Jury adopts citizen-participation plan and authorizes South Central Planning to develop RESTORE implementation plan

The Assumption Parish Police Jury voted to adopt a citizen-participation plan needed to pursue Louisiana Community Development Block Grant (LCDBG) funding, and authorized the South Central Planning and Development Commission to develop the parish’s multi-year RESTORE Act implementation plan.

Leslie Long, regional planner and Brownfield program manager for South Central Planning, told jurors that LCDBG funding is competitive and that applicants must complete a project-severity packet (public-facilities stream) before full application; staff noted the project-severity packet deadline on the public-facilities stream as May 22, 2025. Long summarized available LCDBG program streams (public facilities, clearance/demolition, economic development, Make a Difference) and urged early community engagement.

On RESTORE funds, jurors authorized South Central Planning to add the parish’s RESTORE implementation plan to its project list and to begin required community meetings, data compilation and outreach. The jury approved the motion and directed staff to schedule public meetings for the CDBG outreach and to return with a list of candidate projects for committee review.

Staff emphasized that some LCDBG streams impose program-specific requirements (prevailing wages, procurement, DBE/section forms) and that engineering/front-end bid documents must be reviewed before advertisements are published.

The jury directed staff to return with public-engagement dates and a prioritized project list for consideration at subsequent meetings.