Part 1:   Part 2:   Part 3:   Part 4:...

To the Citizens of District 7, At the Agenda review meeting on Wednesday 8/27/14; an ordinance for introduction was brought up concerning adjusting the pay for the council members. The issue before the council will be to consider an ordinance that would ONLY take affect for the next 4 year term, (for those members who get elected in 2016 – 2020 term), we are directly prohibited from adjusting our own salary while in office – which is more than fair. The item is considering adjusting the pay for council members to an “AVERAGE” of what our workers will get for the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) which is based on the Consumer price index. Carlo and I both have some concerns about the verbiage, which the finance committee is clearing up; I’ve asked for our finance dept. to run the numbers based on last year’s COLA, so the public can easily understand the amount. Currently, each council member receives $2,300 per month. We receive no car allowance, no mileage allowance (unless we travel OUTSIDE of St. Tammany Parish to attend a meeting(s), we do get a cell phone stipend based on our minutes and data usage plan. We have NO Parish office, all council members work from our homes. We are provided a laptop or I Pad for our council business, these devices are solely owned by St. Tammany Parish and surrendered once our terms are over complete. I as well as many other Council Members DO NOT HAVE PARISH CREDIT CARDS – I refused to take one and I have never billed for a meal while I’ve been elected. The proposal before the council is to adjust the pay BASED on the average of all the parish employees, generally a 2-3% raise will probably be seen annually IF this passes. This would be equal to $69.00 per month before taxes currently. $2,300 x 12 mos. = $27,600 x 0.03% = $828.00 per year divided by 12 mos. $69.00 per month before taxes Jake...

DEQ Helis application request for more information DEQ Zoning CC RESPONSE

ZONING LAW IS EYED AS STRATEGY Even in the face of strident protests by many residents, St. Tammany Parish officials have for more than a month insisted that the parish is largely powerlessto stop a proposed “fracking” oil well in an undeveloped 960-acre tract just north of Interstate 12. Despite their earlier arguments that state law reserves decisions on drilling to state agencies, though, it now appears that Tammany officials are hoping to use parish zoning law to block the project. Parish President Pat Brister and 13 of the 14 Parish Council members have signed a letter to James Welsh, the state’s commissioner of conservation, arguing the proposed well would violate parish zoning rules and urging Welsh to deny a drilling permit for the project. The lone councilman to not sign the letter, Steve Stefancik, was out of town and could not be reached, according to the letter. Dated May 23, the letter points out that the tract under consideration is zoned A-3, or suburban. “Conducting oil and gas drilling is not among the uses that are permitted on property classified as an A-3 Suburban District,” the letter says. The parish enacted a comprehensive zoning ordinance in 2010 and every property owner in the area was notified and had an opportunity to object, the letter says, implying that the owners of the proposed drilling site were silent when the land was zoned suburban. “We respectfully submit to you, based on the above, that the issuance of a permit to conduct oil and gas drilling operations on property zoned for A-3 Suburban District would not be a reasonable and appropriate exercise of your authority for the issuance of oil and gas drilling permits,” the letter concludes. Despite the letter’s assertion of the parish’s rights, though, it’s unclear whether it will have any impact on what Welsh decides. Helis Oil & Gas, the company proposing to drill the well, has yet to formally apply for a drilling permit. Before it can do so, Welsh must approve the boundaries of the “unit” or tract of land from which the oil and gas would be extracted. Welsh is slated to hear Helis’ application for a unit order June 17, after the company agreed to postpone the hearing 30 days so that parish officials could research the issue further. If, as expected, Welsh approves the unit, Helis could then apply for a drilling permit. Company officials have said they would like to start construction on the drill pad — the 10-acre site on which the actual well would be constructed — this summer. Once a drilling permit is issued, Helis could drill the well and employ a method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract oil from the Tuscaloosa...

PEARL RIVER, La. — After pouring through the town’s finances and operations, following months of Eyewitness reports on the dealings in the Town of Pearl River, the Louisiana Legislative auditor is revealing several possible state violations by city leaders. The 130-page report details personal use of town-purchased equipment by Mayor James Lavigne and Police Chief Benny Raynor, including a boat we found parked at the mayor’s house on a previous story. Personal purchases were also found by the mayor and Town Clerk Diane Bennett, in an admitted effort to avoid paying sales taxes, which were paid back. There’s also questionable extra payroll checks to the clerk. The report questions almost $30,000 in Christmas bonuses masked as clothing allowances on the budget. And the mayor’s personal use of the town vehicle, which was the subject of an Eyewitness News report, was allegedly not reported to the IRS. Auditors say the vehicle purchase also violated bid laws. Reaction to the report from some aldermen is not so much in surprise of the findings, but of the extent of...

St. Tammany Parish residents are coming to understand the devastating environmental hazards of fracturing in Louisiana and other states throughout the country and are developing a consensus that the Helis hydraulic fracturing project will most certainly cause, among other environmental perils, irreparable contamination to the parish’s sole aquifer. Accordingly, at several recent public gatherings, residents have expressed to St. Tammany President, Pat Brister, and other parish officials their strong opposition to fracturing. Yet Ms. Brister, appears tone deaf to resident’s mounting opposition to the Helis drilling project. Perhaps out of her willful ignorance of the poisonous contamination fracturing will cause to the parish’s sole water supply, but more likely as a result of her political patronage to the oil and gas industry and wealthy land owners, Ms. Brister has consistently sought to absolve herself and the St. Tammany Parish Planning and Zoning Commission from all responsibility to prevent the Helis Oil & Gas Company’s proposed hydraulic fracturing project. In her May 19th Press Release, as she has done consistently in all her public statements, Ms. Brister confidently asserts that parish lawyers have advised her and the parish council that the “State of Louisiana is the grantor and authority for unitization and permitting” the Helis fracturing project, and that the “Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, along with the US Army Corp of Engineers will evaluate” the Helis project and then “determine whether it will proceed.” Thus Ms. Brister has conveniently removed herself and the parish council from responsibility to take any action whatsoever to prevent the drilling project. Indeed, from the moment of its announcement, Ms. Brister’s public comments suggest she accepted the project as a fait accompli. Still, ever the politico, Ms. Brister declares that the Helis fracturing project does not leave the parish and its residents “powerless to protect our environment, our homes, and our families.” She earnestly assures parish residents that she will do all in her power to “safeguard our beautiful parish, its pristine waters and our coveted lifestyle,” and that the parish council “is not powerless to protect our environment, our homes, and our families.” To that end, Ms. Brister declares she is working with the council to develop ordinances which will provide regulatory oversight of hydraulic fracturing activity in the parish. Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany (CCST) finds Ms. Brister most recent comments, and her position and actions on the Helis’ fracturing project from the day it was publicly announced, deeply troubling for a couple of reasons. First, Ms. Brister and the parish council must demonstrate a clearer understanding that the proposed Helis hydraulic fracturing project is by a significant order of magnitude the most serious public policy concern the parish and its residents...