Local Weather Advisory – Lincoln Parish

LINCOLN PARISH OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Kip Franklin
(318) 513-6200
kfranklin@lincolnparish.org

Lincoln Parish, Severe Weather Awareness

The potential for severe weather for Tuesday to early Wednesday morning may expand eastward to include the northwest and north central portions of Louisiana. In addition to hail, damaging winds and tornados the threat of flash flooding will be a concern with any high precipitation supercells or multi-cell storms forming in lines. Any tornadoes that may develop may be rain wrapped making them hard to spot during daylight hours.

The National Weather Service, Shreveport has a special webinar scheduled for Tuesday morning at 10 am. Local officials will tune in to the webinar to stay advised of the severe weather threats and parish residents are urged to tune in to local media venues for updates in weather conditions. For Ruston area residents, please heed the warning to seek shelter indoors should the City of Ruston Outdoor Warning System be activated. Lincoln Parish has also implemented the Alert FM system for severe weather and local emergency notification. Residents may purchase an Alert FM receiver at Hi-Tech Computers at 715 West California Ave. or download the Alert FM App. It is available for both Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) and Google Android devices. The App can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes (http://imap.tv/2k) or Google Play (http://imap.tv/fmgp) stores. In-App purchases are optional for both versions.

Lincoln Parish Police Jury Tuesday

The Lincoln Parish Police Jury (LPPJ) will meet Tuesday, May 14, Lincoln Parish Court House, third floor. Committee meetings begin at 6:30 PM.

Solid Waste and Recycling Committee – 6:30 PM

Agenda

This committee will consider authorizing appraisals of proposed centralized collection sites for waste bins, and will also consider declaring surplus several pieces of equipment and trucks.

Full Jury – 7:00 PM

Agenda

First up, the jury will hold a public hearing for the FY 2014-2015 Louisiana Community Development Block Grant (LCDBG) program. Among the items citizens may discuss is the funding level and range of projects.

See here the public notice.

Also, a resolution will be considered to adopt selection criteria for the administrative consultant and engineering services.

See here the resolution.

The jury will also take action on bids for asphalt and authorize advertisement for hot and cold mix for the next six months.

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Fire Tax Defeated in South Louisiana

Ascension Parish voters reject fire tax proposal

Voters in Ascension Parish’s Fire Protection District 1 rejected a property tax and parcel fee on Saturday that would have provided full-time firefighters to most of the parish’s east bank.

According to complete but unofficial results on the Secretary of State’s website, 3,346 voters, or 58 percent, voted against the tax while 2,411 voters cast votes in favor of the proposal.

The 15-mill property tax proposal with residential and commercial parcel fees was expected to generate more than $4 million a year to provide the six volunteer fire departments in the district with full-time firefighters and replace existing equipment, vehicles and upgrade the fire stations.

The plan called for hiring 36 full-time firefighters — two each for three shifts at every station. There also would have been a shift captain for each shift, part-time supervisors to oversee volunteer firefighters and a central office, including a district fire chief.

Vienna Mayor Thanks Thompson for Fire Board Service

In a letter earlier this week, Town of Vienna Mayor Walter Carpenter thanked Lincoln Parish Fire Protection District No. 1 Board of Commissioners Chairman Tom Thompson for his service on the board.

The Village of Vienna appreciates your willingness to serve as the Village’s representative on the Lincoln Parish Fire Commission. It is understood that serving on any board or commission is sometimes a thankless and unappreciated job. You have performed the duties and responsibilities of your appointed position with honor and dignity and for that the Village is grateful.

See here the letter.

Thompson was replaced Monday in a vote by the town’s council.

LP Fire Chair Thompson Fired

Tom Thompson, controversial long-time chairman of the Lincoln Parish Fire District No. 1 Board of Commissioners, was tonight replaced by the Town of Vienna’s Council.

Replacing Thompson will be Vienna Councilman Keith Brasuell.

Voting for Brasuell were Billy Talton and Linda Graham, with Brasuell abstaining. The action came at a special called meeting of the council at the Vienna Town Hall.

Last week, Vienna Mayor Walter Carpenter received an opinion by Third Judicial (Lincoln, Union Parishes) District Attorney Robert Levy that indicated Thompson’s term expired at the end of 2012.

See here the document.

Carpenter said that they appreciated Thompson’s service on the fire board, but that “the village has decided to go a different route.”

Thompson had become increasingly controversial over the past year, often firing off harsh letters to fellow board members, Lincoln Parish police jurors, and area mayors.

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LP Fire’s Thompson Wrecks AG Opinion

A law cited by Lincoln Parish Fire District No. 1 Board of Commissioner’s presumed Chairman Tom Thompson may result in the untended consequence of wrecking a Louisiana Attorney General (AG) opinion that he had solicited.

In a 3/27/13 letter, the AG opined:

…pursuant to La. R.S. 42:64(A)(1), the Mayor of Simsboro may not simultaneously hold a position of Commissioner on the Lincoln Parish Fire District No. 1 Board of Commissioners.

See here the opinion.

Thompson had challenged the legitimacy of Village of Simsboro Mayor Willie Hendricks’ appointment to the board because of the state’s prohibition against dual office holding.

See here Thompson’s 3/21/2013 letter to Hendricks.

See also a 3/21/13 Thompson letter to Village of Downsville’s board member Layne Parnell.

However, in a 3/26/13 letter to Dubach Mayor Robert Jensen, Thompson cites LA RS 40:1506 G.(1):

The district shall be governed by a board of commissioners consisting of one representative of each subdistrict appointed by the governing body of the subdistrict. Each subdistrict representative on the board shall be a resident of the subdistrict and may be a member of the governing body of the subdistrict.

