St. Mary Parish Council's second regular meeting December 17th 2025 6 p.m. in the Parish Council meeting room fifth floor courthouse Franklin Louisiana. Our invocation while ex Reverend Matthews to do that for us tonight since Dr. Smith is not here at this minute. I mean I'm sorry the Pledge of Allegiance will be by our honorable Dean Adams. Please stand. Everyone please bow your heads and close your eyes in reverence to God. Dear God our Father we thank you as always for this opportunity to come together in fellowship in our community with those our citizens as well as our elected and public officials officials that you've appointed for such a time as this. We realize dear God that there is no government except that which you have established according to your word and we thank you for calling us to service for such a time as this and whatever capacity that we serve we ask that you would help us that you would give us wisdom that you would give us insight and understanding that you would teach us patience that we would learn to reason with one another help us to govern the matters of this parish the state in this country and even this world in a way that will bring honor and glory to your name. We ask that God that you would have mercy upon us and forgive us for the errors of our ways for your word says that all of sin didn't come short of your glory and we realize that we can do nothing apart from you we ask that you would impart divine wisdom in this meeting tonight we yield ourselves and submit ourselves under your authority that you would have your way in us and through us that you would continue to God to bring the increase that we stand in need of to meet the needs of this parish to serve your people with diligence with faithfulness and with consistency we bless you dear God because of who you are and for all that you do for you never sleep nor do you slumber we thank you we praise you and above all we lift you up in the mighty the miraculous and majestic name of Jesus this is our prayer amen yes this for all thank you ma'am appreciate you roll call mrs. Morgan yes ma'am Reverend Matthews president mr. I know here mr. Olander present mr. Hill he's absent mr. Rall mr. a bear mr. Davis present mr. Mr. Adams present dr. Rink she's absent and mrs. Adalgo present you have a form present ma'am thank you item 5 reading of the minutes of the previous meeting a 5a first regular meeting December 10th 2025 madam chair mooted we dispense with the reading and accept as written have a motion by mr. Olander second by mr. a bear any discussion all in favor any opposed motion carries item 6 of a comment we don't have any tonight but I'd like to take this time to publicly apologize for last meetings outburst to all my colleagues sitting on this panel and at this time I would like to wish everybody in st. Mary parish Merry Christmas Happy New Year's Happy Holidays Happy Hanukkah to whatever we celebrate and from our from our chambers to everyone's home you know we want to extend that out to everybody thank you at this time item 7 report from mr. Sam Jones the parish president madam I would also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year it's been a long year we all work really hard I don't really have anything else to say other than that I reserve the right if I'm asked for anything else to respond 8 report from personnel mr. Paul Guggenau I CAO thank you madam chair you've all received my report it's pretty much informational if you have any questions I'll entertain those at this time I got one question the our juveniles well where do we set our juveniles to everywhere it depends it depends where they can find a bed a lot a lot of times it's tearbone sometimes there's one in Lafayette it just depends where the judge sends them it depends where he depends if it comes from City Court or comes from our court well they grouped in with the males and females no there's separate there's totally separate so we don't get no report on juvenile we have very few I was very very they try not to send juveniles to juvenile detention occasionally we do get them but the see how much the cost per day is for juveniles like two hundred and sixty dollars a day but we get very few and the judges know that it's got a bit extreme circumstance when they send a juvenile to a facility but we do occasionally get them okay thank you appreciate it madam chair yes thank you madam chair good evening to everyone I was just kind of waiting to see if we would get an update on the project that we asked about in burdened veal on last weekend seeing that some of those same folks from that community are here tonight I believe that it's prudent that we would provide just an update on the information that has been received thus far I did share information with the council members and with the members of the administration prior to tonight's meeting just based upon my own individual research about how and where the status of that project is and how it might be I guess kind of brought back online as of today I have not gotten any further information but I do believe that the information I shared with the council and administration prior to tonight is vital and I would like the citizens of burdened veal and that entire community to know that we are working to try to reignite or reactivate that project if it's possible I don't have a no answer yet but also don't have a yes as to whether or not that is possible there there was a deadline that was missed inadvertently we were supposed to submit a revision to the environmental review that was conducted on that project and as I and as has been explained to me by our consultant team because the project is considered under the