second regular meeting November 19th 2025 6 p.m. parish council meeting room fifth-floor courthouse Franklin Louisiana we'll have our invocation by honorable Rodney Olander and Pledge of Allegiance by honorable Mr. Hill David Hill. Dan. Heavenly Father we gather here today as a council seeking your guidance and wisdom in our deliberations. We ask that you would be present with us, filling our hearts with your peace and directing our thoughts toward decisions that will best serve the needs of our community. Grant us clarity, unity, and the strength to work together effectively. We ask for your blessings on this meeting and all those who participate. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I am for a roll call Mrs. Morgan. Thank you. Reverend Matthews, he's absent. Mr. Ina, he's absent. Mr. Olander, present. Mr. Hill, present. Mr. Rolfe, he's absent. Mr. Abear, present. Mr. Davis, present. Mr. Duhon, present. Mr. Adams, here. Dr. Green, present. And Mrs. Adalgo, present. You have a quorum, present ma'am. Item five, reading of the minutes of the previous meeting. 5A, first regular meeting November 12, 2025. Madam Chair, I move that we dispense it to read and accept as written. Second. Motion by Mr. Olander, second by Mr. Abear. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item six, guest. Mr. Paul Ratman to appear before the council to update on consolidated drain gravity drainage district number 2A. Thank you, give me a little bit of time up here. Just state your name for the record, Mr. Paul. Just state your name for the record. I'm sorry, Paul Ratman, resident of Morgan City. I'm the president of the drainage district 2A in Morgan City. And my idea tonight was I want to come in and give everybody a little bit of a report of what's going on. Sir, appreciate it. Thank you, sir. At the board of Miami, I have to sit down and read out at the leisure. This project was the first of the GIS CPR project dollars that were spent in addition to the engineering and all the stuff that was done to station nine. I'm trying to come up with that. This project by itself is a million one hundred eighty five thousand and it's replacing two pumps and engines complete and it also going to complete, they replace two pumps and also on electric motor, reusing two existing gasoline, natural gas pumps and reusing electric motor that's in the station. Probably about 30 percent complete. If you go through that little fly that's from GIS, that's where they are right now. That's kind of the whole idea about what they're doing, where they're going. The next step in addition to running pump station nine and some of the numbers on the pumps and stuff, we're looking at pump station number eight Syracuseville and after that going to be pump station six. And it's been kind of a challenge on my part and the rest of the board to sit down and make sure that we're not interfering with whatever they do and we're coming together with all that kind of stuff. Process of all of this thing, one of the things that I saw and he got hit with one of the things that came into you guys and they raised cane about was amount of money was being spent. Nothing was happening since we took over. We've been able to cut a lot of expenses. Excuse me. As of now, district two has about one hundred forty thousand dollars left in the bank. We're not at the end of the year, which is way better than what we were before. District six has about forty thousand left to complete the year. We did this by eliminating the pump rails that are at pump station nine. We originally went to Associated pump and asked them to just pull the pumps out. We just had enough capacity based on what we had been told. We saw and we really need them. And the guys that look, maybe I'll work with you all. We'll just kind of leave them in place, lock them out and take them off rent. And in case you all need them, then we can come back and unlock and we'll see about putting them back on rent. So it was kind of a win-win situation for everybody. It was probably about seven or eight thousand dollars of demo fees and probably about three days to pull the pumps out or pull them back in and that type of thing. So it was a good working situation for everybody. They have since decided they have another job for the pumps. They're going to pull the pumps out this week and we should be going another job. One of the questions we were looking at in station six, it was a question about whether all the engines and stuff like that were working. And a lot of people told that the engines don't run and found out to be due. We've got some cooling issues with Caterpillar engine. We've got some problems with the walk show. It has a following issue and we're working through that with both pumps pump water and we can both run at island and run about half capacity. And we have a cooling system kind of jewelry to make sure that we can keep the Tata-Kill engine cool. And we're working on a throttler system with the walk show. Station eight, we're doing cleanup looking to an oil leak and a pool leak from both engines but they're both operable along with the electric pump there. We may be able to repurpose, we think that the cooling issue at station eight is a fuel cooler and we may be able to repurpose a fuel cooler from station four that they just pull out and temporarily fix that until they get all the new engines and all that kind of