Rapides Parish Police Jury

OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 AT 3:00 p.m. PUBLIC NOTICE

Posted 1:30 p.m. August 31, 2020

Pursuant to the JBE 108-2020 Hurricane Laura Proclamation, the Rapides Parish Emergency Proclamation of August 23, 2020, and JBE 101-2020 and JBE 102-

PUBLIC GATHERINGS LIMITED

Public gatherings are restricted to 50% of the total occupancy of the State Fire Marshal, and requires a six (6) foot minimum of social distancing, limiting the public seating area for the Rapides Parish Police Jury meeting to 28 members of the public, on a first come basis, in accordance with Phase II restrictions.

WRITTEN CERTIFICATION

The Rapides Parish Police Jury consists of 9 elected Jurors, and essential staff for Police Jury meetings. The Police Jury would be unable to operate and hold its public meeting due to quorum requirements unless said Police Jury meeting is conducted pursuant to the authorization provided by the Governor’s Proclamations and LSA-R.S. 42:17.1, a political subdivision may provide for the attendance at essential governmental meetings via teleconference or video conference and a Rapides Parish Police Juror may participate in this meeting via teleconference.

Craig Smith, President

PUBLIC COMMENTS

ARE ONLY ALLOWED

ON AGENDA ITEMS

PLEASE BE SURE TO SIGN IN ON THE SIGN IN SHEET AND

PUT THE NUMBER OF THE ITEM YOU WOULD LIKE TO

SPEAK ON.

STAND TO BE RECOGNIZED ON THAT ITEM.

THERE IS A THREE (3) MINUTE TIME LIMIT

TO SPEAK PER PERSON

Police Jury Meeting Room 2nd Floor, Parish Courthouse

SPECIAL SESSION

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 3:00 P.M. Posted 1:30 p.m. August 31, 2020

CALL TO ORDER

INVOCATION

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ROLL CALL

PUBLIC COMMENT ON ANY AGENDA ITEM

1. Courthouse and other Parish buildings status report.
2. Motion for new emergency generator for Courthouse.
3. Pan American Engineers – FEMA procedures and policies.

ADJOURNMENT

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to attend this public meeting, please contact the Police Jury Office at

The Police Jury of the Parish of Rapides, State of Louisiana, met in Regular Session at its regular meeting place, the Police Jury Room of the Parish Courthouse, 701 Murray Street, Alexandria, Louisiana, on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, at three (3:00) o'clock p.m. (Central Standard Time).

There were present: Craig Smith, President, Oliver “Ollie” Overton, Jr., Vice President and Police Jurors: Joe Bishop, Theodore Fountaine, Jr., Rusty Wilder, Sean McGlothlin and David Johnson.

Also present were: Theresa Pacholik, Treasurer; Shane Trapp, Courthouse Building Superintendent; Donna Andries, Sales & Use Tax Administrator; Sonya Wiley-Gremillion, OHSEP Director; Greg Jones, Legal Counsel and Laurel Smith, Secretary.

The invocation was given by Mr. Theodore Fountaine, Jr.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mr. David Johnson.

The Police Jury of the Parish of Rapides, State of Louisiana, was duly convened as the governing authority of said Parish by Hon. Craig Smith, President, who welcomed all present and then stated that the Police Jury was ready for the first item of business.

The President asked if there was any public comment on any agenda item, to which there was no response.

The first item on the agenda was to receive an update on the Courthouse and other Parish buildings.

Mr. Shane Trapp stated the Courthouse is basically back in shape. There are still working on the ceiling tiles. Skip Converse is working on the parking garage and the cleanup of tiles and insulation around the outside of the Courthouse. The generator went down and he was able to get one quote, $30,000 to replace it. There is damage at the warehouse. Not storm related, but vandalism of two of the air conditioning units on the roof. The Exhibition Hall has some roof damage, the Coliseum didn’t get hit very badly. The main thing is the generator.

Mr. Greg Jones, Legal Counsel, question about the chillers, to which Mr. Trapp stated the Courthouse got the power back Friday morning, and by Saturday morning they had water.

Ms. West stated there was damage at some of the Fire Stations. The Deville Volunteer Fire Station got hit the hardest. Their living quarters had a tree on it. Also there was a volunteer firefighter injured while cutting a tree in Fire District 15, Lena/Flatwoods area. Cotile Lake Recreation area was hit hard. There is damage to both bathhouses, damaged picnic tables at various locations and also a tree on the shop, but there was no equipment damaged. The Library had very minimal damage. Ms. Celise Reech-Harper, Librarian did want to let everyone know that the Wi-Fi Spots at some of the locations are back up for people to use. The OEWD building had an out structure that was destroyed.

Ms. Donna Andries, Sales & Use Tax Director, stated the Sales Tax Office had roof damage, but they were able to have Hahn Roofing come out and put allweather patch on those areas. There are some trim pieces missing, soffits, cam lights hanging down and some inside damage from roof leaks.

Mr. Cory Ashmore, Public Works Director, stated the old highway building will be down to the slab today. There are probably about eighteen parish roads that are still closed.

Mr. Craig Smith questioned if the dead end road, that have three or four houses and might have people stranded are taken care of, to which Mr. Ashmore stated that is what they are focused on now. There are a lot of power lines down between the guys and the trees they need to get to. There is a lot of damage. Mr. Ashmore stated he is documenting everything and staying in close contact with the Communications District.

The Jurors thanked the employees for the job they have done through this.

The President recognized Senator Jay Luneau.

