September 8, 2014

The Evangeline Parish Police Jury held its monthly meeting tonight (Monday) in the courthouse. The jury approved the Reddell-Vidrine Water Districts’ request to increase the stipend paid to board members.  The original stipend was set in 1967 and has not been increased since then.  The amount paid to board members was $50.00/meeting and to the President was $100.00/meeting.  The jury unanimously agreed to raise the stipend to $75.00/meeting for board members and $200.00/meeting for the President.

The jury awarded the bid for the Mamou Hospital Drainage Project at Savoy to E.B. Futch & Son, LLC of Eunice, with the low bid of $215,000.00.  According to Engineer, Ronnie Landreneau, the project could start in the next thirty days.

Public Works Director, Chester Granger, reported that three bills have been sent to local loggers for damage to chip-sealed roads and that it is being handled.  President, Ryan Ardoin, reminded the public that if you are caught tearing up roads, mud-riding and tearing up land, stealing rocks, etc., you will be prosecuted.  

Ronnie Landreneau reported that they will be accepting bids for the 2 contracts regarding parish road projects on September 30th at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in the police jury room.  He requested a public meeting request for those bidding times.

Secretary/Treasurer, Donald Bergeron, was pleased to report that the 2% Sales Tax Collections were $316,221.95, an increase by 20.26%.

There was further discussion regarding the ongoing issues with condemned properties and the process the jury is going through to have the properties torn down, or cleaned up.  Mr. Bergeron reported that a hand full of people have contacted him after they received notice in the mail regarding the properties.  They will continue to move forward with responses to the landowners continuing the process to have the issues resolved.  Attorney Marcus Fontenot advised that people must have their due process and requested that the new letters inform land owners they will need to come and address the jury regarding the status of their property, and then the jury can make its’ decision regarding each one.