the new regulations of the community development block grant program it's it's being designated as a new construction project although it's an existing road we are we are planning to widen the road by adding shoulders to each side so the forms that were sent in were of the sort that it would be respective of a reconstruction project but based on us adding shoulders to the road it would be considered new construction so that required a different form a different environmental form be submitted the mr. Firmans office kind of went back and forth as he explained it to me personally with the authorities at the CDBG office because they wanted very tedious revisions to that form and once once the final revision was submitted I guess it was it was probably on July 2nd or 3rd from what he said it was a couple days after the deadline the deadline was July 1st we missed that deadline because mr. Firmans office does not receive that correspondence directly it comes to the parish government and he has to wait for information to be shared with his office and so he was not aware his staff was not aware that the deadline was set for July 1st as he explained it to me and so the deadline was missed since that time I've spoken with Senator Robert Alland's office and I've brought them up to speed on what's happening he did his staff didn't inform me that they would be reaching out to our parish government to get relative information to use as a reference when they begin the dialogue with the CDBG office or in whoever the proper authorities are to try to request that that decision be overturned and that they allow us to reactivate that project which is what we're hoping will happen so I would like to consider that the project is not completely dead at this time that was that was my interpretation because there have been instances in other projects where some leniency has been granted but but that's where we are as of today just just a little bit of background that's a project that was funded by CDBG sometime in the previous term my mind doesn't recall the exact date but it was somewhere between the transition of mr. Lagrange and John Paul Bork I spoke with mr. Bork this weekend just to get his insight as to what he recalls and he did seem to believe that the project was was moving along fine until those little missteps but does also believe that it's possible that that decision could be overturned based upon his experiences with with you know similar similar decisions so a community development block grant program funded sometime in maybe 20 20 or 19 or something like that and right now we just don't know what the fate is that's as much information as I was able to obtain on my own if the chairlady would allow it yes you can ask the question you can come can you come to them your name again my name is Elmetra J Franklin and I live at 543 verland which is just adjacent to the area where that project was started and I believe if memory serves me correctly Reverend Matthews and me have been asked at the first must first of last year as the question about the project for an up and yes sir an update part of project that was last year and we were told that they had to do some other work some other things is going on but that the project was still on the table if that happened if they missed the date or whatever because things happen in the business world and we certainly do understand that as residents the residents of that area we were all under the impression that that project was going to still be on the table if that happened we should have been told something before the other night when we came here and they said the project was dead and had missed something or would miss stuff or whatever the case may be that's not acceptable because everybody on that backstreet and that's what we call it the backstreet and my street we are all taxpayers homeowners and I just thought that it was not a good look good the way that thing went down and we didn't know anything until we came here and it was just like a matter of fact that something happened in a project it's not going to happen that's not the way to treat people and Sam you know better than we should have been told something. Well I wasn't there when they allocated that. But you was here when they asked that question about the project was the project still on the table you were still following that night and they said yes the project was still on the table and what I'm saying is things happen things happen and if that was going to be the case and it wouldn't been no more than right to tell us well look something happened we had a misstep and something happened in backwards we're not gonna be able to do the project but we're gonna work and try to restore the money as you're saying here this afternoon. It's still on the table it just it needs to go back from the beginning and they moving their way toward it I've had a number of people call me a number of people that I talked to and we're trying to get it done as soon as we can but when you start all over again it just takes a little more time. We've been waiting a while there were several projects before I was and we just was under the impression at once they finished I think they was doing drainage or sewage or something was of that sort but nevertheless we were under the impression that once that was complete then our project would start up in the Burdenville area and I talked to several of the residents and I told them that Mr. Bogan and I who would make all the our community organizations we would come and represent tonight and try to get a handle on where we were with the project so from what I'm hearing the project is still on the table we just have