Previewing two more topics for upcoming term
Leader photo by Caleb Daniel
The police jury will have to decide whether to continue renting out the “old County Market building” once again when leases expire next year.
In the wake of candidate qualifying for the Oct. 14 general election, the Leader continues its preview of topics that are likely to rise to the surface in the next four-year Lincoln Parish Police Jury term that begins in January.
Today’s final entry delves into two topics that have upcoming deadlines of note in the new term — one in 2024 and the other in 2027.
Further reading: Part 1 and Part 2
Downtown facilities
The police jury has discussed the fate of the downtown complex informally known as the “old County Market building” several times throughout the current four-year term, and it will likely come up again soon after the next term begins.
Since the second meeting of the term in February of 2020, the current jury has repeatedly discussed whether it wants to remain “in the rental business” or do something else with the property.
A previous jury originally eyed the property as the site for a potential new courthouse. More recently, other ideas have included renovating the building and consolidating the many public offices in other jury-owned buildings in one place, or demolishing the structure and creating a park in its place.
None of that has happened yet. In 2021 jurors voted to extend the leases for the building’s tenants at the time, with the longest lease being for Dollar General through May of 2024.
Then in September of 2022 the jury agreed to extend other tenants’ leases up to the same expiration time as Dollar General’s, but not any longer, while jurors continue to mull options for the future of the complex.
The current tenants are Dollar General, WRLDINVSN, Hinton Driving Academy and the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles.
Most recently, in October of 2022, the jury rejected a proposal from then-Administrator Doug Postel to contract with an architecture firm to study the courthouse, courthouse grounds and the “old County Market” property and examine options for how they could be developed.
The majority of jurors were concerned about the study distracting from finding funding for the newly approved ambulance service contract with the city of Ruston, as well as the ongoing Health Hub complex project.
“We just don’t want to get to May of 2024 and not have a plan,” Postel said at the time.
Newly elected and reelected jurors would have about four months from the time they take their seats in the new term until the Dollar General lease is set to expire.
Last fall officials said the parish makes more money from rental fees at the complex than it spends to maintain the building, but the aging structure could require major repairs at any time that would overrun that revenue.
Park funding
The Lincoln Parish Park lost one of its major sources of funding during the current police jury term, and another stream is set to run dry near the end of the upcoming term.
The park, which the jury owns, had previously received a portion of the Ruston Lincoln Convention & Visitors Bureau’s four-cent tax on hotel/motel stays.
That agreement expired in 2020. A flat $50,000 annual grant for the park from the tourism agency is slated to continue until 2027 — the final year of the next jury term.
The park had previously averaged $136,296 from the tax each year.
To make up for those lost funds, the park raised its admission fee and rental fees for RV campgrounds, tent campsites and pavilions.
A 3D archery range and kayak rentals have also been added as new revenue streams, and an annual Park Festival event was established to raise more funds for park operations.
New mountain bike flow trails aimed at attracting thrill seekers are under construction, as well as a connecting hub structure, funded by a combination of federal COVID-19 relief monies and a one-time project grant from the CVB.
Once that project is complete, officials hope it can greatly increase visitation and help raise more revenue.
Time will tell how close the park, often pegged as the “jewel of the parish,” can come to fiscal self-sufficiency by the expected funding dip in 2027, or what else the jury may be able to do to bring funds its way.
