New Llano unprotected

I am wondering why there aren't any officers working day shift? Why is the town relying on LPD and VPSO to respond? Our taxes went up from $ to $$$. Why is that money not being used to hire more officers? Why are we losing officers to other departments? I hope someone else will run for Mayor, because he does not support the police department at all. Guess he would rather have the whole town run by the drug dealers and criminals.

I went to the town council meeting Thursday night.
What is going on with the council. Why are they taking away our right to vote?
I thought this was the United States and we got to choose what and who we wanted.
I wish more residents would get involved in the council meetings and tell the "elected" officials what we want. Instead of letting them decide what we want for us. get involved please when you loose your right to choose you will NEVER get it back.

As an update. The election the COUNCIL and Mayor wanted is in October. Get the word out.

And just for a little bit of info the reason your taxes went up was not to support the Police Department it was to pay off the shiny mansion on the hill that the Mayor and council thought we could not live without. How come the town of Rosepine built one for a fraction of the cost just as big with grant money and we are in debt for a lonnng time now in New Llano. The council needs to be help accountable. How come when you go to the town and ask for information that should be public record you get the run around. Why did the council vote themselves in a raise for meetings but the police department cant hire more officers. It is because the council won't let them. Go to a council meeting and listen in you will be shocked on what they let through and what they won't didn't believe it till i heard it for myself.

Please if you live in New Llano get out and vote. Early voting begins Oct 3, 2009 and runs thru Oct. 10th. Don't let the mayor take away our right to vote. No matter how you feel about the current Chief, we do not want Boswell to have all of the power. Just look at how he runs the town. Most all of his companies and properties look like trash dumps and eyesores. We need him out and someone that will put the town first and not his/her own agendas. We needed our own water system...not the New town hall. We need our streets and thru-ways cleaned and repaired, we need more patrols on the streets, not pay raises for the council. The meetings are a joke. Everything is decided in private and then brought to the meetings. The police dept. is not the problem...the city council and mayor are!!!

I wish more people would go to the Town Council meetings. Like Cajun-baby said most things are decided in the Pre-council Secret Squirrel meetings, then if you have a concern or want to have a dissenting opinion The mayor lets you open your mouth and then shuts you down. I have been to many meetings I have seen this in action and was shocked. Do you really want the mayor to be over the hiring and firing of the police department, the mayors court that decides which tickets get fixed and which ones don't, the budget and everything else. I whish the council would stand up to the mayor. One of his favorite things to say is I only make suggestions the council has to approve them. I wonder why no one ever opposes him. Why doesn't anyone have a dissenting opinion on the council? Do they all share one mind? Or are they shut down be hind closed doors? At one council meeting someone had the nerves to ask why wasn't the minutes for the meeting put in the paper which to my understanding is the law The Leesville Leader employee present said we put in what you send us. How come he can be in charge of enforcing the laws in mayor court but doesn't have to follow them himself? He got really quiet after the paper employee said something guess he is not used to being straightened out?

were did rosepine build theres?

Rosepine has a very nice townhall police department on Hwy 171 right before Gray Nissan. On the Right Hand side. I guarantee they do not owe as much as the Townhall in New LLano does.

The mayor needs to go. I worked there almost 10 years ago and the mayor does everything and then some to screw the people of the town. That is the MAYOR's town hall...not the people's. The chief is a very colse friend of mine and hope him the best...glad to see the vote was in ur favor for the people getting to decide who represents them. GOOD JOB CHIEF! Mayor Boswell...move on. You are sucking the life from the citizens and have been for years. Loser!

U Know Me said [Mayor Boswell...move on. You are sucking the life from the citizens and have been for years. Loser!]

Hear, hear! I couldn't agree more!

Well when the election comes around again I hope some upstanding people run for Mayor. We need more choices. We need fresh blood. Why is it everytime the fire dept or the police department ask for something there is no money. How much is being spent on the annexation? The mayor doesn't mention that amount in the budget. But we hear how much the police department and the fire dept cost. How much does the water dept. cost. the town council. They have secret special meetings all the time that the council and the mayor get payed extra for. How come they cant do their business during the regular meetings when people are aware and their is a record of the proceedings.
What happened to the money that Gov Jindal brought the town. What was it spent on? We all have questions, How come the Mayor tells people all the time He answers to no one. I thought he answered to us. I think the Police Dept and the Fire Dept should be one of the towns top priorities. People safety should come before more land, bigger town halls or anything else. The AMerican Legion has been so generous to the town. They built the bathrooms and much of the picnic spaces in the park, the provide the police department with alot of equipment but how come it is the Legions doing this and not the town. I pay more taxes now than I have in years, my water bill is outrageous and it is not because Leesville went up. And how come my bill is rounded off every month Who approved this it wasn't the voters and I don't remember it being mentioned at the town hall meetings. Is that even legal. WHat happens to the overages what are they being spent on? Where is the money?
WHere is the accountability to the voters of the town?

Well I am a supporter of New Llano and one thing still stands to remain, more has been done under Mayor Boswell then any other Mayor in the past. Also lets not get out of hand with the mud slinging Mayor Boswell only called for the vote after it was brought to him a couple of times, and everyone is quick to say that the mayor was the only one who wanted this vote and he lost. But from the numbers I saw posted in the papers and on the ballot tapes so did almost 200 other people that live in the Town! The vote was only won by what 40 something votes. Seems pretty divided to me, So don't say that the Mayor was the only one who wanted this and everyone hates him and the current council. Alot of people that I know who voted for the position to stay elected have also said that come April they will still vote for Mayor Boswell. So don't go thinking that these numbers show non support for the current Mayor or Council only that the people wanted to keep there right to vote. Let's not cloud the facts! And current chief supporters the election is in April not two weeks ago he still has to fight to keep his office. And I wish him best of luck as I do Mayor Boswell because through it all I think they are both good at there jobs!

