The Livingston Town Council approved several items during a brief meeting, including project payments, a hazard mitigation resolution, and zoning changes, and heard updates on youth sports registration, fire department needs, and a recent state investigative audit.
During the 27-minute meeting, the council approved payment of a $310,590.96 invoice for work on Phase One of the courthouse renovation. Council members also approved three invoices for the Water Sector Project totaling $20,085, $32,830, and $35,948.
The council also adopted a resolution approving the 2026 parish multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan. Each municipality in the parish must approve the resolution as part of the process to remain eligible for future grant funding.
Council members also approved the rezoning of a tract of property along Florida Boulevard, bordered by Cedar and Nevada streets, from Regional Commercial District to Residential/Business Mixed-Use. The council also agreed to consolidate two similar zoning regulations governing auto repair businesses.
Mayor Jonathan “JT” Taylor also announced that registration for youth football and cheerleading remains open through July 31.
Although it was not a formal agenda item, Taylor addressed questions during the meeting about the financial challenges facing the town’s volunteer fire department and how staffing and equipment issues could affect the town’s fire rating.
“We have a volunteer fire department,” Taylor said. “Sometimes, particularly on weekends, volunteer firemen may be out of town on vacation or for other reasons, and it’s difficult to be able to call out enough personnel to handle the equipment that we do have. Plus, that equipment is becoming more and more of an issue because we’re unable to get everything we need.”
Taylor said the department has no dedicated funding source and must rely largely on grants and other outside funding to address equipment needs.
“As a volunteer department, we have no funding,” he said. “We’re able to get some funding through grant applications, but it’s not nearly enough to provide everything we need. We’re constantly trying to look for funds to purchase fire apparatus equipment. But without a reliable funding source, we’re only able to address needs by putting a Band-Aid on them.”
After the meeting, Taylor said the town administration has taken no formal action following a state investigative audit that found a former town employee billed the town nearly $8,000 for parts for a personal vehicle and for equipment rental the town never used.
The audit, released April 1, said the former public works director approved the purchase of $1,624 in vehicle parts that did not fit any vehicle owned by the town but did fit his personal vehicle. The audit also said the town paid $6,100 to a local vendor to rent a manlift, although the vendor told auditors he did not own that equipment and had not prepared or submitted an invoice for it.
According to the audit, the vendor accepted the town’s payment toward a personal debt owed by the former employee, Patrick Bell, for the purchase of a bulldozer from Bruce Dubois, owner of Cross D Dirt Works.
Taylor said the matter has been turned over to the district attorney’s office.
“The town did not actually lose any money from this,” Taylor said. “We did rent the equipment for work for the town, so in reality, we didn’t lose anything.”
