New Faces On City Council, Projects To Be Addressed
By: Alanna Quillen
Updated: December 12, 2012
MONROE -- With the elections behind us, the Monroe City Council has a few new faces coming on board.
Word on the latest council member to take a seat came down on Saturday, with the victory by Betty Blakes for district three.
The other new faces are Ray Armstrong in district one and Kenneth Wilson in district four.
And with the new faces on the city council, Mayor Jamie Mayo is ready to hit the ground running.
"In 16 years that I've been a city council member and mayor, I've seen several council members that I work with, and of course, it's always been a team approach. Because that's very important and certainly I don't expect this council to be any different," he said.
There are a few projects that he says are important to be addressed, and soon.
"There's water projects, sewer projects," he said. "We have have to get out of the consent decree which is very important and we'll need the support of the council to do that."
Recently, the Monroe City Council members voted almost unanimously to approve an ordinance raising sewer rates for city residents.
"We have accumulated a $5 million deficit in the sewage fund," Mayo said. "So that's something that's uncontrollable and the auditors said we need to do something about that."
Newly elected Blakes says one of the important items on her agenda is bringing the sewer rates back up to vote again.
"Because you have a lot of people and to me its like giving a blank check for 5 years," she said in an interview after her victory on Saturday. "It wasn't a set rate, every year you can come in and add it, add it, add it -- but I think we should at least put a rate there. And not just give a blank check. "
Mayo says regardless of if the sewer rates are brought back up for vote again, the consent decree set by the federal government orders the city to fix the five million dollar deficit in the sewer fund.
Meanwhile, newly elected Ray Armstrong for district one is excited for the other new faces on city council.
"I think we need to spend some time to get to know each other," he said as one of his first orders of business as a new member on council.
In addition to addressing water usage and rates, he says the sewer rates need to go up.
"You need to address two issues: daily operations and expenses," Armstrong said, adding that relative to the consent decree, major improvements need to be made to the sewer system.
Last week, he toured water and sewer systems, and says the rate increase can help cover sewer and water operations and improvements.
"I'm very impressed with the attitudes, they have and the progress we'll make on fixing sewer and water systems, which will address flooding and things that will comply with consent decree," he said.
Overall, Mayo hopes the council members will join in the vision for Monroe.
"There's plenty of work to do, but we need to work together to get it done," he said.
City officials say 1998 was the last increase in sewer rates.
Starting in January 2013, Monroe City limits will pay $3.55 for water per 1 thousand gallons. Outside the city limits in the parish costs $5.33.
Word on the latest council member to take a seat came down on Saturday, with the victory by Betty Blakes for district three.
The other new faces are Ray Armstrong in district one and Kenneth Wilson in district four.
And with the new faces on the city council, Mayor Jamie Mayo is ready to hit the ground running.
"In 16 years that I've been a city council member and mayor, I've seen several council members that I work with, and of course, it's always been a team approach. Because that's very important and certainly I don't expect this council to be any different," he said.
There are a few projects that he says are important to be addressed, and soon.
"There's water projects, sewer projects," he said. "We have have to get out of the consent decree which is very important and we'll need the support of the council to do that."
Recently, the Monroe City Council members voted almost unanimously to approve an ordinance raising sewer rates for city residents.
"We have accumulated a $5 million deficit in the sewage fund," Mayo said. "So that's something that's uncontrollable and the auditors said we need to do something about that."
Newly elected Blakes says one of the important items on her agenda is bringing the sewer rates back up to vote again.
"Because you have a lot of people and to me its like giving a blank check for 5 years," she said in an interview after her victory on Saturday. "It wasn't a set rate, every year you can come in and add it, add it, add it -- but I think we should at least put a rate there. And not just give a blank check. "
Mayo says regardless of if the sewer rates are brought back up for vote again, the consent decree set by the federal government orders the city to fix the five million dollar deficit in the sewer fund.
Meanwhile, newly elected Ray Armstrong for district one is excited for the other new faces on city council.
"I think we need to spend some time to get to know each other," he said as one of his first orders of business as a new member on council.
In addition to addressing water usage and rates, he says the sewer rates need to go up.
"You need to address two issues: daily operations and expenses," Armstrong said, adding that relative to the consent decree, major improvements need to be made to the sewer system.
Last week, he toured water and sewer systems, and says the rate increase can help cover sewer and water operations and improvements.
"I'm very impressed with the attitudes, they have and the progress we'll make on fixing sewer and water systems, which will address flooding and things that will comply with consent decree," he said.
Overall, Mayo hopes the council members will join in the vision for Monroe.
"There's plenty of work to do, but we need to work together to get it done," he said.
City officials say 1998 was the last increase in sewer rates.
Starting in January 2013, Monroe City limits will pay $3.55 for water per 1 thousand gallons. Outside the city limits in the parish costs $5.33.
