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Town Meeting Minutes – Monday, June 14, 2004

June 14, 2004

Town of Brusly
Brusly, Louisiana

The regular meeting of the Town of Brusly was held this date, June 14th, 2004 at the Brusly Town Hall. Mayor Joey Normand called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m., and requested that all electronic devices be turned off or silenced. Council Member Bourgeois requested a moment of silence in memory of President Ronald Reagan, then led the Pledge of Allegiance. A roll call by Town Clerk Jules Lefeaux determined the following officials present:

Mayor: Joey Normand
Council Members: Daryl Babin, Shane Andre’, Ronda Perrault,
Joanne Bourgeois, Chris Kershaw
Town Attorney: Jamie Fontenot

Mayor Normand introduced Judge William Dupont, a candidate for District Judge in the 18th Judicial District, who spoke relative to his candidacy.

A motion to approve the minutes of the Town’s Regular Meeting of May 10, 2004 was made by Council Member Bourgeois, seconded by Council Member Andre’, and passed with no opposing votes.

The meeting minutes of the Planning and Zoning Committee, which contained a recommendation to reject the Preliminary Plat of Back Brusly Acres, were reviewed. A motion was made by Council Member Bourgeois, seconded by Council Member Babin, to accept the recommendation for rejection of the preliminary plat. A roll call vote by Town Clerk Lefeaux found all Council Members in favor.

Mayor Normand recommended approval of a servitude variance requested by Mr. Keith Thibodeaux, to allow a fence to be built on the drainage servitude at the rear of the property. A motion to approve the variance was made by Council Member Perrault, seconded by Council Member Babin and passed with no opposition.

A motion to appoint The West Side Journal as the Town’s official journal was made by Council Member Babin, seconded by Council Member Bourgeois, and passed with no opposing votes.

Mayor Normand presented a list of surplus Town equipment and a letter from Police Chief Emmett Worley declaring one 1999 Ford Crown Victoria police car surplus and authorizing its sale. Minimum sale prices were suggested by Town Clerk Lefeaux for each surplus item. A motion was made by Council Member Perrault and seconded by Council Member Andre to declare the list of items as surplus, to be sold at auction on July 20th; the motion passed with no opposition.

Speaking for the Personnel Committee, Council Member Perrault advised that new job descriptions for the clerical staff had been drafted and were being reviewed. Mayor Normand thanked her and contributors for the recent Newsletter.
Under Recreation Committee business, Council Member Bourgeois announced the Town of Brusly placed first in District VI, Category B of Cleanest City competition following judging on April 2nd and placed second in Category B judging on May 11th in state competition. She thanked everyone who helped our Town look great: Brusly residents who gave extra attention to their yards and gardens, all who helped with organized clean-up efforts, and especially our Maintenance Crew, which includes Supervisor “Butch” Leger, Curtis Allen, Horace Lee, Anthony Scott, and Brad Dupont. They worked “above and beyond” their regular duties to prepare public areas of the Town. Council Member Bourgeois also gave special thanks to the Garden Club and all who helped with the reception which followed the judging and the Brusly Historic Marker dedication ceremony on May 11th. The Historic Marker recognizes Brusly as the oldest settlement in West Baton Rouge Parish. The text of the marker is written in French on one side and English on the other. It is a gift from the West Baton Rouge Historical Association to the Town of Brusly.

Council Member Bourgeois also noted that the Brusly Lions Club celebrated 50 years of service to the community with a party on Sunday, April 25th. The program featured a presentation showing work of the Lions’ Club members throughout the years. She congratulated the organization and thanked them for their gifts to our community.

Under Grant Committee business, Mayor Normand announced the award of a Rural Development Grant totaling $25,000. It includes $8,200 for the recreation area, $13,800 for police equipment, and $3,000 for improvement of the Pecan Street intersection with S. LaBauve.

Mayor Normand led the discussion of proposed Ordinance No. 10 of 2004, containing budget adjustments for the General Fund for the current fiscal year. He opened a public hearing and invited citizen input. The public hearing was closed after no comments were made and a motion to adopt Ordinance No. 10 of 2004 as stated was made by Council Member Perrault and seconded by Council Member Kershaw; it was adopted with a unanimous vote that included a statement by Council Member Kershaw: “I agree that we need to do this, but I would ask respectfully that the Chief, in next year’s budget, try to watch overtime even closer than we did this year, as the bulk of this budget adjustment is for overtime; so, I would ask that you try and do whatever you can to keep police overtime at an absolute minimum.”

Mayor Normand led the discussion of proposed Ordinance No. 12 of 2004, to make appropriations for the expenses of the Town of Brusly General Fund as authorized in the Budget for next year, 2004-2005. The Mayor announced that copies of the budget are in everyone’s packet and there was a very productive committee meeting a week ago, in which some changes were made to the original budget (dark borders outlined the changes). The biggest change was $100,000 added to Special Projects—Roads. He opened a public hearing and invited citizen input. The public hearing was closed after no comments were made, and a motion to adopt Ordinance No. 12 was made by Council Member Kershaw and seconded by Council Member Andre’; it was adopted with a unanimous vote.

