News, sports and entertainment for Richland Parish, La.

Caldwell Police Jury opens road materials bids

The Caldwell Parish Police Jury opened bids for road materials and fuel at their regularly scheduled meeting held on November 7. Four bids for materials were received from the following: Winn Rock, Amberg, Teral and Druher. One bid for fuels was received from T. A. Roberts which was $0.10 above rack price. No bids were received for hauling the road materials. The road materials bids will be taken under advisement and will be awarded at a later date. One of the factors in the decision will be the cost of hauling the materials from the vendor to Caldwell Parish. Another factor is the quality of the materials. Some jurors pointed out in the past that the lowest price did not yield the best product. They said that some product was so inferior that it cost them much more to repair the roads where it had been used.
The minutes from the previous meeting held on October 20 were reviewed and adopted. Maintenance requests were received from Clarks for Old Mill Pond Road, New Bethel Road and LA. Central. The requests were approved. A request from Grayson to grade Mixon Lane was received and approved.
A motion to adopt the adjusted budget for 2016 was approved. The adjustments were made in the General Fund and Road Fund. It was reported that expenses for inmates went down by $25,000.00. Changes at the correctional center had decreased the costs. It was reported that over the last couple of years there was an overall reduction in costs totaling $70,000.00. Revenue for Gravity Drainage increased over the year. Despite an increase in gravel purchases, the purchase of a tractor and other unexpected expenses due to flooding the road fund is in very good shape. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) still has not released funds to the parish for the flooding earlier this year. Juror Aubrey Bratton asked that they look at purchasing more culverts for the future since so many are in bad shape in the parish.
A resolution was passed regarding the millage renewal for Columbia Heights Sewage District 4. The millage will be on the ballots in March 2017. One resident in Columbia Heights brought up concerns about water and sewage billing being in a pattern of one month the billing is for 21 days and the next month the billing will be for 40 days. Columbia Heights Water and Sewage has a minimum billing amount of $45.00 total no matter how low the usage. The concern was that any usage over the 2000-gallon minimum increased the billing which was more likely to happen when the residents are billed for 40 days instead of the standard 30-31 days. They were told to contact the secretary at the number on the

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