to wait until you all saw through and possibly get the funds again. It's like Mr. Matthews said they're adding things they're adding the sides and all that kind of stuff with changes with changes and makes it a little bit longer to get it done but when it's done it's going to be nice. Thank you thank you for that information. Madam Chair, can I add something? Yeah thank you Councilman Reverend Matthews for your update and I have been in touch with the state regarding this project it was approved originally I want to say back in 2023 when I went through the files to look and see and we do hire a consultant to take care of all those things for us and the consultant gets I mean I've got letters that they were carbon copied on everything and you know they don't usually wait for us to get it from us they get the letters direct and the state didn't just didn't just willy-nilly say no this is off the table they tried for a long time to get that environmental review and it was turned in a couple days late and they were assessing penalties administrative penalties based on the days it took for that environmental review to come through and the total project I think is around 800,000 for the whole project but once the penalties got to towards the amount of the contingency of the project then the state looks at it as being not feasible anymore so I have been in touch with the state I let Sam know right away and he contacted Senator Alland's office I've been in touch with Senator Alland's office so we are working hard to try to get that you know get it reinstated for us to be able to proceed with it. Thank you. At this time if it's okay with the council we're gonna do for resolution item 13A we're gonna move it up to this time a resolution to respect to memory of Mr. Pellerin. I so move. Motion by Mr. Adams. Second by the council. Discussion. All in favor. I'm sorry. Yeah I was gonna read it into the record before we get in a roll call. Okay I want to do a resolution of respect. Whereas the Lord Almighty in his infinite mercy and goodness has seen fit to remove from our midst Mr. Optimus Edwin Pellerin jr. father of the assistant clerk of the council Mrs. Rashanda Bourgeois and whereas Mr. Pellerin was a beloved husband father grandfather and great-grandfather and was cherished by his entire family whereas Mr. Pellerin can finally be remembered working on his family farm working at Brawler Burger was a printer at the Banner Tribune was produce manager at A&P grocery store the day's supermarket Piggly Wiggly shop right food store was also store manager when Dixie and super one foods and whereas Mr. Pellerin was a man of many talents he was a generous man who believed in faith family and community work side-by-side with his father and grandfather to build immaculate conception Catholic Church in Birdenville and was continued to help maintain the church in his grounds as long as his health allowed and whereas Mr. Pellerin loved watching Western movies and could always be found whistling and singing church hymns and classic country songs whereas Mr. Pellerin was gifted with an amazing green thumb and was widely known for growing and sharing his okra fruit trees plants and flowers and whereas the members of the st. Mary parish council wish to acknowledge publicly their sorrow and sympathy to the family of mr. Pellerin and whereas the st. 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 st. Mary parish council through the unanimous adoption of this resolution that they solemnly deliberate and sincere condolences sympathy and understanding you in this time of grief adopted and approved by the st. Mary parish council in regular session convened on the 17th day of December 2025. I'd like to say just a couple of words. I didn't I didn't Sean I didn't know your dad personally but reading this it seems to me that he was a really hardworking man when I'm reading here and he was a godly man that was a good thing he done with the Catholic Church and to see that he has a lot of his family members here that's I mean that speaks volume of the type of man he was and I just want to you know give out my condolences my you know I really feel sorry for your loss thank you. Don do you want to recognize your brothers? I have to say Mr. Joshua looks very familiar. Were you a candidate in a political election? I thought so. Okay this is an item 13 a Reverend Matthews yes ma'am Mr. I know Mr. Olander yes ma'am Mr. Hill he's absent Mr. Ross Mr. A bear Mr. Davis yes ma'am Mr. Dewhorn yes ma'am Mr. Adams yes ma'am Dr. Rink president yes ma'am and Mrs. Adalgo yes ma'am we have 10 years and one absence of the resolution carries a resolution for 13 B we're going to table that one until we Mr. Hayes's family next half in the first of the year. Second. All in favor. Any opposed. Right. I don't 10 I'm sorry 9 report of council meetings item 9 a Republic meeting report December 10 2025 545 and be public hearing December 10 2025 5 50 p.m. Madam Chairman we adopt have a motion by Mr. Adams second by Dr. Rink any discussion. All in favor. Any opposed. Motion carries item 10 report of meetings other than council meetings. Reverend Matthews. Thank you Madam Chair. I want to acknowledge a group that attended the West St. Mary Civic Center on this week. Actually on yesterday there was I believe it's called communities United Incorporated a nonprofit group came to offer support and assistance to residents of our parish particularly the West End of the parish at our civic center for I guess access to disaster recovery grants is what I understood. I was notified of that by the barrage of phone calls that I received from constituents throughout district one for two reasons one because