VILLAGE OF

MOORINGSPORT

The Village of Mooringsport held a Regular Town Council meeting on December 12, 2024. The Meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Mayor William Moore, Chief McChartey lead the Invocation and Mayor Moore led the Pledge. Verification of Quorum: Ashley Anderson, William Moore, Tyler Gordon, and Joshua Welch were all present. Tyler Gordon made the motion to adopt the agenda, and Joshua Welch seconded the motion. All were in favor. A motion was made by Tyler Gordon and seconded by Ashley Anderson to approve the November 2024 Council Meeting Minutes; all were in favor. The mayor then called for a motion to approve the November 2024 financial report, Tyler Gordon motioned, and Ashley Anderson seconded. Ayes: 2 Nays: 1. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Patricia Priddy- spoke on behalf of those in the mobile home park about needing the Dollar store. Bobbie Ann Hutchins- Spoke in favor of the Dollar Store and spoke about the overgrown yards in Mooringsport. Sarah Welch- Spoke on behalf of the Court being rebuilt, and the people need to be guaranteed that it’s going to happen. She knows it has been talked about but wants a written guarantee somewhere that the funds from the sale of Dollar General are going to be used to rebuild the basketball courts and that it is done in a timely manner. She also asked that a letter be posted at the basketball courts to show that they are being tore down and will be rebuilt later at whatever location the Council decides. We just need something to guarantee that this is going to happen instead of just a verbal agreement. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: It is a blessing to see so many people here, thank you for coming. We are meeting with LRWA on January 7, 2025. Blanchard has increased our rates starting January 2025. LRWA will be here to make sure we get out new rates right. We are going to make sure they are right, and we are charging everyone equally. As everyone here already knows we suffered a major leak last month which caused a major repair. It has been a bad month as far as water is concerned. AT&T is running fiber optics and the notified SWEPCO, themselves, gas companies, and never notified Mooringsport Town Hall. WATER REPORT: Discussed in Mayor’s comments. POLICE DEPARTMENT: 18 Violations since the last meeting. The chief has been training all week, and our officers are finishing their post certification training for the year. OLD BUSINESS: Public Hearing on Ordinance number 11 of 2024 being an Ordinance to sell immovable property 201636-002-0070-00 after the property being declared surplus and no longer available for public use. The mayor stated it is the Basketball Court. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Patricia Priddy- Feels like getting a thriving business in this town where somebody can walk in and get a can of tuna fish and something to feed their kids is vital. A lot of people in this town do not have bank accounts, let alone a car to drive to Shreveport. We have people having to get rides to Doctor appointments. I am sorry we have a problem with the piece of property that holds the basketball courts. At this point we need to be concerned about how many other people will benefit from having a thriving source of revenue for this town. Bobbie Hutchins- I think it would be really helpful to a lot of people, if we had a Dollar store, we could walk to it and get necessities. Wesley- I want a Dollar store for a couple of reasons myself, aging population, and limited income. It would be great to have a Dollar store we could get to right down the street, it never fails when I get home from work my wife needs something from the store. That is 40 minutes I do not have with my children driving to a store, and that is time I can spend with them. I see a lot of positives coming from it like jobs and money and we need them here. Phillip Holland- asked the location of the Dollar store. The mayor stated it is going where the basketball court is now, right next to the Trash facilities. Mr. Phillip stated that it is right across from his property that it is going to be a lot of traffic coming through there and he would like some police presents to help the traffic and people go 50 to 60 MPH through there. He stated he had to call DOC to put a stop to it as well and they did. I want police presents there now and then. James Pyle- stated he wanted to brag on the Chief of Police stopping a sand truck that comes up and down the street, and the next time he came through he was going about 15 MPH. 1. Ordinance #11 of 2024- an Ordinance to sale immovable property with Parcel Number 201636-002-0070-00 after property being declared surplus and no longer needed for public use. Tyler Gordon made the motion and Ashley Anderson seconded. All was in favor. 2. Ordinance #12 of 2024 being an ordinance to increase the water rates for the year 2025. Alderman Welch questioned passing the Ordinance with the wrong rates. Ashley Anderson motioned to postpone the Ordinance until we get the new water rates in January, Joshua Welch seconded. All was in favor. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Resolution #19 of 2024 being a resolution amending resolution 15 of 2024 declaring the Village of Mooringsports Courts dates for the year 2025. Motioned by Joshua Welch and seconded by Tyler Gordon. Ayes:2. No response: 1. 2. Resolution #20 of 2024 being a resolution to authorize mayor William Moore to sign and execute a Cooperative endeavored agreement with Louisiana Preservation Alliance concerning two tracts of immovable property owned by the Village of Mooringsport being previously known as the Mooringsport Masonic Lodge. Darren stated- instead of running the funds through the town it will be done through the preservation alliance. So, they will take care of all the billing and everything. He wanted to make sure the Town is protected if anything happens. Alderman Welch asked how much money has been spent on this property since the town got it? The Attorney stated: attorney fees and the recording of the deed is all he is aware of, and they mayor agreed. Tyler Gordon made the motion Ashley Anderson seconded. All was in favor, 3. Resolution #21 of 2024 giving the mayor permission to cash a CD to pay the $26,000 plus water bill. The mayor stated that we might have to pull the CD, we think we have found a way we will not have to do that. However, just in case we have to be ready, so we do not have to pay a late fee. Ashley Anderson motioned, and Tyler Gordon seconded. Ayes:2. Nays: 1. 4. The Board of Alderman will consider passing bylaws of Louisiana One call system. Joshua Welch made the motion and Tyler Gordon seconded; All was in favor. COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN: Ashley Anderson: Thanked everyone for coming and everyone that spoke on behalf of the Dollar General and thanked the Chief for his hard work. Tyler Gordon: No Comment. Joshua Welch: Finds it disturbing we have to take out investments to pay water bills. We have a lot more money going out than coming in. The past few years he has been there he has tried to tell everyone that every decision that is made must follow the law to the letter. I always get the response that CPA says its okay, or the attorney says its okay, and at some point, that is not going to be good enough. September the attorney told us we could not purchase the land behind the school, that we had to follow the proper procedures, and it was done anyway. There was a 10,000 CD that was transferred out to purchase said property. Who had that authority? There was a motion and an amendment to that ordinance. That only authorized the negotiation. It did not authorize the signature. It was said we were buying it for parking for teachers and Library visitors. Why should the town be purchasing property for the School Board to use. It is not even owned by the town, its owned by the school board, its leased to the town. That is another 10,000 we have just thrown away, that we could have used to pay the water bill. I want to make it public to everyone here it is my intention to request Louisiana Legislature Auditor to Investigate and audit the actions of the Village for the past 3 years. This includes the issuance and collection of traffic citations, mayors court, all financial transactions, including the explorer payments, employee payments, employee benefits received, council member actions, and possibly even a Louisiana bar association review. Those are my intentions, and I plan to follow through with that. Just like the CD and Land being purchased without authorization, that’s just more icing on the cake that things have been done in this town illegally. Some point its got to stop, I also encourage the Village to sign up through the LMA to learn about the budget act, public records law. Suggest we have a workshop for free where LMA comes out and does a class and we can ask questions or go online and look at the law book yourselves for free. Everyone is responsible for their actions and not the professionals we lean on for advice. Joshua Welch made a motion to adjourn the Meeting at 7:15 p.m. Tyler Gordon seconded it. All was in favor.

THE CADDO CITIZEN: Janaury 9, 2025

015-245

Cost of Notice: $174.88