2020 Meetings (monthly dates, upcoming topics & completed meeting summaries & links)

Dec No meeting - enjoy the holidays! See you next year.

Nov 12 Annual Federation Business meeting - electing new directors, sharing results of the 2021 focus areas survey and defining 2021 priorities. Link to view November 2020 virtual meeting

Oct 8 Recycling in EBRP presentation (link to presentation) by guest speaker - Lisa Mahoney. Announcing the slate of director nominations for 2021 and Public Affairs Research Council (guest speaker - Steven Procopio) presentation (link to PAR guide) on constitutional amendments for Nov 3rd ballot. Link to view October 2020 virtual ZOOM meeting

Sep 10 A virtual ZOOM meeting was held with guest speaker, Fred Raiford, Director of Transportation and Drainage for EBRP. Topics included a status update on the MovEBR transportation infrastructure projects and EBR Stormwater drainage study and project status update. Ed Lagucki introduced the launch of the 2021 Federation focus area survey for association members. Link to view September 2020 virtual ZOOM meeting

Aug 13 A virtual ZOOM meeting was held with members of the Planning Dept and Planning Commission. Speakers included Interim Planning Director, Ryan Holcomb, and his senior staff; Gilles Morin, Maggie Gleason, Vance Baldwin and Glenn Hanna. From the Planning Commission, Cliffort Grout was in attendance. The presentation (click the link to view) included an overview of all functions the Planning Organization was involved in. Numerous questions were addressed from the participants. 

July 9 A virtual ZOOM meeting was held. Topic included: A discussion with Brian Wilson, EBRP Tax Assessor. Brian shared the process, methodology and tools used for assessing properties in 2020 and answer numerous questions from the participants. Discussion included assessment notices, open tax roll timeline, mass appraisals, appeals process, exemptions, COVID impacts and questions about CPIDs. Link to view the July 2020 virtual ZOOM meeting has been disabled.

Jun 11 Meeting was held as a virtual ZOOM Meeting. Topics included: Vote on the proposed changes to the Articles of Inc and the By-laws. Vote to abolish the 1989 Legal Defense fund criteria. Also, Ed Lagucki reviewed how the Federation monitors the Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment and MetroCouncil Zoning committee review and approval processes. Link to view the June 2020 virtual Zoom meeting has been disabled.

May 14 Meeting held as a virtual ZOOM meeting. Topics included: Introducing proposed changes to the Federation Articles of Incorporation and the By-laws. Also, feedback from the recent Short Term Rentals survey was shared with the members. A link to this recorded meeting has been disabled.

Apr 9 April 9th Member meeting has been CANCELED due to COVID-19 guidance from the CDC and the Mayor's office

Mar 12 EBR Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux spoke about the 3.73 property millage renewal that will be listed on the April 4th ballot as the LAW ENFORCEMENT DISTRICT. The Sheriff stated this millage is not a new tax, instead, it renews every 10 years, providing 17% of the funding for the Sheriff's annual budget. The services it pays for are: providing security and rehabilitation programs at the Parish Prison, providing courthouse and courtroom security and delivery of legal documents, tax collections, community outreach and policing, 24-hour road, business, and residential patrols, as well as parish-wide school response. For presentation click this link: Law Enforcement

Ms. Jarwanda Harris, MBA, Specialist-Louisiana, U.S. Census Bureau, Atlanta Regional Census Center, and Mr. Jolan Jolivette, who as Special Assistant to Governor John Bel Edwards and is leading the 2020 Census Complete Count Commission explained the 2020 census and stressed the importance of participation by BR residents as it affects legislative representation and the amount of Federal funding the State receives. Louisiana received $14.4 Billion dollars based on the 2010 census. A letter will be mailed to every household giving residents the option to take the short survey online (preferred method), by phone or by mail. While all information is confidential, the date (s) of birth is the only information required of each person residing at a specific address.

The Census 2020 will not ask for confidential information from respondents. Meeting attendees were informed that Census 2020 will NOT be calling residents, but that residents may call them at the number indicated on the letter they will receive

The Federation also presented its 2019 SERVICE AWARD to Gary Patureau, from Tara Civic Association, for his leadership of the 5G Small Cell Tower task force

Sherry Guarisco, Board Director, presented the results of the 2019 Financial Review. 

Feb 13 Fred Raiford, EBRP Director of Transportation & Drainage, was the Guest Speaker at the February 13, 2020 meeting of the Federation. He shared progress on the traffic infrastructure projects (MovEBR) whose objective is to improve traffic flow across the parish and the drainage improvements project with the objective of decreasing the risk from future flooding events. Persons interested in seeing his PowerPoint presentation may click: Raiford MovEBR presentation.

Additionally, Mr. Raiford's speech may be viewed on the Federation’s Facebook page.

Kelvin HiIl, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer to Mayor Broome, also presented information on the Baton Rouge Police District Precinct tours which are being promoted to allow the public to share concerns and participate in the process of indirect crime prevention. RSVPs are required since some of the precincts are small.

The Federation also presented its first-ever LIFETIME SERVICE AWARD to Robert L. Say, from Tara Civic Association, for his 37 years of service to the Federation.

Additionally, Ed Lagucki presented the Federation's 2019 Year in Review accomplishments.

Please see the following link for this presentation: 2019 Year in Review

Jan 9 Mayor Sharon Weston Broome was Guest Speaker at the meeting of the Federation of Greater Baton Rouge Civic Associations. She presented a broad overview of the 2020 city budget and then had Chief Administrative Officer, Darryl Gissel and Assistant Finance Director, Angie Savoy, go into greater detail about each budget category. Mayor Broome then presented her State of the City address, which focused on accomplishments in infrastructure, quality of life, health and safety and the data-driven strategies that are guiding the city towards "peace, prosperity and progress". A lively question and answer period ensued. Fred Raiford, Director of Transportation and Drainage also fielded a number of questions from the audience.

The 2020 Federation Board of Directors were introduced and a special presentation was made to Nancy Curry, Past President, for her many years of service and leadership to the Federation. Gary Patureau, 5G Small Cell Tower Task Force leader, and Attorney Sherry Morris, provided the group with an update on the proposed ordinance pertaining to the local implementation of 5G, which will be introduced to the Metro Council in the next month.

Reference documents for the Mayor's presentation include the following links:

2020 BR Budget

State of the City Parish