they didn't see me present and wanted to know why I was not there to answer their questions and certainly because they were unfamiliar with the people that were there. Some people expressed hesitancy and concern about releasing their private information. I think there was a couple of other people from the community there I think representatives of St. Mary community action were present and although I believe the effort was successful in reaching probably close to about 400 people from across from as far as Franklin and other areas up to St. Peter Street and Generate to add their names to a list that would be vetted to determine whether or not they're eligible to receive these disaster recovery grant funds which as I understand it at present are relative to one of the last two hurricanes that we might have experienced in St. Mary Parish. I did have an opportunity at the end of the day at the end of my workday to stop by the Civic Center on my way home and a young lady by the name of Marcel who worked with that group and then Andrea Johnson who I think is a native resident of somewhere in Texas from what she expressed to me and had a chance just to exchange a dialogue with them and learn a little bit more about their efforts in the program and she did express an apology for not reaching out to the council directly to express that they're interested in coming to St. Mary Parish to do this and I just shared with her that it would be helpful if our efforts are more coordinated primarily because the people in these communities are very vulnerable they need the help desperately and the last thing we want is for misnomers and misconceptions and misinformation to be distributed throughout our communities throughout our neighborhoods and for people to get false expectations of things that they probably won't even qualify for and I'm not at liberty to say whether or not they're qualified I can make all kind of presumptions but I don't even know enough about the program and the merits of it to be able to answer some of their questions and so through our dialogue I expressed to her that it would be more advantageous because they are planning to do this for the next several weeks as I understand it throughout our parish it would be more advantageous if they would send information to our clerk and to our chairman so that it's properly distributed among at least among this elected body so that as people are arriving in our communities and our neighborhoods where people are more familiar with their local elected representatives they'll probably be more comfortable with sharing their information and determining whether or not they're eligible for these potential benefits but all in all again I think it was a great outreach effort I think it was and I reached out to our friends at South Central Planning and shared the information with them and asked if they were familiar with it and the response and the feedback I got was as far as they could tell the information does appear to appear to be legitimate and you know there again that's another resource that is at our disposal in St. Mary Parish that I think with more and better coordinated efforts we could make a greater impact if that is our true desire. Thank you Madam Clerk. I talked to the lady she called and we had about an hour phone call and I invited her to come in and to not only go there but to go to a couple other places in the parish and they're moving on from last year's hurricane and the one before so we'll see what they do and what they come up with from there. Item 11, introduction of ordinance 11A for introduction and ordinance of the St. Mary Parish Council condemning the improvements consisting of the plantation in hotel situated at 815 Highway 90 parcel ID number 2984281045.00 and 2984281004.00 as a result of same being in a dilapidated and dangerous condition which endangers the public welfare and ordering the demolition and removal of said improvements by the owner thereof within 60 days from the effective date of this ordinance. What is your wishes? Madam Chair I'd like to move forward on this with question for our attorney to make sure all our paperwork is in order. That'll be with planning and zoning but if Miss Mandy or Mr. Paul or anyone has any issues I'll be sure to help them out. Okay. You're so moving Mr. Rolfe. Yes. Thank you. So moved by Mr. Rolfe. Thank you. Yes. We're going to deviate from the agenda to include the O business for action before we adopt the ordinance. Okay. If everyone's okay with that. So O business under 14A is referred from the advisory budget finance meeting November 12, 2025 in St. Mary. St. Mary Community Action Agency has submitted their pre-application requesting funds for the program year 2026 funding request 69.5 transportation funds 45.5 and elderly nutrition for 24,000 dollars. Now this did state the 2026 budget. Y'all did take care of that at the last meeting. So unless you want to speak about it now. Yes ma'am. So the action that was taken on last week was relative to the 2026 proposed budget. So was there was there any reference to the 2025 allocation in that budget finance committee meeting. So you may proceed if you would like to discuss anything for the 2025 budget. Yes ma'am. So there were a couple of budget finance committee meetings held this year. And one in particular I believe might have been back in September, no July or August, where we had a detailed discussion, or maybe it was earlier in the year, a detailed discussion about the 25% cuts that were made to certain programs. And at one point I remember the representatives from St. Mary Community Action coming forward and asking about restoring, possibly restoring that 25% at