Happy New Year!

It seems as though 2017 has started off with an eventful beginning. At our first Council meeting of the year, new officers were selected for the parish Council meeting and Finance meeting.

Larry Snyder was nominated as Council Chairman and Jaclyn Hotard was nominated as Council Vice Chairwoman. Finance meeting had Lennix Madere nominated as Chairman and I, Michael Wright, nominated as Vice Chairman.

Congratulations to the newly elected officers and thank you to my fellow Council members for your support and vote of confidence.

Residents had an opportunity to participate in Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 16 to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King.

The day started with a march at 9 a.m. at Belle Pointe Boulevard down Airline Highway to New Wine Christian Fellowship.

A rally immediately followed at New Wine with the theme “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now.”

The West Bank Civic Association also held its annual march and rally at the Roland Borne Sr. Memorial Library with a ceremony immediately followed at West St. John Elementary.

Parish officials announced last week the re-opening of the Fairway Bridge. This bridge has been closed and under construction for several months due to needed improvements.

Improvements consisted of installation of new concrete pilings and replacement of the old bridge with a new bridge and hand rails.

This project was funded through the 2014 bond issue. Following this project, bridge repairs will now begin soon on Woodland Drive. Stay in touch on our parish website for more updated information at sjbparish.com. Heavy downpours caused a lot of ground saturation over the weekend.

Parish officials closely monitored the series of weather storms and kept in touch with the National Weather Service.

Residents are asked to make sure they keep their catch basins and culverts cleared to allow water to drain. Residents are also encouraged to sign up for Parish emergency alerts by visiting the homepage of the parish’s website at sjbparish.com and clicking on “Stay Connected.”

St. John Parish hosted a workforce development and contractor networking event last Friday.

This event was held to help merge large and small businesses with individual contracting and subcontracting agencies and receive information on upcoming opportunities in St. John. The event was held at Regala Gym in Reserve.

Michael P. Wright is St. John the Baptist Parish Council District 5 representative and Council vice chairman. Contact him at District5@sjbparish.com or m.wright@sjbparish.com.