The monthly meeting of the Ville Platte City Council was held Tuesday night in Ville Platte City Hall. 4-H Member and Student at Sacred Heart, Andrew Fontenot (pictured), led the Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance for the meeting. The Mayor paid tribute to the passing of LSU Mascot, Mike VI and displayed a memorial tiger display in the meeting room.
The Mayor and several council members addressed an issue and rumors that have been circulated in the area accusing The City of installing “dummy” fire hydrants on the South side of Ville Platte where a home recently was lost due to fire. She stated: “We want to let everyone know that we would never install dummy fire hydrants. That is illegal and it is very insulting to all of us. Before you jump to conclusions about something, please call us so you can get the correct information.” She continued: “The City is in the middle of ongoing water projects with the City engineers, and the piping for those particular hydrants is not finished so the hydrants are not active. They are painted black so that fire fighters are aware that they are not active. The fire department is very informed and knew to bring water with them to the recent fire…and went back several times to get more water.” She stated firmly that all of the rumors and accusations were “A Lie. Period.”
Expenditures for the City for the month of August were $131,612.89. In September, they were $212,645.09, which is an increase of $93,032.20. That figure includes an annual $60,000.00 insurance premium that was paid as well as approximately $18,000.00 paid in medical bills for prisoners in the City Jail.
In respect to abandoned properties, there are approximately 13 notices that have been sent out to property owners to clean up their property. The time period has now expired and the City will be cleaning those properties and/or tearing down structures that have been ignored. Those expenses will be put on the property owners tax bill.
The Ville Platte Police Department is actively hiring new recruits. They are currently working four officers per shift; and they are looking for approximately 7 more officers. Officers responded to 540 calls last month and made 506 reports. Crime is being addressed and because of that, 80 arrests were made with 18 of those being felony arrests with various charges.
Halloween in the City of Ville Platte will be held Monday, October 31st from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
The meeting for November will be held on Monday, November 7th at 5:00 p.m. due to the Presidential Election being held on Tuesday, November 8th. Public hearings will be held before that to amend the “Culvert Ordinance” and to increase the pay for Police Chief, Neal Lartigue and City Marshall, Ronald T. Doucet.
The mayor reported that Medical, LLC has officially donated the old nursing home to the City and they are exploring what they will be doing with it.
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