[0:00] Central Sports Park where we have a lot of our youth as well as adults playing a

[0:04] lot of leagues and Sport leagues and staying active and so you can see last

[0:08] year 1.7 million I was a 30 uh 3% I also share this with my board to say that hey

[0:14] we're serving more people with the same amount of people and often times the

[0:18] less amount of people than we had before to show that we are trying to be as

[0:23] efficient as possible with taxpayer dollars next slide uh goes into uh where

[0:28] we are through July sort of the same report uh next slide gives a little more

[0:34] detail and we talk about the different kind of facilities uh you can see in

[0:39] athletics this was for July uh o Villa Olympia and you can see Central Sports

[0:46] Complex as part of the Athletics look at our recreation centers you can see how

[0:50] many people visited Jackson that month and so all of this is uh great

[0:56] activities in terms of the facilities that we have next

[1:01] slide summer camp that's our you know most popular program certainly here in

[1:06] central all the spots fill up pretty quickly at love it and Jackson we had a

[1:11] great year this past summer um I don't think we did it this summer but previous

[1:16] Summers we work with the central school system and the offord camps um um after

[1:21] the school system half a day you learn and then half the day you play and so we

[1:25] were uh great to have that participation with Jason Fountain next

[1:30] slide oh yeah see I was I wasn't responsible for putting this

[1:35] presentation together somebody slid that picture in on me but uh uh we talk about

[1:42] all the great facilities we have This Is Us in 2022

[1:46] celebrating uh Central Sports Park we we had just finished turfing the last of

[1:52] the Seven Fields out there and had a great celebration it's the first Park

[1:57] system we've had that we we've turfed all the field

[2:00] uh we have shade sales and stuff like that and I had to put that quote down

[2:05] there from my good buddy uh former C bod white uh talking about working with us

[2:12] and and and how we've been doing a great job and so um next

[2:18] slide some of the great projects that we're working on all across the parish

[2:22] starting with the zoo um Jim and his team have been locked up in trailers for

[2:28] the past three years dealing with construction and so we're excited to be

[2:33] uh announcing the the first phase of that completion celebrating that on

[2:37] October the 5th the Central Community was a big part of um the folks who came

[2:42] down to our board meeting and demanded that that the zoo stay at its current

[2:45] location and so um city of central still has higher representation certainly the

[2:51] top four or five areas that that visit the zoo and so uh that is an asset that

[2:56] I'm sure the citizens here will continue to enjoy

[3:00] um improvements at H Park uh frown conservation area is area uh probably

[3:07] our night's biggest Conservation area where the co meat meets the a meat I

[3:11] believe over 700 Acres of Conservation Area we just finished the Nature Center

[3:16] out there the safe rooms at Memorial and Airline is a great partnership with City

[3:20] Parish Office of Homeland Security where some FEMA dollars are paying for these

[3:26] two safe rooms at at Memorial and Airline none of your property tax or or

[3:31] Park and Recreation dollars these are2 15 million buildings that will serve as

[3:37] emergency operation centers at times of disasters where police and Personnel

[3:42] come it's not a shelter but 99% of the time it's going to be a state of art

[3:46] recreation center and so we we're glad to be able to offer that and and work

[3:50] with City Parish uh FEMA's going to pay 75% in office of Community Development

[3:56] is is providing our match so again two great facilities arand highway is

[4:01] turning into a community park uh we're doing more green infrastructure at Green

[4:06] uh Greenwood uh the Lakes project is is a big project where uh LSU is one of the

[4:12] few universities that has a lake system on its campus and so that's a big

[4:17] attraction uh for students and athletes and then we're always working on our

[4:21] trails and connectivity we're doing some of that uh even here in the city of

[4:26] central as we look to make safer places next next

[4:30] L and so we just finished a threeyear study Trust for Public land where we

[4:35] basically talked about the economic benefits of bre we started this back in

[4:40] 2021 knowing that it was going to be an important year for us this year to be

[4:44] able to share that information and so we work with this National outfit that does

[4:48] a lot of this for a lot of different Parks the next slide kind of gives you a

[4:53] snapshot of what they ultimately concluded in terms of the economic

[4:57] benefits we provide not just Recreation benefits in terms of being able to go

[5:02] play on the playground but other benefits such as savings and health care

[5:05] costs you know the fact that we have parts and people are exercising that

[5:09] saves in our health care cost um storm water management some of our a lot of

[5:15] our Parks hold water maintain storm water that benefits us that that's money

[5:20] we don't have to pay in order to maintain uh the increase in property

[5:24] values uh well-maintained Parks help increase property values tourism um as

[5:30] you guys know a lot of people come in town to play at central Sports Park and

[5:34] we have to stay the weekend that's that's additional dollars that our Park

[5:38] system is is benefiting us with and so all in all over $300 million of benefits

[5:44] on an annual basis uh off of the 7580 million public tax money that we

[5:50] received next slide there's a there's that in a better

[5:56] description U next slide and so imagine your parts one back in

[6:02] 2004 before I came to bad news you guys would know better than I do we were a

[6:07] system of neighborhood parks and we were kind of at the at the at the end of our

[6:12] our our our our sort of last uh deal because we hadn't done anything in terms

[6:17] of raising taxes since 1966 and so fast forward to 2004 Park system is hanging

[6:24] on by a thread and the community um uh decided to pass the imag Parks tax an

[6:30] additional 3253 millage um that brought us from 11 Mill to to 14.4 Mill and so

[6:38] what that brought us is the 12 new community Parks uh Jackson and Zachary

[6:43] and Greenwood and Liberty Lagoon and brought out splash pads and dog parks a

[6:49] lot of things that introduced to the community uh conservation areas we

[6:53] improved every neighborhood park as a result of that including the realm of

[6:57] the tiger at the zoo the next slide talks about imagine your Parks

[7:02] 2 well this is some before and after from Imagine your Parks one uh Jackson

[7:08] Community Park you can see believe that's love it down there at the bottom

[7:12] and improvements that we've made at love it next slide talks about imagine your

[7:18] Parks two now we're talking 2014 to 2024 our normal sort of every year that

