Central Wins LMA Community Achievement Award

    The City of Central was presented with the Louisiana Municipal Association Community Achievement Award at the LMA's annual conference in Lafayette on August 1st.  The award is given to that community whose submitted project involves the most community participation and benefits the community the most.  
    The Louisiana Municipal Association was formed in 1926 as a unified voice for Louisiana’s municipal governments. Its mission is to "advocate, educate, and empower local governments to efficiently and effectively serve the citizens of Louisiana". Its membership includes all 303 municipalities in Louisiana.  Each year, submissions are sought for the coveted award.  
    Former Chief Administrative Officer David Barrow was already working on the application when Councilman Wayne Messina approached him about applying for the award.  After due consideration, Mr. Barrow submitted the Central Police Department's Mobile Command Center Program.  This program, which was funded by donations from 15  local businesses, supplied a command center that the CPD can use to coordinate personnel at a number of events such as football games, accidents, crime scenes, etc.  "Chief Salsbury did a good job gathering donations for this project," said Barrow.  The benefits to our community are obvious. 
    This is not the first time Central has been acknowledged.  "We've also won recognition before for our work on our Master Plan," Mr. Barrow explained.  That application was also submitted by him.  Applying for these types of awards are just a part of the job of the CAO, who must also apply for grants, oversee payments of invoices and bills, submit press releases, be aware of anything that would affect the operation of our city and keep its citizens informed, and  promote the city's activities. "Central once again competed against every city with a population over 10,000 for this recognition and won," Mr. Barrow stated with understandable pride.