By Bonnie Culverhouse

In an effort to put Minden on the federal government map, Mayor Nick Cox and councilmen Andy Pendergrass, Michael Roy and Carleton Myles spent several days in Washington DC recently with lobbyist Alex Holland networking with those that can help the city grow with projects funded by grants.

Cox said with Holland’s help, the group made presentations to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Delta Regional Authority.

They also met with representatives for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Sen. John Kennedy and Sen. Bill Cassidy.

“Minden’s on the rise,” Cox said. “For the first time … maybe ever … a Speaker of the House knows the Minden Mayor by name. In the scheme of things … in the timeline … this was the time to ask for help with projects.”

And they did.

Minden’s contingency requested aid for several projects that could actually be funded by more than one department in a layering move referred to as “Capital Stacking.”

Some of those include a three-phase water project, a new road connecting Lewisville Road to Methodist Camp Road, sidewalks for Sheppard Street, a lift station to service Robertson Mobile Home Park and industrial businesses on Davenport Drive and a new water plant built through a cooperative agreement with Louisiana Tech and funded totally with a grant.

(Editor’s note: Watch Webster Parish Journal for stories on these projects in the coming days.)

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