Grass cutting in the city-parish is back on the Metro Council’s agenda today after the panel deferred last month a discussion about the high grass documented in and around East Baton Rouge Parish.
City-parish officials previously told Daily Report they’ve received numerous complaints about overgrown grass along the interstate, even after a private contractor was hired at the beginning of this summer to assist with the grass cutting.
That contractor—H&O Lawn Care—hasn’t been able to keep up with the job, the city-parish claims. The company’s owner, David Mahler, told Daily Report last month that the job was more difficult than his firm initially realized, and the company didn’t receive a work order to begin cutting grass along the interstate until July 1.
The council also will vote on whether to place on the Dec. 10 ballot a 5-mill property tax that would fund a new batch of road projects under the city-parish’s Green Light Plan.
The millage would be collected from 2017 to 2046 and would finance improvements to existing roadways and the construction of roads. The council deferred the item at its Sept. 14 meeting and asked for a list of road projects that the tax would fund.
The council also will decide whether to place on the Dec. 10 ballot a proposal to rededicate a portion of existing tax dollars for the construction of new roads and to pay for community enhancements such as sidewalks, landscaping, curbs, ditches and lights.
Also on the council’s agenda are:
- A public hearing on whether to appropriate roughly $47 million for expenses related to the August 2016 flood.
- A request to eliminate the Capital Area Transit System’s Red Stick Trolley route. The CATS board of commissioners voted to end the route at a meeting held earlier this month.
The council meets at 4 p.m. today in on the ninth floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St.
