Parish road superintendent Perry Holmes came into Monday’s Police Jury session, telling jurors that he was just returning from a response to high waters in the Beulah area.  “With 8 to 9 inches of rain recently, we’ve had a lot of road washouts.  We’ve been trying to get them back in shape.”

There is good news for the Harrisonburg Road, he said.  Three bridge projects were originally planned under the state’s “Build Back Better” program but that got narrowed to one.  That bridge is on that road, with a budget of $400,000 to $500,000.  The superintendent is optimistic that work could move swiftly, perhaps by the end of the year, since survey and right of way are complete and plans are at 90%.

Phillip Evans reported on an earlier Road Committee session when a priority of keeping road graders in one district at a time for efficiency (instead of moving from here to there) was discussed.  But he agreed that when situations come up like the flooding Holmes mentioned, the superintendent will take the necessary actions.

The jury did agree to accept a bid from LouisianaCAT to activate a GPS tracking service on all of the parish Caterpillar equipment at an annual cost of $1,200.  Holmes said the GPS technology is already installed on the equipment and needs only to be activated.  This will allow jurors to follow the location and activity of the equipment.

In other jury action, lawmakers agreed to assist the Village of Dodson in grading the J.C. Parker Road, Keith Street, Gresham Street and Red Barn Road.  An amendment to the personnel manual will add mandatory Cybersecurity training.  And the following were named to PEMAC (Parish Emergency Management Advisory Committee):  Frank McLaren, Cindy Tilton, Phillip Evans, Dustin Parker, Gerry Lumus, Aleta Hoffman, Sabrina Kuhlmann and Brian Montgomery.