[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:56] This time, I'd like to call order the West Baton Rouge Parish.
[0:59] Council meeting for August 27th, 2026.
[1:04] I'd ask anyone that may have any electronic devices
[1:07] on their possession to please solid some at this time.
[1:12] For open and prayer, I'm going to ask Councilman
[1:14] Attlee Walker to lead us in an open and prayer.
[1:17] And afterward, Councilman Brady-Hotar
[1:19] to lead us in the pledge.
[1:21] My serves to agree in his income from revelation,
[1:24] chapter three, and verse 20.
[1:27] Before will I stand there to go or not?
[1:28] If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and I will suck with him, and he will meet.
[1:37] Lord, you desire, Lord, that we have fellowship with you, Lord, and you desire that we grow closer to you, Lord.
[1:44] Lord, I pray that we keep you first in all things and seek your face at all times.
[1:48] I hope this council of the men and women that are in this chamber room, and Jesus Christ
[1:53] named you great.
[1:55] Amen.
[1:55] Amen.
[1:57] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which
[2:03] it stands, one nation under God and universal, the liberty of justice for all.
[2:11] Thank you, Adley.
[2:12] Thank you, Brady.
[2:34] I'll go ahead and open the machines and vote for approval.
[2:42] Minutes are approved.
[2:43] Move into item six. Consider any amendments to the agenda.
[2:47] And we have done item seven.
[2:49] Parish Presidents report.
[2:50] Mr. Jason, I'm going to move into item six.
[2:52] Thank you, Council Member, so I can have the noon.
[2:55] Go with a couple things with you here.
[2:57] Just to let you know, we saw our plan
[2:59] and our planning for the tax renewal
[3:02] that we have the 1.75 mill or real file health unit
[3:06] that's coming up in November.
[3:07] We've just re-notified last week actually
[3:11] that there's actually gonna be 10 amendments
[3:14] on the ballot also.
[3:16] So, as you know, we're gonna do our work
[3:19] or to make sure that we educate the voters
[3:21] that this is strictly a local tax
[3:24] and all the tax cells that come from this property tax
[3:28] will be used in Westbound region standards.
[3:30] So we're gonna get out ahead of the game.
[3:33] So you're gonna sort of see some things
[3:34] where we're pushing some information out and so forth.
[3:37] But again, it's a renewal, it's a 1.75 or 1.75 bills.
[3:44] And it's, I think the average cost for $250,000
[3:47] home with the home set extension is $2.75 per month. So we'll be getting all that information
[3:54] out going forward. We have the senior roundup was August 20th, you know, which was very
[4:01] well attended. I think we served actually with 300 meals, Erwin Bill and the Cornell and
[4:09] Council on Aging with very well represented there. Yeah, a lot of folks there as well as
[4:15] the Southern board of our parish. This was a collaboration between the city of
[4:19] Rhode Island Police Department and the sheriff's office. Our health unit
[4:25] was also there. I had a blue set up and what they were doing is doing, you know,
[4:31] any type of testing on folks but also education for folks that they meant for the
[4:38] senior so it was a good event. We had a, on August 20th, we also had a video zoom
[4:45] conference with DOTD and so forth with the team sitting on it, Brandon and Philip
[4:51] myself and their, their splintering discussions on them actually closing the
[4:56] new Mississippi River Bridge for four to five days in order to do side removal
[5:02] signs change outside and the signs standard. It's four or five days from 10
[5:08] p.m. at night to 5 a.m. in the morning is when they're looking at doing that. Now
[5:14] I'll just let you know this is going to be about a six-month project before this
[5:18] actually takes place but our main thing that we expressed during that zoom
[5:23] conference is the 5 a.m. time frame because as we all know there will be early
[5:29] they wanted about 5 a.m. is pretty congestion.
[5:33] We're a lot of industry, probably business times of our
[5:36] entire day. So we expressed them actually moving that up
[5:41] to either the full war or even earlier. So they took that
[5:44] in consideration and we actually had Chris Ewing on the phone
[5:47] and he actually agreed. He said, yeah, he's right. That
[5:52] public line is too late to be pensioned up. So we're going
[5:57] I have some additional conversations, I'll also advise them for the next call to
[6:01] need to bring in the traffic divisions about the Sheriff's Department and
[6:05] police department because it's LA1 and LA1 South, this was just during the
[6:09] time frame. So we'll have the Michigan conversations and I'll keep you guys
[6:13] abreast of what comes out of it and when we get an official date, a short date.
[6:19] But again, like I said, I don't anticipate it for at least another six months or so.
[6:25] There are no several of you probably got calls as I have with the energy planning
[6:29] averages in certain areas throughout the last month or so of a couple of months.
[6:36] I've been working very closely with Clint Moore, who's a new representative of energy
[6:40] governmental liaison, I guess.
[6:44] You know, they have had some things with scheduled alligis and then the contractor who's actually
[6:49] doing the planned upgrades. They've had to cancel one of our own reason of it or another.
