We heard from all of the candidates who ran for public office this year through candidate interviews, and interviewed current office holders on their plans for the year of 2023.
The town received a F grade from the Louisiana Department of Health for its water system for such deficiencies as treatment techniques and infrastructure problems, which could lead to unsafe drinking water.
The Town of Lake Providence was in severe financial stress most of the year due to unpaid payroll taxes from the previous administration’s last four years. The town had to pay a total of $200,000 to the La. Department of Revenue and Taxation and the Internal Revenue Service.
The Lakeside Sewerage District came before the police jury to ask for $61,000 after having already received $50,000 in 2022 for maintenance needs and equipment. Francis Lensing, district chairman, told the police jury that they didn’t have anywhere else to turn, and their equipment had failed and they were renting equipment just to keep the system operating. The police jury gave them the money from their COVID-19 funds.
The Lake Providence Police Department continued to struggle financially. The police department is the only department in the town that can produce its own revenue by collecting fines and writing traffic citations. The police department was budgeted to bring in $90,000 this year but are on pace to bring in less than $25,000 for the fiscal year.
The town agreed to sell the community center to a group of businessmen for $295,000, which is the amount of money they owe to USDA on the building. The sale is contingent upon an appraisal. Once the appraisal occurs, if the group does not buy the building, then the building can be sold to the highest bidder with a starting bid of $295,000.
East Carroll Parish Clerk of Court Rene Williams asked the police jury to assist her office by providing $60,000 to assist with costs such as payroll and other expenses due to a shortfall in revenue. The loss in revenue is because companies such as John Deere changed from using the clerk’s office for clerical work to using other companies, as well as due to lagging revenue in traffic citations from the sheriff’s office. The police jury provided the funds.
The East Carroll Parish Police Jury applied for a $750,000 grant from the Louisiana Office of Community Development through the Love Louisiana Outdoors Program. They received the money which will be used to update Kendall’s Park, Kofi’s Park, Northside Park, and the hospital’s walking trail.
Despite every candidate that ran for a police jury seat (including the current police jurors, who all won re-election) agreeing to look into changing the current meeting time from 12 noon to an evening hour to accommodate the public, the police jury never even brought the matter up for a vote at the meeting after the election.
The East Carroll Housing Authority hired LaTisa Keys as their new executive director back in January. Keys took over the troubled agency that had issues such as no documentation of rent collection and recertification of residents from the previous two years under past leadership. Sheriff Wydette Williams announced that he had received approval to construct a multimillion dollar facility where the former Northside Elementary School is located. The facility will operate as a training facility for the sheriff’s department and the sheriff said it would also serve as a community center similar to the Thomas Lingo Center in Oak Grove. The Family Medical Clinic, owned and operated by the East Carroll Parish Hospital received its designation to operate as a Federally Qualified Health Center as of August. This gives the clinic funding from the federal government to see patients and provide more affordable health care options for residents since FQHCs offer a sliding scale payment system for low-income patients. The hospital hired Dr. Dana Pippin to replace retired Dr. Don Bailey. Pippen is a West Carroll Parish native and is married to Ethan Pippin, an East Carroll native, and the couple is residing in Lake Providence.
After months, the hospital still has not received its Medicaid number, which is how they receive their funding from the federal government as part of the FQHC program. Usually, the process takes 45 days, according to hospital administrator LaDonna Englerth. She says they are in constant contact with the Medicaid officials.
