VIDALIA &045;&045; Concordia Parish police jurors on Monday held off on approving a contract for a flood alert gauge on Lake St. John until they know they have the money for it.

The State Department of the Interior has offered to operate and maintain the gauge on the lake for a fee, but the police jury does not have that money in the budget, jury President Melvin Ferrington said.

The Lake St. John Committee has offered to pay the cost, he said. But he urged police jurors to give conditional approval to the contract. Jurors agreed they would not sign until they had the lake committee’s assurance in writing that it would pay for the gauge.

In other business, the jury:

4Learned from Ferrington that the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development had turned down a request to take over maintenance of Tumminello Road. The LADOTD cannot accept any new roads into its system. In order to do so, the jury would have to exchange a road of similar length of condition.

4Approved an occupational license for Edward Huang, who is running an entertainment production company in the parish. Huang, who was at the meeting, said he is investing in entertainment prospects such as a rap group from Monroe, but his business is done from his house.