On Thursday, April 13th, Mayor James “Spike” Harris declared that the Town of Jonesboro was under a State of Emergency.
NO PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUES ARE INVOLVED!
In brief summary, the declaration was made so that funds can be transferred so that issues with the town’s fleet of vehicles can be addressed.
Statement issued by Mayor Harris:
Pursuant to LA R.S. 29:737, Mayor James “Spike” Harris has declared a state of emergency for the Town of Jonesboro. The town cannot function properly without proper vehicles to continue to preserve the peace, property, health, and safety of the community. The town is currently operating a dilapidated fleet of older model vehicles. These vehicles are unsafe and hazardous for our workers and law enforcement. A large majority of these vehicles have over 300,000 miles, and we can no longer afford the expensive maintenance and upkeep of these vehicles. We have vehicles catching fire as well as becoming inoperable in the middle of the highway. Employees are not able to perform their duties and have resorted to using small recreational off-road vehicles to provide maintenance on streets and water wells. These vehicles are not appropriate because there is no room for the materials and tools needed for some of the jobs. The Chief of Police must use his personal vehicle so that Police Officers can patrol and respond to emergency calls in patrol vehicles.
To hear Harris speak further on the situation that led to the declaration you can view a video that he recorded on Thursday, April 13th, and posted on the James Harris Facebook Page. The video is also available for viewing by clicking here.
Board of Aldermen to hold Emergency Meeting on Friday
In a corresponding move, an emergency meeting of the Jonesboro Board of Alderman has been called for 5:30 pm on Friday, April 14th that will be held in the Conference Room at City Hall, located at 128 Allen Avenue.
The emergency session was called pursuant to LA R.S. 33:405.
Agenda items are as follows:
(1) Introduction of Amendment to Ordinance 2022-004 and 2022-005
(2) Adoption of Ordinance 2023-001 (Amendment to Ordinance 2022-004 and 2022-005)
Definition of Ordinance #2023-001
An Ordinance amending Ordinance 2022-004 and Ordinance 2022-005 to transfer out of 2022-005 funds in the amount of $47,095.38 from line item Water Revenues being federal grants “ARPA” to transfer into 2022-004 under Public Safety, creating line item Enterprise Fleet in the amount of $31,180.50 and creating line item under Public Works, Enterprise Fleet Management in the amount of $15,914.88, for the Town of Jonesboro for the fiscal year 2022-2023
Why wasn’t this included in the Budget? Not like this wasn’t know before this. If not then someone needs to take a close look as to why not!
It you can bring 3 busses to a sporting event instead of 2
This should be on every budget of every year. Looks like some one wasn’t double checking the budget for what the needs of the community should have been….