VIDALIA — Concordia Parish officials are seeking legal counsel in hopes of moving forward on a nearly $400,000 courtroom renovation after several failed attempts to contact the architect on the project.

Parish officials began the multi-phase renovation for the courthouse in 2015, which included adding an elevator and upgrading the courtroom with better seating, carpet, security systems and lighting.

Since 2015, officials have revisited and revised the scope of the project multiple times to fit parish budget, and the project had been split into two phases in 2017 — one with the elevator, which was downgraded to a lower-cost ADA lift, and the other with the courtroom improvements, said Concordia Parish Police Jury Secretary and Treasurer Sandi Burley.

The courtroom remained untouched over the past four years while the ADA lift was finally completed last September, said Concordia Parish Police Jury President Jimmy Wilkinson following a regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening.

“I’ve been in office for three and a half years, and nothing has happened to the courtroom,” Wilkinson said.

Burley said she has tried to contact the architect for the courtroom, Joe Brocato of the Barron Heinberg & Brocato Architects and Engineers firm in Alexandria, Louisiana, on multiple occasions over the past month to have the plans he had drawn reviewed and approved by a fire marshal and the building inspector.

“I have attempted to reach out to Mr. Brocato two or three times since the last meeting (March 25),” Burley said. “He has called me back once, while I was out of town, and I can’t leave a voicemail. We have to have the fire marshal review the courtroom and building inspector review the specs to acknowledge any deficiencies. … That has to be done before bids can go out on this project.”

Meanwhile, Wilkinson said Brocato has already been paid for his work on a project that does not appear to be moving forward from the jury’s perspective and Wilkinson fears losing $305,000 from a capital outlay grant to fund the improvements.

“All of these projects have to be completed within a timeframe or we lose funding,” Wilkinson said.

Burley said the parish may have approximately two years left to use the grant, depending on when bids on the project can be awarded.

The jury approved a motion 6-0 to seek legal counsel Monday evening to determine what they could do to move the project forward, with District 1A juror Cary Cook, District 4A juror Jerry Beatty and District 5B juror Red Tiffee absent.

In other matters during the regularly scheduled meeting of the Concordia Parish Police Jury Monday evening, the board:

4 Approved minutes of the regular meeting on March 25 and a Public Works Committee meeting on April 2.

4 Approved the ratification of bank statements.

4 Tabled items concerning the reappointment of Jim Graves and Fred Marsalis to the Riverland Medical Center Hospital Board and Don Linder to the Concordia Waterworks Board by a vote of 6-0. Wilkinson said each member of the Riverland Medical Center Hospital Board is legally allowed to serve two terms for a total of 6 years each while Concordia Waterworks members may serve two terms for a total of 4 years each.

Wilkinson said the jury needed to verify whether the members are eligible for re-appointment based on the length of time they have served on their respective boards.

4 Considered a resolution in support of extending an industrial tax exemption incentive to Syrah Technologies that would not penalize the company for hiring up to 50 percent of its employees from outside of the parish due to the companies close proximity to Mississippi.

Officials said a current resolution states that only 20 percent of Syrah’s employees may reside outside of the parish in order for the company to receive the tax exemption incentive. The board took no action concerning the resolution and discussed requesting information from the company regarding the number of qualified employees able to be hired from within the parish.

4 District 2 juror Willie Dunbar requested legal affirmation from district attorney Brad Burget concerning ordinance violations pertaining to grass, weeds and debris on Freeman Road. Dunbar said the owner of the property in question did not pick up multiple letters concerning the violations over a period of several months and requested Burget to provide legal documentation of attempts to reach the owner so the parish could proceed with cleaning up the property and placing a tax lien on the property.

4 Approved an occupational license and alcohol permit for new owners of Quick Stop located at 8675 U.S. 84 in Ferriday.

4 Reviewed work orders from Jackie Pugh, the road superintendent and director of public works and approved material requests by a vote of 6-0.