[7:25] ends in four or 10 year tax and so imagine your pars

[7:30] did a lot of Renovations we added air condition to a lot of facilities

[7:33] including love uh we were able to reimagine the zoo and do a lot of the

[7:38] Lakes programs and stuff like that and so look as a result of of U putting

[7:44] those plans together driven by Community input um ultimately uh the support of

[7:51] the community and in passing those taxes and then ultimately us implementing what

[7:56] the community provided Us in the plan um if my timing is right on here the next

[8:02] slide will show you what that results in uh which is us being recognized as the

[8:08] best park system in the country in 2022 and so look that's that's the blueprint

[8:13] that we're just trying to follow again and we're talk about imagin your Parks

[8:16] three get the input from the community um show what you've done on the previous

[8:22] TX in terms of keep promises talk about what you plan to do with the next

[8:27] hopefully the tax passes and then you implement the plan so we can be

[8:31] recognized again as we were in 2002 uh Phoenix Arizona Convention Center about

[8:39] 5,000 Park and Recreation professionals and so that does bring us to imagin your

[8:43] Parks 3 which is the next slide talks about uh our plans and our focus and our

[8:49] challenges we we do take on our challenges head on when we talk about

[8:53] how do we move forward sustainably that's my board is challenging us that

[8:58] that he every time you bring me the capital project you have to let me bring

[9:02] a maintenance budget along with that because as you

[9:05] know the a new capital project doesn't come with new maintenance dollars those

[9:11] maintenance dollars have to be shifted from your current maintenance budget and

[9:15] so we have to be efficient we have to look at taking some things offline so we

[9:19] can take care of the new and improved stuff uh that's going to be a challenge

[9:23] uh another focus is equity making sure everybody has access to a great par we

[9:28] can't talk about benefits that Park provide and then not try that provide

[9:33] that to to every area uh and so that's going to be a big focus of ours making

[9:38] sure we're focus on some areas that maybe we haven't historically focused on

[9:42] uh such as kobby Park you know Council woman Wells along with mayor Evans said

[9:47] we hadn't done anything there in a while and we went back and looked and we

[9:51] hadn't done anything in a while so we'll be doing that all across the parage

[9:54] where we haven't made Investments historically and making sure uh try and

[10:00] correct those past wrongs uh the next slide goes a little more in depth about

[10:05] the community engagement involved uh Katrina Joy our community team helped

[10:12] with a lot with this in terms of knocking on doors making sure people

[10:15] taking surveys uh more than anything we wanted everyone to have some input on

[10:20] this 10-year plan next slide and so when we talked we talked

[10:26] about the focus on equity and we people equity mean because obviously it means a

[10:31] lot of different things for a lot of different people but you can see some of

[10:34] the information we got back just um you know some of the Ada stuff making sure

[10:39] that everybody is able to to to play and enjoy a playground uh recognizing the

[10:44] historical importance uh all of our Parks have some kind of cultural history

[10:50] making it affordable um accessible hours all of those things came up when we

[10:55] talked about Equity next slide kind of talks about of themes that came out of

[11:01] uh the 10year plan increase connectivity making sure you take heat into

[11:05] consideration when you're building stuff uh improving the quality of of what we

[11:10] have um making sure conservation education remains a big thing and

[11:15] keeping up with national Trends next slide and so here are the five guiding

[11:21] principles uh welcoming everyone where we talk about Equitable quality

[11:26] connecting people that's that's some of the programming and Partnerships and

[11:30] making sure people are connected connected places now we're talking about

[11:34] connectivity in terms of trails and safe routs uh moving forward sustainably we

[11:39] talked about that a little bit uh sustainable operations and then the

[11:44] connected environment piece making sure we keep that a priority next

[11:49] slide we talked about how the needs vary depending on where you stay at in Baton

[11:54] Rouge we know East bat Rouge Parish we're parishwide agency but we do

[11:59] understand that different areas have different needs uh downtown has

[12:02] different needs than Urban has different needs than suburban and different needs

[12:06] than rural so we we wanted to take that into account As We Lay the plan out next

[12:12] slide and this is where we looked at the equity priority map we looked at a lot

[12:18] of these uh where the youth live adults live uh but we also looked at low income

[12:24] lack of high school diplomas uh obesity and and and risk of Cl you know a lot of

[12:30] areas don't have as many trees and so they aren't uh reaping the benefits and

[12:35] then we looked at some of our previous Investments uh the acreage per capita

[12:41] and this ultimately sort of highlighted those areas that that had the most needs

[12:46] as you can see a lot of it is in the inner city Baton Rouge uh Central

[12:50] probably is a lighter area because you have less of these things when we talk

[12:55] about lowincome and folks who don't have uh cars and uh some of the things that

[13:01] that happened and so that's how this map was uh developed also looked at

[13:05] investment over the last 10 years where we've been investing dollars which I

[13:10] also Imagine uh probably played a part in having Central a little lower than

[13:14] some of the other areas next slide and so here's the conundrum that

[13:20] we face um when we talk about the average Park system similar to brecks in

[13:26] terms of size and population um this is a eye openening slide which

[13:32] says that we have 38 more recreation centers than the average Park system our

[13:37] size we have more than 111 basketball courts more than the average Park system

[13:44] our size and so forth and so on you see some of the communities that we we

[13:49] compared to um in terms of our peers but but this is this this is a big challenge

[13:55] for us yes it provides a lot of amenities for a lot of people

[13:59] but as Dr Lawson in charge of our park operations can tell you it's a strain on

[14:04] our resources next slide talks a little bit more about the biggest strain that

[14:10] we have 56 recreation centers uh in our in our Parish that's more per capita

[14:17] than than pretty much anyone in the country except

[14:20] Minneapolis I like to always go down right to those bottom two numbers where

[14:24] we see 24 of them between 30 and 50 years old have three of them that that

[14:30] are older than me 50 years old and so that that becomes a challenge when you

[14:37] talk about 56 of them um over 20 of them without air condition over 27 of them

[14:45] older than 30 years old we did ask the community and our surveys our public

[14:50] meetings and you can see from the scientific survey a high percentage of

[14:55] residents 72% are supporter but fewer but higher quality facilities again we

