A town hall meeting was held Thursday, April 17, 2025 with Mayor Alvin Bradley facilitating the event. The Mayor said the meeting was to let the citizens know about all the things going on with the City as well as reports from various City Council members on projects they were working on.
The meeting began with the Mayor asking the City’s attorney, Ronald Lattier, to give a brief update of the lawsuit involving the Grambling Economic Development Corporation (GEDC) and Davis Premier Estates over Legends Square. The attorney said that the property was valued at $2.4 million but was sold for $700,000 which was way below fair market value so the lawsuit seeks to annul the sale. It contends that under Louisiana law, this is considered an illegal sale. The attorney also said that the lawsuit, that begin in the local court, will now be going to Federal Court.
The Mayor quickly moved on to discuss other items on the agenda included how the City is preparing for the new Buc-ees that’s coming to the area. “We are trying to position ourselves to take advantage of it (economically) when it does come to town,” the Mayor said. He also said that the tentative date for Buc-ees opening is September 2026.
He went on the say that Phase 1 has already started with the clearing of land by Tarbutton for the Buc-ee’s. Phase II will be clearing the route for the service road from Tarbutton toward Grambling exit. This will involve both the City of Ruston and the City of Grambling. The Mayor showed the proposed route along I-20 where the service road will be installed. This will require going across land that belongs to several of our citizens so we are hoping to get cooperation from those citizens. “I want to dispel any myths that might be rumors… “Were not going to take your land. Your land is your land.” But he said he’s hoping to work with the landowners and work out the “particulars” in a way that will be a “win-win” for everyone.
Moving on, the Mayor talked about the success of the Request For Proposal (RFP) he sent out for a 10-Year Master Plan for the city. “We did have what we call a mandatory pre-bid conference on yesterday (April 16) and it was well attended. I think we had about eight companies that were interested in developing the master plan for the city of Grambling.”
The Mayor said the idea of the master plan is about Identifying the areas that are ideal for economic development, ideal for recreation including recreation for the youth here in the city.
He touched upon one of the reasons why the Master plan is so important. “As the City goes for grant dollars, they want to know if there is a master plan in place. They want to know what your master plan is and is the funds that you are asking for a part of your master plan? They want to see what you’re doing.”
“And so”, the Mayor went on, “We had a great opportunity yesterday. At least eight companies came out and we did a tour of the city. And we did give some information as to what we were looking for.” The Mayor urged the citizens to go to the City of Grambling website to read up on the scope of work the Master plan will entail and offer suggestions if they have any to enhance the plan.
Other updates included:
The City of Grambling has signed an MOU with Grambling State University that will allow for more collaboration between the City and the University for getting things done.
The City recently received a donation from the City of Baton Rouge of a firetruck with a ladder.
New water meters will be installed soon throughout the town of Grambling.
Councilwoman Delores Smith announced that she has established a “Listening Post” the first Monday of every month at 12 noon at the City Hall for the citizens to come and say whatever they’d like to say about what’s happening in the City and tell her whatever they want.
After that, the Mayor opened the floor to questions and answers from the audience.