By T. Scott Boatright
Video bingo is headed to Grambling after all.
That was one of the primary orders of business Thursday night as the Grambling City Council held its October meeting at City Hall.
Last May, Grambling’s City Council nixed a request to change the percentage of a new ordinance that calls for 10% of such an establishment’s proceeds to go to the city to return to the 2% the original ordinance required.
But during Thursday’s meeting, Grambling Mayor announced that the situation had changed, paving the way for video bingo to find a home as part of the USA Travel Plaza located on Old Grambling Road.
Grambling’s City Council voted 4-1 to approve the request for the video bingo hall with John Brown being the only nay vote.
“After thinking about it, the man who wants to open the bingo hall reconsidered and agreed to the 10% (of proceeds going to the city), ” Bradley said. “So, we’ll tell him to start working on the license and we’ll still have to discuss what charities the proceeds will go to, also.”
In Louisiana, a city can receive proceeds from video bingo halls, but only if the local governing authority has passed an ordinance to regulate charitable gaming within its jurisdiction. Video bingo is considered a form of charitable gaming, and local revenue sharing is handled at the municipal or parish level.
During his report, Police Chief Tommy Clark announced that after the subject came up from a citizen during last month’s meeting, Grambling’s 911 system will soon be equipped to inform police, fire and emergency medical personnel if autistic or people
“I sit on the Lincoln Parish Communication District, which is basically the 911 Board, and last month when the citizen came up and talked about her child with autism and what had happened,” Clark said. “We located the child safely.
“Right now, the (911) system is being upgraded with funding from AT&T. It’s parishwide and you already pay for those services through cellphone fees, landline phones and things like that. This upgrade is right at $500,000.”
Clark said that when he brought up the situation that occurred in Grambling where police personnel didn’t know at first they were dealing with an autistic child, he was told during a recent meeting his request to consider upgrading the system for such notifications was right on time.
“The upgrades will include tag notification, where when a call is made, a tag will show up with the address or phone number notifying if there is someone with autism that could be involved. So, when a call comes in with a tagged address or phone number, the dispatcher can tell the responders it could involve an autism patient that lives there. The tags can also be for people with dementia or a mental health patient.
“All of this will be in that new system we were already upgrading to. That’s going to be parishwide.”
Clark also reminded the City Council and others attending the meeting that next week is Homecoming Week for Grambling State University.
During her report, Water Department Majorie Prudhomme, also touched on GSU’s upcoming Homecoming celebration, reminding short-term renters in Grambling who might provide housing need to turn in applications as well as licensing information and fees.
Prudhomme also reminded vendors who come to Grambling for Homecoming will need to have permits.
“Vendors who are selling in the city, especially on Homecoming, you need a permit for that as well,” Prudhomme said, “The permits are $200. If you don’t have it, Chief Clark and his staff will issue out citations.”
Public Works Director Eric Caldwell said that new water meter installations being conducted in Grambling have reached the halfway mark.
“We’re officially halfway through the meter installation process,” Caldwell said. “But we have had some setbacks with it. So citizens, whenever you have a new meter installed at your address, if you come home and don’t have water or have low water pressure, don’t hesitate to call us, because if you call us, I can get workers to come back and resolve it quickly.”
The City Council also approved a signature request for a Main Street Application as well as a Keep Louisiana Beautiful Affiliation that will allow grant applications to be made.
Before the meeting, Bradley showed off a framed KLB Certification of Affiliation and asked everyone at the meeting who helped clean up during Grambling’s 2025 Keep Louisiana Beautiful day to take a group photo together.
