By T. Scott Boatright
In an item added as an amendment to the original agenda for Tuesday’s Lincoln Parish Police Jury meeting, the LPPJ unanimously passed a resolution requesting a timely review and appropriate oversight by the Louisiana Department of Health regarding North Louisiana Medical Center.
The resolution states that the LPPJ has received information raising concerns about the hospital’s current operations, including financial stability, staffing levels, supply availability, equipment reliability and facility conditions.
It also states that concerns have been raised regarding vendor obligations, supply-chain interruptions, employee confidence and the hospital’s ability to maintain the staffing, supplies, equipment and services necessary for safe patient care. The LPPJ also said it is aware of reports concerning emergency department readiness, patient-monitoring equipment, sanitation, medical waste handling, security, building conditions and other operational support issues.
The resolution further states that the Police Jury is not making any final factual findings regarding these concerns, but believes the issues are serious enough to warrant review by the appropriate regulatory authority — the Louisiana Department of Health.
It also requests a written response from LDH within 30 days, to the extent permitted by law, identifying any steps taken or planned in response to the resolution. It further requests reasonable periodic updates every 30 days thereafter until the LDH review is complete or until LDH determines no further action is warranted.
“Our health care in this parish is very important,” said District 12 Juror Annette Straughter, chair of the LPPJ Health and Welfare Committee. “We have a lot of senior citizens as well as our younger generation coming up. A lot of services that have been provided here in Lincoln Parish are no longer available. Our citizens are having to drive 20, 30 or more miles to have simple testing done, let alone being hospitalized.
“Doctors here in Lincoln Parish are leaving. We’ve got to do something proactive and not react to the current situation.”
District 8 Juror Chris “Moose” Garriga said the move is not targeting any staff members at NLMC.
“But there’s some hand-tying being done as far as what they can and cannot do,” Garriga said. “We have some great local staff that work there, and we want them to have the best capabilities they can to give the citizens of our parish the best medical treatment possible. I think they work as hard as they can with what they have every day to make it happen.”
During the meeting, the LPPJ also adopted millage rates for 2026, keeping them the same as in 2025.
Those rates are 1.68 mills for General Parish Purposes (General Alimony Tax) on all taxable property inside the corporate limits of Ruston; 3.37 mills for General Parish Purposes (General Alimony Tax) on all taxable property outside the corporate limits of Ruston; 4.41 mills for the construction, improvement and/or hard surfacing of public roads and bridges in Lincoln Parish; 4.41 mills for the maintenance and/or improvement of public roads and bridges throughout Lincoln Parish; and 3.80 mills for the purpose of providing funds for equipment, supplies, maintenance, operation, construction and support of a public library and its branches in the parish.
The LPPJ also adopted a resolution approving the issuance, sale and delivery of taxable water revenue bonds for the Greater Ward One Waterworks District and authorized a land-use planning and zoning component of the long-range master plan with Hunt, Guillot and Associates LLC.
Also authorized was Change Order 1 for the Landfill Cell B Construction Project in the amount of $10,386.50.
“We discovered an unknown French drain — a gravel-filled trench containing a perforated pipe that redirects surface and groundwater away from homes, foundations and soggy areas — that runs under the initial solid waste cell and underneath the liner,” said Bob Myers, an engineer with Riley Company of Louisiana Inc.
“It carries groundwater out from under that liner and was blocked and covered up in what was to be the outfall area for the proposed cell, keeping the ground saturated. So we need to reroute that French drain.”
The LPPJ also passed an ordinance setting speed limits for Beatty Road — 35 mph for the portion north of Louisiana Highway 818 and 45 mph for the portion south of Highway 818.
Also approved was the purchase of a heavy-duty tractor truck for the low bid of $141,611 from Bruckner Truck Sales of Monroe and the purchase of two transfer refuse trailers for the low bid of $209,490 submitted by Trailco of I-49 LLC.
The LPPJ also made three appointments during the meeting — reappointing Bill Jones and Sandra Dupress to the Lincoln Parish Library Board while appointing District 9 Juror Lynda Henderson to fill the unexpired term of her late husband, Joe Henderson, on the Lincoln Parish Sales and Use Tax Commission.