[6:56] So we've been trying to keep people abreast on social media schedule and we come back and it's
[7:01] not scheduled. And some other times it's strictly due because one time it was canceled because they
[7:06] have nothing whether it come in like an hour before they was scheduled to go out there. So they
[7:10] did that. So I just wanted to kind of let you know we'll continue to have those discussions and we'll
[7:19] without scheduled upgrades to take place going forward.
[7:25] Let's see, what else?
[7:27] Oh, this in past three weeks, our firefighters,
[7:31] EMTs, and paramedics, have responded
[7:33] to three separate medical emergencies
[7:36] involving patients without a pulse and not breathing.
[7:39] Because of due to our quick response time
[7:41] to delivery of advanced life support
[7:43] by a fire in the MS department,
[7:45] all individuals were resuscitated
[7:46] and regained heartbeat during transport to the hospital.
[7:50] So three life savings transports to something else.
[7:55] We're really proud of and our part of the EMT
[7:58] is doing a great job.
[7:59] So I just wanted to mention that to you guys too.
[8:02] With that, I wouldn't have enough
[8:03] any questions anybody might have.
[8:05] All right, thank you.
[8:06] Okay, it's on the police,
[8:08] I'm sure it's on the social media by walking around here.
[8:11] Yeah, okay.
[8:12] Well, you want to wait for you in the hospital?
[8:14] Yeah, I'm happy with you.
[8:14] I was doing that because I wasn't going to come up, but yeah, so actually, we have weekly status meetings on-site every Friday at 8 a.m.
[8:25] So I'm going to have one tomorrow.
[8:27] But the last one I was at, so it should be pouring the foundation, the pad for the building.
[8:31] The first week of September, where they're permitting.
[8:34] And after that, so you've seen the first part of the pad to be built, the parking lot.
[8:39] And then so after the foundation, then you'll see the backside down that way they can get all the trucks around for the rest of the
[8:45] The construction steel has been delivered
[8:49] So they're ready to pop it up as soon as that foundation's cured and ready to go
[8:54] That's pretty much and yeah, we've got all the rough ends of what not ready to roll
[8:57] Yeah, so it's just as good along so you should see that the pad itself for the knowing of the next two weeks or so
[9:04] Okay
[9:09] I'll walk her.
[9:10] Okay.
[9:11] A lot of them.
[9:12] Jason, have you been queued into the work performance
[9:16] that's doing under our north line road?
[9:19] And how much longer in that promise?
[9:21] Can I take them any ideas?
[9:23] The last I've heard.
[9:25] And then I have to go back and let me double check on that.
[9:27] I'll think around some temperatures.
[9:29] But I think there's a later phase.
[9:31] Another phase coming.
[9:33] Later on.
[9:34] I've got a minute and a half and six months.
[9:36] What do you see?
[9:36] It's not slow.
[9:37] I know they've actually decreased the amount of employees and I thank you
[9:45] everybody else is good
[9:47] All right, thank you, Jason. Thank you chance
[9:51] Moving to item eight public comments anyone from the public has any
[9:56] Comments at this time anyone from the public if
[10:02] I have no one
[10:03] We're gonna move forward moving to item nine communications with council members and are elected or appointed officials
[10:18] I know we had put it out on Facebook, we are having basically a public outreach meeting
[10:26] at the Visitors Bureau in Port Allen here or I guess outside of Port Allen City limits.
[10:33] On September 8th from 4 to 7, this is just basically going through, getting public comments,
[10:39] the mailers that I kind of been talking about leave were dropped off at the post
[10:44] office yesterday so those should start you know going people's mailboxes but
[10:50] since we're not having a council meeting before that meeting occurred I want
[10:53] to mention that now and then this week we submit the stamp and sign plans for
[10:59] the opinion trials project and and add us that project has been going on since 2016
[11:08] got it through the finish line, they're picking up some scattered parts and all
[11:13] that. So just want to mention that right. Are they past 30% of those for 14?
[11:20] Yeah, they've passed 30%. They're basically shopping it up to phase the
[11:26] slash stages right now. There's going to be test piles and stuff like that to
[11:35] the portions of the project that they are going to save them are existing U.S.D.
[11:40] right away you know what size of that can they do now and then kind of just
[11:47] working off there we're still going they're still going through the right
[11:51] away phase of it I'm still trying to get those maps ironed out which is really
[11:55] I mean a lot of the work is going to occur non-current U.S.D. right away so
[12:01] So that's kind of why they're chopping it up right now.
[12:04] I said, but do you engineer if they came out,
[12:07] I heard that they didn't know the final findings
[12:10] from the drainage study?
[12:11] Yeah, we had that meeting a couple weeks ago.
[12:15] I think last week and went through those findings,
[12:19] the biggest thing that was kind of Chad's idea
[12:24] was we have existing culverts on the West Bank
[12:28] of the coolie and basically just up sizing them from 118 inch culber to you know
[12:34] 236's or whatever it may be and just basically providing extra leads of the
[12:38] coolie to where it goes to the woods and all that and you know eventually it
[12:42] comes come back out but that was kind of the main scenario there's a couple other
[12:47] ones that we threw around but we kind of need to look kind of more just from a
[12:53] These are the ability standpoint that makes sense, but yeah, well, thanks.
