?PROCEEDINGS
CAMERON PARISH
POLICE JURY
BUDGET MEETING
OCTOBER 13, 2022
The Cameron Parish Police Jury met in regular session on Thursday October 13, 2022, in the Cameron Parish West Annex Board Room in the Village of Cameron, Louisiana at 1:00 o’clock p.m. for the review of the 2022 Budget and to hear budget request. The following members were present: Mr. Curtis Fountain, Mr. Joe Dupont, Mr. Thomas McDaniel, Mr. Scott Trahan, Mr. McKinley Guidry, Mr. Lawrence Faulk, Mr. Magnus McGee and Mr. Kirk Quinn. No member was absent.
Kayla Johnson, Treasurer, reviewed the 2022 Budget with the jury and answered any questions concerning the report.
Mr. Fountain, President opened the floor for budget request.
Tom Barrett, Cameron Parish District Attorney, addressed the jury and requested to hire Vickie Kiffe full-time to replace the part-time position of Mike Hebert, who is resigning. This will be a budget increase of approximately $40,000.00 (Forty thousand and 00/100) which includes salary and benefits for Ms. Kiffe. He also requested that Michael Cassidy who currently works with the District Attorney and the School Board part time, now be considered a full-time employee with health benefits, mainly working with the school board. Currently the school board is paying $24,000.00 (Twenty-four thousand and 00/100) toward his part time salary in the amount of $36,000.00 (Thirty-six thousand and 00/100). Mr. Cassidy has agreed to a decrease in pay, his new salary will be $19,000.00 (Nineteen thousand and 00/100) plus benefits per year. The school board has agreed to pay $30,000.00 (Thirty thousand and 00/100) toward this new position. It was moved by Mr. Faulk, seconded by Mr. McGee, and carried, the board hereby approves Mr. Barrett’s budget request.
Katie Armentor, Parish Administrator addressed the jury on behalf of Fire District No. Fourteen concerning the Big Lake Fire Station. The original slab from the building contractor was a 4 inch, and even thought this was within code we spoke to the fire board with concerns of the weight of the fire trucks and ask them to upgrade to an 8 inch slab which is what the Cameron Parish Engineer recommended. The fire board would like to upgrade but they do not have the funds at this time since they are saving for a new fire truck due to the age of the current one. It was moved by Mr. Faulk, seconded by Mr. McGee, and carried, the board hereby allocates funds in the amount of $65,926.00 (Sixty-five thousand nine hundred twenty-six and 00/100), for the foundation of the Big Lake Fire Station, with the stipulation, if Fire Protection District No. Fourteen is awarded more insurance funds due to litigation they will pay the police jury back.
Ms. Armentor then addressed the jury on behalf of Fire Board District No. Nine with cash flow concerns that is slowing repairs on the Muria Fire Station. Fire District No. Nine has a short fall in the amount they have received from insurance and what the bid was to repair the fire station. Ms. Armentor would like the jury to allocate the difference until FEMA funds are received or insurance litigation is settled. It was moved by Mr. McGee, seconded by Mr. Guidry, and carried, the board hereby allocates funds in the amount not to exceed $500,000.00 (Five hundred thousand and 00/100) to cover the cash flow for the repair of the Muria Fire Station, with the stipulation, when Fire Protection District No. Nine is reimbursed by FEMA or insurance litigation, they will pay the funds back to the Police Jury.
The last topic Ms. Armentor addressed the jury with was a new department for Coastal Protection and Recovery and the Hurricane Protection Berm project. Right now, we have staff and jurors working toward this project, but would like to create a department to focus solely on this. Kara Bonsall has been doing a good job, but she is also currently working on coastal zone permits, drilling permits, and regular permits and we think her time would be better utilized if we can faze her out of permitting and work strictly on coastal protection projects. 3 options are available, the first one is do not create this department and keep doing what we are doing. Option 2 is to allocate a budget to create a Coastal Protection and Recovery department and utilize someone from the current staff as the department head. Next was option 3, which was to create a board, which the jury appoints and oversees. It was moved by Mr. McDaniel, seconded by Mr. Guidry, and carried, the board hereby approves option 2 and allocates a budget in the amount of $25,000,00 (Twenty-five thousand and 00/100), for the new Coastal Protection and Recovery department.
With no other discussion or action needed, the budget meeting was adjourned.
APPROVED:
CURTIS FOUNTAIN,
PRESIDENT
ATTEST:
MARY B CARROLL,
SECRETARY
RUN: Nov. 24 (N 33)