By Emily Burleigh

Work on the Leesville Municipal Airport is still in progress.

At the Leesville City Council meeting on Monday, March 25, the council approved three pay requests for the airport’s North Ramp Taxiway and Drainage Project. One pay request was for $62,647.06 to William Equipment Services. The other two pay requests were for Infrastructure Consulting and Engineering: one for $17,596.00 and one for $1,207.15.

The council also unanimously voted to approve and submit a change order for the Taxi-Lane Construction Project at the airport.

The Leesville Municipal Airport is for public use, and is located four miles west of Leesville on LA Hwy. 8. It features amenities like a terminal building with a lobby, waiting area, pilot’s lounge, free Wi-Fi and a rental car for local use.

Councilmember Chris Robertson, District 2, commended the airport. He said that despite not being a “huge flyer,”  flying out of the airport was a “painless” process.

“The runways were beautiful, everything around it is beautiful and what y’all are doing, all of the efforts y’all are putting in out there, thank you for your continued efforts out there.”

Organizations and businesses located at the airport include: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Civil Air Patrol, Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 1356, Pilots for Patients, Crossroads Aviation and Flatt Solutions, LLC.

Leesville Event Center

At the meeting, many council members spoke to the success of the newly opened Leesville Event Center, located at 608 Nolan Trace. The center, which is said to be the new “go-to venue” for local and out-of-town events, held its grand opening on Friday, March 15.

Robertson explained that the event center is a success for Leesville, despite uncertainty when the idea was first posed by Mayor Rick Allen.

“When the mayor came up with this idea, it was kind of like, ‘Is this guy crazy?’ … We appreciate everything that you’ve done, because this is absolutely a wonderful thing for our city, for our children, for everyone that goes into it.”

Councilmember Delain Perkins Prewitt, District 4, echoed this and said that the center is “something to be proud of.”

Luke Brandon, chair of the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce, said that the opening of the center felt like a community-uniting event.

“It was beautiful to see because it was the first time that I can remember where all of us were together … You had lots of individuals that had inspired me growing up that were there.”

The event center houses the Leesville Kingdom Center, a youth outreach center founded in 2021 that has recently expanded to Vernon Parish.

Phillip Hunt, councilmember at-large, thanked founder Billy Clark for making an effort to be present in the City.

“He has really reached out to our community and gotten them involved. He has a big success in this”

The Leesville Kingdom Center’s  “Kick-Off Concert” grand opening is at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 6. This will be an opportunity to bring youth out to the event center and acclimate them with the Kingdom Center. There will be live music, local artists, door prizes and, of course, free food.

Hunt said that the Kingdom Center is in need of volunteers and donations.

City Administrator Patti Larney stated that following the “Kick-Off Concert,” the event center will be available for bookings.