[13:00] Okay, no one else administration, you know, good.
[13:03] Yeah, Mr. Darrell, I'm sorry, go ahead.
[13:07] Good afternoon.
[13:08] I'm Darrell Cuba.
[13:09] I do the Keep West Baton Rouge beautiful program.
[13:12] And I just wanted to make you all aware of the first ever love our waterways he bid.
[13:19] That will take place throughout the month of September.
[13:23] I'm sure you've seen it advertised, but it's going to be promoted by the
[13:28] Lieutenant Governor's office as well as Keith Luzian, and if any of you come up
[13:33] with any ideas or want to visit with me, it's similar to organizing, love the
[13:39] book week, which is annually held in April. I currently have three things scheduled
[13:46] with the sheriff department, and I've also two working out with more of these
[13:50] marina where I'm going to bring them 20 buckets, five gallon petals. I'm going to provide
[13:56] them the grabbers, the gloves as well as the trash bags. And what they're going to do
[14:03] throughout the month is anyone who is going on the water or along the shore. If they want
[14:09] to participate, they can already have the supplies there with them. And I just wanted to take
[14:14] time in dismissing to you if you have any questions or need any help get in touch with me thank you
[14:22] appreciate that appreciate that all right so at this time we'll go ahead and move to item 10
[14:31] public hearing on previously introduced ordinances item eight an ordinance amended
[14:37] chapter 104 zoning to incorporate amended zoning designation map zoning plan on the section 104-3
[14:43] Establishment of District's official zoning map for rezoning requests, the TMI Enterprise
[14:49] LLC regarding parcel number 05-340-00-3500 highway 190 Port Allen, Louisiana 707.
[15:00] 6, 7, file number, PJ, 26-0021, described by the WBR Assessor, S-Track, K-192, B2-A, continuation
[15:10] of 13.703 acres in sections 38, 82, and 83, T7S, R12E, 34-35, rezoning, approximately 13.73 acres.
[15:24] from our residential mobile home see 1.3 and act to I to this is a master plan
[15:33] change may I just say that requires a super majority vote of the council so
[15:38] at this time I'm gonna go ahead and open up that public hearing go ahead
[15:41] that brand. Yep so I guess just to kind of set the picture you know you mentioned
[15:47] the residential mobile home zoning the property you know right adjacent to the
[15:54] west is still zone that besides that we still have a bunch of ag and C1.3 around here because
[16:00] this is just that core to war on 190 that has that basically you know this is a master plan
[16:07] change this area you know on the master plan is supposed to be dictated for commercial use you know
[16:14] if you keep heading west down 190 on the master plan it eventually transitions to local commercial
[16:20] use and then you kind of just get to, you know, third one fill area and all that.
[16:26] So, my standpoint was basically that I think the I-2 zoning for this area is just a little bit heavy.
[16:35] If you go, you know, get head back east to where all the industrial zones are,
[16:41] you run into two I-1 zone properties, about, you know, 1200 feet to the east and all that.
[16:49] And basically, you know, from my standpoint, I think if you have the eye to kind of
[16:54] extend it out as these eye ones, it just kind of throws off, I guess, the transition flow
[17:00] however you want to phase it for just the master plan itself.
[17:05] You know, I think if this was just rezoning all this to a commercial, it fits right in with
[17:12] the master plan, the industrial, you know, is why we have to change.
[17:15] change. And then for planning and zoning, the recommendation, the motion was to approve.
[17:23] However, it was denied because we only had five yays out of the eight people there.
[17:29] It didn't have the supermajority. But if you have any questions or want to ask any questions,
[17:37] we'll let you know.
[17:38] All right. We may get you back up, Brandon. Anyone else, this is a public hearing.
[17:43] We'd like to speak on this item.
[17:45] You'll sort of state your name for the record.
[17:47] Well, I know what y'all thinking.
[17:50] What's that Louie got to?
[17:52] But Louie, be there.
[17:54] TMI in the press.
[17:55] And I think I got some good news for young guys.
[17:58] It makes you feel very comfortable.
[18:00] And the owner really liked this project.
[18:04] So what the project is, is we want to build an office.
[18:09] 12 hours square feet of office.
[18:12] just kind of standard. 4,000 square feet of warehouse, kind of connected to the office.
[18:18] We need about 30,000 square feet of outside storage. So my knowledge of dealing with this
[18:26] which my company does a lot of different things, but I'm learning from this plane in the
[18:30] zone and trying to learn about all but it's a little difficult guys. But anyway, I just
[18:37] I just automatically knew that this was going to take an eye to, but so I requested an eye to the zoning.
[18:46] Since then, I talked to zoning, got more information on the tenant, and I guess where it is.
[18:55] It looks like something did agree that the tenant that I'm talking with can work with an eye once on it.
[19:03] So, when we look on the plan, if I was to pull it up, you'll see we load an earned 50 feet
[19:10] from the line one zone in. So, it's definitely in the area, it's not going to be chemicals,
[19:16] and I'm going to be, and it's just going to be a warehouse, it's going to be pipe.