stuff set up for station eight. Currently what we've been doing, Amelia got her jewelry clean out of four ditches. They had a bunch of trees and overgrown with trash and he should be complete in about two weeks. He was able to go ahead three weeks ago to run with this project. It's about a 18-25 dollar project and he ran a submission with Dottie before they could go in and buy the big engine. He had to come in and walk through cables and wires and all that stuff. He should be done in about two to three weeks getting that project done. Shannon and Melda, the two board members, working to inventory all the materials that we've got. We thought about touring the storage areas, both Amelia and Long Beach City. We got stuff we didn't know we had. Literally. Tools, very expensive tools. Pimping tools, mechanics tools, plumbing tools. A lot of stuff that we may test. There's really a lot of dollars and we're putting all that stuff together to make sure we have a good inventory. Because none of the inventory lists that we have show that as equipment. Shannon and Melda handling that. We also found out that there's some pumps that were at the Grower's Landfill. We knew where that pump was. There's pumps and engines out there at the Grower's Landfill. Nobody told us anything about it. Nobody offered any information. We're trying to pull all that stuff together, find out what's usable, if we sell it, whatever. The two big pumps are two 60-inch. They cut up in pieces. They were cut up in pieces. Unless you came out of the stage and bought one. Yes. And then you have one pump of Amelia that we need to bring as soon as we can get that laid out on the yard. Right. Okay. I'm coming to that. But anyway, we're going back and inventorying all the stuff we had. Basically, I just said, okay, we're not spending any more money buying tools, equipment, anything like that to find out what we got. Basically, just kind of shut that stuff down. Don has worked getting all this cleaned up, getting rid of the junk and stuff. We sent an letter to Juliana to figure out how we can get all of her stuff out of there. There's literally two offices full of personal items, stuff that goes in the archives, Morrissey Archives, Franklin Archives, the Pirates Archives, whatever it is. There's just bunches of equipment and paperwork and stuff like that. And I literally walked in one office and we keep all the maps and looked like somebody going in there and just emptied out all the file cabinets. I got pictures of it. I didn't want to do all this stuff tonight. But the plan is just go in the file cabinet and grab everything and just do it all. So we've had to go back and sort through all that kind of stuff and find out what's going on. We've had issues. Tim Pringle came to one of our meetings and said there's a book for all the resolutions and all this kind of stuff. I think that's something Patrick was talking about, finding all the old resolutions. And he's going to eliminate some of the stuff. We've got a lot of book resolutions. I'm going to have to go back to the board minutes and all that kind of stuff and see what was there and what's not. That's going to be a time consuming process. Don has also gone back and found some stuff in there that's also 20 years old. He's working with the Secretary of State and the state archives to find out exactly what was thrown away. And what we have to keep. That's everything that's a litigation type stuff we have to keep. But any of the older records, we'll maybe be able to get rid of. There's a process. As I understand it, you have to get approval before you can even shred this stuff. Senator's golfing garden, do whatever you want to do with it. Accounting setup. We've basically eliminated Don Elsikes. They were charging us five grand a month. I call it the right checks. It was a little bit more than that. But we've got Christina set up with a computer. I actually got with Gary and Punch. And we've got a computer ordered from the state contract, which is about 50% of what you pay in a commercial store with a new computer. And we're going to use QuickBooks to get all this stuff set up. And I sat down and talked to three CPA firms of the Don Elsikes, including our firm that's going to do our audit this year. We'll probably use them as backup for checking on any of our accounting issues. And they'll tell me what we want to do, what I want to do with the accounting system. It'll be a cakewalk. That's what I want. It will probably be cheaper going forward because it'll simplify a lot of things. I'm working with the Whitney Bank, too. And I've also reached out to Paul about some bond money. I'll say I have some excess bonds going into our bonding account. Look at that every month as we go down. We've paid all of our bonds up to $338,000 check. $157,000 check. And the bond dollars are not going down. We've still got $1,050,000 in the moniker. So whether we're collecting too much taxes or what's happening with our accounting office interest or whatever, what can we do with the money? That's what we've got to find out. That's what we're kind of working on. I'll send him some of the information I've sent. I'm talking about it, but that's where we are right now. So it's kind of figuring out what we've got. And CPR and other stuff is the kind of stuff that I gave you right there. Last yesterday that I talked to Mike Bacotta on Station 9 is about $9 