School Board begins new term; Black, Moore take leadership posts

CENTERVILLE — A term of change for the St. Mary Parish School Board began Thursday with a change in meeting times.

The newest members of the board, who took their oaths of office from District Judge Curtis Sigur at Thursday’s regular monthly meeting, voted to push back the scheduled starting time for future meetings. In doing so, they fulfilled one of the pledges made during the campaign leading up to the Nov. 8 elections.

More changes: Assistant Superintendent Dr. Rachel Sanders presided over the opening of the meeting. Sanders is serving as interim superintendent while Dr. Teresa Bagwell is on medical leave.

During that brief time, board members voted to make Alaina Black of Morgan City the board president. Tammie Moore of Four Corners is the new vice president. Both were lone nominees for their posts and were voted in by acclamation.

Black is beginning her second term on the board. Moore was a 2021 interim appointment to replace the late Sylvia Lockett. Moore was later unopposed in a special election.

Another special election will come March 25 to fill the seat left vacant by the withdrawal of incumbent Pearl Rack after she qualified to run in November. The interim member is
Debra Jones, who was reappointed to the interim post Thursday.

So the board now includes returning incumbents Moore, Black, Joseph Foulcard of Franklin, and Marilyn LaSalle and Ginger Griffin of Patterson, and new members Rhonda
Dennis and Andrew Mancuso of Morgan City, Lindsey Anslem of Bayou Vista and Chad Paradee of Berwick.

Soon after the officers were elected, the board voted to amend a proposed schedule of 2023 meeting dates to change the start time from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Candidates for School Board had pushed for a later starting time and live-streaming meetings to make them more accessible to the public.

The meeting time change is “a matter of getting here without having to take off work so early,” Mancuso said Thursday.

Moore and Jones joined the new members in voting for the change, which passed 7-4.

The regular meetings will continue to be on each second Thursday except for March and April, when the board will meet on the third Thursday.

There is no word on the live-streaming yet.

Also Thursday, this board decided to let state officials handle two cases of noncompliance with tax exemption requirements.

Louisiana Economic Development notified the school system Dec. 22 that two St. Mary businesses that sought Industrial Tax Exemption Program property tax abatements from local governments missed the deadline for certifying that they’ve fulfilled their obligations.

The program offers a 100% property tax exemption on new or expanding industry for five years with an option for an 80% exemption for additional three years. In exchange, the company commits to meet job and payroll targets.

LAPCO Manufacturing Inc. of Morgan City was obligated to create seven jobs with a $175,000 payroll and missed the certification deadline, according to a letter from LED.

LAPCO exceeded the seven-job and $175,000-payroll targets in 2019, fell short in 2020 and 2021, and failed to certify on time all three years.

Jeanerette-based Gravois Aluminum Boats LLC, which does business as Metal Shark, received an exemption for a two-job, $72,800-payroll expansion. The LED said the Metal Shark expansion created no jobs and missed the certification deadline.

The School Board had the option of seeking a payment from the companies, terminating the exemption or reducing the rate of abatement.

Instead, the board voted to let the state Board of Commerce and Industry decide what to do.

Last year, the modest Metal Shark expansion caused friction between the board and Parish President David Hanagriff.

Since 2016, program rules have given each local government that would be affected by the exemption the power to decide whether to give the break on its own taxes. To streamline the application process, Hanagriff received authority from the parish’s governments, including the School Board, to grant the exemptions on his own if an economic
analysis projected a positive return.

The analysis on the Metal Shark expansion was slightly negative, so Hanagriff sought School Board approval for the exemption. The board voted against it, but the exemption took effect anyway after the school system missed the deadline for notifying the state about its decision.

Also Thursday, members from Maintenance District 3 on the east side of St. Mary agreed to meet Jan. 19 to talk about proposed improvements at the Morgan City High football stadium.

Architect Carl Blum has proposed a $1.2 million plan that would include replacing railings and fences to comply with safety codes and the Americans with Disabilities Act, installing nonslip coatings on walkways, seating, making handicapped seating areas directly accessible from stadium seating, steam cleaning and water proofing concrete surfaces, replacing caulking between concrete panels, completing the conversion of stadium lighting to LED fixtures and replacing fencing around the field.

The plan also recommends inspecting the stadium track and putting down a new surface.

Board members also plan a February meeting to discuss the hiring of a new superintendent. Bagwell has announced that she will not seek to extend her contract beyond its expiration in June.