While state lawmakers cut a last-minute deal on a $24 billion budget for the coming fiscal year as the 2015 session drew to close Thursday, the Metro Council a day earlier kicked around the issue of police body cameras once again and ultimately voted against them.
On the morning after the council rejected the cameras by a 4-5 vote, Metro Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle—who has led an effort to equip officers with the technology since last fall—vowed to continue her fight.
“I’m a fighter, so I’m going to keep fighting,” Marcelle told Daily Report. “Last night wasn’t a total loss for me, but I do think it was a loss for Baton Rouge overall.”
Marcelle noted her own district is still in line to see 100 body cameras implemented by the police force within the next month or so as part of a previously approved pilot program. She now intends to establish a committee to oversee the pilot program and further evaluate the associated costs.
Ultimately, the council rejected the ordinance Wednesday due to expense concerns. The police department has previously said it could cost anywhere from $1 million to $3 million to outfit its roughly 660 officers with the cameras. Marcelle says she believes the department can afford to the technology.
Also Wednesday, the council approved placing on the Oct. 24 ballot a proposed property tax increase for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library System. If approved by voters, the millage rate dedicated for the library system would increase from 10.78 to 11.1 mills.
East Baton Rouge Parish also has a new registrar of voters after the council voted Wednesday to appoint Stephen Raborn to the position. A 13-year veteran of the registrar of voters office here, Raborn also previously served as the registrar in Fort Worth, Texas. Raborn was among 24 applicants to replace outgoing registrar Elaine Lamb, who is retiring at the end of the month.
Also this week, Baton Rouge Community College Chancellor Andrea Lewis Miller was elected the 12th president of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis. Miller will be the college’s first female president, the school says in a news release issued Thursday. Her start date is uncertain.
Here’s a rundown of some of the other top local stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- Livingston Parish is getting its first “high-rise.” The city of Denham Springs has announced that construction is set to begin this fall on Carlisle Place, a four-story retail and high-end office building at the northwest corner of Bass Pro Boulevard and South Range Avenue. The 44,000-square-foot structure will house an international movie production studio on the top floor.
- Summit Hotel Properties is selling four of its Baton Rouge hotels along with 22 others nationwide in a $351.4 million deal with American Realty Capital Hospitality Trust Inc. The DoubleTree, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Springhill Suites and TownePlace Suites are among the 26 premium, extended-stay and full-service hotels in 11 states included in the sale. The estimated sale date for the Baton Rouge properties is Sept. 15.
- One of the best-kept secrets to mitigating stress in the workplace is laughter, motivational speaker and author Karyn Buxman said during her keynote address this week at Business Report’s Influential Women in Business luncheon.
- Capitol City Produce, located on Commercial Avenue, is expecting to break ground later this summer on a 50,000-square-foot expansion that will more than double the company’s facility size in order to grow its offerings.
- The owners of Big Red Storage in Zachary have purchased property on Old Scenic Highway, about a half-mile north of its intersection with Mount Pleasant Road, for $600,000 and are planning to build another self-storage business on the plot.
- Austin Fire Systems plans to build a new, 10,000-square-foot fabrication shop on its Prairieville site in order to keep up with its growth in the last several years, the company’s owner says. The new building, expected to open by October, will add on to the fire protection company’s already existing facility located on 10 acres off Eads Roads in Prairieville.
- Baton Rouge-based Oxford Alloys is opening a new warehouse in the United Kingdom, its second international location, and launching a new brand of products to compete with other welding suppliers internationally.
- The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport this week became the second airport in the state to introduce the Transportation Security Administration Precheck program, and airport officials say traveler use has picked up in the few days since it was introduced.
—Steve Sanoski