[19:21] So, it will have an 18-wheeler coming in, come out, it will be delivery, it's storage,
[19:27] but it's not like storage forever, so viewing as a big pie chart, it's just, you know,
[19:34] pie coming in and out, and inside the warehouse it'd be all kind of things associated with
[19:38] the pie, which I don't know, West Plumber voted, and you know, those are the 90s,
[19:42] things still have all different types. So, that's the information, so I'm asking the panel
[19:49] to list this drop-out request of I-2's owning, I'd like the request to I-1's only,
[19:56] I'd like to consider voting on it.
[19:58] I'm standing at 6 foot of the max if I am.
[20:02] I hope we can do it, and if we can do it, we can build it.
[20:07] And that's, and then I'm here for the answer questions.
[20:11] So maybe that's my two minutes there.
[20:13] Well, 40 seconds a month for everything else.
[20:17] So, if you'll, I don't want to hear an eight,
[20:21] so I'm doing a little better on that.
[20:22] So, does anybody have any questions?
[20:27] If we do, we'll call you back up.
[20:29] Oh, you call me back up.
[20:31] We'll call you back up when it goes to the council.
[20:36] Thank you, Mr. Louis.
[20:38] Again, this is public hearing.
[20:39] Anyone else from the public would like to speak on this item.
[20:45] If I have no one, we will go ahead and close public hearing
[20:49] and open up discussion to the council.
[20:56] We can do it down first you need to vote on it as it is and then like you said make a
[21:05] substitute motion with the reduction to item I want the motion with the motion with the
[21:20] with the notice it is an I-1 down zone I think we've done that in the past.
[21:27] Okay.
[21:36] The motion to approve the down zone is to I-1 actually.
[21:41] This will still be a massive one.
[21:45] You're going to need the supermajor.
[21:47] All right, no other discussion amongst Council, y'all good?
[21:53] I'm sorry, I have a motion by Mr. Hotard, second by Mr. Lane to go ahead and we'll do a
[21:58] down zone to I one on this piece of, on this rezoning on this property.
[22:04] There's no other discussion amongst the Council, I'll open the machines vote for approval.
[22:14] That motion passed.
[22:16] All right, move into item B.
[22:21] In the ordinance to amend and re-enact the West Baton Rouge Parish Code of Ordnance is part two General Code of Ordnances, Chapter 34, Garbage Trash and Refuse, Article 1 in General, Section 34-1 Garbage Pickup, and Section 34-2 Garbage Collection Service Cards Deposit.
[22:41] This is a public hearing. I'm going to open up that public hearing at this time. Go ahead, Mr. Adrian, John.
[22:46] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, there was a council.
[22:49] So last month our team sat down and discussed
[22:53] and met with Ways Pro, the parish's garbage provider.
[22:58] And we went out, had a pretty good discussion
[23:00] on the annual rate increase.
[23:03] And after some good discussion between both our team
[23:06] and the Ways Pro team, it was mutually agreed upon
[23:09] that we were about a 7.65 percent increase
[23:14] that's based on CPI and it's important to know that that's a two-year increase
[23:19] that's over two years so what that means is as a result of that we're currently
[23:25] at we're at 2061 so the new rate would go from 2061 to 3080 increase of 2019
[23:34] 19 cents, and the charge for the second cart, and the contract will go from 1054 to 1086.
[23:44] So that's reflective of about 7165 percent degrees over two years.
[23:51] I'll say that again, the rest of the terms of the contract pretty much remain the same.
[23:56] All routes remain the same service days, pick up the service days, remain the same pickups
[24:00] and the areas.
[24:02] And we'll have you, that stays the same.
[24:04] This rate increase will be effective October 1st of this year, so you won't, you won't see it till the November
[24:10] Billing, November Billing is expected to increase, I'll go ahead and just mention, and this will reference the current House of
[24:19] average count is 85, 84, that's a normal covered pickup, second car grid, 280 on the second
[24:29] car grid. So that's where we are for this increase. There's one to, where it does require
[24:38] both, obviously, that any time there's a rate of increase.
[24:42] is a resolution written correctly.
[24:50] Yeah, it basically says effective October 1, 2024
[24:53] and then give us a rate of $28.07.
[25:00] That's the initial.
[25:03] That's the initial.
[25:04] That was a doubt that we went away from October 1, 2004.
[25:08] So that has to be added to the 38.
[25:17] Yes, that's how that's how that's how that's why I was putting it back there. So that was the initial
[25:21] contract that I'm just asking the order act ordinance should reflect the up-day your date
[25:29] updated press and it does not can we update this after we go on it
[25:46] I'd like to amend the effective date of October 1st, 2026, and then I'd like to amend the price to $30,000.
[26:01] The administrative fee stays the same?
[26:03] Yes.
[26:04] What's the break date?
[26:05] Our administrative fee, or our fee utilities fee,
[26:08] then in chance will come in.
[26:10] Our fee will stay the same.
[26:11] You see that going?
[26:11] The 33 send.
[26:13] He's going to just make mention of the transfer.