[15:02] believe our community deserves these higher quality facilities we should not

[15:06] be fighting to to to renovate a 50 old facility no let's get a brand new

[15:12] facility like the one that we're in now but that also comes with we have to

[15:17] manage our priorities we can't have this and keep the old one that grandma taught

[15:23] us how to play basketball and you know and so those are going to be some

[15:27] challenging conversations when we talk about that 72% right because we know how

[15:31] it goes yeah I'm in favor of of better quality and less facilities we're just

[15:37] going to take mine my neighborhood and so a lot of 2025 will be focused on

[15:42] those kind of conversations where we talk to the community and say Hey you

[15:46] have three recreation centers all within the mile which one do we want to

[15:50] renovate which one do we want to make an outdoor which one do we you know and so

[15:54] those are tough conversations we'll be having all throughout 2025

[15:59] uh as how those conversations will go we'll talk about in the next

[16:03] slide it's our current model 56 recreation centers um next button will

[16:10] show where we're ultimately trying to go in terms of a tier model and so if you

[16:15] hit the next slide it talks about tier one recreation centers similar to how we

[16:21] did the community Parks right where where we uh we focused on quality across

[16:26] the Paris and we're talking about larger facil is wider range versus our tier two

[16:31] which may be smaller um and and may not have a basketball court and may just

[16:36] have for for for Gatherings and and meetings and those sort of things like

[16:40] that but also it's part of tier to these outdoor hubs uh which we've seen all

[16:45] across the country that we want to be able to bring uh to East bat mouge

[16:49] Parish next slide I believe we talk about some challenges that we have with

[16:54] the 50 old Recreation Center one is to small most of the time it's too hot uh

[17:01] and then it has to be staffed right you can't open it unless you have somebody

[17:05] there all of those are big challenges we have with some of our recreation centers

[17:10] the next slide talks about the benefits of some of these outdoor hubs where it

[17:16] can be used all day you don't have to have a staff person there it reduces um

[17:21] our maintenance cost and one that you don't have to have a staff person there

[17:24] you don't have to have a agback system there uh but you can build a outo

[17:29] facility state of theart outdoor facility that's better than a 50y old

[17:34] recreation center and I know that's going to be some of the conversations

[17:37] we're going to have I think we have some examples in the next couple of slides of

[17:41] what we're kind of talking about here I will say this one on the left I believe

[17:45] is in Iowa I think maybe that's a different climate but the one on the

[17:49] right I believe is in Austin or San Antonio so this is in similar climates

[17:54] that we have here in south Louisiana next slide kind of shows cou other

[17:59] examples pickle ball courts and cover playgrounds are some of the things we're

[18:04] going to have to move to when we talk about reducing our maintenance cost uh

[18:08] so that we can be more sustainable over the long course of the of the time next

[18:14] slide just a couple more examples next

[18:19] slide just a quick reminder about the environmental benefits um just talking

[18:25] about where we have trees and the benefits of that environment that we

[18:29] terms of cleaning the air and absorbing water and all of the wonderful benefits

[18:35] that uh Park and Recreation provide next slide and so this is an informative

[18:42] slide uh very educational slide when we talk about how bre is funded and so I

[18:48] know often times we talk about the number of times I see bre on my property

[18:53] tax bill and a lot of that has to be over the course of years we've added

[18:58] progressively you see we're at 14.4 now but when we were created in 1946 the

[19:03] legislation said we can Levy up to 18 we've never took that position you know

[19:08] we started out with 1 m in 54 quickly found out that wasn't enough and went to

[19:13] 1966 and added a couple more and it wasn't until 2004 when we added that

[19:19] last 20y year millage and so that brings in about 7880 million a year and then we

[19:25] have another 12 or so self-generated and then between grants uh some some

[19:32] donations and those sort of things make up the other 10% so roughly uh just

[19:38] round numbers1 million um in revenues that that obviously we we have to limit

[19:43] ourselves to $100 million in expenses the next slide talks about why that's

[19:49] important when we talk about November 5th and so we have that 20 year millage

[19:53] is up for Renewal along with our normal 10year millage that's up for renal as

[19:59] well over 65% uh over 50 million of that $80

[20:04] million in uh property tax revenue we receive is up um big part you know

[20:11] there's not an increase we're just talking about renewing two mes that we

[20:15] currently have in place um and I don't have to tell you guys who who look at

[20:19] budgets all the time uh what the impact would be if if we lost 65% of our budget

[20:26] and so that those are some important things to to mention and just a couple

[20:30] more slides and I'll open it up to questions uh October 5th Greenwood

[20:36] Community Park we're celebrating uh the first phase of not only the zoo um but

[20:42] the Bayou prominade which connects the zoo to the Greenwood Waterfront and last

[20:47] but not least at the end of the day we'll be celebrating brand new

[20:51] playground at greenw community park so please if you're available come out and

[20:55] celebrate with us a lot of fun games music activities on October

[21:02] 5th think one or two more mayor just some events that uh are happening around

[21:12] town you guys missed the Liberty Lagoon pool party that was this past Saturday

[21:20] uh Brew at the Zoo gim not let me get out of here if I don't mention Brew at

[21:24] the Zoo this Friday uh tickets still available crating 10 years of uh selling

[21:31] beer at the zoo just on that one day by just on that one

[21:36] day next slide just gives you a way to keep in touch with us sign up for our

[21:41] newsletter it's custom if you only want to hear about pickle ball just check

[21:46] pickle ball and you only get updates on pickle ball and then

[21:51] uh answer any questions you guys me I apprciate

[21:59] we appreciate you or I appreciate you um speak for I know um just the last 10

[22:06] years what you know have brought to the Central Community um I I definitely see

[22:11] the impact growing up in this area and you know a lot of times i' go play ball

[22:16] at plan par Shar area but really I feel like a lot of things have been brought

[22:21] to central and so uh thank you for that thank you for the playground par I just

[22:28] how you get the community involved in those surveys and you create the

[22:34] Strategic plan around what the community saying and then you have proof that you

[22:38] do that so up with the work I appreciate y thank you I appreciate that any other