some future date. And it was at that point that the response from the administration was that we would revisit it in December of 2025. And so I've gotten a couple of calls about that. And they're here tonight and they may want to proceed with that inquiry as to whether or not that 25% that was cut in 2025's budget would be reconsidered. So this is the time to determine that. Yes, my name is Jeffrey Beverly with St. Mary Community Action Agency, the Housing Director. Yes, we did have that conversation back in the early part of the year. And it said that it was going to be revisited. And again, the transportation program is just getting to be extremely hard to operate. We did over 2,900 trips and 80% of those trips was dialysis patients. We are now going, bringing residents out of, from St. Mary Parish to Homer and New Iberia, because the need is so significant. We just get calls all the time. And when we take this cut, right now the program is costing us right at $225,000 to operate. We get half of that cost from the Department of Transportation and Development. The other half we have to come up with. The Parish Council had been in the previous years providing us with $45,500 and the other right at $80,000 we have to come up with. And with the, when COVID came, a lot of people didn't want to get into vehicles. You know, I guess we are called crowded. And so we have to make a little bit more trips in order to accommodate people also. So that became a problem. Field became a problem. And it has been an increasing part of the expenditures for us to operate. And so we would appreciate it if you would definitely reconsider trying to restore that, what we asked, or what you said you may look back at, at this time. Can I ask you a question? Yes. We had a conversation about this last week, didn't we? Last meeting. This was 26 budget. We added this into what? The 26 budget. 26 budget. Yeah, we're talking about the 25 one now, where we've already operated under those expenditures. And we say we're going to come back and revisit it in December if things looked up. And so that's what we had. Ms. Matthews added it to our budget that we consider trying to raise it back to what it was in the past. Oh, for the 25 also? Okay. Is that accurate, Madam Clerk? It would take action on that, Madam Clerk. That would be a question for Paul, whether or not they'd have the funds to do 25, correct? Oh, you asked me for this year too? At the last meeting you all passed to increase it. I don't think we're going to be able to pay the increased amount at the beginning. I don't know what the year is going to hold. I can tell you that at this point this year, we are worse off cash wise than we were last year because we track it like that. But we did put the full funding in the budget because that's what the council passed. We didn't address the 25. Now, tonight we're talking about the amendments to the 25 budget. And that increase is not included in these amendments and the amendments to the amendment. So all the boards that got cut, the 25%, none of them is going to see none of that revenue? No. I mean, the 25 budget was at the 25% level being cut, so that hasn't increased. Correct. But it was kind of like the promise was, hey, come the end of the year, we ought to be able to reinstate that. But in the last year, we were able to give a little bit more money out. We were not able to do that this year. Paul, is that you're talking about in general for all of the programs? Or because I think we had a conversation that some programs have a little different level of need or level of merit that would be worthy of consideration, if I'm not mistaken, in finance. So is there, I don't know about funding all of them at a certain level, but I think there may be some that have, because we're talking about, I mean, 1,900 trips for dialysis. Yeah, one of the things that we consider and we prioritize is now dialysis because we have cut back so far. And 80% of our transportation now is dialysis. And we're talking life and death. So I don't know, I guess we just between a rock and a hard place. But again, we're trying to keep the transportation program afloat. But that match is kind of tough when you're talking about 125,000 that you just have to come up with. And we are getting the 45.5 from your, well, we're being restored that we had the 15% cut. But it's getting tough and we really don't want to shut that program down because it is really needed. The dialysis patients are not going down. It's increasing. The dialysis that you go to, is the one in Franklin or you go to all of them? We go to all of them in St. Mary Parish and continue to try to do those priority transportations to Homer and Wybarie also. Mr. Beverly. Yes. Madam Chair, did you reach out to the other municipalities to try and pick up that extra 25%? I mean, I understand what you're saying, but from what Paul is saying, we're doing all that we can. So my suggestion is, can we go to the other municipalities? I mean, we're talking about between all the municipalities, they should be able to cover the 25%, I would think. Well, we're willing to do whatever it takes to get the match, including Medicaid transportation. And we've been partnering. In fact, we just tried to collaborate with SMILE on something that they're looking at for getting information on just trying to keep all of these transportation programs operating. This is also the deal. There are for-profit people that come in. They take our citizens to the doctors. They'll leave them because they have no commitment to them. And then they are calling. And we're going to answer. We're going to answer until we shut the doors. And it's just a matter of letting you