[26:16] And also, the thought process behind the signal of the ordinance,
[26:20] the way it was, is to go put it, how it was with the original.
[26:25] If you read the ordinance, it says we have to come before you,
[26:27] or any rate increase.
[26:29] That way, you don't have to change the ordinance itself and go rewrite every time of the price
[26:33] increase.
[26:34] We still have to come forward.
[26:35] You're voting any change of the price for garbage.
[26:38] It was just, I guess, simplifying the ordinance itself.
[26:43] That was a thought process behind it.
[26:45] You're welcome to change it.
[26:46] You like?
[26:47] They don't know.
[26:47] On the fees, their fees say Council has removed the 21 cent fee that we charge.
[26:57] so we've taken that out so do we keep it as a change do we keep the ordinance written as this I think it accomplishes
[27:05] the same goal okay no matter what we have to come before you for any rate increase right right right okay okay yeah I'll see you in a second
[27:13] Yeah, it's in six. Yeah, I don't think it hurts a man to knit it.
[27:24] Yeah, I think that if you're voting on it as it stands today, then the change would
[27:29] be effective. Yeah, we change the ordinance while I just change what I was
[27:34] going to say. I don't leave it to you. You're going to want to alter it on the
[27:39] done in the patient anyway requiring an update so you may as well update the purpose of having the
[27:47] original contract amount there is so that each year you don't have to do in
[27:52] orders when the rating the CPI increase occurs it's just due a resolution you put the original
[27:58] two years you put the original contract right we didn't do it last year but in my resolution going
[28:04] fall or the council will change the rate. That's why we're leaving that there.
[28:10] We're not changing. We're going to approve it as this.
[28:18] Sure, go ahead.
[28:20] Again, the original contract called for an annual increase in CPI.
[28:28] The one that we ended up agreeing to is less than what the actual CPI was for the two year period.
[28:36] Okay, so let me this is still a public hearing anyone else from the public would like to speak on this item
[28:45] Anyone from the public
[28:47] If I have no one
[28:48] Close the public hearing open up discussion to the council. I see mr. Lane. We have a motion by mr. Lane to approve this
[28:57] increase.
[29:00] Second by Ms. Andre. So we're going to just leave it as is and with the stated increase that you said and they'll update, update
[29:09] darkness. Sounds good. There's no other discussion amongst Council on open machines, both for approval.
[29:19] That motion passed.
[29:21] Okay. Moving to item 11 under new business item A. Consider approval of the transfer of equipment for the attached list of
[29:29] Radio's purchase through the 2025 EMPG grant by the WBR Home Office of Homeland
[29:35] Security, Emergency Preparedness, and 9-1-1. Transferring the four mentioned
[29:41] radios to the town of Addis Police Department and the City of Port Allen Police
[29:45] Department. Go ahead, Ed. I mentioned this to come for you at last meeting, last meeting with
[29:50] the fire department radios. Yep, here we have the two PDs. All right. Is it anyone from the
[29:56] public, have any comments on this item?
[30:00] If I have none, I have a motion by Mr. Batten, second by Mr. Joseph to approve, Mr. Batten. I'll go ahead and open the machines vote for approved.
[30:13] That motion pass, moving to item B, except final report of 2025 audits for the West Baton Rouge Parish Council and West Baton Rouge Parish Fire District number one. Yes, sir. Stay to name for the record. Kevin Rodriguez, partner of the KLA and CPA firm of Baton Rouge. Yes sir. We're going over two auto reports.
[30:33] of course the West Veteran Parish Council and Fire District are trying to be as brief
[30:38] as possible so that it's going to be a lot of information.
[30:42] Prepared a PowerPoint slide for you this year so we're not slipping through 100-page
[30:47] report.
[30:48] Figured this will be a little easier.
[30:52] We'll review the audit opinion letter, some certain required communications and a condensed
[30:56] comparative financial statement as of 1231-25.
[31:00] five management responsibilities, the preparation,
[31:05] fair presentation of the financial statements
[31:07] in accordance with GAP and the selection and use
[31:09] of accounting policies and the design implementation
[31:12] of a strong internal control system.
[31:14] Our responsibility is auditors, express an opinion
[31:17] on the financial statements, and to gain understanding
[31:20] the internal control and to report to you
[31:22] any legal acts and material non-compliance.
[31:26] We audited the financial statements of the parish council
[31:29] as of the year ended, 1231-25 because the report does not include all the
[31:36] component units of the parish council. We issued an adverse opinion in our
[31:41] report just as in previous years. However, the parish council reporting unit
[31:45] itself, we issued an unmodified or clean opinion which is the highest level
[31:49] opinion in our profession can issue and the same level opinion that you received in
[31:53] prior years. We also issued our report on internal control over financial
[31:57] reporting cannot test on internal control compliance on major programs as a
[32:02] relates to federal grants. We noted no instances of material weaknesses, no
[32:06] violations of laws and regulations, and no findings in internal control on
[32:10] compliance. We're also pleased to report there are no difficulties or disagreements
[32:14] with management during the audit, no significant audit adjustments, and no
[32:18] uncorrected adjustments.