million. That's to put those new pumps and generators and all that kind of stuff in. And I don't want to steal any Sam's money, but we've got a report from Mike Bacotta in there. But we've got about a year wait on some transport homes that the city's got to buy to provide electricity where you have enough electricity out there around the big parks. So that's about all I got. So I was going to get everybody like the five minutes. I'm sorry. Twice. We appreciate the update. Thank you, Mr. Paul. Do I have any questions? Any questions for Mr. Paul? Yeah. Patrick? I do have one question. I know I had two big old stacks of books that big on every pump. What was down and what was broken and all this stuff. Were you guys had any success doing any repairs on pumps that was out of service? And if so, have you give us an update on that please? Well, the thing that we've done is we've made the stuff like I think what you're talking about is got probably a walk show and the caterpillar diesel engine in station six. I was one of the big issues right there. And they started the walk show. I had known 10 years and kind of cleaned things up, poured some fuel to it, started the engine, set down. I was going to travel a little bit of trial issue. It was fine. I can't get everything. So we got to figure out exactly what's going on with that. So but as it stands, the pump running at idle, full throttle, pumping throttle up is about 1100 RPMs. It's up there. I put tight about half the capacity. So we get three in the mind. We're going to get them to follow up and run. We'll be able to take care of things. Good. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay. On this station nine, they're talking about electricity coming from the city. They bought to generate it. Yeah. To take the face of the city. Right. He takes electricity to go down. But they bought them. They're going to install them until the city can come online. Those generators not coming up. They're not yet. They got them on holiday. That's the that's the biggest issue right there with electricity available out there. What they ran out there is not near. I mean, that's enough electricity on lights and small equipment and stuff like that. But it's not going to be 100 feet to two or else. But thank you, Mr. Ratman. It's a good job. Thank you. I have one. I really appreciate the way y'all doing it and you going through it piece by piece, putting things back together. Y'all are doing a really, really good job. And then the next two months, I might have a big announcement for you. Good. Okay. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for your work. Not for you, Mr. Hill. Okay. At this time, if we can move item 13 up at this time, if anybody has any I'm am. We have a resolution of respect in memory of honorable cliff Dressel. I so move. Thank you, Mr. Adams. Seconded by the council. I read it into the record. Whereas the Lord almighty in his infinite mercy and goodness has seen fit to remove from our midst, former clerk of court, honorable Clifford G Cliff Dressel. And whereas in 1965, he began his remarkable public service career with the Saint Mary Parish clerk of court's office as deputy clerk was later appointed chief deputy clerk in August of 1969 and was elected clerk of court in July 1984. And whereas his exceptional dedication, professionalism and leadership guided his office and served the people of Saint Mary faithfully for a total of 59 years, having been elected to the 10 consecutive terms as clerk of court, an extraordinary record of service. And whereas during his tenure, honorable Dressel earned the respect of his peers across Louisiana and was deeply honored to be the only clerk of court in Louisiana history to serve two terms as president of the Louisiana clerks of court association. And whereas his life was defined by a steadfast commitment to integrity, public service, compassion and amazing values that impact at Franklin. And whereas the members of Saint Mary Parish council wish to acknowledge publicly sort their sorrow and sympathy to the family of honorable Dressel. And whereas the Saint Mary Parish council hopes that his family will find comfort in the thought that their grief and sorrow are shared by their friends. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Saint Mary Parish council through the unanimous adoption of this resolution that they solemnly deliberate with sincere condolences, sympathy and understanding during this time of brief adopted and approved by the Saint Mary Parish council in regular session convened on this the 19th day of November 2025 approved by Gwendolyn L. Adagio chairperson, Saint Mary Parish council. Uh, okay, go ahead. You know, so much you could say about that fella, just a very, very honorable man. I know the first time I came here to, well, I knew him way before, but when I first came to qualify, he met the front desk. They got a picture of him. I asked him, would you take a picture with me? And he did. And he just, you know, he was such a kind person. You know, you just talk with him and just, I know the girls and the ladies in his office had to just love him to death. I mean, you just could feel it every time you'd go. I don't know, it's just so much you could say about him. You know, down in my heart goes out for you. I tell you, it's just, I was one fine fella and you know, it's a well, well missed. I tell you. Yeah, he was, yeah, he was, I mean, definitely one of the good guys when serving 10 consecutive terms. I mean, that states it all right there. He must have been doing something right. And he was, I mean, to find somebody who would say they didn't like the guy, you know, that was, it was unheard of. Just, I mean, everybody, everybody liked him. And like I say, him serving 10 terms explains why, you know, but he really was a good guy. He'll be missed. Sorry for your loss. I got there in 1967, so he had already been there and got to meet him and all. We spent some time together and you came along and he got a lot brighter and all that. It was really good. And I'm really sorry for your loss. Love you. Can we do a picture? Item 13A. Reverend Matthews, he's absent. Mr. Ina, he's absent. Mr. Olander. