Police Jury Meeting Notes: August 7, 2019

LSUS professors and student assistants will team with the Bossier Parish Police Jury to undertake a five-year study to determine groundwater impact in the Red River basin of north Bossier Parish.

Jury members heard Wednesday a proposal from LSUS representatives on measures that would present a comprehensive study on what impact high groundwater levels would have currently and what could be expected in the future.

Parish Engineer Butch Ford said he and his staff had been meeting with staff members from the Shreveport university and preliminary discussions had convinced him that a study would be beneficial to the future of development and infrastructure security in the area in question.

“I was in the room with a dozen PhDs and their overall understanding of the situation was impressive,” Ford said. “It was also obvious they were enthusiastic about wanting to help us identify and solve this problem.”

According to information presented by the university, LSUS has 10 years of experience monitoring groundwater in northwest Louisiana and has conducted similar studies in Caddo Parish.

Plans call for drilling a series of wells in the study area and monitoring the groundwater levels as often as necessary to develop tracking charts. The study would also identify causes and source of the rise and fall in the levels.

Jury members voted unanimously to provide just over $190,000 over a five-year period to fund the project.

“From this study, a comprehensive paper will be published and maintained for anyone to use as an informational source for construction and engineering in areas with high groundwater,” Ford said. “This will be a document that’s forever useful.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, police jury members also:

• Heard a representative of Cook & Morehart, Certified Public Accountants, review the 2018 police jury audit exit.
• Approved the plat of the proposed development of Dogwood South Estates subdivision.
• Scheduled a public hearing on September 4 to consider approval of the plat of the proposed development of The Crossing at Wemple subdivision, Unit No. 4.
• Condemned property located at 402 Whispering Pine Drive, Haughton, granted one 45-day extension and closed three cases without condemnation.
• Reappointed Billy Montgomery to the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission Advisory Board for a two-year term, term to expire August 31, 2021; joint appointment with the City of Bossier City, City of Shreveport and the Caddo Parish Commission.
• Reappointed Doyle Adams to the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission Advisory Board for a four-year term, term to expire August 31, 2023.
• Approved burn ban for the lake bed of Lake Bistineau.
• Approved certificate of substantial completion for the Kingston Road at Fairburn Avenue Traffic Signalization, and certificate of substantial completion for the Kingston Road at Louisiana Highway 3 and Kingston Road at Airline Drive Turn Lanes.
• Approved proposal of Forte & Tablada for pre-design services for the Johnson Koran Road Bridge over Foxskin Bayou.
• Approved proposal of Forte & Tablada for pre-design services for the Caplis-Sligo Road Bridge over Red Chute Bayou.
• Approved proposal of David W. Volentine, MAI, for appraisal services for the necessary parcels, tracts, properties or servitudes required for the Linton Road Extension to Fairburn Avenue project.
• Approved change order No. 1 for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Willow Chute Bayou drainage improvements.