The Webster Parish Police Jury approved all items on its agenda during its regular meeting Tuesday, February 3, at the Webster Parish Courthouse Annex. Juror Beverly Kennon was absent.
Jurors unanimously approved payment of invoices pending review by Juror Bruce Blanton for Monday, February 9, 2026, and adopted minutes from the January 6, 2026, Finance Committee and regular meeting.
The jury also adopted Resolution 004-2026 in support of the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Grant Program through the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“We’ve been working on a grant to rebuild Lake Road, and this resolution goes toward supporting that grant,” said Police Jury President Jim Bonsall, noting Webster Parish will work with Bienville Parish on the project.
Two additional resolutions of support were approved for Community Water Enrichment funding through the Louisiana Office of Community Development. The Gilgal Water System will seek $76,206, and the Leton Water System will seek $77,170.
Much of the meeting’s committee reports focused on response efforts during recent Winter Storm Fern, with local officials highlighting interagency cooperation and assistance to stranded motorists and emergency services.
Minden Police Chief Jared McIver praised the coordinated response.
“We had a lot of people who jumped in and helped us. We had a lot of cooperation from the public, Chief Williams, the mayor’s office. We all worked really well together to get through the ice storm,” McIver said.
Minden Fire Chief Williams detailed numerous emergency efforts during the storm, including sanding the hospital and emergency room entrance, assisting ambulance services with Humvees in rural areas, and working with Louisiana State Police to help stranded motorists on Interstate 20. Members of the Office of Emergency Preparedness department delivered water, food, blankets and fuel using department ATVs.
Williams said crews also transported 911 dispatchers to the hospital for meals and showers and helped reroute a fuel truck from Greenwood to Love’s Truck Stop in Minden after the station ran out of fuel, which had worsened traffic backups on I-20.
He also credited parish and city public works crews for addressing dangerous road conditions at Highway 79 and Miller Road.
“That hill becomes a sheet of ice,” Williams said, describing a large vehicle accident at the location. When a tow truck attempted to assist, it slid into a ditch.
“Without Teddy Holloway’s guys, the bulldozer, and the sand truck … we had three ambulances with patients — two of them from Monroe trying to get to Shreveport — that would have put them another three hours to Shreveport. Thankfully, we were able to shorten that response time.”
Williams added, “Mayor Cox asked me to convey his appreciation to the police jury for the collaboration between the parish and the city.”
Angie Chapman, director of Webster Parish 911, said call volume did not spike as much as expected because of proactive patrols by law enforcement.
“I was asked during the committee meeting if we had a lot of 911 calls due to the weather, and the answer is really ‘no’ because law enforcement were so proactive in being out on the streets watching for stranded motorists and wrecks; they didn’t have time to call us for a lot of that. We were monitoring law enforcement channels, and it was constantly officers and deputies reporting problems they were addressing, so thank you for that. It was cold work and, after about six hours, they started sounding tired, but they were still working,” Chapman said.
She said 911 dispatchers lived in the courthouse during the storm because many employees who live outside the parish could not travel.
“911 dispatchers were in the courthouse working because I have a lot of employees who live out of the parish and could not get to work so, those of us who did, lived there. We slept on cots, we ate sandwiches. Brian brought us chicken one day and brought us to the hospital the next day for a hot meal and a shower. Thank God for the shower; it’s the little things you don’t think about.”
Chapman emphasized that routine emergencies continued despite the weather.
“Just because there’s an ice emergency doesn’t mean that the other emergencies stop. We still have our sick people, we still have our fires, and we still have people needing law enforcement there.”
Praising Williams and his department, Chapman said, “You guys just don’t know what a gem you have, because he made sure we had everything we needed, he did the best he could to answer every call for any type of request we had the whole time we were there, and we were in it to win it.”
The Webster Parish Police Jury meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 10:30 AM at the courthouse annex. The public is encouraged to attend.