PC wraps up year; firefighters get leftover funds

The St. Mary Parish Council spent their last meeting of 2016 on Wednesday tying up a few loose ends, ensuring that parish firefighters will have the equipment they need to keep community members safe and with a message of hope for the next year.
And they also managed to work in a measure that should enhance a safe recreational environment for young people in the Centerville area.
But before those actions were taken, St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff had a brief message for the council, the audience in attendance and the parish at large. Hanagriff said, while it may have been a tough year for the region in general in several respects, he and other leaders in St. Mary Parish were looking forward to a prosperous 2017.
“It’s the end of the year and it was a good year,” Hanagriff said. “I’m looking forward to next year. I’m looking forward to the economy being better next year. I enjoyed working with the council this year and I’m looking forward to working with them next year.”
In other business, the council unanimously decided, in response to a letter from the St. Mary Parish Fire Association, to introduce a measure that would ensure firefighters of the parish would be able to use leftover funds earmarked for extrication equipment maintenance for other medical supplies.
The council also adopted an ordinance amending and re-enacting another ordinance which adopted the 2016 Combined Budgets of Revenues and Expenditures for the Parish of St. Mary.
The last action taken by the council before adjournment was the allocation of $6,000 from wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 10 to Recreation District No. 7 for repairs to the playground equipment at Centerville Park.