City Hall, Monroe, Louisiana
March 11, 2025
6:00p.m.
The Honorable Chairman Juanita G. Woods, called the meeting to order. She then asked the clerk to call roll.
There were present: Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Ezernack, Ms. Woods, Mr. McFarland, & Mr. Muhammad
There was absent: None
Chairman Woods announced that a quorum was present, and that the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance would be led by Mr. Muhammad or his designee.
The Invocation was led by Bishop Cliff Thomas, Senior Pastor, Victory Through Christ Worship Center and President of the Monroe Ouachita Chapter of the NAACP.
COMMUNICATIONS & SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
(1.) Mr. Harvey had no announcements.
(2.) Mrs. Ezernack welcomed everyone, and she congratulated the Lady Wildcats basketball team. She said next year get prepared because the City is looking for it next year too. She thanked them for representing the community so well.
(3.) Mr. McFarland congratulated the Wossman High School Wildcats, and he said he is proud of them all. He noted both of his boys went to Wossman High School and he said the Wildcats will be receiving a donation from the firm for their rings. He said last time they gave to both, and they are just waiting to see what the boys are going to do so they can split the pot. On another note, he reminded everyone about his community meeting Monday, March 17th from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm at Emily P. Robinson Recreation. He said they are inviting everyone to please come out and meet with Chief Victor Zordan and Mrs. Ellen Hill to talk about what is going on in the City. He said they also have a lot of questions about Public Works and Mr. Louis Tolliver will be there also. He said the meeting is on St. Patrick Day so wear something green and there will be some light refreshments. He said he mainly want people to come and get the information, ask questions and make sure they are satisfied with what they are trying to do in District 4. He congratulated the Wildcats again and he said they look to do more for them.
(4.) Mr. Muhammad announced his Community Meeting at Benoit Community Center at 5:30 pm and he said members from Public Works will be there. He said he would ask Engineering if they are available Thursday evening to stop by. On another note, he recognized the Wossman Lady Wildcats, and he stated Wossman is his alumni as well. He said this is Coach Robinson s 4th year and he hit the ground running. He presented Coach Robinson with a plaque congratulating him and the Wossman Lady Wildcats Basketball team for securing four consecutive State Championships from the City Council and Alumnus of Wossman High School for District 5.
(5.) Mayor Friday Ellis said good evening , and he thanked everyone for showing up to participate in the City Council Meeting. He said a couple things he would share, just like the young ladies that just left; often times they don t recognize our youth and the impact they have on their peers. He said a few weeks ago he had a field trip to come up to talk about civics, the role of the Mayor and talk to some of the judges at City Court. He said a young man stood out named Mr. Carter Anderson and his teachers told him about him, and he thought that was really cool. He said he asked him what is the great part about being the Mayor and he said one of the great things is being able to recognize people for their hard work. He stated he gave Mr. Anderson the Mayor s Coin of Excellence, but he went above that and gave him the key to the City too. On another note, he said for those out there that may be interested the Workforce Board is joining with Bluvera to be able to have a job fair to talk about data centers and the skills set. Next, he noted the Monroe sanitation crew so far have collected over 1,862 bags of litter not including Ouachita Green and the departments that already clean up in their daily routes. He said it is making a difference, and he appreciates the work they do. He said also 506,130,000 gallons of water has been treated, Public Transit gave over 40,784 rides, Monroe Regional Airport 1,900 flights service, 184,000 passengers served. He gave an update on the 22.5 miles of pipes cleaned, 1060 catch basins cleaned, and 59 truckload of debris removed. Lastly, he invite Mr. Marcus Brown to inform the Council about a program he is working on.
Mr. Marcus Brown said he is the President of Sons and Daughter Nela which is a non-profit program that is in the beginning stages. He said they want to show the community that there are not a lot of destructive young people they just need to teach the young people to be constructive. He said if they can get a partnership with the City of Monroe which can discussed at a later date. He thanked the Council and Mayor for introducing the Program to the City. He said the uptake in recent violence has soon the young people need something to do.