[22:43] questions comments Council Cory I've always been a fan of

[22:48] bre and personal fan of the way you run it um but you know we're often Under

[22:53] Pressure to try and separate from BR that's been going on for a while and um

[22:59] when you guys rolled the village forward you made it hard on us we're going to

[23:03] get a lot more pressure because of that I really wish I would have done

[23:08] that it's going to make our job harder no we certainly understand your

[23:13] concern um um and so so you know we're we're not in charge of assessing

[23:20] property and so if your property value increase that that's certainly not on us

[23:25] and we would expect as our property value inre that we'll we'll pay a little

[23:30] more in taxes and so our decision to to roll forward um um by our calculations

[23:38] was was a was a minimal increase per household But ultimately um as I shared

[23:44] on that first slide we have a lot of stuff to take care of and um we we are

[23:49] limited in the resources so and and in one hand I have people telling me to

[23:54] defer revenue and on the other hand I have people telling me we're doing a

[23:58] good job of taking care of stuff and so that that's what makes it a challenge

[24:02] for us but we certainly understand you're not alone in your position we had

[24:07] some board members who had concerns as well but the board ultimately made that

[24:11] decision council member mckin right to to back up the temp point I know that

[24:16] you don't you guys aren't in the business of assessing properties but you

[24:20] are cognizant that properties do get assessed and that that uh those values

[24:25] will go up so as you push that seem like a like a double whammy to the homeowners

[24:31] um one one of the questions and I I think we've had these conversations a

[24:35] while back too is there a way to see the financials for bre for Revenue collected

[24:40] in central versus expenditures in central over let's say the 10 year time

[24:45] period yeah and again we uh we can pull that information again we

[24:51] we don't again we're parishwide so we're we're trying to serve people within the

[24:57] parish um um you know saying you know did we do

[25:03] this in central did we do this in Baker did we do this in Zach we look at where

[25:06] people are located and make sure that people have access and so uh you know

[25:12] and so so we can pull that information again part of the the benefit of having

[25:17] a large Park system is we don't have people dedicated to just Central ride we

[25:21] got people cutting grass in central as well as outside of central as well so

[25:25] pulling that information uh is a challenge but we do have people uh that

[25:30] work at Jackson Community Park that work at lovey Community Park where we can get

[25:34] the details on that sort of information and we certainly can work with the tax

[25:39] assessor to to determine um the amount that we receive from Central yeah that

[25:45] information is available that would be that would be definitely something to

[25:48] look at I'd love if you could share it with us yes we'll do that and we we're

[25:52] we're taking notes I know part of uh Joy is is making sure we follow up and we we

[25:57] respond uh to the entire council with that response thank you council member

[26:04] L thanks for coming out I appreciate the presentation um if I heard you right you

[26:10] have about $100 million budget right that's that's that's pretty healthy uh

[26:16] you all do a lot um like you said fairish wide um I think you're you know

[26:22] I think you do a fair job leading the group um leading the

[26:26] organization not I feel confident that there are some accountabilities in

[26:31] place um I think you're compensated very handsomely for what you do um on par

[26:38] with I think the the mayor Parish president uh who has who has a$1 billion

[26:43] doll budget and I guess I would I would just say that um if as I look at the

[26:49] Audits and the financials that were just posted in August of 24 for the year

[26:55] fiscal year 21 I've got concerns that you can make

[26:59] or your board can make educated decisions on how much revenue you need

[27:03] or don't need to take care of your parts because because your fiscal your your

[27:09] your your audit is three years old that you're that you just you know published

[27:13] so um I'm not sure what I was taking into consideration as as you rolled

[27:18] forward um it feels like it's a group that says we can get more let's get more

[27:25] and um that's concerned yeah no I appreciate your concerns and

[27:31] comments again on on the on the rad forward piece uh the 14.4 63 was was was

[27:39] voted on by the voters in in 2004 2014 and

[27:44] 2016 they they they voted on 14.4 63 and so that's part of that and and again

[27:51] look my board um has has made it a point to me in terms of uh uh disciplinary

[27:59] actions as as it results as it involves uh the timely filing of our audits our

[28:05] 21 audit was due in in June of 2022 and so it was completed in June of 24 so it

[28:12] is it is two years old um part of that was within our control in terms of not

[28:18] having things ready when the Auditors uh some of it was out of our control we had

[28:22] an untimely death of a CFO who was in charge of that process um there's been a

[28:28] the lack of professional accountants that's been talked about nationally

[28:32] everywhere um and so there were some things out of our control we you know

[28:36] sometimes we got we have stuff ready and the Auditors can't look at it for

[28:40] another two or three months because they have so look we understand the concern

[28:44] we know that that audit is one piece a big piece of the trust um that that that

[28:51] the community has for us but there are a lot of things we have in place to to

[28:56] ensure that we are collecting propably accounting for the way we spend

[29:01] dollars our internal audit division is is looking at uh PE card use and anytime

[29:08] you see a misappropriation uh of funds it's

[29:12] because we found that ourselves our Auditors have never found any

[29:15] mismanagement poor management um um we have findings just like most audits have

[29:21] findings we're rectifying those findings but um you know post the way in N Aville

[29:28] AER biggest accounting firm in in Louisiana has been doing our artists for

[29:33] the last 10 years if there was cause a concern to to raise a rave flag I don't

[29:39] think they would jeopardize their credibility to try and protect Bret for

[29:43] anything and so if there were you know things that needed to be brought to the

[29:47] legislative Auditor's attention um I don't think Posta nville isma Amper

[29:53] would would would skirt their responsibilities to do that and so look

[29:57] again we we know that's the trust that's all we have is the community's trust and

[30:02] we know that that audit is a big piece of that trust but but so is a lot of

[30:07] other things that we do in terms of delivering on the Promises saying we're

[30:11] going to fix a playground fixing that playground um trying to pick up trash

[30:16] and clean restrooms and cut grass all all of that is part of the trust uh

[30:21] relationship that we develop with the public and so we're working on cleaning

[30:25] all of that up including getting our a time finally but I appreciate your

