Council discusses capital improvement plan, council on aging funding and grants; administration highlights project updates

The Bossier City Council discussed a five-year capital improvement plan that the administration described as a "big-picture" list used to support grant and capital-outlay requests, and that approving the plan does not appropriate project funds.

During public comment, resident David Crockett criticized the plan for not aligning more closely with street-repair expectations and urged prioritizing neighborhood street work. Tamara Crane of the Bossier Council on Aging asked for details about specific line items, including approximately $46,000 listed for Fort Smith Park and the $4,000,000 identified for the council on aging facility. Crane said the board’s architect estimated the project at about $8,000,000 and asked whether the council’s $4,000,000 allocation would be sufficient. Council and staff said the $4,000,000 remains available and that the administration is exploring options including purchasing and renovating an existing building to stretch funds.

Council members and administration also discussed seeking parish, state and NGO funding. Crane and other speakers said the parish had not committed funds to the project; the council's representative said she had discussed the item with parish officials and was pursuing additional support. The administration emphasized the capital plan is intended to guide grant requests and capital-outlay applications and that approving the plan does not commit the city to spending the full listed amounts.

Engineering and grant updates were presented by staff. The city has about $27,000,000 in projects in design and construction: seven projects in construction, seven in design, five private developments and seven grant projects. Staff reported the Barksdale Air Force Base Northgate improvements project is complete, Brownlee Road rehabilitation is about 20% complete, and lateral B-1 is under contract with a notice to proceed expected in the next month or two. The administration reported success securing near $2,000,000 in grant funds tied to a contract for LA-3 work and estimated the city has received roughly $7.6 million in non-water grant funding recently (about $15 million when including water-related funding), per the engineering director's remarks.

Council members asked about grant program constraints — for example, federal prevailing-wage rules on certain grants and power-availability costs for EV charging sites. The administration said it is exploring placing a grant-funded EV charging station on private property to avoid city liability and high installation costs on city land. Chief Haugen answered a safety question about electric-vehicle fires, saying the fire department extinguishes them using large amounts of water and that some EV fires can re-ignite.

After discussion the council voted to adopt the capital projects plan (motion carried in the meeting). Staff reiterated that the plan is a planning tool to pursue outside funding and that individual projects will return to the council for appropriation as required.