By Bonnie Culverhouse
Minden Police have a new captain following a unanimous vote by Minden City Council Monday.
Chief Steve Cropper told the council he would like Lt. Ronald Payton to receive the promotion, following the retirement of Capt. Julie Harmon.
“Lt. Payton scored an 87 percent on the civil service examination, and the test mandates a score of 75 percent,” Cropper said.
With the exception of the June meeting’s minutes, all the following items were approved unanimously:
- 2 Minden Fire and Police Civil Service Board appointments – Sedric Moody and Jamie Williams, terms expiring July 29, 2025.
- Adopt an ordinance levying tax of 5.46 mills for the year 2022.
“The tax millage has not changed,” said Acting City Clerk Michael Fluhr. “Taxes on property or houses may have changed, but the tax millage itself has not changed.”
Property within the downtown development district is assessed with additional 2 mills, bringing the total to 7.46 mills.
- Adopt resolution for signatory power.
This resolution gives signatory power to interim Mayor Tommy Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Edwards, Council Representative Terika Williams-Walker, Acting City Clerk Michael Fluhr and Assistant City Clerk Melaney Langford.
- Adopt resolution for a contract with Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for purchase and installation of an electric fast charger station.
“This is a charging station for electric vehicles,” Davis said. “It’s at no cost to the city except to get electricity to the charging station.”
Davis said currently there are no charging stations between Bossier and Monroe.
“It would be here at city hall, and people could come charge their cars, walk around and see the town and, hopefully, spend some money,” he said. “There is an opportunity for us to make some money here.”
- Authority to advertise for request for qualifications for Engineering Consulting Services for Minden Airport projects.
- Budget/Financial report for June, 2022.
Because some projects for the fiscal year 2021-2022 did not come to fruition, the numbers are more favorable.
“Expenses are lower than expected,” Fluhr said. “That’s why we have a favorable variance.”
Sales tax for the month of June (collected in July and without TIF districts) totaled $639,796. Fluhr compared that number to the previous year of $627,954 an increase of roughly $10.5K.
“I do not believe that is related to higher consumption,” Fluhr said. “I believe it is due to inflation.”
Fluhr briefly discussed the budget, which is almost ready for council vote.
“The last chance to make any changes will be August 6,” he told the council. “Then you can approve it at the September council meeting.”
The new budget would include raises for city employees, including police and fire departments.
- Police report for June, 2022.
Lastly, Cropper gave the council statistics for July.
There were 862 calls for service, he said.
District A – 142, B – 245, C – 107, D – 55, E – 131 and 9 out of jurisdiction.
There were 130 incident reports.
District A – 42, B – 39, C – 27, D – 7, E – 17 and 4 out of jurisdiction. “Those were other agency arrests,” Cropper said.
Minden Police had 59 arrests.
District A – 13, B – 16, C – 11, D – 4, E – 2 and 5 out of jurisdiction.
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