The double-S shaped portion of Snooky’s Road that crosses the Union Pacific Railroad track, in the LeBlanc area, will be abandoned, and a new crossing will be constructed at no cost to the parish.
Parish Engineer Jacob Dillehay told the Allen Parish Police Jury, during its meeting held Monday, June 5, the railroad is doing improvements to the sides of the track near where Snooky’s Road meets U.S. Hwy 190. As Dillehay explained, the railroad plans on constructing more side storage but the intersection is in the way.
“They offered to relocate the intersection at no cost to the parish,” Dillehay said of Union Pacific. “They will take possession and reconstruct the entire new intersection and abandon the S-curve at no cost to the parish.”
Dillehay went on to explain there have been numerous problems with that interchange and that 18-wheelers often stop on the tracks in that area of the roadway.
“It benefits Union Pacific, and it benefits the police jury,” Dillehay expressed.
The police jury voted to allow President Tony Hebert to sign the Final Crossing Relocation Agreement with Union Pacific.
Later, Dillehay told the police jury the parish received $2 million in a grant from the Office of Community Development for community revitalization. As Dillehay explained, the parish received the grant because it had previously received funds for debris cleanup from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) following Hurricane Laura.
The money has been allocated to the parish, according to Dillehay, and the parish will hire a consultant to compile a list of proposed projects. Then, over the next few months, the jury will go through a selection process to see which projects are funded through the grant program. Part of the process will be conducting citizen participation meetings.
The police jury voted to authorize advertisement for procurement of the engineering and grant administrative services for the Hometown Revitalization grants.
Earlier in the meeting, Juror John Strother questioned why he was seeing for the first time certain items related to Ward 5 on the Finance Committee agenda. “I don’t understand all this coming up at one time,” he said.
President Hebert replied some of the costs on the agenda were for winches and bumpers on the new trucks for each road district. Juror Allen Courville then said a lot of the costs were for maintenance.
Dillehay said about the agenda, “This list gets longer and longer. The jury’s policy is anything over $1,500 has to go in front of the full jury. Anything under $1,500 can be processed like a normal payment.”
“Five years ago,” he continued, “this list would have been a lot smaller because a lot of this material would have been under that $1500 limit. But, in the last two years, the price of everything jumped up so quick that we’re exceeding that $1500. That’s why the stuff comes to y’all a lot more than it did.
Despite Strother’s vote against, the police jury rubber stamped the following actions of the Finance Committee:
•Approved to pay Southern Tire Mart $2,075.54 for three tractor tires for Road District 4 (RD4) unit 4-26.
•Approved to pay Quality Outdoor Products $3,730.87 for tire cover for Kinder Solid Waste.
•Approved to pay Cotton’s Heating and Cooling $3,624 for repairs to unit at Oberlin Family Clinic/ Savoy.
•Approved to pay Cotton’s Heating and Cooling $3,371.22 for repairs to the unit at Oakdale Health Unit.
•Approved to pay Southern Equipment Group $3,240.98 for pump for RD5 for liquid asphalt distributor.
•Approved to pay S&S UpFitters $3,497 for winch and bumpers for new truck in RD1.
•Approved to pay S&S UpFitters $3,497 for winch and bumpers for new truck in RD2.
•Approved to pay S&S UpFitters $3,497 for winch and bumpers for new truck in RD3.
•Approved to pay S&S UpFitters $3,497 for winch and bumpers for new truck in RD4.
•Approved to pay S&S UpFitters $3,497 for winch and bumpers for new truck in RD5.
•Approved to pay Vulcan Inc. $2,246 for 8’ sign post for RD5.
•Approved to pay Smitty’s Supply Inc. $1,776.42 for one drum of hydraulic oil and one drum of motor oil for RD5.
•Approved to pay CLM Equipment $3,922.12 for 40 Teeth Holders replacements for RD2 reclaimer.
•Approved Solid Waste to purchase Unit 5-2 from the Parish Road Fund for $39,688.
•Approved to pay Bolton Ford $45,592 for purchase of new unit 5-2.
•Approved to pay Covington Equipment $4,168.65 for ditcher head motor for tiger ditcher for RD5.
The jury also rubber stamped the following actions of the Road Committee:
•Approved a joint service agreement (JSA) with the City of Oakdale for grass cutting, pothole patching, and trash pickup for the month of June 2023.
•Approved a JSA with the Allen Parish School Board to help with the hauling off and disposal of old track mat in the Oakdale School District.
In other business, the police jury:
•Approved the Kinder Courier-News as the official journal.
•Adopted a resolution to accept the 2023 millage rates.
•Approved the 2023-2024 budget for the Southwest Louisiana Crime Laboratory.
•Approved to hire David Johnston full time for RD5 and Larry Martin full time for RD1 contingent upon meeting hiring requirements.