Productive Parish Council Meeting Held Monday

A lot of good news was revealed at the latest Washington Parish Council meeting held Monday (December 14, 2020) evening.  The meeting was conducted both as an in-person meeting at the Washington Parish Courthouse and by Zoom. (Video of the full meeting can be seen below) Briefly, the good news included

• the report by WPSS Superintendent Frances Varnado and WPSS Coordinator of Support Services Shane Smith. Varnado reported on best practices being observed to protect students and staff with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic and educate the students during these trying times. Smith's report was about capital improvement projects in-progress and planned system-wide. For your convenience, click here for this segment of the meeting
• progress is being made toward noise reduction from the Entergy power plant near Bogalusa. The plan is to replace horizontal Duct Work with wider duct, add acoustical barrier roof between the duct work and close to the actual turbines, and insulate the expansion joints. A major investment is being made by Entergy to reduce the noise level residents are experiencing; however, estimates are July/August, 2021 before residents will get relief and the Entergy Representatives could not provide an estimate of how much the noise would be reduced. For your convenience, click here for this segment of the meeting
• the passage by voters on December 5th of the millage renewal which will allow continuation of road improvements throughout the parish
• the President's Report was provided by Finance Director Donna Graham and Public Works Director Ken Wheat. Graham reported that the final payment of $1,000,000.00 (WPG's share is $324,000) by Calpine (in lieu of taxes) had been received. Also, the overall WPG fund balance has increased $2.4 million. Wheat reported that the recent Animal Shelter event “Jingle Paws” raised over $1400.00, 6 dogs were adopted, and 25 dogs and cats were vaccinated and micro-chipped. Also, a $400,000 grant was approved for improvements at the Washington Parish Jail. For your convenience, click here for this segment of the meeting

In other business, the Council 

• introduced an ordinance authorizing the purchase of a parcel of land in Franklinton
• adopted a resolution to the Louisiana Senate and House of Representatives in support of funding for the development of Rural Broadband infrastructure
• adopted several resolutions of appointment to Boards of Directors