VIDALIA &045; After a public comment-less public hearing the Concordia Parish Police Jury approved proposed changes in the voting precincts Monday night.

The parish is consolidating the precincts to comply with a state law that says no precinct can have less than 300 voters.

Changes include:

4Precinct 4-5 into Precinct 4-2. Both are located at Ridgecrest Elementary.

44-5A, now located at Ferriday Masonic Lodge, into 1-3, which is located at Ferriday Flying Service.

44-5B into 4-4. Both are located at the new courthouse.

45-3A, PJ’s Corner Stop, into 5-4, McClure’s Grocery.

42-4A, Doty Road Center, into 5-1, Trade School.

43-1A, old courthouse, into 3-2, Concordia Parish School Board annex.

44-3A, new courthouse, into 3-2, School Board annex.

The changes still face U.S. Department of Justice approval before becoming final.

In other business, the board passed a resolution in support of the Agriculture Commodities Economic Development group’s pursuits to receive grant money to study the uses of soybeans and other crops. The group includes farmers from Concordia and Catahoula parishes and Adams and Jefferson counties, among others.

The plan is to partner with LSU with a goal of sustaining the life of farmers in the community, group Secretary Liz Brooking said.

The board also heard a complaint from Building Inspector Vaughn Crook regarding homeowners and building owners falsifying the amount of value on building permits. Vaughn said the parish was losing thousands of dollars due to the dishonesty.

Jury President Melvin Ferrington said the permits had been a problem for many years.

&uot;Somebody in this courthouse or in the state of Louisiana should be able to tell us a way to do something about this,&uot; Vaughn said. &uot;I’m not going to call them a liar. I go out and inspect a house like I’m supposed to do.&uot;

The jury agreed to pass the problem to the licensing committee for further research. Idea included adding language to the permit stating that it was under the penalty of perjury. The licensing committee will meet next week to discuss the matter.