UPDATED WITH STORY: Bonnie Leonard named to Morgan City Council

The Morgan City Council has a new member.
The council on Tuesday confirmed Mayor Lee Dragna’s appointment of Bonnie Leonard to fill a vacant seat on the council.
Also Tuesday, the council decided to wait for more discussion before approving a Planning & Zoning Commission recommendation to rezone a tract for a new mobile home park. They introduced an ordinance to set property tax rates for this year.
And council members heard a report from Council on Aging Director Beverly Domengeaux.
Leonard will serve the remainder of the term of Mark Stephens, who had represented the city’s District 2 for nearly two full terms. Stephens, a retired firefighter, resigned effective Monday to take a private-sector job.
“It’s truly an honor,” Leonard said after the meeting.
After the four remaining councilmen voted to confirm Leonard’s appointment, the oath of office was administered by her husband, District Judge Ed Leonard.
“For years I’ve gone with him to events where he swore people in,” the new councilwoman said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be the one he’d be swearing in.”
The mobile home park issue involves a rezoning request from James Beranek of Beranek Land Holdings. He asked to have the tract on which the mobile home park is planned rezoned from commercial to residential. The land is bounded by Industry Road and La. 182 in eastern Morgan City.
The Planning & Zoning Commission voted 3-0 with one abstention in favor of the rezoning April 9.
The council members seemed impressed by the plans for the mobile home park, a $1.7 million project with 40 lots, a requirement that mobile homes must be less than five years old, a small shed for each lot and a 9-foot fence surrounding the property.
But some nearby property owners have raised concerns about what the project might do to drainage in the area.
They’ll discuss the issue again at the next regular meeting May 28.
The property tax ordinance is based on city’s latest assessed valuation of about $138.9 million.
The law requires a rollback in property tax rates after reassessment to ensure that tax proceeds remain the same if the assessed valuation rises. The council has the option of moving the rate back to the previous level and receiving the revenue boost from the higher valuation.
The increase in Morgan City’s assessed valuation would reduce the 16.07-mill general purpose tax to 15.85 mills. Rolling the rate back to 16.07 mills would generate another $30,000 in revenue.
The 2-mill tax for Morgan City Municipal Auditorium would be rolled back to 1.97 mills unless the council votes to keep it at 2 mills. The difference is worth about $3,800 to the city.
A public hearing on the ordinance will take place at the next regular meeting at 6 p.m. May 28.
In her presentation, Domengeaux said the Council on Aging provided 20,250 meals to Morgan City seniors in the last year. The council provided 1,100 trips for purposes such as doctor’s appointments and 622 homemaker visits.
But there is also a waiting list of 100 people for services, she said. The problem isn’t funding, Domengeaux said.
“I’ve got the money,” she said. “I can’t get people to work.”
About 17% of the city’s population is over 60, Domengeaux said, and 20% of the seniors have incomes below the poverty line. And 15% live by themselves, she said.
Also Tuesday, the council took a routine vote to declare 24 pieces of Police Department equipment to be surplus property, making it available to be sold.
But the first eight items listed in the enabling resolution won’t be sold.
The Morgan City government is donating eight Safety Vision Primafacie 32G body cameras, which the department no longer needs, to the cash-strapped Baldwin Police Department.