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VIDALIA, La. — The Concordia Parish Police Jury has tabled the issue of appointing or reappointing members of the Concordia Parish Recreation District No. 3 board who are still serving but whose terms on the board have expired.

This came about as concerned residents and parents of the district came to the board meeting.

“There is a major accountability issue,” said Joan Herring, a Vidalia resident and a parent who attended Monday night’s meeting of the Concordia Parish Police Jury to voice her concerns about the leadership on the recreation board.

Board members include chairman James Thomas and Willie Fred Marsalis, whose terms both ended on Dec. 31, 2024; co-chair Glen Perilloux; Jackie Johnson; Frank E. Dunson Jr.; Lisa Abron; Jordan Farmer and secretary Kally Murray.

The police jury had on its agenda Monday to replace James Thomas with Christopher Cothren and to reappoint Marsalis to the board.

Herring said she’d tried to get the recreation board to replace safety netting in its ball parks since June of last year but “ran into a road block with the recreation board.”

Since then, she has communicated concerns with the Town of Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft, which prompted the town to replace the netting using surplus funds from the hydroelectric plant.

“The recreation board had nothing to do with that,” she said. “That was Mayor Craft and myself that worked toward that and the nets are going up now. I started going to those meetings then and then realized that we have an issue as a parish. … I have requested bylaws at the last meeting to which Fred Marsalis was the only one to respond and he said they are somewhere but they have no idea where. They still have not produced them for me.”

Herring added that Marsalis is one of the oldest members on the recreation board and said she thinks they should consider replacing members with “younger people who are more involved” because they have children within the district.

Herring said she knew that Marvin Warner had put in an application to be on the recreation board on Monday.

As for replacing Thomas, “I don’t want to say anything negative but I think it’s a huge mistake removing him because of the knowledge he has based off of that board and the meetings I’ve attended,” Herring said. “I think your rec board would be clueless if he was removed tonight and replaced.”

District 3A board member Adam Probst made a motion that was seconded by District 1B board member Wilbert Washington to table the issue so that the recreation district board and police jury’s recreation committee could meet and discuss their recommendations to the board before moving forward with any appointments. The motion to table passed unanimously.

“At the end of the day, it’s for the kids,” Probst said.

However, District 2 board member Kenny Simpson spoke up on behalf of Marsalis.

“Mr. Marsalis has been a pillar of our community for a long time and he does bring a lot to that board and I think he needs to stay on,” he said. “That is my opinion. I don’t know much about the others we’re talking about replacing, but as far as he is concerned, I know what he does.”

In other matters during Monday’s meeting, the board:

• Appointed Billy Harris to the Concordia Parish Sewer District No. 1 board.
• Executed a grant agreement on behalf of the recreation district to receive trash bins through the Keep Louisiana Beautiful Initiative.
• Appointed Aaron Maroon to be placed on the Concordia Parish Airport Authority to replace Don Enlow.
• Adopted an ordinance to authorize the sale of certain adjudicated properties including parcels 9500114350, 9110078700 and 9400186700.
• Discussed ordinance violations brought forward by District 3B board member Cornell Lewis and District 5A board member Collin Edwards for overgrown grass at 191 Terry Circle and a dilapidated mobile home at 224 Luke Martin Road.