[30:29] concern not every conversation is easy I appreciate you coming to the table and

[30:33] speaking secet thank you for having any other questions

[30:41] comments superintendent Wilson thank you for coming uh I want to preface my

[30:46] comments by saying I did in fact reach out to the superintendent and offer him

[30:51] an opportunity to come to my office and let's discuss this but he had to leave

[30:56] you out of town could meeting

[31:00] um I I mean we could sit here and say oh it's great you're doing a great job but

[31:05] look the fact is you're not the parks in central are suffering because of that um

[31:11] we've had an issue with sports park and it's got

[31:17] Central Sports Park Breck on the theme and yall least the sports park for a

[31:23] week long tournament without bathrooms because

[31:26] they were under construction whatever reason and nowhere in the planning of

[31:32] operation with a th000 employees and a100 million budget did anybody say hey

[31:37] we probably should get some bathroom trailers or something out there and I

[31:41] get a text from the mayor of Addis who said brother your Park is terrible over

[31:46] here people are complaining about the city of

[31:48] Cent and and that tournament organizer played until Tuesday and they said to

[31:53] hell it they left they went to Livingston took their tournament to the

[31:57] town of living we lost that multiple thousands of

[32:00] people that were going to be in the city of Cent spending their money because of

[32:04] poor poor manag brother do we have a solution for the

[32:09] rodeo what are we doing for bleachers do we

[32:14] know my issue with this is I've asked for information I asked months ago for a

[32:20] breakdown of the money that is spent in simple I I can figure out what's

[32:24] generated in simple based on the millage and the value of in

[32:28] central but I I don't get the cooperation that I would expect for the

[32:37] kind of operation that we're running I've got multiple flood projects we're

[32:41] working on and you have a park that serves absolutely no purpose on h a road

[32:46] except for trees it has a major conveyance on running across it and I

[32:52] need some of that part to save $22 million of central taxpayer money to be

[32:58] able to move a detention project from north of Cooper to south of Cooper but

[33:03] the cooperation I get for bre is we have to keep our

[33:07] Tru I just I don't see it brother I'm sorry and I'm not going to support going

[33:13] forward I'm going to I'm going to fight for Central it's my obligation I'm sorry

[33:17] to the bre employees that live in central but as your mayor I owe it to

[33:21] you to do what's right for this community uh I appreciate Reed I

[33:26] appreciate your whole team but we have issues out here that are not

[33:32] being addressed I went around I went to BR wood those are tennis

[33:37] courts uh there's no bathroom out there there's no I don't

[33:42] know what the building this far I don't really don't I don't know what's

[33:46] happening it has a air conditioner got Vines growing all over the side of the

[33:50] building um we I know Brett generates from simp close to $3 million a year and

[33:58] I don't see an equitable return over time and and you if you want to show me

[34:04] show me the the money bre put in not from State funds what has bre invested

[34:09] in central not from state capital Outlet not from FEMA not from money you got

[34:15] because of a disaster or something else the money you took from us show me where

[34:19] you spent that money in in central I think I think we we deserve to know that

[34:25] uh I mean it it feels good you know to say we got great Parks but if you go

[34:31] around to every park in Central the the tables at Indian Mound the paint's

[34:36] flaking off of them one of the seats is broken at the table I mean help I don't

[34:41] know where $100 million go but to not be able to properly maintain these parts we

[34:47] have a city of 62.8 s miles almost 200 Mi of Roads thousands of of feet or

[34:55] hundreds of miles of offroad ditches that we we maintain this whole city for

[35:00] a contract of 65 million a year we spent about another 4 million cutting grass

[35:05] and doing all the things that we do fixing cul Crossings enhancing the

[35:09] quality of life of our citizens and it allows us to to take an additional 15 to

[35:14] 20 million a year to do capital projects which is I'm not comparing me to you but

[35:19] I'm telling you with that 3 million and those few properties in central I know

[35:23] we can do a better job that's why I I wanted to work with with you to do a CA

[35:30] and say here you take that money because you have Legacy cost I get it you have a

[35:34] lot of administration but I can do better with

[35:39] a million and a half of the money you're taking and you can take that other

[35:44] million and a half and pump into your bureaucracy and let me invest that in

[35:48] our Parks I can get the grass cut I already

[35:51] got bids for 320,000 a year that's for every park in Central

[35:57] every property I mean the Frenchtown conservation part we talk about it's a

[36:02] great part I ain't been out there I ain't took a tour I go out there every

[36:06] now and again I went out there not long ago the gate was open rode back

[36:10] there and and this is the same thing for the rodo you spend a bunch of money you

[36:15] say getting ready for the rodeo I intentionally went out there the week

[36:19] leading up to the rodeo every day and around 2:00 I would go by there and

[36:24] everybody that was working out there was under the C

[36:28] sitting on the picnic tables when I went to the first town

[36:32] Conservation Area the weed eaters were on the back of the truck and everybody

[36:36] was sitting under the building you've got an accountability

[36:40] problem man and you have no control over the staff and they're fleecing the

[36:44] taxpayers by not doing the job that needs to be done in an efficient man now

[36:50] that's just my take and I wanted to deal with this with you in me and you public

[36:58] for so yeah yeah you you didn't share

[37:03] anything that you ever shared with me privately mayor and so I I don't I don't

[37:07] mind you speaking candidly mayor I I will have to speak up on behalf of of of

[37:12] the Thousand employees that work for Breen and the Investments that we've

[37:16] made in the city of central whether it's Jackson Community Park whether it's

[37:19] Central Sports Park whether it's loveed in the dog park whether it's kobby Park

[37:25] um you know we we feel confident that that that per capita we've invested in

[37:30] central more than any other area in the parish quite frankly and and if you need

[37:34] to see the numbers on that we can show you but look our challenges are no

[37:39] different than your challenges right you want to make sure um Everybody in the

[37:44] city of central is taken care of um and and and you we know that everybody

[37:49] doesn't contribute the same amount and so there are some areas that contribute

[37:54] more there are some areas that contribute less but every body deserves

[37:58] a nice Road everybody deserves a nice school and so we we don't necessarily

[38:02] look at who contributes what because if we looked at that then we're saying that

