20 Years to Central City Hall

By Woody Jenkins, Editor Central City News

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, the City of Central broke ground for a new City Hall. The facility is scheduled for completion in April 2026.

At last, Central will have its own City Hall instead of relying on donated or leased space.

Getting its own City Hall has indeed been a long and winding road.  

The people of Central voted to incorporate as a municipality on April 23, 2005.  Gov. Kathleen Blanco appointed the first city officials — Mac Watts as Mayor, Doug Browning as Police Chief, and Louis DeJohn, Pete Humble, Joan Lansing, Carolyn Patterson, and Ralph Washington as members of the first City Council.

City officials were sworn in on July 11, 2005, which is generally considered the date of incorporation of the City of Central.

After the people had voted to incorporate but before swearing in ceremonies, Central attorney Bob Raborn filed suit to stop the incorporation. That suit was pending when city officials took their oaths of office.

Mayor Watts and the City Council could meet and pass ordinances, but there was literally no money in the bank.  Moreover, with a suit pending against the legality of the city, it seemed unlikely that there would be any money soon.

There was no appropriate office space in Central to house a City Hall and no money to pay rent.

As a result, we at the Central City News offered Mayor Watts the opportunity to use the newspaper office then located at 12023 Sullivan Road.  He accepted and the Central City News office became Central’s first City Hall.

Mayor Watts moved in and used a folding table as his desk. New City Clerk Steven Stockstill also had space, as did the Mayor’s new assistant, David Barrow.  

For the next three months, city business was conducted out of the new City Hall, which was donated by the Central City News.

The Mayor held meetings and news conferences at the office and made appointments to boards and commissions. The staff drafted city ordinances and resolutions and issued occupational licenses and permits.

With a newspaper and a City Hall in the same small building, it was a very busy place.

By September, a larger space was located when Ken Montgomery offered to donate the use of his former residence at 9339 Sullivan Road.  On Sept. 22, 2005, the city moved in and it officially became Central’s second City Hall.

The larger space enabled meetings of the City Council, Planning & Zoning Committee, and Board of Adjustments to be held at the new City Hall.  Ken Montgomery never asked the City of Central to pay rent.

In the spring of 2005, after the vote for incorporation, the Louisiana Legislature passed a bill creating the Central Transition District to assist with the creation of the city.  While the legislature provided no funding, it authorized the district to borrow up to $100,000.  

The transition district, chaired by Central incorporator Russell Starns, was able to secure a loan, which helped with startup expenses.

State law provides that in each parish, there shall be only one entity that can collect local sales taxes. The taxing authorities in the parish chose the City-Parish Finance Department as that entity.

As a result, Mayor-President Kip Holden had control of sales taxes collected in Central.

When Central officials asked to receive Central’s share of sales taxes collected here, Holden said no, because the suit was pending against the very existence of Central.

Finally, a compromise was reached which allowed the City of Central to receive 10 percent of the 2 percent parish sales taxes collected in Central.  This provided the city several hundred thousand dollars a year,

It was not until 2008 that the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that Central had been created legally and Central began to receive its full share of sales taxes.

Late that year, office space for lease was found in the shopping center at 13421 Hooper Road. Thanks to the donation of more than $100,000 in materials and labor by Will Easley of Trade Construction and others, the offices were built out. The third Central City Hall opened on Feb. 5, 2009 under the direction of Mayor Mac Watts.

In January 2018, Central’s second Mayor, Jr. Shelton proposed building a new City Hall at the corner of Hooper and Sullivan roads. It would include 17,000 square feet of office space and cost $4.5 million, mostly provided by state funds secured by Sen. Bodi White.

At that time, the City of Central had surplus funds on hand of over $40 million.  The City Council approved the project. However, the project became controversial and was probably the No. 1 issue used to defeat Mayor Shelton in November 2018.  

After the election, Mayor Shelton believed the people had spoken and did not want the City Hall as approved by the Council.  The purchase of land from the school board was cancelled, and the project was abandoned.

In November 2022, then-Mayor David Barrow secured City Council approval to purchase 9.55 acres on the west side of Sullivan Road for $594,000 from the Devall family.  However, shortly after the purchase, Mayor Barrow was defeated for reelection.

The new Mayor, Wade Evans, decided not to move forward with the planning and construction of a City Hall on that property.

At ground breaking ceremonies for the new City Hall, Mayor Evans apologized because he said his opposition to City Hall over the years had cost the citizens of Central $3 million and six years of delay.  

If all goes well, the new Central City Hall will open in April 2026, almost exactly 21 years after the people of Central voted to incorporate as a new city.