DENHAM SPRINGS — The Denham Springs City Council meeting held July 14 began with an official proclamation honoring the dedicated service and contributions of the late Rev. Dr. Leroy Taylor.
According to his obituary, Taylor served for 42 years as pastor of three churches across Louisiana, including Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Kenner, New Zion Baptist Church in Denham Springs, and Greater Rosehill Missionary Baptist Church in Hammond. He regularly performed mission work through the Lott Carey DEP Program, spreading the Gospel to people and communities in Hawaii, Jamaica, Italy, Africa, and South America.
John Ethel Taylor, his wife, and Deborah Keller, president of the Livingston Parish Ministers Association, were present at the meeting to accept the proclamation on his behalf.
“I want to thank you guys for the honor and privilege to have this proclamation,” Keller told the council. “The late Reverend Leroy Taylor has been a pillar in our community for decades.”
“We were proud that he was able to call Denham Springs home, and now the good Lord has called him home,” Mayor Gerard Landry added.
“He was a steady source of light and love,” the proclamation read, “for his congregation and our city, always striving to uplift his neighbors and serve those in need … he worked tirelessly to build a stronger, more compassionate city for everyone.”
The proclamation included the passage 2 Timothy 4:6-8, which read: “For I am not ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.”
Following the proclamation, the council heard an update from Denham Springs Fire Chief Richard Stafford. According to Stafford, two firefighters, Christian Laborde and Jacob Saizan, were off duty and exercising at a gym when they saw a man begin to go into cardiac arrest. They immediately performed CPR on the man and were able to stabilize him until emergency medical services arrived.
The council and Stafford were pleased to hear about the quick thinking and professionalism of the two firefighters, as well as their instinct to immediately rush to help a citizen in need.
Afterward, the council moved on to more governmental matters, including a presentation of a proposed sewer impact fee schedule.
“We’ve been discussing the significant increase in infrastructure costs, specifically sewer, that we’ve experienced over the last several years,” the professional on record stated. “We had done an analysis to say that your impact fee should have been at about $5,600 for a single-family residence, and the cost has gone up significantly since then.”
After looking at the most recent infrastructure costs for sewer treatment and construction in the area, there were signs of a “significant increase in load that we’re going to see on our sewer system over the next couple of years,” the professional continued.
“We’ve got a couple of large developments that are either far along in planning or under construction that are gonna connect to the city sewer system, so we have to start planning on how we’re gonna cover those costs,” the professional added. “We had made significant improvements … all of the projects that were related to bringing the treatment plant back up to snuff and trying to gain back some of our capacity that we had lost to a significant amount of sediment in the basin, all of those are completed.”
The cost to treat sewage has increased “triple … in the last ten years,” which the professional described as “pretty extraordinary” and said has led to the need to consider changes to Denham Springs’ sewer impact fees.
However, the agenda item that would have set a public hearing for the ordinance introducing the amendments to the sewer impact fees was held up by Councilman Robert Poole. Poole requested that a council member be present on the committee that will discuss and draft the fee changes before the hearing.
With only Councilmembers Amber Dugas and Jim Gilbert voting in favor of the public hearing, the motion failed. It will be reintroduced at a future meeting with new language incorporating Poole’s request for a council member to be present at the committee meeting.
Similarly, an agenda item to hold a public hearing for an ordinance concerning fence heights around swimming pools was referred to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for input. The item will then be reintroduced to the council at a later meeting.
The council unanimously approved a resolution adopting the 2026 Livingston Parish Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan so it can take the next step toward becoming officially approved throughout the parish. The resolution is awaiting approval from three other jurisdictions before it can be fully approved. According to Building Official Rick Foster, if even one jurisdiction does not sign off on it, the resolution will fail entirely.
The council also approved a pay application in the amount of $17,890.74 to M & J Civil Construction LLC for the Centerville Water Line Relocation project. This three-parish project will enhance sidewalks on the east side of Centerville and improve roadways and sidewalks on the west side.
Finally, before the meeting adjourned, the council unanimously approved a pay application for $231,911.99 to Feliciana Welders Inc. for Segment 2 of the Old Hammond Highway Gas Relocation project. The professional on record stated that the lower segment of the project is around 50% complete. Some gas lines will not need to be replaced, but changes will still be made to lay a smaller 2-inch main along the roadside because of congestion. Segment 2 of the project will span from O’Neal Lane to Millerville.