know. We want to let you all know that the information is we want to keep this program going because there is a serious need for dialysis, just dialysis. But we do other transportation services besides that. But again, we're willing to do everything that we have to do and reaching out to the other municipalities is not something that's off the table. We're just going to do what we have to do. The city of Franklin operates this program. They do the fiscal side of it for us. And our CFO handles all of the accounts payables for the program. But again, we're trying to do everything that we can to keep this program afloat. But we want you to know that the need is there. And we're talking life and death now. When you talk about five municipalities, I mean, we're talking 3,000, 4,000 each. It seems to me. No, not really. We're talking if you're talking five, we need another 80,000. Yeah, well, I'm talking about to pick up what we usually give you all. Oh, just the charge. Yeah, the 25% that we usually give. I'm just suggesting that maybe go to the municipalities and try to get that 25% so that at least you all have 69. Yeah, the 45.5. But I just want to make sure that we all own the same idea of what's going on here. When I'm talking about the 45.5, that's just to restore what we had before. But I want the council to know that this program is costing over $220,000 and we've minimized it. We only get the 112 from the state. And the other 112 we have to come up with. So when you do the 45.5, we're still talking about another 80,000 that we have to come up with some kind of way. We do it with Medicaid trying to get matched in that. But right now it's coming out of our general fund and some agencies are just going into deficit. Like ours. So I just want to make sure the 45.5 is not even coming close to covering what we need. That's what my question was to you, sir, is Medicare, Medicaid. Medicaid. We try to do everything to come up with that match. I'm going through this now. And sitting down getting educated by someone with the best plan for me to take. And they mention about transportation. What are the insurance companies that pay for transportation? A minimal amount. They will pay for it. They pay a portion. And so with that happening and what we are running into is a lot of whatever the reason is for dialysis patients, Medicaid don't cover it. They won't do the transportation side of it. They'll do other costs, but they won't do the transportation side. So again, what we're trying to make sure that you understand is even the 45.5 is not even coming close. And when we start losing that, we just want to make sure that everybody's on the table that understands that this is not even coming close to what we need. What would be the remainder of the balance that we're talking about for 25? You already talked about 26, but I think it was 15. I think it was between that and the thing I think was 17,000. Yeah, somewhere around that that cost 15 to 17. Critical. And we're not talking about the other transportation. Madam Chair, what do you think it would help if there was a resolution from this council encouraging the municipalities to maybe chip in and support? Would that be helpful? Absolutely. Is that something we could do? Absolutely. A resolution of support? The only transportation, public transportation programs that's operating up to par, there's a sales tax that goes in and that's the only ones that's operating. Right. And there's only a few parishes in our state that were fortunate enough to convince their citizenry, their electorate to pass that tax. But those are the programs that are thriving around the state of Louisiana. And you're absolutely right. And we made mention of this a little bit during our Budget and Finance Committee meeting that the state, the governor's office has gotten on board and is really, really supporting the education and awareness of this initiative. And even putting pressure. I had a phone conference yesterday I hadn't told you all about yet with the governor's office again. And they're applying pressure to DOTD to reformat or I guess reroute some of those dollars to better organize and support our operating costs. So, you know, there's still efforts at the state level to try to make this more affordable and to close our deficits in each locale. But it's still going to require some local support because it's not going to take care of all of it. And the need for public transportation of the sort that you're describing is not getting less. It's not getting shorter. It's increasing because more and more people are falling victim to these budget crises. And the money is just not there. And it's a matter of life and death. It's a lifeline to people getting to medical appointments. Some people rely upon these transportation services to get to work just to continue to maintain a minimal lifestyle. So, listen, you're preaching to the pulpit. I know. Are those persons going like dialysis? Well, we take people to get their chemo therapy. They used to have a center in Morgan City and we take people there. But some of those centers have closed down and people have to go to the drive-through. Some of them to Lafayette. Correct. Home to get those services. Those people need those services to keep up with it. Correct. And that's a big part of what we're supposed to do. And the other part of that is that those dollars that you give us and that we get for transportation turn right back on around in St. Mary Parish. People go to the gas station. They pay the light bills. They pay rent. We pay salaries to the drive. We get maintenance when our vehicles break. We take it to local mechanics to work on it. Those dollars are turning