The Winn Parish Police Jury is seeking at least one maybe two new people to serve on the Industrial Development Board of Winn Parish (IDB).

The IDB was created on August 21, 2006, to promote industry and develop trade by inducing manufacturing, industrial, commercial and other enterprises to locate in Winn Parish.

Per the IDB’s Bylaws, the board meets on the third Wednesday of every month unless no business that has come before the board. According to IDB President, Dickey Heard the board has not been very active lately. “We wait for either the parish or the state to present ideas to us and no one has approached us with anything in a while.” IDB Statutory Attorney, Chris Nevils stated that the board’s scope is not to proactively search out opportunities but to look into opportunities that are brought to them and then pass on the ones that they think are good to the Winn Parish Police Jury for consideration. The board met on February 2, 2020, but before that, it had not met since 2013.

During the most recent IDB meeting Winn Parish Police Jury President, Josh McAllister stated that he would like to see the IBD revitalized and at least two maybe three more members added to the board. McAllister also thanked Heard for his many years of service to the board. McAllister’s guest at the meeting was Robin Cummings, owner of Six C Fabrication, Inc in Winnfield. McAllister went on to make a motion at the last police jury meeting to have Cummings appointed to the board.

The current board members are President, Dickey Heard (served since 2006), Larry Bates (served since 2017), Toni McManus (served since 2017) and recently added Robin Cummings.

The IDB has over $600,000 at its disposal to invest in bringing industry to Winn Parish thanks to the payment in lieu of tax (PILOT) agreement signed in 2008 between the IDB and Jeld-Wen, INC, where in place of ad valorem taxes Jeld-Wen, Inc pays $50,000 per year to IBD. This is the twelfth year of a twenty-year term.

Police jurors will be considering nominees for the board at the next police jury meeting. The next IBD meeting is scheduled for March 4, 2020.