St. Tammany News

Setting up a drug and alcohol-free zone for the Krewe of Selene parade and voting on the architecture firm to design the new government building will be on the agenda for a special Slidell City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Police Chief Freddie Drennan is asking the council to pass an ordinance that will create a drug, alcohol and tobacco-free zone in the 600 block of Gause Boulevard during the Krewe of Selene parade next Friday. He said the Bethany Lutheran Church, located at 627 Gause Blvd. approached him with the idea to make the area in front of the church a drug-free zone.

The Lutheran church got the idea from a non-profit group in Mandeville called PRIDE of St. Tammany, that is a branch of the national group, Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education. Drennan said the PRIDE chapter in Mandeville has been setting up drug-free zones for carnival parades for the past several years in Mandeville and Covington with great success.

"These zones are places where parent can bring their kids to keep them safe," Drennan said.

He decided the zone should span the entire 600 block of Gause and not just in front of the church.

"We polled the neighbors, and they all agreed to do it," Drennan said.

There will be signs posted in the area and a few more police officers on patrol that will enforce a ban on drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the zone.

Drennan hopes that if it works Friday the city can expand the zone to other areas of the parade routes in the future and make it permanent.

The council will also get public input on the proposed plans for a new Municipal Center office building to be built next to the City Hall on Second Street. They will also vote on accepting the firm of Sizeler, Thompson, Brown Architects to do all the architectural and engineering plans for the three-story building that will house the City Council, City Attorney and the departments of Finance, Personnel and Data Processing. The building is being partially funded with a $1.7 million grant from FEMA, to replace the old building that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The council will also vote on reallocating $480,000 from the Recovery Reserve Fund to pay the architects for their services.