Lake Providence, La. - Elected and appointed officials from eleven parishes gathered on Thurs., Oct. 27, for a meeting at the Louisiana Center Against Poverty in Lake
Providence, LA. East Carroll Parish hosted the meeting for members of the Police Jury Association. In addition to East Carroll Parish, Region V includes Caldwell, Franklin, Jackson, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, Union, and West Carroll.
Current Region V President Kendall Thompson of East Carroll Parish presided over the meeting. The Welcome Address was provided by Lake Providence Mayor Jerry Bell. The National Anthem was performed by Mrs. Catherine James and the Lord’s Prayer was done by Mr. Trevor Jackson. Representative Francis Thompson (District 19) spoke to members present. He commended Lake Providence and East Carroll Parish on their many accomplishments. He also thanked members for their commitment to public service. Representative Thompson also spoke about rural and economic development and the constant need for new industry in order to keep our parishes growing and moving forward. He also talked about things that bring people to their area and the need for road repair in coordination with the weight of the traffic that will be passing on the roads. Charles “Bubba” Chaney also addressed the crowd. He also thanked those in attendance for their public service and East Carroll Parish for hosting a great meeting. He praised the venue the meeting was held in, also. He said his office is always open to help in any way. Toye Taylor, Deputy Chief of Staff of Intergovernmental Affairs from the LA Governor’s Office, also addressed the members present. He expressed his gratitude to represent the Governor’s Office and offered his office’s full support to members of the Police Jury Association. He also spoke about the Delta Regional Authority. PJAL President Bob Brotherton also gave comments. He thanked attendees for their steadfast support to the PJAL. He also invited everyone to attend the upcoming PJAL Convention March 8-10, 2023, in Shreveport, LA. PJAL Executive Director Guy Cormier gave a thorough legislative update regarding the most recent session with topics including the public bid law amount increase, increased litter fines, additional pay for jurors and minutes reported to the local journal/newspapers, among other things. Executive Director Cormier also spoke about the Governor’s Office’s request to help in assisting in the application process for ACT 497 and the many steps in the right direction the Association has taken to make this a reality including the creation of LITACorp with Executive Director Leslie Durham leading the newly formed corporation.
Cormier also led the business session during which Richland Parish was announced as the 2023 Host Parish with the 2023 President and Secretary/Treasurer to also come from Richland. The Region V Vice President will come from Jackson Parish. Kendall Thompson of East Carroll
Parish was re-elected to serve as Region V’s State Executive Board Member. Members of the Resolutions Committee were also re-elected to serve. They are West Carroll’s Eugene “Pop” Crosby and Jack Madden and East Carroll’s Kendall Thompson.
