The Ville Platte City Council Tuesday endorses and supports Ville Platte’s Louisiana Development Ready Communities Five Year Strategic Plan to help improve the city’s economic development.
         Pam McGee explained to the city council Tuesday that the five year plan, if followed will lead the city to be designated as a “Louisiana Development Ready Community.” Ville Platte was chosen as one of only eight communities to participate in the Ready Community Program.
         Assisting six community leaders were Cleco representative Roxanne Barnes and Stephen Broussard with the Louisiana Economic Development Department. The local community leaders were Mark Suellentrop, Camille Fontenot, Lez Williams, Suzy Lemoine, Janis Landreneau and Brenda Saucier.
         The lengthy five year plan was compiled from public hearings for the general public and the business community. Data was also received from surveys based on a community assessment to determine the city’s strengths and weaknesses.
          Three questions were asked at each meeting: Identify Ville Platte’s assets, identify barriers to the city’s success and what would our wish list be if we had a magic wand.
          The survey concluded that : 60 percent of our citizens think we have adequate local health clinics and health care professionals for basic health care. Another positive is 70 percent of citizens think Ville Platte has adequate fire protection.
           One of the negative findings was only 28 percent of students complete high school or the GED equivalent. Another negative is that 12 percent of the city housing is vacant.
             An external assessment by Site Selector Robert Pittman determined that the city needed more retail outlets and more lodging which make our community more attractive to outside