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Hill. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Roth, he's absent. Mr. Abert. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Davis. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Duhon. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Adams. Yes, ma'am. Dr. Reen. Yes, ma'am. Mrs. Hidalgo. Yes, ma'am. We have one. We have eight yeas and three absents and the resolution carries. Thank you. Thank you. You went smiling? Okay, let's do another one. Okay. All right. One, two, three. Seven. Public comment. And we have one, Mr. Glenn Palloran. State your name for the record. Okay. Glenn Palloran. I live in Centerville and just kind of wanted to come here. I noticed on resolution 13B that the council is requesting that we rescind a decision that we made two meetings ago about wanting to give our employees or a couple of our employees insurance after they retire. And I kind of want to clarify some of this why we made the decision we did and, you know, how we've done some investigating on this. We've talked to Mr. Gouvernon all about it. It's in the handbook that, you know, that we have that we all participate in that we're allowed to offer insurance no greater than what you guys offer St. Mary's Parish Government. And we've been kicking this can down the road for five years. And due to that fact, we have one of our employees with 40 years with the water district at the water plant that retired and got a job with someone else. Because of the fact he had cancer and, you know, we were not giving him insurance when he retired. So due to the fact that, you know, that's a pretty steep task is you retire and you don't have any insurance and you have to go out and buy your own. So he chose the fact of when I'm gonna retire, I'm gonna get hired on with somebody else. That punishes me insurance when I retire. So we took that into consideration and we, like I said, we've been kicking that can down the road for almost five years. We have two other people. We have only 12 employees in our whole water and sewer district. We have three ladies that run the office. We have three men that take care of all of our sewer treatment plants and all of our sewer systems in our pumps. And we have six men that run the water plant. So we don't have a whole bunch of employees. We had requested, I think, several months back, maybe six months ago, Mr. Gubanol about adding some of our employees to the to St. Mary Parish. And I think his answer was that they would rather not do it, possibly could cause their insurance rate to go up. But St. Mary Parish does offer retirement to just about all of their employees after they retire. But we're, you know, water and sewer district, and that's not available to us. So I thought, or the board thought, not just me, the board thought that it would be appropriate after we lost a guy with 40 years and has put he and the two other administrators in our area, has put seven and a half million dollars in savings in our account in sewer district or water district three, that, you know, I'm on the board for. And I just thought that they did such a phenomenal job. All of the five districts, of all the five districts, there's nobody in a district that has this much money saved. Now we have allocated over four million dollars for projects within the next two years, but we do, we don't owe anybody. All our bills are current, contrary to the majority of all the other water districts in the area. So I just, and I say, I'm part of the board and I'm calling I the board. We just thought that it was something that we might need to offer our people to stop them from going elsewhere to keep them before retirement. Give them a little incentive. It's not near as good as the insurance y'all have, not near as good. It does not cover their spouse like y'all's do. So we just thought we'd give him a little lesser type of insurance or get the two that speaks in a retire, a lesser type insurance, but at least they have something for major catastrophes, you know, so be it that happens after they retire. So we just thought it was appropriate to offer that and, is my time up? Thank you. So, but when I saw the request to rescind our decision about offering insurance, I just wanted to make a comment and help you guys totally understand why we did what we did. I was told by one of the councilmen that we had the highest millage in the parish, which we don't. Actually, of all the five districts, we have the lowest millage that's collected through all the water districts. Our millage is only 9.08%. Charity is 28.89%.