Ruston aldermen OK land buying for the next I-20 frontage road phase and name Aug. 21 a Day of Hope

Update, Tue., Nov. 3: We added what the board did Monday night, from the Lincoln Parish Journal. The agenda preview we published Monday morning follows.

What the board did

Ruston’s Board of Aldermen approved a resolution Monday letting the city acquire property, and start expropriation if needed, for Phase 2 of the I-20 frontage road from Tarbutton Road to La. 149, the Lincoln Parish Journal reported.

City Attorney Bill Carter said Phase 1-A is under construction now. Phase 2 extends 3,400 feet west of the Buc-ee’s development to the city’s west limits, through land the city recently annexed.

The board introduced an ordinance granting Entergy a limited franchise and the ordinance setting its 2027 meeting calendar. Both come up for a vote at a later meeting. Aldermen also approved two resolutions to sell old transformers and scrap metal as surplus.

Mayor Ronny Walker proclaimed Aug. 21 as Ruston Day of Hope each year. The proclamation honors a Ruston child whose birthday was Aug. 21 and the way the community rallied around her. It asks people to support all children and families facing illness or loss, the newspaper reported.

The agenda preview

Ruston’s mayor and Board of Aldermen meet tonight, Monday, Nov. 2, at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 401 N. Trenton St. The city streams its meetings live on its Facebook page, according to the meeting notice in the Lincoln Parish Journal.

Frontage road land

The agenda attached to the city’s notice is marked as a draft dated Oct. 29, so items could change. Its first business item is a resolution letting the city acquire property, and file expropriation actions if needed, to build Phase 2 of the I-20 frontage road from Tarbutton Road to La. 149.

Phase 2 is the stretch heading west toward Grambling. In May, the council annexed about 115.5 acres for it and signed an agreement with the state transportation department because federal money is paying for part of the work, the Lincoln Parish Journal reported. In July the council passed the same kind of land resolution for Phase 1A, the section by the Buc-ee’s site. City Attorney Bill Carter said then that the city gets an appraisal and makes offers based on it, and that he didn’t think Ruston had needed to file any expropriations on its past service roads, the Journal reported.

Entergy franchise

An ordinance up for introduction would grant Entergy Louisiana a non-exclusive, limited franchise to provide electric service to designated developments in Ruston. The agenda does not name the developments.

Also on the agenda

• Introducing an ordinance setting the dates, time and place of 2027 council meetings.
• Selling damaged transformers and scrap materials as surplus property.
• The treasurer’s report.
• Approving minutes of the Oct. 5 meeting. The board may also go into executive session.