By Bonnie Culverhouse
Minden City Council members not only heard about Homer Road improvements Monday, but also about other infrastructure projects that should help grow Minden’s economy.
The council’s lobbyist Caroline Mladenka said (after the $8.1 million for Homer Road) the second part of the secured state funds of almost $8.9 million in Priority One funding will be the new water tank.
“We funded $3.45 million last year for that,” she said. “This year, I’m happy to report, we got the remainder needed, which was $584,000. That will get this project finished, and it’s from Capital Outlay as well.”
The tank will be around 35-feet tall, round and built on the city’s Clerk Street site.
Minden Mayor Nick Cox said the project will not cost the residents any money.
“It is a state capital outlay project,” he added. “We were awarded 100 percent of the funds.”
The third aspect is a supplemental funding bill where the City of Minden obtained $250,000 for repairs to Industrial Drive.
“It’s from that very competitive cash, and it’s a major win for the city,” Mladenka said.
The city had a million dollars to contribute to the project, and with the help of Sen. Adam Bass and Rep. Wayne McMahen, the $250,000 was obtained.
The funds will be used to repair the road with concrete from the intersection at Hwy. 531 to the second Pilot Drive at Love’s Travel Stop hopefully bringing more people to Recreation Drive and the complex where improvements are also being made.
Cox said his plan would hopefully keep Love’s Travel Stop from losing any money by making Industrial Drive one way into the truck stop and divert the exit toward Sibley Road. All other traffic on Industrial would remain two-way.
“It would take just a week or two to get it built,” he said.
Mladenka said in order to get the funding, it required good working relationships and strategic planning.
“Rep. McMahen is very good at that,” she said. “It was a team effort by the state, city, and this accomplishment is something we should all be proud of.”
McMahen added that he agrees, Bass has been “wonderful to work with.”
The City of Minden received a total of $8.94 million from this year’s session, $3.51 million from last year $12.5 million cash, all for infrastructure investment in this area.
“It was a good year monetarily for Minden and Webster Parish,” McMahen told council members. “531 is scheduled to be done around mid-August. The bridges between Cotton Valley and Homer have been out for about three years. We are supposed to wrap those projects up between now and September.”
McMahen explained that all projects are taking longer than expected because the DOTD engineers and architects are backed up from COVID.
“Engineers are overwhelmed with projects,” he said.
Cox said he believed Minden was sent the right persons at the right time to help make this happen.
“God is the center of Minden, and I never want to forget to give Him credit for putting together the right people at the right place at the right time, in my opinion, to move this city forward,” he said. “It’s been a real blessing to be a part of.”