New president, council take helm of parish

A new political era in the history of St. Mary Parish was ushered in yesterday as newly-elected Parish President David Hanagriff and new council members took their oaths of office and took their seats at the helm of the parish council during a special meeting Monday.
Hanagriff, who replaces long-time parish president Paul Naquin Jr., said he was looking forward to the future and working with the council to address the needs of the community.
Newly-elected councilmember Rev. Craig Mathews, who previously served on the parish council, had a brief message for the standing-room only crowd in attendance for the inauguration. Mathews said he hoped the abundance of community members who showed up for the ceremony would continue to remain engaged with the council in the future.
“The most important people are the ones sitting here in this audience tonight,” Mathews said. “Not only do I want to thank you for being here but I want to admonish you to continue to attend these council meetings. There are critical decisions being made and many times people are ill-informed or misinformed and it would do us a great service to have you all sitting in the audience as we chart the course and make important decisions on your behalf.”
Hanagriff, during his first report to the council as president, gave an update about the high water event officials are expecting to soon affect certain areas of St. Mary Parish. Hanagriff said that, while officials are not expecting the event to be as serious as previously predicted, efforts are still underway to prepare for potential flooding.
“The forecast for Morgan City has gotten a little bit better,” Hanagriff said. “The forecast for Morganza (Spillway) has also gotten a little bit better. Right now, the estimated flow is 1.44 million cubic feet (of water) per second. And that’s important because if we don’t reach 1.5 million cubic feet per second flow, then they won’t open Morganza.”
Hanagriff also mentioned officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be visiting the area this week to monitor conditions.
The meeting also included the reappointment of Chief Administrative Officer Bo LaGrange as well as Clerk of Council Lisa Morgan, as approved by council vote.
Other council business included the introduction of two rezoning measures as well as the adoption of three new ordinances. The first adopted ordinance was in regards to a zoning map amendment while the second concerned the granting of a specific use permit. The third adopted ordinance authorized the parish to enter into an agreement with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for the lease of office space on the first floor of the courthouse in Franklin.
The meeting also included a message from the town of Berwick thanking the council for their support for the recent Lighthouse Festival as well as a message from a representative of Cox Communications notifying the council about changes to cable service in the area.
The representative from Cox Communications indicated the company would soon start encrypting their broadcast and cable signals and that any customers without Cox equipment would lose their service on or about Jan. 26.
Affected customers were urged to contact the company to prevent loss of service.