[38:08] those who don't contribute anything don't deserve anything and I and I just

[38:12] I just as a government agency you know I think our role is to to be there for

[38:18] those that need it and and part of those um who have who have not been able to

[38:24] put in as much as others have been able to put in uh quite frankly because they

[38:29] weren't allowed to put in at some point and so we're not going to hold that

[38:33] against folks because they don't put in as much as the city of central we know

[38:38] that there are areas in town that that need great parks and so again it's not

[38:43] we don't look at who put in and make sure that they get the same amount

[38:47] because we have words I'm just telling you I'm I'm

[38:52] just telling you our perspective man so that is our perspective and we can get

[38:56] you that information and it may show that one year we spent $10 million in

[39:01] central it may show one year we spent $1 million in Central and so that is the

[39:05] information and look we're we're fully transparent you can go look on our

[39:09] website right now all of our audits are listed all of our monthly financials are

[39:14] listed uh all of our budgets are listed we're not trying to hide any information

[39:19] and look we we work with anyone in terms of proposals uh we have a proposal with

[39:24] the Central Area Youth League they they use the par operate a league that's

[39:29] money we don't have to pay spend on operating a league they operate that

[39:33] League we take care of the parks and so we're open to proposals if it makes

[39:37] sense if it serves the citizens of of central better than we're serving them

[39:42] now uh not only do we have to look at that we're obligated to to take that

[39:47] into considerations when we're talking about um dealing with other people's

[39:51] money so so you know if and until we get a proposal to do things better we we

[39:57] keep working as hard as we can to serve the folks here in central as best we can

[40:02] and again we appreciate the opportunity to share information tonight do we have

[40:06] a solution

[40:10] for in May and so and so that Rodeo um again it's for a private

[40:17] nonprofit organization uh it's it's it's we we

[40:21] take care of shady like we take care of any other Park we cut the grass we clean

[40:25] the trash now somebody wants to hold a special event there like a rodeo uh then

[40:31] that that organization needs to to to contribute more that that organization

[40:36] needs to get Partnerships uh but but if we try to fund every private nonprofit

[40:43] organization that's not sustainable and so we've done that we we've we've

[40:50] spent dollars hosting that event we we don't get any return in investment we we

[40:56] don't get any dollars from the number of people come in to help us take care of

[41:01] the facility uh but yeah we're open to working with that organization as well

[41:06] as the city uh to get whatever it needs to get in order to have a successful

[41:12] rodo thank you any other questions or comments

[41:16] Council thank

[41:20] you okay next item three report from Central Police Department concerning law

[41:26] enforcement within the city of

[41:41] ESS make uh good evening counsel uh clight

[41:47] the assistant chief on behalf of police department I have some very extremely

[41:52] brief presentation uh or an address for you all as soon as I give the STA for

[41:57] August uh August 2024 stats uh your central police department responded to

[42:03] nine to six 911 hangup calls 19 aand installed vehicle with traffic ingestion

[42:10] complaints one alarm performed 154 business checks and neighborhood

[42:16] controls 11 damage to properties five disturbances two D eyes uh followed up

[42:23] on 14 prior calls responded to four h r four calls regarding improper vehicle

[42:30] operation uh one missing uh at or found at all or juvenile one narcotics

[42:37] investigation six overdoses 70 public assists including welfare checks and

[42:43] assisting other uh law enforcement agencies one report of a shots fired 13

[42:48] suspicious incidents vehicles or persons reports one theft 56 vehicle crashes and

[42:55] 10 uh parking lot crashes responded to a total of 225 calls which exclude traffic

[43:01] stops and business checks and neighborhood

[43:04] controls off of 240 stops we rode 155 tickets uh our reserves donated 38

[43:12] hours uh of service for the month of August uh as everybody's both aware and

[43:18] if you uh have a chance to glance your Channel 9 Channel 2 news app theirs

[43:24] about uh Rangers onway uh this even um coming here tonight I

[43:31] thought I would look back uh everybody is very familiar with the the two

[43:36] fatalities we've had the last 30 days but in addition to that 30-day 30-day

[43:41] look back from September 23rd Road crashes Aline we've had 62 from those 62

[43:48] crashes we sent six people to the hospital by ambulance off of those

[43:53] crashes four DWI arrests were made one was a third making it a felony one

[43:59] arrested off of one of those crashes was previously arrested by Central Police

[44:04] Department in July for DWI we have a problem in

[44:08] central um to explain the extent of the problem uh these are I believe eight

[44:15] each box represents a separate case obviously I'm not disclosing the name

[44:20] some of those are Active cases under prosecution uh these are uh blood test

[44:27] results from State Police off of blood draws We performed in connection to

[44:32] DWI uh it's never just one uh drug uh the

[44:40] predominant uh the two predominant drugs that we see uh methamphetamine which

[44:45] breaks down eventually into amphetamine uh and fental um some of the uh every

[44:52] now then you get the moon rock such as cocaine BL it's kind of a last from the

[44:57] past we don't see much anymore uh the the Delta 9 tetrahydro canol that's

[45:03] going to be your uh active ingredient from U from marijuana um each of those

[45:10] when it's a drugged driver that greatly increases the time we have to spend with

[45:15] that person okay because it does not result from a breath alcohol test it tox

[45:20] 9,000 test for one thing so that means we uh if we obtain consent we can go

[45:26] directly to a hospital obtain a blood draw Sub the blood draw Kit to State

[45:31] Police um after that uh or or aside from that if we don't get consent either

[45:37] because they refuse to give it or because they're

[45:40] unconscious uh we then have to apply for the warrant which we've done frequently

[45:45] uh thankfully uh technology today we can do it

[45:48] electronically um submit it through an online system and the judge can sign it

[45:54] I can tell you we've never had a a search warrant to

[45:57] uh we're pretty good at that um just to tell you what the problem the

[46:03] extent of the problem it was even uh hammer did to me a little bit more today

[46:08] on my way here I live in South Baton Rouge I'm coming down Perkins Road

[46:13] Perkins and ESS there's two turn Lanes one turn lane

[46:18] is not moving I thought it was a crash it wasn't the gash get out guy behind

