By Malcolm Butler
Monday night’s Lincoln Parish Police Jury meeting wasn’t long.
Swore in jurors. Approved the previous month’s minutes. Elected officers. Discussed a few pieces of business. Adjourned the meeting.
Short. Sweet. Seamless.
Very un-police jury like compared to the previous few years; at least from my vantage point.
Now granted. I began covering the LPPJ during one of the most tumultuous times in its history, according to those who are much more familiar with its past. Ambulance. Fire. Emergency. Administrator.
Drama. Drama. Drama. Drama.
However, evidently, boring is usually the norm — something the returning jurors and support staff members are longing for. That sense of teamwork for a greater purpose.
Following the October and November elections that saw five new jurors join the 12-person jury, early indications are it’s a new year and new beginnings for this local governing body. Something our parish needs.
Now, my feelings are based on attending Monday night’s less-than-hour-long meeting with the newly-comprised makeup of the LPPJ. But I’m not the only one who felt a new sense of cooperativeness and togetherness, instead of the chasm that has divided the jury over the past two years.
“I totally feel like there’s a sense, a new beginning,” said District 6 juror and newly-elected President Glenn Scriber. “I absolutely believe that. I’ve just got that comfort. I’m just not anxious about anything that’s coming up. I hope we have a lot of meetings that are actually quite boring. That would be a good sign right there.“
There were plenty of good signs. The officer elections went as smoothly as possibly. No tension. No animosity. No drama.
President. Vice President. Administrator. Treasurer.
Unanimous votes for all four positions.
“I think that sets the tone for what this jury is going to do this year,” said District 7 police juror Matt Pullin. “I know everybody’s not going to agree on everything, but tonight was definitely a good start, to have representation from a juror who has one term and then also a new juror as vice president. I think that’s a good indication of how things are going to go in 2024.”
Amen, Matt.
Lincoln Parish is in a time where the next decade could see significant changes, improvements, growth. Even for those of us who have called the parish our home for our entire lives, I think we — hope we — can all agree that growth is essential for our area in this day and age.
But in order to maximize that ceiling, the right men and women with the right mindset have to be in place for all of our governing bodies. And the police jury is one of the most important of those.
And this year’s jury has a good mix of police jury veterans and newcomers.
“I think we’re on the right page,” said first-time District 8 juror Chris “Moose” Garriga. “I think there’s some new blood. Everybody’s excited to work together. I think even some of the older blood is excited to work with the new blood. I think we’re going to move forward and put the past behind us and get ready to rock and roll and do some business.”
The past is the past.
And the future is in front of us. And I think we have the right people in place to help lead us forward. The next four years will prove me right or wrong.
But I’m betting on this group.
