[StBernard] Craig - ideas / questions

[Westley Annis]

Alan,
 
Thanks for your commentary.  I'll try to answer some of your questions. 
 
The St Bernard website needs to contain relevant data and documentation in a
timely manner.  Council minutes have not been updated for the last four
meetings and agendas for future meetings are not published.  The website
should be used as an official record for the parish (like The St Bernard
Voice).  The website should also be limited to factual information and
proposals.  The website is the only means of official communication for
displaced residents.


I will pass this on to Polly, the minutes had been being forwarded.  To
eliminate erroneous information as a central post- each council member will
have their own area for their respective postings.  We looked into making
the website the official journal, but it was determined that the journal had
to be in an independent print media. 

As part of the website, create a listserv similar to Westley's, to
whichpeople could subscribe to receive official documentation from St
BernardParish Government.  This would allow a direct broadcast to parish
resident.Only official messages would be broadcast via this listserv (and it
must notbe used for political commentary and the e-mail addresses can NEVER
be soldor used for political campaigns).


I'll check the issue of a listserve

What is the role of Mr. Dysart and what are his accomplishments /
contributions since being hired by parish government?  What are the terms of
his contract and when does it expire?


His role is to coordinate the disaster related activities.  I asked for a
description from the administration when his position was made an
administrative department and no longer a contract position, but nothing has
been published. As long as the council funds the department of recovery
there will be a director of recovery.  His work has included involvement in
debris, gutting program, and some of the volunteers doing the gutting.
There are several components to our "progress" that Dave has been involved
with.  

Parish government needs to explicitly detail what needs to be done to a home
prior to the March 31 deadline for blighted housing and what the penalty is
for failing to fall into compliance.  Is being on the parish government list
for gutting sufficient?


Alan, I had done this previously, but will have it repeated.  The March 31
deadline is an internal deadline that allows the parish to identify which
properties have been acted on at some level.  Properties that have not been
signed up for gutting, demo, or doing repairs will be evaluated and the
owner informed of issues of non-compliance that need attention.  Properties
that have been acted on will be reviewed at a later point.  This is the
purpose of the 31st deadline.  There is no penalty if someone has not made a
decision, it just means that those properties will be identified as needing
some level of intervention.

The property value in the parish continues to diminish.  Homeowners are
selling property for $20,000 and less.  Why not propose a moratorium on
selling property for less than 50% of the new appraised value.  This is
extremely concerning when you figure many of the properties are being
purchased by corporations, not individuals.  I'm not sure if this can be
done legally, but it's just a thought.


We have discussed the option of controlling the sale of property and quickly
was confronted with he legality of such a decision.  Even the moratorium on
the multifamily dwelling issue was immediately threatened with legal action.
The bigger issue is to find a way to reduce our housing stock which
addresses the issue on two fronts.  Hopefully, we can do this soon.
 
Thanks for your input.
 
Good luck and God Bless,
Craig