Franklin stalls on ITEP proposal for second time

Franklin City Council members took no action Tuesday on a resolution authorizing the city of Franklin to participate in the Industrial Tax Exemption Program proposed by St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff and Director of Economic Development Frank Fink.
The council’s refusal to authorize the resolution comes a little less than a week after the St. Mary Parish School Board approved the same resolution last Thursday.
The blow to the resolution’s support may be a setback for parish-wide implementation, which requires total participation from parish governmental entities in order to be operational parish-wide. Without Franklin, the program may simply act outside of Franklin’s approval of new applications for tax exemption.
Franklin’s Mayor-Elect Eugene Foulcard commented, “I’m not saying that I’m not open to going back to revisit this next month. I just have some reservations about it. I can’t speak for the rest of the council, but I know what I feel comfortable with. I just need some more time.”
Hanagriff had made one final push for support for the resolution ahead of its coming before the council.
“No one is taking away anyone’s authority,” he said. “If you choose tonight to vote in favor, you are allowing me to use that authority for the benefit of St. Mary Parish.
“Quite frankly, nothing else is happening. We need something to kick-start progress in St. Mary Parish. We need something to put us out there, something to get us moving in the right direction, and I think this is a great program for a great first step.”
According to Hanagriff, the newest version of the ITEP resolution had recently been rewritten to include a proviso requiring the parish president to advise every taxing entity’s proposed ITEP designee, of the status and functionality of each applicant’s operation before submitting any new applications to the state on behalf of the parish.
It is as yet unclear how Hanagriff and Fink intend to proceed, in light of Tuesday’s setback.
In other business, the council authorized a resolution for Amnesty Day in Franklin. Any bearer of an illegal firearm or munition in the city, may turn in to the ATF at designated points, said weapon or ordinance without fear of police action or legal repercussion.
The idea for Franklin’s Amnesty Day comes from Damarra Middleton, who addressed the council, saying, “The goal is to make the community safe and get some weapons off the street. I don’t care if it’s just one weapon. That would be one weapon that the Franklin Police Department doesn’t need to worry about.”
Middleton said that should it prove successful, she would like to see the day reoccur on a quarterly basis.
Amnesty Day is set for May 12 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at designated points citywide.
Further resolutions approved at the meeting were:
—Authorizing the mayor to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the city of Franklin concerning improvements to Yokley Bayou drainage.
—Support to re-apply for grant funding of the Bayou Beaux Summer Arts Program
—Support to re-apply for Community Partnership grant funding of the Summer Arts Program.
Announcements included:
—Keep St. Mary Beautiful City-Wide Clean-Up will take place May 12 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Stage parking lot.
—Late Summer Arts Program registration will run until Friday at City Hall. The registration fee is $20 per arts course and $20 per person for the dance program.