[46:23] the wheels passed out get him out of the car get him off into the abandoned right

[46:29] a parking lot I got to get in the car to move it for

[46:33] him scare Jesus out of me is Daddy okay and I turn around I look and there's a

[46:38] six-year-old in the back seat U he back Police Department came

[46:44] had to call Ms make sure he was okay uh looked like uh he had a aerosol can in

[46:49] his hand he's probably that's that's a thing so um it's not VI incidents that

[46:57] result in death we sending people to hospitals for injuries from crashes and

[47:03] making DWI arrests uh and thankfully a few years ago we had the

[47:09] foresight we need to send all of our road officers to tox pety make sure

[47:15] certifi unfortunately now we not use the intoxilizer machine very often

[47:20] so

[47:24] um thank you

[47:28] Council council member you

[47:34] mention that data that you showed just now that was how far back that's uh

[47:39] during the past year arrests from

[47:44] DWI andoun counc members I just want to let you know so far this

[47:50] year Central PD it's count Sheriff's Office cor we worked over 520s

[47:57] so far this year and we're we're having some of these DWI that we're catching

[48:04] are that were working or 8:30 in the morning as well as at night you know

[48:11] that's not count the Goda ways as they call it U we have a problem with people

[48:17] paying attention we we are seeing a lot of people driving down the road taxi as

[48:23] they're driving and it's causing WS and we're trying to avoid those uh WS

[48:30] writing a lot of tickets to these people and we're writing these tickets in the

[48:35] school zones too we've been given some people breaks you know on on

[48:42] these spe tickets but it's it's fixing to stop because we're having too many

[48:46] rats especially in the subdivisions we're stopping people in these

[48:51] subdivisions that we've been accused of not patrolling but we're stopping these

[48:55] people going over the speed limit running the

[48:59] stop signs with the excuse of I live in here why do I have to

[49:04] stop and we get that excuse you and it doesn't make any sense

[49:10] to me what if that child walks out or that young driver backs out of the

[49:16] driveway because they didn't see because they Haven been driving long they don't

[49:20] they're not paying as much tension as an experienced driver well I live in here

[49:25] doesn't work we don't want anybody hurt and we need

[49:29] our public out here to pay attention to all this and report it especially we the

[49:36] the people drive passenger buses and just yesterday I I was I was in my

[49:41] personal vehicle and I was going down Jo Road 4:30 in the afternoon or 5

[49:46] somewhere around there and I was in my personal vehicle and someone went around

[49:50] the traffic passing in the media the pained media they're doing this every

[49:56] day and if we catch you trust me you're getting a ticket at very expensive but

[50:01] they're passing in this medium here and we need our public to report this get

[50:06] the license plate take a take a picture and I know you're driving take a picture

[50:11] of the license plate when it's stops at at the red light get it to us and we're

[50:16] having we've been seeing a lot of people they're throwing garbage out of the

[50:20] windows they're stopping at a red light opening the door and dropping it on the

[50:25] ground and driving off take a picture of it contact us get the LI number we will

[50:30] charge them thank

[50:34] you how many Reserve officers do we have well we're down to only a couple now we

[50:41] only have I in July there was only 38 hours yes sir we only have we only have

[50:46] a couple reserves now we're trying to recruit more because we have hired a

[50:51] couple people that are uh as part-time and our numbers we we we'd

[50:58] like to find some more Reserve officers we only have two think we

[51:08] have we are down uh in fact one of our our biggest performers so to speak uh

[51:15] was also Russell Williams who transferred part-time status and that

[51:19] really cut cut into that number uh now though if you R take somebody wants to

[51:26] they that's I tell them that's fine as soon as I can find you in class to go to

[51:31] I'll see you six and a half months later that's a huge commitment for unpaid

[51:36] position so and it's it'sa seven months it's two

[51:41] days a week and every weekend for seven months it's hard to get somebody to do

[51:45] that especially and we get people that want to be reserved but they work ship

[51:49] work well lot the guys there at night so and if they miss one day they put them

[51:56] out they might get excuse for one they sick

[52:00] if they miss them days they put them out of the Academy I hate to spend that

[52:04] money to put somebody through the academy that's not make you know it's

[52:08] it's a lot different than it was back years ago when like when Tim started the

[52:13] academy is is different now and uh it's it's it was as many

[52:21] days months yeah every other weekend but it's

[52:25] every weekend now I mean there's a lot more you been doing years yeah You' been

[52:30] doing it 30 years a long time but if you know a good recruit that wants to be a

[52:37] reserve I mean you could be a reserve even though you're on coun reserve

[52:42] position I don't know about you Chief are we are we keeping track of

[52:48] the accidents and DUIs that are involving people that are just passing

[52:53] through Central like traveling we'd have to we'd have to do a little

[52:59] bit more footwork on and passing through where for I mean but every DWI I mean

[53:04] it's in the report um and you'd be surprised we have quite a few of them

[53:10] from here yeah no I'm sure I was just it's and it's it's a shame and just like

[53:16] these two fatalities we had there was two within a week and they were both

[53:21] within a mile and 610 of their home one was going home and one was going to work

[53:26] and unfortunately we lost one of our city workers for one of them I'm going

[53:30] speak to that minute and and it's unfortunate but we need to we need to

[53:35] pay more attention to these stop signs these roadways get off the

[53:41] phone thank all right next we have a report from ibts

[53:57] forts um I would like to thank you all um for your condolences this past week

[54:04] um as you all know we lost a member of our family Javon Quinn and I stress the

[54:10] the hour because ibts in the city of central are one uh we represent you all

[54:18] in the field and outside the field we wear shirts that says city of central on

[54:23] our backs and we have pens on our impels that as much and everywhere we go um our

[54:30] reputation follows us and it represents you all so I just wanted to stress that

[54:35] I know there was some chatter um this past week regarding that but I just want

[54:40] to let you all know that our partnership is beyond a contract and it's more and

[54:45] it's more about family than anything else so I just want to stress that

[54:51] before I do our presentation so with our public works for the past month

[54:56] we had a total of 266 issued per orders uh we completed

[55:03] 273 171 was generated from August 1st to August 31st year to date we have