Looks like Hendricks is fully qualified to serve on the board, according to the law. So much for “opinions” from the AG.

Thompson Letters to Dubach Mayor

On Monday, 4/22/13, we reported on the Town of Dubach Mayor Robert Jensen’s position regarding the appointment of John Barnett to the Lincoln Parish Fire District No. 1 Board of Commissioners.

Jensen’s 4/16/13 letter to LPFD1 Board Chair Tom Thompson noted that Barnett was and still is Dubach’s appointment to the board, that it was legally done, and that he expected that Barnett be accorded the “full rights and privileges” that he was due.

Jensen referenced a 4/8/13 letter from Thompson where he requests a new appointment to the board.

In that letter, Thompson wrote, “Please notify the Fire District by letter, as you always have, once a new commissioner has been appointed.”

See here the letter.

These letters were produced after a Louisiana’s Public Records Law request last week by Lincoln Parish News Online.

Also, there was an earlier letter from Thompson to Jensen, dated 3/26/13, where Thompson claims that Barnett cannot serve on the Board because he does not reside inside the city limits of Dubach.

See here the letter.

Lincoln Jurors Pullen, Walker; Morning Paper Publisher Hayes Wanted “out of the picture”

Lincoln Parish Fire District No. 1 Board of Commissioners’ controversial Chairman Tom Thompson says he wants Lincoln Parish Police Jurors (LPPJ) Walter Pullen (District Six) and Ronnie Walker (District Twelve), and Morning Paper Publisher John Hays “out of the picture” regarding the district’s business so that they “get this program back on track,” and “reduce the trouble for the Fire District and Lincoln Parish.”

The comments were in a 4/11/13 letter from Thompson to Town of Vienna Mayor Walter Carpenter, thanking him for the opportunity to speak to Vienna’s Board of Aldermen, and also soliciting their support as a fire district commissioner.

See here the letter

Wrote Thompson, “Walter, per my comments last night, all I need is a vote of confidence from Vienna. If duly recorded, all this foolishness coming through John Hayes and Lincoln News Online will be history.”

Unconfirmed reports are that Vienna can find no documentation proving that Thompson has been reappointed to his term as a board member. The terms are for two years.

We will have additional reporting later on more documents obtained from the fire district as a result of our public records request.

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Kostelka Request for AG Opinion

Last week we reported upon an opinion from the Louisiana Attorney General (AG) that indicated agricultural and other structures might be subject to a $72/each “structure fee” payable to the Lincoln Parish Fire District No. 1.

The opinion (13-0031) was requested by Louisiana State Senator Robert “Bob” Kostelka (District 35) last January.

See here the letter.

Here are the pertinent parts of the request:

The Fire District is experiencing budgetary problems and one of the issues is whether or not they are collecting all of the service fees or assessments to which they are entitled. Apparently, the fee is not being assessed on agricultural buildings and it is mentioned that agricultural buildings are exempt from property taxes. However, I see no such exemption in the election proposition or in RS 40:1502.1. Further, the election proposition seems clear that the fee or assessment should be levied against any and each residential or commercial unit on property within the district including even mobile homes.

Therefore, I will believe you will see that an opinion from your office is necessary to decipher and explain what assessments the Fire District is entitled to, and what the assessor is empowered to charge and collect.

Lincoln Parish News Online (LPNO) will continue to cover this story.

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LPPJ Wants Fire Board Appointment Documents

The Lincoln Parish Police Jury (LPPJ) has apparently decided it wants to get to the bottom of who is and isn’t a duly appointed member of the Lincoln Parish Fire District No. 1 Board of Commissioners. The jury has dispatched a letter to the municipalities in the parish that have an appointment to the board – Downsville, Dubach, Simsboro, and Vienna – and asked for verification of their appointments.

In order to make certain that the Lincoln Parish Police Jury has complete and up-to-date records regarding each and every appointee to the Board of Commissioners of the Fire District, please provide us with a copy of the most recent resolution or other action taken by your municipality in making its appointment to the Board of Commissioners.

See here the document.

This development is the latest in the ongoing dispute precipitated by controversial Chairman Tom Thompson, who was supposedly appointed many years ago by the Town of Vienna.

However, according to reports in the Morning Paper, Vienna’s records and minutes are less than complete, and don’t show when Thompson’s present term expires.

Thompson last month solicited an opinion from the Louisiana Attorney General (AG) challenging the validity of at least one of the board members, Village of Simsboro Mayor Willie Hendricks.

See here opinion 13-0009, dated 3/27/13.

Thompson also claims that the Town of Dubach’s appointment (John Barnett) is not valid, since Barnett doesn’t live within the town’s corporate limits.

Not so, says Dubach’s Mayor Robert Jensen.

Jensen dispatched a letter dated 4/16/13 to Thompson demanding that Thompson recognize Barnett’s appointment.

As Mayor of the Town of Dubach, I expect John (Sonny) Barnett to have full rights and privileges afforded his appointment immediately. As per your letter April 8, 2013, there is no need to appoint a new commissioner to the Fire District Board because the Council already appointed John (Sonny) Barnett on August 20, 2012.

See here the document.

Lincoln Parish News Online has filed a public records request with the fire district for the letters Thompson sent to the commissioners and municipalities about the issue.

It is clear that the jury has the authority to oversee the fire district. It was created by a jury resolution in 1991.

See here resolution 91-19.

Here’s what the Louisiana Constitution has to say about that:

- Article VI Section 15 – Local Governmental Subdivisions; Control Over Agencies

The governing authority of a local governmental subdivision shall have general power over any agency heretofore or hereafter created by it, including, without limitation, the power to abolish the agency and require prior approval of any charge or tax levied or bond issued by the agency.