Jury debates Doty Road Center

By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, June 23, 2009

VIDALIA — The Concordia Parish Police Jury voted Monday to give itself 30 days to figure out what to do with the Doty Road Center.

In a unanimous vote, the jurors decided to contact the landowners and the lease holders for the property the center sits on and, if they can negotiate a long-term lease or land donation, form a long-term plan for the center.

The jury owns the building but not the land it sits on, and most of the jurors expressed an interest in getting rid of the Doty Road Center.

If the jury is able to negotiate the long-term lease or get a land donation, President Melvin Ferrington said the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office has expressed interest in permanently taking over the property.

The sheriff’s office at one time had a lease on the building, and though the lease has expired, the sheriff’s office has continued to occupy a portion of the center as a sheriff’s substation.

Since then, the jury has paid for the maintenance of the building, and the sheriff’s office has paid for the utilities.

Complicating the matter is the fact that a now-inactive corporation holds the lease for the land. Ferrington said some of the members of the corporation have died, but others are living, leaving the potential for the corporation to reactivate.

The Veteran’s Affairs office is located in the center, as well as tutoring and summer feeding programs.

The police jury has not had a say in what has gone on in the building since the sheriff’s office’s lease expired, Ferrington said.

“The sheriff’s office does not have insurance on the building, so the insurance is on the police jury,” Ferrington said. “But any lawsuit against it would probably be against both the sheriff and the police jury.”

Juror Jimmy Jernigan responded to that with a simple solution: get rid of the building and any jury connections to the property.

But Juror Willie Dunbar responded with the crux of the problem.

“You can’t get rid of something you don’t own,” Dunbar said.

“We are going around in circles here.”

In other news:

• The jury voted to advertise for a public hearing about abandoning 100 feet of Mill Road in Wildsville.

• The jury voted to send a letter to the Department of Transportation and Development to see if it will do anything to keep a portion of Louisiana 569 in danger of washing out from doing just that.

• The jury discussed the pickup of limbs in the parish garbage contract.

“I know it is hard for the guys to pick up limbs,” Dunbar said.

“Right now we have got a lot of people complaining that they will stack the limbs in the ditch for them to be picked up, but they’re not.”

The garbage contract specifies that limb pickup will be done following any disaster, but Ferrington said the contract also specifies that the limbs must be cut into 4-foot sections first.

Any professional tree-trimmers who do work are required to haul the limbs away themselves.

The parish is looking to buy a knuckle-boom truck that can be used to haul away limbs, Jernigan said.

If that is the case, the parish will need to look into rewriting the disposal contract, Juror Joe Parker said.

If the parish is to take up the business of limb removal, it will first have to get a permanent permit from the Department of Environmental Quality for the limb disposal, Ferrington said.

The parish had a temporary disposal permit following Hurricane Gustav, but it has expired.