back around in our community. And transportation, like Reverend Matthews said, is not going the way it's learning. We're going to be needing more and more. A million parish police juries have given us allocation and I'm not sure about the exact amount that they give us. But every year they keep that and they say they'll cut something else before they'll cut transportation because they're ruled to and they know how much the people need transportation. I understand what Mr. Olanda is saying about the municipalities. But meanwhile, we have to work with what we have. Yes, ma'am. We need to work as hard as we can to make sure that the people who need us the most, that we're able to get those services. Maybe somewhere along the road and with our resolution from you, the municipalities would consider. But meanwhile, you've got people who will not come here who need that service to stay living. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Stay alive. I'll ask you one more question. The impact that's going on in Washington where they're cutting people's money, is that impacting us too? All of our programs, but FTA, they have not significantly cut FTA, which Reality Funds DOTD, Louisiana DOTD. But again, they're not going over the 50% at no levels. They used to be at 80%. Even when we purchased a vehicle, we have to pay 25% of the vehicle. And those are skyrocketing. And the vehicles are very poorly manufactured. Yes. So the maintenance costs is astronomical. Yes. And so we're, like Ms. Franklin said, we're turning that money back over into the parish. We fuel the maintenance and those things. We're doing that right back also. And the staff costs, because the people that work for transportation, they are residents of St. Mary Parish. They are out. Thank you. Just one last comment from my conversations with the governor's office. I think this is going to require some significant advocacy. And this is where everybody can play a part. Because until there's legislation that changes the reimbursement structure, for example, you talked about dialysis patients. When those patients arrive at that dialysis center, that dialysis center is charging over $1,000 per day to our governmental system to provide that service. And they don't pay one dime back into the transportation service that most of these are indigent patients that rely upon these public amenities to get to that appointment. And so there needs to be a reformatting, a restructuring of that payment system. If it's a $1,000 payment to the provider for that service, cut it down to $800 and shift $200 into the supportive services that the patient needs in order to access it. Until something like that happens, this is going to continue to spiral out of control. And I know we have a physician here that knows how that payment system works. And all of the benefit is on the provider side, unfortunately. And I say that as a provider, because I'm a partner in a private, for-profit provider operation. But it does not benefit the patients as much as it benefits the provider. And that has to change. I guess rather Matthew Drew was just stepping out, just by saying that with Communicat and ads, as it relates to other nonprofits, again, when you provide services that keep people alive, transportation, taking those people to get their chemotherapy and to get their dialysis services, they can't live without. Correct. And so we just feel, indeed, that to be so important. But we're not going to stop fighting for the transportation services. But I guarantee you, if it's cut down transportation or cut it out in St. Mary Parish, I know I have two people coming to this conference asking you to get some type of transportation so that the people can continue to get their services. Yes, ma'am. Don't you agree, Mr. Bell? Yes, ma'am. That's it, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have under Old Business, referred from the Advisory Budget Finance Meeting, November 12, 2025. St. Mary Parish 4-H Shooting Sports has submitted their pre-application requesting funds for the program year 2025 funding request $6,000. Money. No money, no action. Madam Chair. Mr. Matthews. I did have a conversation with Councilman Hill earlier today in his absence, and he did ask me to share with the Council his sentiments of being open to sharing that cost from the awards five and eight portion of the three tenths percent sales tax fund. If there was a match, an equal match from the other awards. So, you know that that that is up for consideration. I think it should be up for consideration and discussion. Right. I'm talking about $3,000 from each award. Each award, each division of the wards. I think there was a problem with that. I want to say last year would like this Beverly's group couldn't do that for some reason because of the restrictions on five and eight probably right right. Yeah, you're right. It all depends on the specifications and the tax call right and what the call for the tax was. That's not that's not an allowable expenditure. Fire and infrastructure type things is what the five and eight is. And recreation. Like, like a million is all the millions goes to the rec center, but they do them things with it. Oh, does it really cover recreation desk of recreation over that not following the recreation. Basically, it's got to be for the people in that area. Like, if all the kids are from one area, you can't do it. Go outside of those. That that kids from that. This. If that's the only one. Well, you'd have to have half the kids from there I guess you'd have to get the percentage of the children. I'd suggest we table this to the next meeting to get a little. I think we ought to send a letter to the school board or they should send a letter to school board that's where the software from the school that didn't find it. I moved every table is to the next meeting. I'll try. We have a motion and a second. Okay. I missed the most table to the next meeting. Who made the motion and the second there, and Dr. The table, this item until the January 14 meeting. 