the parish, be asked to look into the problem. The parish spent about $9,000 more on sewage service for the 20-home subdivision than it received in fees.

-- Accepted the donation of Turner Bridge Crossing by Torrent Oil Company. The company built the bridge, rated by DOTD as an “unlimited weight” restriction, to accommodate oilfield equipment that is expected to be moved into the area in south Avoyelles for future oil exploration efforts.

-- Declared Themus Jeansonne Bridge to be surplus and then authorized advertising for bids to sell the bridge as surplus. The minimum bid to be considered will be $12,300. The bid specifications state that the bridge is to be sold “as is” and the parish does not guarantee that it is in suitable condition to be used as a bridge. Juror Henry Moreau said this action sets a precedent for the parish to be able to sell unneeded bridges serving only a few people and to eliminate the possible responsibility to spend significant amounts in future repairs to these bridges.