A state official asked East Feliciana Parish police jurors April 20 to cooperate with contractors working on the second phase of a federally funded program to extend broadband internet access in the parish.
Jurors, a water district representative, and District Attorney Sam DโAquilla replied, however, that cooperation is a two-way street.
Veneeth Iyengar, head of the Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity, said a program called GUMBO 1.0 is nearing completion to provide 1,500 households and businesses with fiber optic internet service. The work has been mostly in towns and along state highways, he said.
The second phase, GUMBO 2.0, will have Swyft Fiber obligated to reach into the more rural areas of the parish, along parish roads, Iyengar said.
He urged parish officials to meet often with Swyft contractors to minimize damage to buried water and gas lines, saying the two sides need to โovercommunicate.โ
โWeโve met with them,โ DโAquilla said of the fiber optics contractors. โTheyโre busting lines, and they donโt respond. Weโve been cooperating.โ
Juror Chrissie OโQuin said part of the problem is that the crews installing the fiber cable begin digging before the time limit expires for utility workers to mark the underground pipes.
Jury President Louis Kent agreed that the jury needs to be proactive in working with the crews, but the discussion ended without a clear plan to eliminate future problems.
On another matter, a nearly three-year-old lawsuit over a proposed mental health inpatient facility south of Clinton may be nearing a resolution.
Harmony Behavioral Health Services, headed by political heavyweight Collins Temple Jr., filed a federal suit against the jury and other officials in June 2023 after the jury refused to give the firm a permit to renovate the former Grace Nursing Home to house involuntarily committed mental health patients into the facility.
Jurors balked after Temple had workers erect a security fence and make other improvements to the facility without obtaining a building permit. Residents in the area also rose in opposition to the proposal.
State health officials later proposed a compromise: to house Villa Feliciana state nursing home patients in the Harmony location and move civilly committed patients to the Villa Feliciana site near Jackson, but Harmony never got a permit.
Jurors met behind closed doors with an attorney provided by the juryโs insurance company and emerged after several minutes to approve a proposed settlement with Harmony.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but officials said it would not require the jury to issue the building permit sought in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs in the case must also sign the agreement, DโAquilla said.
The jury also named Arlene Culpepper to a seat on the Tourist Commission and voted to advertise for a health unit director.
The director, according to a job description circulated among jurors, would plan, direct and coordinate medical and health services at the Health Unit in Clinton. A college degree is not required for the position, but applicants should have prior office management and clinical healthcare experience, the job description says.