[32:22] Review some high-level condensed financial statements
[32:26] is compared to the prior year, looking at the assets at 12.31.25, the council finished
[32:33] with 175 million at 12.31.25, an increase of almost 12 million from the prior year,
[32:39] majority of this increase is in restricting cash of almost 8 million, which is included
[32:43] in the other current assets line, and this is related to the new debt issuance.
[32:48] The three largest balances that comprise total assets shown are understricted cash investments,
[32:52] tax receivable and capital assets were all comparatives the prior year. Total liabilities
[32:59] at the 731st 2025 was about 28 million, about an increase of almost 6 million, and again
[33:06] that has to do with the bond issuance during the year. All other balances were relatively
[33:11] comparable. Total in that position at 1231-25 was 129.5 million, an increase of almost 5 million
[33:19] for the prior year, and of that balance, almost 56 million is understated.
[33:29] The next slide shows condensed statement of activities compared to the prior year, total
[33:35] revenue for the year ended, 1231.25 was almost 52 million, an increase of about 800,000
[33:41] from the prior year, the major components of revenue are taxes and operating grants, tax
[33:46] revenue decreased down to your normal levels, which you typically see, while grant revenue
[33:50] increase, mostly due to the timing of recognition, the increase in expenses is also related to
[33:56] an increase in the grant revenue. And the parish council finished with a change in that
[34:01] position of about $5.1 million in the current year. We're pretty much for
[34:10] the parish council.
[34:13] I think we're good. You move on to the fire district. Yes, sir. Keep going. Sorry. And again,
[34:19] trying to keep it brief. And again, we'll review the audit of a penulator. There are bar
[34:24] communications and a kid that's look at the comparative financial statements.
[34:31] Same as a parish council, there is responsibilities preparation for
[34:35] a presentation of the financial statements in accordance with GAP.
[34:39] And once again, our main job is to express an opinion on the financial statements.
[34:45] We usually unmodified or clean opinion, which against the highest level opinion we can issue.
[34:50] And it's the same level opinion that you've received in prior years.
[34:53] We also noted no material weaknesses in internal control or financial reporting and no
[34:58] findings related to violations of laws or regulations.
[35:01] Then again, they're also in the disagreements or difficulties with management, no significant
[35:06] audit adjustments, and no uncorrected adjustments.
[35:12] At 1231.25 total assets of fire district was about 12.3 million and increased of almost
[35:17] a million from 2024.
[35:19] The majority of the assets surprised and understood the cash and investments in capital assets and
[35:24] never significant fluctuations for the prior year. At 12.31.25 the fire district
[35:30] had about 5.2 million total liabilities but decreased almost 200,000 from
[35:35] 2024. That balance is comprised mostly of pension and opiate liabilities and
[35:40] again had no significant fluctuations for the prior year. Toilet in that
[35:43] position at 12.31.25 is almost 8 million and increase of about 1 million from
[35:49] from 2024, and other balances about 2.1 million unrestricted.
[35:55] Toe revenue for the year was about 800 million,
[35:57] a decrease of only 50,000 for the prior year.
[36:00] That revenue increases due to the new EMS system,
[36:03] which has now made categorized as chartless for service
[36:06] in the prior year, is reflected in other miscellaneous
[36:09] because the amount was so small.
[36:11] And then total expenses increases also due to that EMS system,
[36:15] due to an increase in the total number of employees,
[36:17] and overtime hours worked and
[36:22] we just want to thank the chance of the rest of the staff during all of it for their assistance, their budget will work with and appreciate the hard work.
[36:31] Thank you.
[36:31] Thank you.
[36:32] Thank you so very much.
[36:33] One road quick note.
[36:34] So for the council's audit, when you look at the unrestricted and me and Kevin discusses already, if you recall, 25 budget 19 million,
[36:44] and 604,7a3 for Matt Money State grants, all that stuff.
[36:50] And so the 2026 audit, it'll show that with some regard
[36:54] to this last time.
[36:55] Perfect.
[36:56] Okay.
[36:56] Good job.
[36:57] Thank you, Kevin.
[36:58] Appreciate it.
[36:58] Thank you.
[36:59] All right.
[37:00] Thank you.
[37:02] Yeah.
[37:06] Okay.
[37:08] Any comments from the public on this item?
[37:12] I have none.
[37:13] So what we're going to do is vote separately to accept these audits.
[37:18] First, we'll go ahead and vote on the West Battery's Parish Council audit.
[37:22] Have a motion by Mr. Lane, second by Mr. Hoto to approve this audit.
[37:27] I'll open the machines vote for approval.
[37:33] That motion passes, moving to the West Battery's Parish Fire District number one.
[37:39] We'll go ahead and accept vote to accept this audit.
[37:43] I have a motion by Mr. Gordon, second by Mr. Joseph to approve.
[37:46] I'll go ahead and open the machines, both for approval.
[37:52] That motion also passes.
[37:55] All right, moving to item C, except final report
[37:58] for 2025 audits for the West Bannerage Parish
[38:00] Utilities Department.
