At its meeting on Monday, May 6, the Allen Parish Police Jury approved a 10-year industrial tax exemption for Boise Cascade. Under the plan, the company will be exempted from 80% of its property taxes. The plan now has to be approved by the Allen Parish School Board and the Allen Parish Sheriff.
Travis Turner, southern region manager for Boise Cascade, told the jury the exemption was proposed because the company is undergoing a $70 million investment project at the Oakdale facility, which is one of the oldest plywood mills in the South.
Turner told the police jury there has been some investment at the Oakdale plant over the past 50 years but this project would be the “largest single investment in that plant to bring it up to the modern age of plywood production.”
As Turner explained, the project would take as estimated two years. It is scheduled to begin next month in June and be completed by the end of 2025. He went on to explain the project is believed to retain the 388 jobs currently at the plant and create an additional 10 full-time jobs.
Total payroll, according to Turner, is roughly $22.5 million. The additional 10 full-time jobs is anticipated to increase that figure by $500,000.
Parish Administrator Jacob Dillehay then told the jury a similar exemption was granted for a project at the RoyOMartin plant. He said the budget increased by about 20% parishwide when the exemption ended.
“With these types of exemptions,” Dillehay said, “the job creation and job retention is very important to the area. In the long run, the parish does see these benefits on the property tax side.”
Earlier in the meeting, the jurors heard from Mike Nichols, who has been working for the past 35 years with water resources for the United States Department of Agriculture, regarding concerns over the proposed carbon sequestration in Allen Parish and its potential impact on the Chicot Aquifer.
Nichols said, “As we move forward with this, I think, we need to be more vigilant in what we require and what we demand for our communities and our families and our grandkids. We need safeguards. We need to be reassured that this process is going to be safe not just for us but for generations to come.”
He went on to say, “I think we need to be forthcoming with each other and say there are risks associated with this, and the risks could actually be death or poisoning. There’s things we need to talk about, and we need to figure out how to get this done in a safe manner.”
Juror Roland Hollins then expressed his concerns over the proposed carbon sequestration. His chief concern is that the people of Allen Parish had no say in Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s (Oxy) request. “It’s important that every person in our parish needs to be informed of the potential risks.”
Upon request of Hollins, the jury passed two resolutions regarding the sequestration project. One resolution calls for the governor, the state House of Representatives, the State Senate, and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to provide information regarding the permitting process in order to evaluate the benefits and the risks poised to the community.
Hollins said, “This resolution will allow our communities and the parish officials to make an educated decision to support this CO2 project or not.”
The other resolution calls for the police jury staff to seek proposals from environmental companies to evaluate CO2 injections in the parish.
“This would be an independent third party where we could really get a true evaluation,” Hollins said.
As the discussion continued, Hollins again called for a public meeting with Oxy at the Civic Center in order for the public to “start being informed and where we can make good decisions.”
The police jury is awaiting a date for the meeting from Oxy.
In other business, the police jury:
•Approved to pay Cotton’s Heating and Cooling $4,627 to replace a three-ton unit at the Health Unit in Oakdale from economic development.
•Approved to pay EagleView Cloud Imagery $93,795 for aerial imagery paid from the parish road fund as approved in the 2024 budget.
•Approved to pay Butler and Co. Tree Service $2,500 for tree removal on a vacant police jury lot.
•Approved a joint service agreement with the City of Oakdale for grass cutting, pothole patching, and trash pick up for the month of May 2024.
•Approved a joint service agreement with the Allen Parish School Board for material, labor, and equipment to repair the bus turnaround at the end of Philpot Road in Fairview.
•Approved to advertise for six-month bids and for the legal journal.
•Amended the 2024 Capital Outlay and the 2024 Budget.
•Adopted a resolution approving the holding of an election in Fire District 3 to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds.
•Approved a resolution to allow the Town of Elton to serve water to a property located in Allen Parish at the request of the East Allen Water System.
•Accepted the resignation of Colby Mae from the Ward 2 Recreation District Park Board and appointed Britney Pitre to complete his term.
•Appointed Brett Fawcett to the Ward 2 Recreation District Park Board to complete the term of Eric Fontenot.
•Reappointed Thomas Ira Savoie to the West Allen Parish Water District for a five-year term.
•Accepted the resignation of Jeremy Rion from the West Allen Parish Water District and appointed Charles Williams IV to complete his term.
•Accepted the resignation of Kevin Meaux from the Bayou Blue Drainage District Board.
•Approved to hire Emily Bertrand Durio as operations clerk contingent upon meeting hiring requirements.
•Discussed future hiring of Duane Hollands as assistant road foreman in Road District 3 when the position becomes available.
•Approved to advertise for sealed bids on adjudicated parcel 0400093110.
•Approved contract with Innovative Disaster Management Solutions (IDMS) to assist in FEMA/GOHSEP Project funding management.