Apparently it is finally a deal for the St. Landry Parish School Board’s Head Start site adjacent to the parish airport.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the Parish Council approved a $500 a month charge for the site when the School Board’s next federal contract year begins.
Council member Harold Taylor offered the motion to begin the $500 monthly fee.
Two Council members, Ken Marks and Dexter Brown, abstained from the vote approved by all others.
The vote followed a request by Jerome Robinson, a school system supervisor, asking that the Council table action until Superintendent Patrick Jenkins could be at a meeting on the issue.
The School Board and Jenkins held a special meeting and public forum on Wednesday.
The vote Wednesday may end months of negotiations between the Council, superintendent and School Board.
The monthly rental price has ranged from $5 a month to $1,125 a month since October, the month after the school system took control of the Head Start program in St. Landry Parish.
The School Board has about $6.8 million in federal money to operate the 11 Head Start centers in the parish.
The $5 a month fee goes back to the 1990s, but it has been found the fee has not been paid. Non-payment terminates the lease agreement.
