Jena Mayor LaDawn Edwards and the entire Jena Town Council expressed extreme optimism about the new year, as officials met for their first meeting of 2024 on Monday, January 8.

The mayor noted that she is looking forward to working with the Council as they have all shown a tremendous cooperative spirit for the betterment of the town.

“I’m looking forward to another great year as we all work well together,” she said. “And let me say, I’m so appreciative of all the hard work and dedication that each of you exhibit for the citizens of Jena.”

In reviewing sales tax figures from the previous year, Edwards noted that over $200,000 in new sales tax money was generated for the town, money that will be used to advance projects on the town’s capital outlay plan.

“In 2022 we had a total sales tax collection of $1,294,534.10 and in 2023, we had a total of sales tax collection of $1,516,724.11. That’s up $222,190.01,” she informed the Council.

Councilman Lester Francis said that one way he hopes the town will utilize some of that money is to improve town streets.

“Our crews were patching until the cold/wet weather caused them to stop, but hopefully we’ll get back to getting our streets in better condition in 2024,” he said, noting he knows that many of them are in terrible condition.

Also concerning sales tax figures, Edwards noted that November sales tax collections were up $13,308.62 from November 2022 figures and December sales tax collections were up $28,122.67 from December 2022 figures.

Also during their first meeting of the new year, the Council voted to make the following appointments: Town Attorney – Dorroh & Kendrick; Town Magistrate – Mark Talley; Alternate Town Magistrate – Don Wilson; Town Clerk & Tax Collector – Cory Floyd; Auditor – Silas M. Simmons & Company, LLP; Town Engineer – Bryant Hammett & Associates; Banks – Southern Heritage Bank, CLB The Community Bank, Homeland Federal Savings Bank and Sabine State Bank; and the Official Journal – The Jena Times Olla-Tullos-Urania Signal.

Also as part of the first meeting of the year, Mayor Edwards appointed the council members to various committees to serve in 2024. They were: Senior Citizens Committee: Wayne Chapman and Tommy Sandifer.

Recreation Committee: Lester Francis and David Paul Jones.

Insurance Committee: David Paul Jones and Lester Francis.

Police Committee: Wayne Chapman and Tommy Sandifer.

Fire Committee: Wayne Chapman and Tommy Sandifer.

Environment Committee: Lester Francis and Donny Richardson.

Personnel Committee: David Paul Jones and Donny Richardson.

Finance Committee: David Paul Jones and Donny Richardson.

Street Committee: Lester Francis and Tommy Sandifer.

In other business, Jeffery Benson presented the Jena Fire Department December report, noting that the department responded to seven alarms during the month, including three structure fires, one tree fire, one brush fire, one alarm activation and one vehicle accident.

He also reported that for the entire year the department responded to 146 calls. He noted that this number does not include assistance calls from other departments in parish and out of parish.

Due to the busy holiday month of December, no training classes were held.

In the submitted police report, the document showed that for the month of December Jena officers made one arrest, issued 26 citations, responded to ten vehicle assistance calls, worked two traffic accidents and responded to 103 complaints.

The report also showed the department collected $2,773.63 in fines and miscellaneous fees.

In the public works department, Superintendent Ronny Steele noted that utility repairs were down in December reporting that the town crew only repaired seven water lines, six sewer lines and two gas issues.

“A total of 19,953,000 gallons of water was produced with a daily average of 643,645 gallons per day,” Steel reported. “This is a 12% increase from last month.”

The Superintendent noted that for the entire 2023 year, the town produced 251,095,000 gallons of water with a daily average of 687,645 gallons.

He was also excited to report that for the month of December, all water samples collected and sent to the health department were in compliance, which completed an entire year of compliance.

Steele also reported that an asset management plan for the water system was recently completed and will be submitted to the health department which will help determine the town’s water system grade.

“I am expecting to keep our Grade A but will be better next year after our generators are installed,” he said.