vidalia — Monday’s meeting of the Concordia Parish Police Jury brought discussion of how building permits will be handled in the parish.

Jury members met with the Rapides Area Planning Commission’s Director of Operations Matt Johns to discuss how the RAPC would manage future permits.

Johns said the jury had already entered into a contract with the RAPC to allow them to manage the parish’s permits, although several jury members said they did not know the parish was in a contract.

However, Johns said that contract does not preclude the parish from using other groups to handle building permits and inspections within the parish.

Jury member Whest Shirley said he was more concerned with having a streamlined process for the issuance of permits than who actually handled the permits.

“We want a process where everyone knows the steps,” he said.

Not only do jury members want a streamlined process, but jury member Willie Dunbar said construction projects in the parish need to be monitored.

Dunbar said he has seen projects in the area that have no permits at all or projects that have received permits and have had no follow up inspections.

“I don’t think it’s right,” Dunbar said.

Aside from their discussion of the issue, the jury took no official action with RAPC, aside from calling for a review of their pricing scale.

The jury will revisit the issue at a later date.

In other news, the jury voted to make the repairs outlined by the fire marshal at the Doty Road Center in Ferriday.

In a letter to the jury, the fire marshal said the center needed repairs to its emergency and exit lights and updated fire extinguisher inspection tags.

The jury also voted to schedule a public hearing for the adoption of the 2009 budget for Dec. 8.