[38:02] Yes, sir.
[38:03] State's name for the record.
[38:04] Got a new council.
[38:05] I'm Tanya Buddy, audit partner for the West Bannerage Parish
[38:08] Public Utilities Audit.
[38:10] Just dropping straight into it, no presentation,
[38:13] but we issued a clean unmodified opinion.
[38:15] And really not a lot of surprises there, finished on time,
[38:21] and actually probably earlier than we've ever done it,
[38:23] which was always music my years
[38:25] and never a little bit more than an audit.
[38:28] On page eight, I don't know if you'll have
[38:30] any financial statements in front of you.
[38:45] That's not a problem.
[38:46] I can narrate as best I can on this one.
[38:48] So page eight, I have to statement up positions.
[38:50] So basically, it's a balance time.
[38:52] Really not a whole lot jumped out here,
[38:54] except for one thing that I did
[38:55] I just wanted to bring to you all the attention
[38:56] because every year this happens,
[38:59] it's just something you don't worry about.
[39:00] Last year, you'll have a net pension liability
[39:03] of about $200,000.
[39:05] This year, it turned into a net pension asset.
[39:09] That's not in hard enough.
[39:10] This happened about four or five years ago,
[39:13] especially around COVID time, whenever investment rate
[39:16] of your turn is going up.
[39:18] This is really fun to activate
[39:20] with their project and is based on the imploring
[39:22] contributions that are being made to the plan.
[39:25] and the rate of return on those investments,
[39:28] sometimes it kind of fluctuates.
[39:30] They're trying to get as close to zero as possible.
[39:33] So that way, you don't have a huge liability on the books.
[39:36] Asset, like I said, is a little strange,
[39:38] but it's not on hard-earned, especially for utility.
[39:42] So just something keep in mind, it's not an asset
[39:44] that y'all can liquidate.
[39:46] So it's not anything they don't expend, but it is there.
[39:49] So that's good and healthy.
[39:51] Who knows, by the way, this time next year,
[39:53] You could be a million dollars in that pension liability through nose and your other pros and
[39:58] plummet benefits stayed roughly about the same around $2 million, $4 million in a net
[40:03] account.
[40:07] Really, the bread and butter out of the utility is operating financially, how are we doing?
[40:12] So, when we look at it, total operating revenues increased 15% compared to last year.
[40:18] That was heavily influenced by a 25% increase in gas sales as partially all set to a 44%
[40:26] increase in gas purchase costs. The reason why it doesn't, those gas sales and the gas purchase
[40:32] all increase at the same rate is there is a minimum consumption building. So it doesn't matter
[40:40] how much they use paid customer if they're within that minimum, they're getting a charge at minimum fee.
[40:47] So that kind of fluctuates and that's why when you see gas prices rise, you start to see that rate
[40:52] return decrease a little bit. So we do show an operating income or operating loss of 596,000.
[41:00] That is a slight increase compared to last year, 700,000. And then you'll receive 316,000
[41:08] on interest earnings from the CD and other investments such as that. So all together,
[41:15] along with the capital contribution from the parish to the utility for certain assets that they
[41:19] received. We look at a change in that position of $111,000.
[41:28] And then the one
[41:28] that I like to highlight for y'all every year is the same as cash flows, mainly
[41:32] the net cash provided by or used by operating activities. To me for utility, this is
[41:38] where I want to see, I want to see a positive. I want to see a negative because that means
[41:43] we're not billing correctly. The costs are going up. I have to say even with that
[41:49] rate increase of gas purchases, you'll still generate 737,000 and net operating
[41:56] cash and flow. And a lot of that money is being put towards on the same
[42:01] or cash flow. We'll see about $1.3 million in catapult assets purchased. So when
[42:07] I look at the utility equity balance, we're at around 92% of all of our assets are
[42:13] capital asset. So, water infrastructure, gas and infrastructure, the likes. That's not typical.
[42:22] There is no typical benchmark for a utility by itself, but to mean that's good. You don't
[42:29] want to see a massive restricted or unrestricted fund mallets because that just means money said they're not
[42:36] being used for the part of the utility. So, I think 92% is good and that will start to decrease
[42:41] increase a little bit over time because a lot of these assets were purchased recently
[42:45] and that being depreciated over its useful life so.
[42:49] Primarily these infrastructure assets are between 20 to 35 years being depreciated.
[42:55] You don't see one big hit in the depreciation that's missing any given year.
[42:59] You just start to see steady decreases.
[43:03] We did note one finding, it's the same finding that we've had for a few years,
[43:07] the non-compliance finding for.
[43:09] or we're sitting on deposits that have not been refunded out to customers, we'll say sound scary when I say it out loud, but it's not due to lack of effort on management's part.
[43:22] People move, it's hard to get in touch with people, and in my opinion the wording of the law is too strict, it gives you one year.
[43:31] And within one year, you have to return that money to the person where you send it to the state shortage office.
[43:35] us. My thinking is the St. Trojor wants that to generate interest on their own account.
[43:41] I think that's why they said that management has been whittling it down.