(6.) Ms. Woods announced her Chat & Chew coming up Wednesday, March 19th 10 am until 12pm at the Powell Recreation Center and it is an ongoing event on every 3rd Wednesday of the month. On another note, she said there is an election coming up and a lot of people are unaware of this election and there are four amendments on there. She said the election is on March 29th and early voting begins on Saturday, March 15th and will run through March 22nd.
Upon motion of Mr. Harvey and seconded by Mr. Muhammad, and the minutes of the Legal and Regular session of February 25, 2025, were unanimously approved. (There were no public comments.)
PUBLIC HEARING:
Ms. Woods noted for the purpose of the City s Operating Budget there will be a Public Hearing. She said hopefully residents have had an opportunity to see the budget which has been online and maybe had an opportunity to be at the hearings earlier today. She said this will be the public s opportunity to come up and express any concerns, things they want to say, or that they want to see different whatever that would be. She further noted the Council are looking forward to having the budget on the upcoming agenda which would be March 25, 2025.
City of Monroe Proposed Operating Budget 2025-2026:
The Chairman opened the Public Hearing and seeing no one come forward the Hearing was declared closed. (There were no public comments.)
PROPOSED CONDEMNATIONS:
The following condemnation was considered:
(1.) 3507 Dick Taylor (D4) owner Above Average Properties, LLC c/o Frank Goodin, Reg Agent. Notice to show cause was served. Photographic evidence was presented. There was no one present. Upon motion of Mr. McFarland, seconded by Mr. Harvey and unanimously approved, the building was condemned, and the property owner given 30 days in which to bring the structure into compliance with the Code or demolish the Structure and clean the lot. (There were no public comments.)
Mr. Tommy James, Code Enforcement Officer, said the owner pulled the permit for this property yesterday. They are asking that the property be condemned giving the owner 30 days to bring the structure into compliance. He said the owner pulled his demo permit and he would still like to move forward to condemn the property.
Mr. McFarland thanked Mr. James for doing such a good job of trying to help clean up District 4. He motion to condemn the property and if it is not taken care of within 30 days the City will move forward.
RESOLUTIONS AND MINUTE ENTRIES:
(a) Upon motion of Mr. McFarland, seconded by Mr. Harvey and unanimously approved Resolution No. 8894 granting an exception to the Open Container Ordinance to the Ouachita Presbyterian Church for a Community and Family-Friendly event (Crawfish Boil/Concert) at Forsyth Park pursuant to Monroe City Code Sec. 12-231 D. (Open Container Ordinance) and further providing with respect thereto. (There were no public comments.)
(b) Upon motion of Mr. McFarland, seconded by Mr. Harvey and unanimously approved Resolution No. 8895 granting an exception to the Open Container Ordinance to the Twin City Art Foundation for the (Off the Wall Annual Fundraiser) at the Masur Museum of Art pursuant to Monroe City Code Sec. 12-231 D. (Open Container Ordinance) and further providing with respect thereto. (There were no public comments.)
Department of Administration:
(a) Upon motion of Mrs. Ezernack, seconded by Mr. Harvey and unanimously approved Resolution No. 8896 authorizing a contract with Tanko Streetlighting, Inc. to conduct a Street Light Audit and Outage Inspection within the City of Monroe. (There were no public comments.)
Ms. Woods said she thinks the Council should have someone tell the public what the City has going on because it is so great, and they don t want anyone to miss it.
Mrs. Stacy Rowell, Director of Administration, said what a lot of people don t realize is that the City of Monroe doesn t own majority of the lights in the City, but they are owned by Entergy. She said the City do own a few on I-20 and Highway 165 but the largest majority of the streetlights are owned by Entergy and the City don t have control over when they get fixed. She said this company will come in and do an outage audit and from there they will see what they can do with that information with Entergy.
Ms. Woods said this is something she has been trying to work on forever and day. She said she had tie a yellow ribbon and it got really dangerous at night trying to put a ribbon around a pole.