Senator Luneau thanked everyone for a job well done in Rapides Parish. Three Parishes are being added today, but Rapides is not on the list yet. They anticipate that we will be on the list at some time. Years past, if you had a parish that had the two largest cities, with 100% loss of utilities, you would automatically be put on the list. Rapides Parish wasn’t. This delays benefits to our citizens. Mr. Thomas David is going to talk to you about, when it comes to FEMA, it is all about documentation. You need to stress that to every facet of your government, you have to document well.

Representative Lance Harris thanked everyone for the job they did through the hurricane. He gave a brief update of the disaster damage and what was done to help get gas to the Alexandria terminal due to the Corps not letting barges through the Red River. He thank Senator Cassidy for all of his help.

On motion by Mr. Joe Bishop, seconded by Mr. Ollie Overton, to purchase a new emergency generator for the Rapides Parish Courthouse.

Mr. Joe Bishop stated he would like for Mr. Thomas David to look into this and make sure we get the proper size generator.

Mr. Greg Jones stated he had talked to the Treasurer this morning and whatever the Parish Engineer look at the specs. He further stated he did not know it only run the lights and as you said, if we are going to upgrade, you might as well, get something that is going to run the whole system.

On vote the motion carried.

Mr. Greg Jones stated that by Friday afternoon, it became apparent that one of the Parishes biggest issues was going to be debris removal, to be reimbursable by FEMA guidelines. It has to be done in compliance with 2CFR Section 200. There are several guidelines. Right now we are not on the FEMA approved list, however we anticipate we are going to be. Mr. Jones further stated that he and Mr. David have been in contact and met for about an hour to make sure what we put in place now, is in compliance with 2CFR Section 200. When the Parish does get approved, what has been done will be subject to reimbursement. He further stated he wanted to lay out the procedures that we need to follow. Also there are some time delays that are already beginning and the Jury may have to make a motion to let him get started.

Mr. Ollie Overton questioned if we had the debris sites set to which Mr. Jones asked Mr. Cory Ashmore if they were permitted to which Mr. Cory Ashmore they are taking care of it. Mr. Jones stated we have two debris sites. There are also some permits that we will need to take care of.

The next item on the agenda was to recognize Mr. Thomas David, Pan American Engineers – FEMA procedures and policies.

Mr. Thomas David gave a brief description of some of the Parishes he has worked with in the past, with some of the most heavily damages in the state and some of the recoveries. Mr. David stated you have to write everything down. Document, document, document. You get exigent conditions. Exigent in the FEMA world is emergency conditions. Every day that goes past the storm, we move out of exigent and a whole new world of business proceeds. If FEMA declares tonight, that Rapides is within the declared Parishes, then all of these expenses we are going through will be eligible under exigent conditions. Every day that goes on, if you don’t have a procurement in place that follows their guidelines they will not reimburse you. Mr. David further stated some of the FEMA guidelines. Mr. David stated if Rapides Parish is not declare eligible for FEMA funding, in his opinion, it will bankrupt the Parish. Under the normal rules, it’s a 75/25%. We will need to pre-procure for the future, so if we have another storm, we will have preposition contracts for debris removal. It is incentives you to do in advance for when they give you a 90/10% if you pre-procure. We need to have a debris removal contractor and a debris monitor and financial recovery consultant under contract. We need to start that as soon as possible. Mr. David further explained the steps and procedures for the request for proposals and the Management and Financial Recovery to move the debris. Mr. David you will need to get one more procurement for the damage and assessments to your public buildings, fire stations and other parish property. They will need to be experienced in GOSHEP and FEMA to work through this.

Mr. David further explained the process of advertising, processing, selection committees, opening, awarding, getting a contract signed and getting the contractors started.

Mr. Greg Jones also stated that he and Mr. David discussed that, whoever is awarded the debris removal, needs to be able to start on the north and south side of the parish at the same time.

Discussion ensued about the proposals.

On motion by Mr. Joe Bishop, seconded by Mr. Ollie Overton, to add to the agenda to adopt a motion to authorize the President to do a request for proposals for the 1) Disaster Debris Removal Services and a 2) Disaster Debris Management and Financial Recovery Services in accordance with the Parish’s Procurement Policy for FEMA funded programs.

On roll call vote the motion carried to add the motion to the agenda.

On motion by Mr. Joe Bishop, seconded by Mr. Ollie Overton, adopt a motion to authorize the President to do a request for proposals for the 1) Disaster Debris Removal Services and a 2) Disaster Debris Management and Financial Recovery Services in accordance with the Parish’s Procurement Policy for FEMA funded programs and authorize the President to sign necessary documents. On vote the motion carried.

Mr. Sean McGlothlin stated Congressman Ralph Abraham’s Chief of Staff just called and stated we are on the list with Winn and Grant Parish and we should have the declaration tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.

Mr. Thomas David stated that is huge for Rapides Parish.

Mr. Sonya Wiley, 911 Communications Director, stressed documentation. The National Guard is assisting Cory Ashmore and his teams. The National Guard will stay with us until all our primary roads are cleared. The cut throughs, as long as there are no homes back there, there is no reason for emergency response vehicles to need to have to access to it. Those are secondary concerns. Some of the smaller municipalities that still have some damage, needs some of their thoroughfares opened. When the parish ones are done, she asked the municipalities to go give a list of streets or roads so when ours are finished, they can move into the municipalities to assist them. Ms. Wiley gave a brief update of what transpired after the storm, the equipment and what was available for citizens such as water, tarps, ice, MRE meals, etc. She further explained how FEMA would come in later to access all the damage.

Discussion ensued.

On motion by Mr. Joe Bishop , seconded by Mr. Ollie Overton , there being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:26 p.m. On vote the motion carried.