Mayor Normand led the discussion of proposed Ordinance No. 13 of 2004, to make appropriations for the expenses of the Town of Brusly Sewer System as authorized in the Budget. He opened a public hearing and invited citizen input. The public hearing was closed after no comments were made and a motion to adopt Ordinance No. 13 was made by Council Member Bourgeois and seconded by Council Member Babin; it was adopted with a unanimous vote.

Council Member Andre’ introduced Ordinance No. 14, to set the pay of all elected officials beginning January 1, 2005. A written draft of the proposed Ordinance was provided by Town Clerk Lefeaux.

Resolution No. 9 to appoint Mr. Don DeVille, CPA, as our official Auditor for fiscal year 2003-04 was adopted upon motion by Council Member Bourgeois and second by Council Member Perrault; it was adopted with a unanimous vote.
The report of the Brusly Volunteer Fire Department was given by Assistant Fire Chief Fred McKenzie. In May, there were six first aid calls in the Town and 9 first aid calls outside the Town. There were two fire calls in the town and two fire calls outside the Town. There were four mutual aid calls answered. The total calls for the month of May 2004 was 23, and 143 calls for the year. Mr. McKenzie distributed the Brusly Fire Department’s Hurricane Readiness Packet. Mayor Normand commented that it is a neat, helpful tool, and recommended it to citizens. Mr. McKenzie advised that the fire insurance rating continues to be a “3” and Chief Mike Alleman will give details of it at the next district meeting. Mayor Normand advised that firemen were filling sandbags during the recent very heavy rainstorm and were needed for other emergency duties; so, he called Sheriff Mike Cazes who sent inmates to fill the sandbags. He advised that Deputy Ronnie Graham should be contacted the next time we need sandbags and handed out a flyer with his name and phone number for quick reference. Assistant Fire Chief McKenzie also reported that the Department had participated in a radioactive material decontamination drill with success.

Police Chief Emmett Worley gave the Police Department report for the month. He stated that there were 10 wrecks, one battery, three assaults, six damages to property, one disturbing the peace incident, two thefts, 8 alarms, five assistances to other agencies, one 911 call, one drug arrest, 18 traffic arrests, one domestic call, two juvenile matters, and 20 miscellaneous calls, for a total of 81 calls and 406 traffic citations issued. There were several offenders who paid their bench warrant fines as a result of Officer Dexter Walker contacting them by telephone.

Mayor Normand gave the Mayor’s report for the month. He explained his recent letter concerning BFI pickups of trees; it is still a free service, but tree removal contractors must cut the trees in small enough pieces for BFI equipment to pick them up. He announced that the Parish’s road contract with F. G. Sullivan Co. is almost over, so he met with them concerning overlays. A citizen on Main Street agreed to clean up his property after meeting with the Mayor. A new policy provides that persons requesting help with traffic citations must meet personally with the Mayor; area officials have been advised of this. Mayor Normand advised everyone to talk to governmental officials in objection to the reformulated gasoline requirement. Mr. Dick Johnson of FEMA is attempting to find homes that were recently flooded, to help with damages; call the Town Hall to report such.
Under Remarks of Personal Privilege, Mr. “Petit” Kershaw of the W.B.R. Parish Council advised that the Council will meet at the Riley Building in Addis on June 24th; citizens are invited to tell their ideas on a community center. Many seats on the Parish Council will be open in the next election for Council members due to term limits. Mr. Kershaw invited citizens to attend Council meetings. Mayor Normand thanked the Parish for making heavy equipment available to Brusly. Mr. Richard Johnson stated that the police chief’s name should not appear on police cars; the chief stated this matter will be taken care of at no expense to the Town. Council Member Chris Kershaw advised that many hours were spent last week reviewing the budgets and thanked Mayor Normand, Town Clerk Lefeaux, Accounting Clerk Debbie Berthelot, Chief Worley and Lt. Bryan Viator, Maintenance Supervisor Leger and Assistant Fire Chief McKenzie for their hard work in preparing the budgets. Regarding hurricane plans, Council Member Kershaw described the intensive and impressive planning sessions the Fire Department uses to prepare for hurricane emergencies. Town Clerk Lefeaux described how many people contributed in a cooperative effort to develop the budget and how the budget process showed wonderful cooperation by all.

Mayor Normand announced there will be an auction of used, surplus equipment and a vehicle at 9:00 a.m. July 20th, to be conducted by Town Clerk Lefeaux. The July Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 6th, due to Fourth of July holidays. Mr. Reggie Williams, Director of W.B.R. Parish Recreation, will sponsor a football camp with about 10 professional football players, on July 7th, 8th, and 9th from 4 PM to 7 PM at Brusly High School.

A motion was made by Council Member Andre’ to adjourn, seconded by Council Member Perrault. The motion was unopposed. The meeting ended at 7:25 p.m.

/S/ Joey Normand, Mayor /S/ Jules Lefeaux, Town Clerk

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