[55:11] completed a total of 571 um excuse me

[55:16] 431 of 571 orders we currently have 140 that are still pending

[55:26] regarding our planning donning we have been very busy regarding that it's

[55:31] really truly does not indicated in our report but we have text commitments that

[55:35] are going to come before you all that's totally going to reamp the way we do

[55:39] business here in the city of central um you all have saw a little bit of that

[55:45] tonight in what you passed earlier regarding our proposed

[55:49] UDC um flood plane management we had four flood zone determination requests

[55:55] and four then disturbing permits issued regarding permits and inspections we had

[56:02] 103 permits issued and in cold enforcement we are still in that season

[56:07] where we're still dealing with a lot of high grass and

[56:12] rubbish regarding roadside drainage um as you can see on the screen there

[56:17] gremley Oaks subdivision U we could cleared out

[56:22] 5,300 5,436 fet of

[56:27] excavation regarding the drains our off-road project on Indian Mound you can

[56:33] see the type of work we've done there and regarding also for our

[56:40] roadside drainage cleaning um we got Hunley Avenue and Downey

[56:45] Drive do you all have any questions um regarding the um sign

[56:53] permit there only people can only be granted a sign permit four times a year

[56:59] is that correct temporary garage garage uh temporary

[57:04] signs I I got an email from a couple of business owners that they needed a

[57:11] different type of sign they couldn't get one the city only gives them four times

[57:15] a year so I wasn't really sure we tried to in our code it limits the amount of

[57:23] of tber signs you have for a business and that's only you can only have it

[57:27] four times a year for 14 days but they can go get they can go and get a

[57:34] sign okay that's what that's what I told them but I want to dou check and then I

[57:40] saw the um in July and August y' had a 75% completion rate um I know it's

[57:46] usually in like the 90 percentage is that because of the storm or I didn't

[57:51] know what was going on for July and a is Storm pick up count in the qus or is

[57:57] that above and beyond um I would attribute some to the storm if correct

[58:02] uh we do have a h volume when we do have high rain events we did have a certain

[58:08] period of time where we had a lot of rainfall uh for a couple weeks uh so

[58:14] that does affect a lot of our our operations at time we had a shake up in

[58:18] Personnel well ramp operations so did that that affect the

[58:25] well I look I'm not so sure some downa

[58:32] should I don't think the number of work our completion dates

[58:37] is the amount completed somewhat accurate when we were

[58:43] doing R notes uh I had we had two sink holes that had

[58:49] fences around you know we put orange Fen up

[58:52] back in November and

[58:58] so you know there's issues about accountability that I'm not

[59:08] sure no the current stuff but in June July and August you have a l a decrease

[59:15] because we turn into public for we reorganized how we do things so it

[59:21] shifted the workl Chang some processes

[59:26] want to go out just so there's some things shed so that

[59:32] may see differ speaking to the sign perms I

[59:36] would like to see and I don't know I've got to check I would like to see us go

[59:40] to you get six a year and you know extend the

[59:46] dates because we are our small businesses do need some but the problem

[59:51] is if you put a sign out and just leave it there does work anyway because it's

[59:58] your psych it's just like any other new sign you notice it but then as you go by

[1:00:04] over and over diminishes what it does and so it would beho the businesses to

[1:00:09] to do multiple different types of temporary signs anyway to excite

[1:00:15] attention believe me my family is buiness

[1:00:19] own a lot of heat from him code enfor and S so I get it

[1:00:28] and we have started an initiative uh to address some of those uh Perman

[1:00:34] temporary signs that been left in businesses um we do have only one coose

[1:00:39] enforcement officer who does a great job but he's man of one uh so we're trying

[1:00:47] to clean up the city at your direction um if there is a text amendment that we

[1:00:52] can change that better serve the community please just inform and

[1:00:57] get I need

[1:01:04] to thank you any other questions council member Le I was just going to say that

[1:01:09] as I as I looked through all of the work orders earlier today a lot of them seem

[1:01:14] to be maybe standing work quarters uh that are just kind of reminder to go

[1:01:18] check certain areas for litter or um you know or something to see if

[1:01:24] there's an issue there some of uh obviously somebody different probably

[1:01:29] put the data together so some of that could be uh someone counting those

[1:01:33] standing workers stuff that we have to we have a

[1:01:39] PM work that comes up to notify for this yeah and and it's in

[1:01:44] that it's in the big long you know the long list that was provided with the

[1:01:47] report but um some of not all of them but some of them say you no work needed

[1:01:52] or something like that so they may not have been closed out

[1:02:03] all right next item five distribution of the city of central accounts payable

[1:02:07] dispersement report fuel report deposit for period of August 1 2024 through

[1:02:12] August 31 2024 six distribution of financial highlights for May of 2024

[1:02:18] seven other business one public comment no cards were turned in we'll go to item

[1:02:22] number two announcements Mr M want to mention um as it relates to uh

[1:02:30] van uh the gentleman that lost his life Friday um his wife uh is is very

[1:02:38] gracious for the the support she's received emotionally from us in the city

[1:02:43] uh but we're we're hoping to put together a fundraiser to help them pay

[1:02:47] for some final expenses um so just be aware of that uh

[1:02:53] just try to help them out um Cory is dealing with some things as soon

[1:02:58] as he's back to to being able to focus we're going to put something

[1:03:03] together you know part of this job is fixing roads and ditches the other part

[1:03:09] is dealing with people I met with our cruise Monday morning um to reassure

[1:03:15] them you know even though the chain has lost a link and it's going to get very

[1:03:20] tight kind of grind a little bit we are going to adjust

[1:03:25] seem to be very receptive ibts made geve councils

[1:03:29] available so I commend our team at ibts for always being moment to go above and

[1:03:34] beyond for us the fact that while we do have a contract so many things we do is

[1:03:40] because of our relationship and our piece of paper so thank any other

[1:03:44] announcements

[1:03:47] anyone we have a motion to adjourn by council member Meer second by

[1:03:53] council member mcken am

9.24.24 Council Meeting - Part 3

Transcript