By T. Scott Boatright
The Lincoln Parish Police Jury discussed and addressed agency funding requests for 2027 as its primary order of business during its October meeting Tuesday evening at the Lincoln Parish Courthouse.
Most of the requests were the same as 2026 funding amounts, with one big exception — the request from the Lincoln Parish District Attorney’s Office for a $210,500 increase over the $300,000 awarded by the LPPJ last year.
During last month’s LPPJ meeting to hear agency funding requests, Cary Brown, who is running unopposed to become the next district attorney, asked for the $210,500 because of increased health insurance costs his office is facing.
“This request is built to expand our capacity in the areas that will help reduce case backlogs, pretrial detainee time delays and jail overflow costs,” Brown said last month. “What we’re asking for, if you were to grant this request, is to first, be able to hire one more assistant D.A. Secondly, we want to hire a full-time investigator who will serve as a liaison to the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Ruston Police Department.
“We need a full-time victim-witness coordinator, and lastly, if that money is granted, we’re going to hire another full-time paralegal.”
But during that September meeting, Brown also asked if the D.A.’s Office could possibly be added to the parish’s health insurance plan.
And that led to a round of talks between Brown and Lincoln Parish Assistant Administrator Michael Sutton, who is preparing to take over the main role upon the impending retirement of current Parish Administrator Courtney Hall at the end of 2026.
“I’ve spoken with Cary Brown on several occasions since our last (LPPJ) meeting, and one of the options, or proposals, he had mentioned last month was for us to consider bringing his office under our insurance plan,” Sutton said. “Right now, we’re still in the stages of getting our renewals back, so that’s not finalized, but there have been at least some calculations to bring (the D.A.’s Office) in under our insurance plan.
“And we are positioned, if the Police Jury decides to allow that after those renewals are worked out, then that would take the entire ($210,000 increase request) off the board. There would still be some negotiating to be done, but it wouldn’t be any worse than last year’s amount ($300,000) that we gave them.”
Sutton said the D.A.’s Office has around 25 employees.
“Keep in mind that $300,000 we gave them last year, that was what they were using for their (health insurance) premiums anyway,” Sutton said. “So, instead of getting the cash, we bring them in under our plan. And that makes our plan a lot stronger. It’s really kind of a win-win for everybody.
“So, I would say let’s not take action on this until we have everything finalized. We know what the worst-case scenario is, which is a great thing. That ($210,000 requested funding increase) is probably off the table, but until everything is finalized, let’s wait.”
And with that, the LPPJ unanimously voted to table that particular funding request until renewals are worked out, in hopes of readdressing the matter during the Police Jury’s November meeting.
The other agency funding requests were approved at the same amounts as last year:
- Lincoln Parish Museum — $5,000
- Bayou D’Arbonne Commission — $1,800
- Sparta Groundwater Commission — $2,500
- Council on Aging — $5,000
- Lincoln Total Community Action — $10,000
- LSU Cooperative Extension Service — $27,500
- Lincoln Parish IT Office — $20,000
- Lincoln Parish GIS — $25,000
- Registrar of Voters — $58,800
- Lincoln Parish Coroner — $68,000
- Third Judicial District Court — $152,000
- Northeast Delta Human Services Authority — $5,000
- Keep Lincoln Parish Beautiful — $7,500
- Lincoln Parish Health Unit — $33,200
In other business during Tuesday’s meeting, the LPPJ authorized Jury President Glenn Scriber to execute a right-of-way instrument and utility servitude to Entergy Louisiana LLC across parish-owned property located on Big Creek Road for utility infrastructure placement and maintenance.
“This refers to what is called the Mount Olive to Sarepta Project, which is part of a larger project to serve basically the (being constructed) Meta plant in Richland Parish,” Hall said.
Hall said Entergy Louisiana reported the appraised value of the land was $24,860 and that Entergy Louisiana is offering $26,832.80 above that appraised value.
Also approved were annual actions on a resolution adopting a residential anti-displacement plan and adoption of a procurement policy relative to federal grant programs (HUD/EPA).
“This is just an annual update for our policy that establishes our plan of action if any of our capital projects should we have to acquire a property where a house is located, if any project would displace a resident,” Parish Treasurer Laura Hartt said of the anti-displacement plan. “We have no current plans that this could affect. This is for the what-if scenario, and it is required for grant compliance to have a policy in place.”
Jurors also authorized transmittal of a letter to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality regarding Phase 1 of the Lincoln Greenspace Project.
That project is for the potential demolition of buildings from across the street from the Lincoln Parish Courthouse to East Arizona Avenue and would involve a forgivable loan of $2 million.
The LPPJ also authorized procurement of consulting services for a community funding program through the HUD Economic Development Initiative, contingent on HUD approval, as well as procurement of professional services related to the Mount Olive Waterworks EPA grant, pending approval of the Louisiana Office of Community Development.
Also approved was a resolution providing annual off-system Bridge Certification Program certification.
In other business, the LPPJ appointed incumbent Benjamin Thomas to another five-year term on the Waterworks District No. 1 board and introduced ordinances pertaining to the potential sale of two adjudicated properties.
Those ordinances will likely be discussed and voted on during the LPPJ’s November meeting.
