Donald Ray was a great man and a true public servant, and I was privileged to call him my friend. Thank you to the Republican Women for honoring the memory of Donald Ray.

The fact is the BRPD and BRFD contracts require that all pay raises for police officers and fighters be negotiated by the Mayor-President. Since pay raises for Baton Rouge’s finest were not included in Mayor Kip Holden’s 2012 budget, they could not be added by the Metro Council.

Folks, I have always been and will always be a strong advocate for our first responders. They are hard working, dedicated professionals who put their lives on the line every single day.

Although Mayor Holden did not include a pay raise for our police officers and firefighters in this year’s budget, I will push to have a full review of their pay conducted before next year’s budget to determine whether an increase is needed. We owe it to the men and women who risk their lives for our safety to ensure they are paid fairly.

MEMO

After meeting with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, (GOHSEP), some of the issues surrounding the current situation involving several federal grants awarded to East Baton Rouge Parish administered by GOHSEP have become obvious. Other issues are still in question.

I would like to suggest the City-Parish take a logical, systematic approach to resolving this matter that will result in the proper documentation being submitted by the City-Parish to GOHSEP in a timely fashion and also result in proper procedures being put in place going forward that will insure problems of this nature do not reoccur. 

I have included my thoughts below and, as always, I welcome your input.  It is understood the Council cannot direct certain departments to do specific tasks.  However, hopefully the suggestions listed will be seriously considered and implemented. 

In any event, it is necessary that the City-Parish do what is necessary to resolve these matters as quickly as possible.  Likewise, it is necessary that the council be kept informed as to the progress being made on a regular periodic basis.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike Walker
Mayor-President Pro-Tem

RECOMMENDED PROCESS

1. Prioritize what needs to be done:

a. The 2008 grants have a deadline of 12-15-11. Consequently, all efforts should be directed at clearing up and closing out these grants.

b. The 2009 grants deadlines can be extended by the state per GOHSEP. City-Parish should request an extension for filing deadline for the 2009 grants.

c. The internal City-Parish process needs to be reviewed in order to identify shortcomings and make necessary changes. The amended process should then be applied to the 2009 and 2010 grant awards and necessary documentation forwarded to GOHSEP.

d. The legal issues surrounding this matter should be pursued utilizing the Parish Attorneys Office specifically dealing with the interpretation of RS 29:727 

2.  Specific recommendations to accomplish prioritized listing above:

a.  Finance – Internal Auditing and Grant Divisions should be assigned the task of reviewing, preparing, and submitting the required documentation to close out the 2008 grants. These divisions have extensive experience with FEMA grants and GOHSEP requirements as it relates to past hurricane grants. MOHSEP should assist with this process.

b.  An official request to extend reporting deadlines for the 2009 grant should be made by the City-Parish. In this request, it should outline the steps being taken to rectify and reconcile the 2008 grants and also those steps being taken to review and revise the City-Parish’s internal processes to correct future reporting problems

c.  An independent outside auditor should be contracted with to audit the 2008, 2009, and 2010 grants in question in order to determine compliance with grant requirements and to also recommend changes to the City-Parish internal process for handling and reporting on these grants.
  
d. The Parish Attorneys Office should be directed to take appropriate legal action seeking to clarify GOHSEPs interpretation of RS 29:727 with specific emphasis on the requirement that the EBR Sheriff must sign the grant documents.

e. Periodic reports (perhaps monthly) should be given to the Administration and the Metro Council on the status of these grants.

Also, congratulations are in order for Chas Roemer who led the BESE District 6 primary with 45 percent of the vote yesterday. The runoff is November 19, so be sure to mark your calendars.

If you want to see what’s on your ballot, visit the Secretary of State’s website. I’m proud to endorse the following candidates running in this year’s election, and I hope you’ll give them your consideration.

Mr. Dan Divitorrio, the first Baton Rouge Police Department K9 officer

I recently taped a special edition of my show “Looking Great in District 8″ as a tribute to the brave officers of the Baton Rouge Police Department’s K9 Unit. The K9 unit, which was founded in 1961, celebrates its 50th anniversary this month.