Boswell is not good at his job. He is more concerned about his own run down businesses then he is about the Town of New Llano. If he actually cared then he would give the Police Dept more money to run on. That way they could have more officers and equipment that is needed. Why doesn't he clean up his businesses. They all look like trash dumps. I hope that someone else runs for mayor in the next election.

The only bussiness that I know that the Mayor has is the washateria there on 3rd street and from what I have seen he has cleaned it up, torn down all the old buildings and givin it a face lift, the property is clean and the grass is always cut. Now some of his renters I don't know about, but if you knew anything about Landlord tenet law you would know once you sign an agreement with a renter these not alot you can do about the way there trailers look because they own them the Mayor does not. And as for the Police Department Budget if you go to the Town Council meetings like the one tonight you would know it is public knowlege as it was printed in the paper last August that the Police Department gets almost 30k a month to operate or just over 300k per year. So how is that not giving the Police Department enough money!

My Question to you Cajun Baby is how is giving a police department of what 4 people 300k per year in a town of 2k not giving them enough to operate?

VP resident you seem very knowledge but your number facts are out of wack. The election numbers where as follows. 217 against to 136 for the police chief becoming appointed. Also the town does not GIVE the New Llano Police Department 30 thousand to operated. That amount includes salaries for the officers, medical insurance, bonding fees, ask the officers who pays for the bullets to qualify with (it takes 60 rounds) they do, that thirty thousand also has to pay for workers comp, oil for the cars, tires, up keep, the pay raises that were approved by the council do you do the math or just repeat what you hear? At the current amount the chief can only have one officer per shift working the road? He has asked to put on reserves the mayor said no. He never even put it before the council. Reserves still cost money for insurance and bonding and uniforms but they are still cheaper then hiring. I for one would like to see more officers on the road not to just write tickets but for public safety especially with the with the holidays coming. Do the numbers, do you think that 30 thousand is enough to protect our town? How much do we spend on public works, the town used to have an operating budget for the police department of 40thousand, gas has gone up, insurance has gone up, everything is more expensive. How much have we spent on the annexation? Why are those numbers not public knowledge, why is it still going through the courts? That is public knowledge, and the lawyers are still working on it. How much does that town hall cost a year, what is the mortgage and it is not payed off there is a note filed at Merchant and Farmers. yet again public information. When the chief has to do cutting to fall inside the budget what are your recommendations? What should he cut first?

Yet again VP resident since you are so go on numbers why don't you do the math you aren't concerned that our water bills are rounded up, where is that money going? How many employees are on the mayors side? How come we have so many town clerks? How come we can afford to have 2 firemen on for every shift(which is not enough and would like to see more of them also) but we can only afford one officer per shift. It is no secret the mayor wanted the sheriff to take over the patrolling so he could save that money, since that didn't work he is trying to force the chief out by not giving him adequate funds to run the department correctly. VP resident why don't you do some comparing of our police budge with towns of the same or comparable size like rosepine, what does it take to run their departments? We have a great little town, we have come along way, but doing away with the police department is not the way to make it better. Support our guys who protect us. I support our mayor every time i pay my waterbill or my taxes but in return I want some answers. I am not saying everything is wrong I just want some clarification. New Llano has a rich history, I love walking the neighborhoods, and know alot of my neighbors, I love sitting on my porch and waving at the cars and the kids walking, and everytime i go by the park and see another family have a birthday party under the pravillon and think what good money spent. OOOPS I forgot the town didn't pay for the bathrooms or the pravillion the American Legion did. I am pretty sure they payed apart of the track also. Still good money spent that is why I support the American Legion in everything they do because they have total transparency of their budget. I bet if you asked to see their books they wouldn't give you the run around. I would bet a million that they have total transparency and that they balance.
Just a guess but i am pretty certain. Maybe the American Legion should take over New Llano? Bet they could do a great job, not taking away people right to vote, Being for the people by the people? Maybe we should put that on the next ballot. Just a thought what do I know.:^)

You my dear know more than VP does!! VP also has no clue what it takes to run a police dept. Our size town with all the traffic needs at least 2 officers per shift. It is impossible to be in two places at once..and on some nights due to breakins, domestics, wrecks..ect. They need 3 patrols out there. Guess he would understand better if he had to wait 20 mins for an officer, due to the calls being backed up. Boswell does a half-@ss job of keeping his business upkeep. We really like it when he lets the Carni's move in. Boy then it really looks great!! NOT I have been a landlord and it is not that hard to make your renters keep up the property. He owns the lots and some of those run down trailers too. Maybe you need to get some real glasses and take a better look around.

All true. Very true as a matter of fact. I've seen the level in New Llano. Drug deals taking place right out on the street in broad daylight because they know exactly where 'the man' is at all times. I've listened in on a scanner as the officer is directed to come to the area and I see the dealers, pushers and buyers scatter like roaches then come right back after he leaves. New Llano definitely needs more officers per shift and not just 2. Make it 3 or 4 with the equipment they need to do their job then maybe they can make a dent in the crime that's threatening to overrun the entire town.

actually what needs to happen is New Llano be annexed by Leesville, then both towns blown off the face of the earth by the next hurricane.

That's been tried. Rita failed.