In 1973, the late Verdiacee Hampton Goston shocked the residents of the Richwood community with the idea that the little community could become a self-governing town.
Goston, who was an eccentric personality, said the community could manage its own affairs and was large enough to be a town, separate and apart from the jurisdiction of the Ouachita Parish Police Jury.
She had a loyal following in the town who believed the idea that Richwood could collect its own taxes, have a police department manage its own affairs.
There were many naysayers, but on December 31, 1974, Goston incorporated the small neighborhood and it instantly became a town, operating under the Lawrason Act in Louisiana law that gave it special authorities, powers, and governance abilities.
In 1974, the town’s population had only 1,253 residents including inmates at the Ouachita Correctional Center.
Today, the town has over 3,300 residents, it boundaries have changed and some town leaders think it’s time for another move; they are seriously thinking about moving from a town to a small city. Generally, a community with a population of 2,500 or above in the United States is designated as a city.
City status moves the town from the huge pool of towns and villages in the state and places it in a small grouping that often has funds dedicated for cities, but not towns.
For the leaders pursuing the idea, the city status is not just a matter of neighborhood pride, it gets to be a matter of economics. More federal and state dollars are available in cities than for towns and villages who often have to compete for funds that are automatic for cities based on size.
Hand in hand with that, some town leaders are promoting the idea of changing the town’s process of electing alderman from its present one district -at large process to a new single-member district plan.
These leaders think the boundaries of Richwood have extended so far beyond the old Richwood High School neighborhood, that many people who are residents of the town are distant from its government.
Richwood now extends as far North as Highway 15, includes Tanglewood and both sides of Highway 165.
So in February of this year an ordinance was introduced by the aldermen to begin studies to set up four districts for the town, two on each side of Highway 165 and one member at large.
Of course, any new plan must comply with Federal and State Laws as well as the Voting Rights Act.
If all of the ideas of some the aldermen actually happen, by 2024, fifty years after becoming a town, Richwood could actually become a city, with single-member electoral districts, and ready to play ball in a larger park.
Skeptics thought Verdiacee Goston’s idea of establishing a town was crazy back in 1974. There will no doubt be detractors who will doubt the town’s capacity to be a city.
It might be an idea whose time has arrived.