[43:47] I think by next
[43:47] year or the year after, we'll start getting away from this, or at least where it's not
[43:52] material, but can totally kind of give a better sense of can we resolve this? I always ask
[43:58] the police push back and I'll be reading this wrong, but so far, this is kind of a lot
[44:03] room there. But as a agreement upon procedures, we provided the full service. This was a rotation
[44:10] year to do the full agreement upon procedures for the state. We only noted one exception.
[44:16] Relatively small, there was an employee when we tested time in termination payments.
[44:22] He used two hours more than vacation that he had and subsequently quit.
[44:29] To me, that's not an
[44:30] risk. It was technically an exception that we had to note,
[44:34] management is aware of it, but often in that, that's it for the
[44:38] audit of the utility. I'll open the for any questions.
[44:42] Thank you. I think we're good. Thank you. Perfect. I want to thank
[44:47] Adrian, Brianne, Michelle and all team. I'm sorry to work with them.
[44:52] Appreciate you too. I always enjoy it. Yes sir. Thank you very much.
[44:56] Anyone from the public would like to come in on this item?
[45:01] I have none.
[45:06] I have a motion by Mr. Babin, second by Mr. Houtar to go ahead and accept this final report of the 2025 audit for the West Battery's Parish Utilities Department. There's no other discussion amongst the council. I'm opening machines. Vote for proof.
[45:50] Okay, so I guess Mr. One Lane left. I didn't know the left. I saw him walk out. I don't know the left of building. All right. So I have motion passed. Mr. Chairwoman.
[46:00] Yes, go ahead. Just point of clarification to just make sure we're on the same page with that harness that we passed on the on the
[46:08] The garbage and reviews pick up. We're gonna come back to you guys next me with a resolution
[46:14] Adopting the new the new race. The ordinance is just stating what
[46:21] Once we renew contracts, we may update the ordinance. Yeah, yeah, there's a new contract
[46:28] that makes perfect sense yeah thank you Jason Clara fine on that all right
[46:37] moving to item 12 on the resolutions a resolution to dedicate and rename the
[46:42] West Baton Rouge parish 4-H and Ag center building in honor of just a
[46:48] Harry L laws did you have anything I'd be glad to take it you know chairman
[46:55] And now I've had some discussions, also spoke with the boys of the accident.
[47:00] I think everybody knows what Mr. Harry Laws contributed to Westboundary's crash when it comes to 4-H and a lot that he's done for our kids, this community and people that have benefited from him.
[47:14] So I just think it would be a great honor to take the building and actually name it after Mr. Harry Laws and actually do a dedication at the next
[47:22] I think that will be a great time to unveil it.
[47:29] Yep, I think it's a great idea Mr. President.
[47:33] Okay, anyone from the public have a comment on this item?
[47:37] Not have a motion by Mr. Babin, second by Mr. Hotar to go ahead and approve this resolution.
[47:44] I've opened the machines vote for approval.
[47:50] That motion passed.
[47:51] moving tight and be a resolution authorizing the parish president to enter into a cooperative
[47:56] endeavor agreement with the Louisiana Department of Treasury.
[48:00] Go ahead, Mr. Chan.
[48:02] So, Mr. Counsel, this is part of the process against the E.A. with the State.
[48:07] So, this is funds from the last legislative session, this will be $500,000.
[48:13] We received an additional parish president talk about lasting, I believe, additional $1 million
[48:17] Well, you'll see that next meeting.
[48:19] The other reason they're not both here is the timing
[48:21] and when I got the letters to you have to put it on a meeting
[48:24] to advertise stuff.
[48:25] You'll see very similar one next meeting.
[48:29] I haven't answered any questions.
[48:32] Nope, that's a good thing.
[48:34] All right, anyone from the public?
[48:36] Have a comment on this item?
[48:38] I have none.
[48:40] I have a motion by Mr. Hotar.
[48:42] Second by Mr. Gordon to go ahead and approve this resolution.
[48:45] I'll open the machines to vote for approval.
[48:52] We're just going to have to go over.
[48:55] We're going to have to go over.
[48:59] So we're going to go also, Mr. Batten.
[49:02] Yes.
[49:02] Mr. Walker.
[49:03] Yes.
[49:04] Mr. Thorne.
[49:05] Yes.
[49:06] Yes.
[49:07] Mr. Crowley.
[49:09] Yes.
[49:09] Mr. Joe.
[49:10] All right.
[49:12] Thank you.
[49:12] That resolution passed.
[49:14] Thank you.
[49:15] Moving to item 13 consider status report change on our end or other matters is requiring on current projects
[49:21] We have none introduction of ordinances. We have none moving tie-in 15 consider subdivision flats combinations waivers and matters related there
[49:29] To have none item 16 correspondents report miss Michelle
[49:41] Motion to adjourn by Mr. O'Tower
[50:21] I did tell you the name of Christ.
[50:24] I did a lot of push in the body, it was lun.
[50:27] It is so OK.
[50:28] You all please occur.
[50:30] You can use me as a copy.
[50:33] You all please occur.
[50:33] You are a real, real man.
[50:34] I know you know we know we know we know.