Bogalusa council facing lengthy agenda today

An unusually busy agenda faces the Bogalusa Cit Council when it meets at 5:30 p.m. today, with 12 action items in addition to the normal housekeeping-type items.

Five resolutions, four ordinances, an emergency ordinance, condemnations and a motion are among the things council members will face. Four of the resolutions are tied to the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant program.

The motion, to be introduced by Councilwoman Oneita Graham, would result in Brenda Ford’s appointment as council secretary. Ms. Ford has handled council secretarial and clerk duties for several months on an interim basis.

Resolutions to be considered include:

            • Authorize the mayor to cancel the lease purchase option on the Industrial Park building occupied by Sitel (Graham)

            • Authorization to hire an administrative consultant for the city relative to Louisiana Community Development Block Grants (Drummond)

            • Authorization to hire engineering services for the city relative to Louisiana Community Development Block Grants (Drummond)

            • Authorizing the mayor to sign an application for funding for FY 2012-2013 Louisiana Community Development Block Grant Program (Drummond)

            • Re-adopt Citizen Participation Plan of the City of Bogalusa relative to the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant program (Drummond)

Ordinances to be introduced include:

            • Requiring the bill for water service to be the responsibility of the tenant and to make the property owner primarily responsible if more than one tenant is served by the same meter (O’Rea)

            • To amend and re-enact Sect. 12-109 of the Bogalusa Code to provide relative to sound amplification system, define violations and setting penalties (O’Rea)

            • To provide for the imposition of a tax on the Pursuit of Business as authorized by LRS 47:341 ET SEQ, and to provide for related matters. (Hodges)

            • Authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with James Purpera Consulting Services for State Capital Outlay Budget, State General Appropriations Budget – State Aid to Local Governments (Hodges)

In addition, members of the public who want to address the council must sign up in advance and are limited to three minutes.

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Tuesday, Aug. 16.         

                              

Governor signs bill creating Northshore Technical Community College

It has been more than 80 years since Bogalusans created the state’s first trade school and in that time, many things have changed.

And things are about to change once again.

Founded in 1930 as Sullivan Memorial Trade School, it was the first post-secondary public technical school in Louisiana. The original school was built on Mississippi Avenue in Bogalusa, Louisiana with funds contributed by school children, local sawmill workers and citizens of the city in memory of the city's first mayor, William H. Sullivan.  The late Commissioner of Education, J.P. Starns suggested that a memorial to Sullivan be established in the form of a "manual arts training" center.  Initial capital requirements were quickly exceeded, and the training center became a reality.

Then, in 1970, the school known locally as simply “Sullivan” became the first vocational/technical institute to be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

In addition to being known as “Sullivan,” it has officially been known as Louisiana Technical College-Sullivan Campus as well as Northshore Technical College-Sullivan.

Now, following the signing of SB 69, authored by Sen. Ben Nevers (D, Bogalusa), Northshore Technical College is poised to become Northshore Technical and Community College.

The change is more than in name only.

Unlike NTC-Sullivan, NTCC will be able to grant degrees and students will be able to transfer to other degree-granting institutions. The law, which became Act 209 when Gov. Bobby Jindal signed it into law on June 27, levels the playing field between the state’s oldest technical school and other community colleges in the state.

“The campuses in Bogalusa, Hammond and Greensburg can now offer associate degrees,” Nevers explained to mywpnews. “We can have locally enrolled students in high school working toward college hours and all of these can be applied to an associate’s degree or a baccalaureate degree.”

Nevers, a former educator and member of the Bogalusa City School board, said he could only imagine the frustration of someone, having gone through a course of study at one of the technical college campuses only to learn those credits are not transferable.

“The LPN course at Sullivan is a prime example,” he said. “I have been fighting that nursing issue since the seventies, when I served on the (Bogalusa) school board. Our students can leave Sullivan and go to Mississippi and get more credit for their courses than we gave them in Louisiana.”

No more.

Now, students attending the nation’s seventh-fastest growing technical college system will be able to either follow a technical curriculum to certification of quick entry into the work force or go through the community curriculum and earn an associate’s degree and, if they choose, take that degree, their hours and credits and transfer to a four-year school.

“That’s the reason the name is Northshore Technical Community College … to keep the technical component as well as add the community component. I believe this change will encourage students to stay in post-secondary education, rather than starting over.”

On Monday, William Wainwright, dean of Northshore Technical Community College, told mywpnews that work is under way to officially announce the name change and other new information tied to the changes created by the legislation.