Mrs. Rowell said she would like to arrange a video meeting for the Council if they have any questions.
Department of Planning & Urban Development:
(a) Upon motion of Mr. Muhammad, seconded by Mr. McFarland and unanimously approved Resolution No. 8897 authorizing a contract with Perspective Building Solutions, LLC for lead remediation at 2411 Grammont Street and further providing with respect thereto. (There were no public comments.)
Mrs. Ezernack stated she went online to see the property because of the pricing structure. She said the 2411 Grammont Street in the assessor s office is a vacant lot, but they may be wrong. She said she doesn t know if this is the correct address. She said she didn t know name for who it is for to be able to double check the name the against the address.
Mrs. Ellen Hill, Director of Planning & Urban Development, stated they checked it, and she do believe it is correct. She said they have to collect the deed and ownership from the owner. She said once they get to the point of signing contract they will get the full legal description to be sure in case it is off for some reason. She said it is a resident, somebody lives there, and they tested it for lead, and it has lead inside and out. She said a child resides there, which is why the project is in front of the Council in order for them to move forward.
Mrs. Ezernack wanted to know if this is the first project.
Mrs. Hill said no, they have four projects going right now and this will be the fifth and largest project.
Mrs. Ezernack asked Mrs. Hill to text her the owner s name then she can go back and look at it.
Mr. Muhammad said he talked to Mrs. Hill because he was concerned about the pricing because both houses looked the same. He noted she said one house has more lead than the other that needs to be mitigated.
(b) Upon motion of Mr. McFarland, seconded by Mr. Muhammad and unanimously approved Resolution No. 8898 authorizing a contract with Perspective Building Solutions, LLC for lead remediation at 200 Malvern Street and further providing with respect thereto. (There were no public comments.)
INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS & ORDINANCES:
(a) Upon motion of Mr. Harvey, seconded by Mrs. Ezernack and unanimously approved to Introduce an Ordinance establishing a site clearing permitting process and application fee and further providing with respect thereto. (There were no public comments.)
(b) Upon motion of Mrs. Ezernack, seconded by Mr. McFarland and unanimously approved to Introduce an Ordinance establishing a permit application fee for work on telecommunications towers and further providing with respect thereto. (There were no public comments.)
Mr. Muhammad wanted to know if these are on existing towers.
Mr. Shannon Futch, Engineering Department, Division Head, said there was never a fee established for any kind of work on the towers in the Municode and they found that back in October when the City was looking at all the permit fees. He said there were fees for small cell wireless that were listed but there were no fees for working on towers or installing a new tower in the City limits. He said he looked at a few in Bossier, LA to match what they charge for permit fees for telecommunications work.
Citizen s Participation:
(1.) Mr. Lester Pastor, 108 South Pointe Drive, stated at the last City Council meeting he made it known that he had a meeting with Mr. Brandon Creekbaum, City Attorney, and Bishop Clifford Thomas, President of the NAACP. He said Mr. Creekbaum stated he called former City Attorney Nancy Summergill to ask about the dismissal of the Court of Appeal and she admitted to dismissing the Court of Order of Appeal. He said Mr. Creekbaum attempted to google to show she has the right to dismiss the Court of Order of Appeal but was unable to find it. He said Mr. Muhammad asked him at the last City Council meeting if he has an attorney and Mr. Muhammad knows the Court of Order of Appeal clearly states he has the right Counsel and a jury trial. He said he is asking the Mayor and the Monroe City Council to demand that the City Attorney obey and respect the rule of law or replace him.
There being no further business to come before the council, the Chairman adjourned the meeting at 6:45 p.m.
Ms. Juanita G. Woods
Chairman
Ms. Carolus S. Riley
Council Clerk
Ms. Ileana Murray
Staff Secretary
For extended details on the council meeting please call the Council Clerk Monday-Friday at 318-329-2252 to schedule an appointment to listen to the minute recording.
