April 2021 Meeting Minutes
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Town of PollockTown Meeting MinutesMONDAY, APRIL 5, 2021The Mayor & Town Council met on said date in a Regular Session at 9 A.M. inthe Pollock Municipal Building Council Room, Pollock, La. The followingmembers were present: Mayor Douglas Beavers, Councilwoman Dee Thorne,Councilwoman Cynthia Dickey, Councilwoman Misty Kinn, Councilman RonWilkins, and Councilman Carroll Cathey.Mayor Beavers called the meeting to order by leading the “Lord’s Prayer”,followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilwoman Dee Thorne. MayorBeavers welcomed guests.Mayor Beavers stated: “I am honored to be here today and I do not take thisposition lightly and look forward to serving with each of you. I wrote somethingdown that I’d like to share. We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance andretribution, and embrace our boundless potential. We must choose betweengreatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progressor pointless destruction. Today, I ask every one of you to choose greatness. I’masking everyone to join this incredible movement. I’m asking you to dream bigand bold and daring things for Pollock. Together we have the same mission. Weall want to see our town reach for the stars and begin to move forward with realaction which will bring real results.”Meeting opened for public comments or questions from anyone inattendance. Mayor Beavers recognized a local citizen who had a questionconcerning ditches and culverts as far as weed eating and upkeep on the street atwhich he resides. The citizen stated he had trees growing in the ditch and around aculvert. The issue was addressed and Mayor Beavers told the citizen that we couldnot spray round up in the ditches and that he had spoken with SuperintendentDezendorf and they would be taking care of this matter by weed eating andremoving the growth.Motion was made to approve the monthly Meeting Minutes of March 1,2021 by Councilwoman Thorne, seconded by Councilwoman Dickey. Roll callvote: 5 yeas. Motion carried.Motion was made by Councilwoman Thorne, seconded by CouncilwomanKinn to appoint Deborah Durham as interim town clerk. Roll call vote: 5 yeas.Motion carried.Motion was made by Councilwoman Dickey, seconded by CouncilwomanKinn to approve a resolution for the signing of bank signature cards on all townaccounts allowing Mayor Douglas Beavers, Mayor Pro Tem Ronald Wilkins and
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Interim Clerk Deborah Durham to sign checks as required. Roll call vote: 5 yeas.Motion Carried.There was a discussion on changing the time of the town meeting to 6:00P.M. each month on the first Monday. Mayor Beavers suggested a trial basis of the6:00 P.M. time.Motion was made to change the time of the town meeting by CouncilmanCathey, seconded by Councilwoman Thorne. Roll call vote: 2 yeas, CouncilmanCathey and Councilwoman Thorne, 3 nays, Councilman Wilkins, CouncilwomanKinn and Councilwoman Dickey. Motion failed.After further discussion Councilman Cathey suggested getting feedbackfrom the town and to make contact with the citizens via a card in the mail on whicha time could be selected for the meeting and the card returned to the town hall for acount to see what time the citizens would be infavor of and presented at the nextmeeting.Attorney Greg Jones stated that the governor had opened up the occupancyrestriction under a new proclamation associated with Covid-19 and that it was niceto see so much participation in the meeting. Furthermore there was a stimuluspackage passed on to the local governments that could allow the Town of Pollockto be eligible to receive up to $180,000 for infrastructure improvements. He willprovide further information to the Mayor and council as he receives more details.Pan American Representative, Mr. Jacob Guillory was present and discussedthe CDBG application to rehabilitate one of the town’s lift stations.C.P.A. Report, Mr. Steven McKay stated that the audit report would bediscussed at the May meeting and that he was looking forward to working with thenew Mayor.Chief of Police had no report to present. Disseminated his monthly report.Supervisor Matt Dezendorf gave an update on the Georgia Street life stationstating that the rehab pumps won’t work properly. Wet wipes, coming from theapartments, in the sewer will not go through the pumps. He also stated that theyare still working on things from the freeze earlier in the year.Councilwoman Dickey expressed an interest in taking a class on GrantWriting in the future.Councilman Wilkins stated that he was pleased with the public forum onFacebook and stated that he thought this was a good form of exchanginginformation as far as the town is concerned.Councilwoman Thorne discussed the upcoming Yard of the Monthcompetition and stated that the main observation would be mowed and manicuredyards and that flowers are great but not necessary to be the recipient of this honor.She also congratulated the Mayor and welcomed him.
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Councilman Cathey welcomed the Mayor and requested a copy of the TownCharter.Councilwoman Kinn discussed the Easter Egg Hunt that was taking place intown that afternoon.Mayor Beavers discussed some trees that needed to be removed from thepark and around town that were a liability and informed the council that he wouldbe getting some quotes for that work. He also discussed the basketball court andthe plans to improve it for the youth of Pollock.Motion was made by Councilman Cathey, seconded by Councilwoman Kinnto make the improvements necessary to the town basketball court. Roll call vote: 5yeas. Motion carried.Mayor Beavers discussed Foster Park and the plans to improve it.Motion was made by Councilwoman Dickey, seconded by CouncilwomanThorne to adjourn. Roll call vote: 5 yeas. Motion carried.MAYOR DOUGLAS BEAVERSDeborah Durham, Interim Town Clerk