By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – The Slidell City Council has the recommendations in their hands for spending $6.6 million in the supplemental budget. And for the majority of the council members, the most frequently discussed topic of interest in advance of the budget being released was the need for a new Slidell Police building.
Mayor Greg Cromer addressed the police building by setting aside $1 million for whatever need there may be at this early stage, a situation that Chief Randy Fandal considers critical since the current building was constructed over 50 years ago.
Every member of the City Council stated unequivocally that they are behind whatever it takes to support the police, which in this case, refers to the prospects of building a new station and jail.
“Safety is the number one issue in Slidell to me, and whatever it means to address that is something we should do,” said Councilman Megan Haggerty. “Public safety is what matters and if you look at the current station, it needs upgrading or rebuilding.”
Councilman Leslie Denham added, “I’ve seen the status of the station and it is in deplorable condition. The jail is cold and damp and their record keeping space is a problem, not to mention affected by the damp conditions in the building overall. We’ve got to do something.”
Trey Brownfield, one of four new council members now leading the city, has highlighted public safety as his number one issue since he announced he was running for office.
“I said in my campaign that I am 100 percent behind whatever way we can improve things, and if that means a new building, I am all behind our police department,” he said.
Longtime Councilman Bill Borchert said he specifically talked to the mayor about the matter during consideration of where to spend the $6.6 million. He urged Cromer to put in “at least $1 million to get this started, which means a design phase at the beginning, which will tell us what we need and how much it will cost.”
Other council members Leslie Denham, David Dunham, Ken Tamborella, Jeff Burgoyne and Nick DiSanti also included a reference about the police department when asked what was important for the city to allot some of the $6.6 million to.
Fandal said he is in the process of hiring a firm to study the situation and come back with a report about what the PD needs and how much it would cost. As for the location of a new police department and jail, options include tearing down the current building on Sgt. Alfred Drive and rebuilding it there, or possibly building it on Bayou Lane across from the city barn on land the city owns.
Early predictions about the possible cost have run up to $20 million, but some officials and business leaders have discussed the matter privately and have ideas about ways for the city to fund it.
Sales tax revenue is currently running high again for fiscal year 2023, which ends next July, and if the city has another huge surplus like this year and last it might open the door to use a large percent of it to help sell bonds to pay for the building.
The City Council is currently reviewing the proposed supplemental budget submitted to them from Cromer, which puts money towards more than 40 different items, including work of various kinds in most every one of the nine city districts.
Haggerty, representing District ‘C,’ said she wants to ensure that she gets more culverts installed in Bon Village and add more stop signs to slow down speeders, while Denham also wanted to “close up more ditches” in her area of District ‘A.’ District ‘G’ Councilman King also wants to see more money put to ditches and infrastructure projects.
Burgoyne, a first-term councilman At-Large, wanted more money to put into reserves than Cromer held onto. He would like 20 to 25 percent saved for the future since he is worried about the coming months and years.
“I am worried about the economy since our government is running us into the ground. We need to be smart with the amount of surplus money we have since we may be living wonderfully now, but it could come to a screeching halt,” he said. “This is the people’s money, and we don’t need to have to go to them for anymore.”
Tamborella, from District ‘E’ and Brownfield from District ‘F’ both agreed with continual money for infrastructure, however, the mayor has allotted a considerable amount of the money to a host of infrastructure projects all around the city—requests he secured after he or his top staff members talked to each council member in advance of the budget release.
Borchert, the second At-Large rep, is supportive of the work to improve the city sports parks, something that is in the works after Cromer commissioned a study of all city facilities. That report should be returned soon and then made public.
“We must have good recreation facilities, or we are going backward,” Borchert said. “But I realize we also have to keep working on our infrastructure, and I know that will always remain important as well.”