22 and six. All in favor. Any opposed. Motion carries. We're going to go back to 12 a for adoption is an ordinance amending and reenacting ordinance number 2379 adopting the 2025 combined budgets of revenues and expenditures for the parish of St. Mary's state of Louisiana. What is your wishes. I'm going to make that motion I guess it has to include a statement. It has to include the minutes. Yes, ma'am. That is correct. The amendments presented to us. Thank you. Seconded by Reverend Matthews. Any discussion. Okay, now we're going to have a roll call on item 12. This is an adoption of the 2025 budgets with the amendments. Mr. I know. Mr. Olander. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Hill. He's absent. Mr. Roth. Yes, ma'am. Mr. A bear. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Davis. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Do horn. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Adams. Yes, ma'am. Dr. Rink. Yes, ma'am. Mrs. Adalgo. Yes, ma'am. And Reverend Matthews. Yes, ma'am. We have 10 days and one absence and the ordinance carries. Thank you. Now where we at. We on 13 C. Okay. 13 C is a resolution authorizing parish president to execute a contract with Fairbanks scales incorporated relative to the landfills scale replacement project at the Harold JB babe Landry landfill. SMPG project number 25 dash 10 dash 01. I'd like to move on 13 C. Second by Mr. Landon second by Mr. Adams. Any discussion. Yes, ma'am. How long is this project going to take. I believe about a month or so. Okay. Because it's an in ground scale. So we've already removed the other one. Discussion. Thank you. This is on item 13 C. Mr. Olander. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Hill. He's absent. Mr. Mr. Rolfe. Yes, ma'am. Mr. A bear. Mr. Davis. Mr. Do horn. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Adams. Yes, ma'am. Dr. Rink. Yes, ma'am. Mrs. Adalgo. Yes, ma'am. Reverend Matthews. Yes, ma'am. And Mr. I know you have 10 days and one absent and the resolution carries. Thank you. See, now we're going to 14 C. O business is referred from the November 12 2025 regular council meeting appointments to the following boards of commissions a chaff like golf course commission has one vacancy Douglas treaty junior and Randy B. You was the only ones I've received. I'm sure I like to pay for this. And for further notice. I second. Mr. Rolfe second by Mr. Do horn. All in favor. Any opposed. Motion carries. 15 business 15 a is informational 15 B. Okay. Yes, ma'am. I just got asked by Chief Clark to please make a comment that this says September 2024 and they were not delinquent on submitting their financials. They were on time, but the accountant did not submit the final people work to us. So they just wanted that on the record. Not delinquency. It was not a delinquency. Okay. It was just an error in submission. Okay. From the accountant from their auditor to us. Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate that. Okay. B 15 B. This is discussion relative to the St. Mary Parish Council regular meetings dates, times and places for the year 2026 in front of you. You should have a copy of the dates of the meetings that I gave y'all. Okay. So let me let me just point out. Yes. Just to point out a little information for y'all. Everything is great. January through October, November, we had to move up the 11th because of Veterans Day holiday. So we we spoke with the administration and I spoke with Mr. Mrs. Gwynn just to make sure that you know, would y'all be okay with moving this up to the fourth day of the year? November the fourth is the first Wednesday and then we're also moving November 18th and then December the ninth is going to be the regular meeting and we're moving up the other meeting, which will be December the 16th. But all of these meetings will be falling on Wednesdays this year. Madam Clerk, the P. Jow meeting. We usually do, but this year it's not falling on any of our meetings. It's the first week of March. Oh, that's awesome. Thank you. You have NACO though. That's the week before. Correct. Your legislative conference is at the Washington, D. C. Correct. I only have one person going so far. So I don't normally rearrange that one unless for some reason we would have a lot of people out, but nobody else told me anything. So I just took it off of that one, you know, person. But it's y'all call whatever y'all want to do. I saw more we adopt these dates. Second. By Mr. Adams, second by Mr. Rowe. Any more discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 15C. This is Kevin Ortegaard, Laboratory Director, Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory Rights at the Annual Commission Meeting hosted by the Acadiana Crime Lab was held on Thursday, December the fourth, 2025. During the meeting, the 2026 proposed budget was approved by the commission members in attendance. The budget must be approved by at least a majority of the governing authorities of the parishes which the commission serves. So at this time, I would like to take a motion in a second to approve their budget. Yes, y'all have it. I do believe it was emailed to y'all. And let's see. It be up on the is it up on the screen also or no? I got a question about it. Have we ever made any payment remittance to this? We paid our share of the crime lab construction. It's all paid. Okay.