Police Jury, Tunica-Biloxi resolve 4-way stop issue amicably

   Two controversial stop signs on Slim Lemoine Road will be removed, but the change won’t occur for another six to eight weeks and could be reinstated in the future if projected development in that area becomes a reality, the Avoyelles Police Jury decided at its Aug. 9 meeting.

   The Police Jury and Tribe officials seemed at times to be trying to “out-apologize” each other. Both sides said they understood the other’s concerns.

  After a public hearing on the issue prior to the Aug. 9 jury meeting, the jury decided to pull the signs and erase the printed sign on the pavement. However, that will not be done until after the tribe completes its grant-funded project and has a final inspection by the federal government. That should happen with 45 to 60 days.

   The problem the jury was faced with solving was a four-way stop that was created earlier this year at the intersection of two tribe-owned streets that cross the parish-owned Slim Lemoine Road.

  Residents who use that road have complained about the change. Some say Tribal Police are writing tickets for motorists running the stop signs on Slim Lemoine Road, which would fall outside of the department’s legal jurisdiction.

   Heavy truck operators say there is no safety reason for a stop sign on Slim Lemoine Road at that location, and the parish road should be a throughway with stop signs for the  cross-street traffic.

  Arthur Hale, the tribe’s project manager, noted that traffic studies were done with future development in mind, and a four-way stop was recommended at that intersection. The project includes the new Earl J. Barbry Sr. Boulevard,  which connects with La. Hwy 1 south of Slim Lemoine Road and then crosses Slim Lemoine to enter the tribe’s reservation.

  Tribal Chairman Joey Barbry and Hale both pointed out that the Police Jury granted permission for the tribe to make improvements to Slim Lemoine Road as part of a $2.5 million federal grant the tribe received. They also maintained that the Police Jury granted permission to place the two stop signs on Slim Lemoine, creating the four-way stop.

   Ron Bordelon, who serves as parish engineer through a contract with the Police Jury, was also the consulting engineer for the tribe on its development project on and around Slim Lemoine Road.

Bordelon, too, was very apologetic. He said he presented the plan in his presentation to the jury. The jury comment at the time was “We will support anything the tribe wants to do to improve the parish,” Bordelon recalled.

   Bordelon said he should have thought about the need for a public hearing on the stop signs, but didn’t.

   “Everything the tribe proposed and did was to improve things,” Bordelon said.

   Police Jury President Charles Jones took the blame for the Police Jury, saying there was obviously a “miscommunication” and he would take as much responsibility for it as anyone else.

   He said it is standard procedure to have a public hearing “if we are doing anything on a parish road, even just changing the speed limit.” He said if he had realized the plans called for stop signs affecting Slim Lemoine traffic, “I would have said 'Time out. We need to have a public hearing.’” Jones added. “I guess I did not ask the right questions.”

   Barbry said the tribe has always tried to be a good community citizen and helped with economic development of the parish.

   “The tribe was doing what we thought we had been given approval to do,” he said. 

  He said the driving force behind the four-way stop was safety. If the area develops as projected in the tribe’s plans, there will be a lot of truck traffic coming off La. Hwy 1 onto Earl J. Barbry Sr. Boulevard and to the casino and reservation.

   It was agreed by all parties that the current development of the tribe’s property does not require the four-way stop for safety purposes. However, if it does develop with several businesses along the new street, the traffic volume would require the four-way stop, according to traffic engineering studies.

   Juror Henry Moreau proposed a compromise to end the debate, saying the signs should be pulled since they are not currently needed and, at some point in the future, if traffic conditions require the signs to be replaced, the jury will address that change at that time -- but it will hold a public hearing before the fact, next time, he added.

   Concerning complaints about Tribal Police actions, Barbry asked those at the public hearing to contact his office with any concerns “and I will address it. I cannot fix something if I am not aware of it.”