In honor of this milestone, we held a special anniversary banquet at the Oaks at Sherwood. Lt. Bobby Glaser, current K9 Commander, gave 50 souvenir copies of the tribute film to all present and past K9 officers. It was a wonderful event, and I’m delighted that I could be a part of helping honor and celebrate this outstanding group who, along with their fellow officers, put their lives on the line every single day to protect us.

15,800 total square feet
40 public computers for all ages
10 laptops for free computer classes
2 AWE Early Literacy Workstations for young children
Drive-thru window for book drop off and pickup
Self-checkout machine as well as full service checkout
Free wi-fi
Public meeting rooms, collaborative study rooms and a quiet reading room
Expected date of completion is September 28, 2012
Land valued at $808,038 donated by David Todd Waguespack and Kelly C. Sills, representing Kodiak Equipment, LLC

Tomorrow’s groundbreaking is scheduled for 9:30am at 12910 Old Hammond Highway, near the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Headquarters. I hope you can join us.

You can read more in this article from The Advocate. I’ve included an excerpt below:

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library System is set to begin construction on a new branch at the site of the old Fairwood Country Club on Old Hammond Highway.

The Fairwood branch library will be the first library to be built in Metro Council member Mike Walker’s District 8 in southeast Baton Rouge.

“We have 16 schools in this district, including Episcopal High School and St. Thomas More Catholic School, and we don’t have a library here,” Walker said. …

The library will be 15,800 square feet and will feature about 40 computers, two early learning workstation computers for children as well as 10 laptop computers for training classes.

Like all of the other libraries in the parish, the Fairwood branch will have Wi-Fi.

Unlike any of the other parish libraries, the Fairwood branch will be the first one to feature a drive-thru window for books and other items that need to be dropped-off and picked-up, Stein said.

The library will also feature public meeting rooms, study rooms and quiet reading rooms.

Walker said the library started to become a reality when he and his legislative aide, Zona Pickens, were talking to the owners of the land that housed the former country club.

“We were discussing what was going to be done with the land. We were talking about zoning and development. That’s when my assistant, Zona, asked the owners if they would be willing to donate the land for a library. Just her asking that question led to all of this,” Walker said.

There are a number of questions that remain about this project, and I believe more information is needed before we can sign off. These are your tax dollars, and how we spend them deserves the highest scrutiny. I’m doing my best to watch out for your pocketbook.

The Metro Council is “extremely skeptical” about awarding a nearly $900,000 contract to provide for a stage covering at the Galvez Plaza project downtown, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Walker says, and is deferring signing off on it until more questions are answered by the administration.

Despite having unanimously approved an extra $1 million for the stage covering and other project improvements on May 11, a number of questions remain about the contract that’s since been reached between the city-parish and Arrighi Construction, Walker says. “We understand there was a proposal to do a stage covering for $350,000, so it looks like they want a Cadillac now instead of a Chevrolet,” Walker says. “We also want to know why this bid came in at $5 below what’s budgeted and the next lowest bid is for $3.6 million.

This is something I have been pushing for over a year, and the trial run showed the benefits of a 24/7 City Jail greatly exceed the projected costs. We can’t afford not to do this. Criminals don’t shut down at 5pm and neither should the City Jail.

You can read more of the results in this article from The Advocate. Excerpts are included below:

The results of the two-week trial period of round-the-clock operations at the Baton Rouge City Jail were released Friday, showing more than $191,000 in additional revenue and a surge in outstanding warrants cleared. …

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Walker, who was given the report Friday, said after considering all of the costs and benefits of the trial period, extending the jail’s hours “can and should be done.”

“We cannot allow the jail to stay closed,” Walker said. “The effect of it not being open is obvious. There are no lines at the courthouse today, because the criminals know the jail’s closed and the pressure is off.” …

With the parish’s current budget shortfalls, Walker said, there is no clear-cut way to pay the additional costs of the operation that aren’t covered by revenue generated from the extended hours.

“It can produce almost enough, if not enough, revenues to pay for itself,” Walker said. “We have to develop the mindset that it can be done, against all roadblocks. Face it folks, crimefighting is the most important thing.”