The Evangeline Parish Police Jury held its May meeting Monday night in the Evangeline Parish Courthouse.  Public Works Director, Chester Granger, spoke about the flooding over the weekend and expressed concerns over the water levels in the parish as well as those in other waterways our parish drains into.   Granger stated he has been with the Police Jury for 20 years and this is “the highest level he's seen.”  He continued that: “If we get a large amount of rain Wednesday like The National Weather Service is calling for, it could be a bad situation.  We are looking at all of the scenarios and we will have to see what happens.”  Granger stated there will be sandbags available to residents beginning at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning at the Basile, Mamou and Ville Platte yards.  People will need to fill their own sandbags when they receive them.

Granger went on to tell residents “We got hammered pretty hard by the rain and I know people are frustrated; but, we want you to know that every day of every week, we are working on drainage.  We try our best and we don’t want anyone’s property to be lost.  Please understand there is only so much we can do.”  He said their crews are still working on fixing roads and washouts from Sunday.”  The National Weather Service has called for and 80% chance of 4-5 inches of rain falling Wednesday.

Juror, Bryan Vidrine, said he would like to look at purchasing a ‘drone’ to be able to fly over our area in case flooding happens.  He stated the drone could cost approximately $2,500.00 and in addition to that cost, someone would have to be trained as a licensed drone pilot/operator.  When asked what account the funds would come from, he stated “probably the drainage funds.”

County Agent, Todd Fontenot and Lelia Deville with 4H spoke to the Jury for their Annual 4H Report.  Deville explained that 4H empowers nearly 6 million youth across the globe today, reaching all the way from China to South Africa and right here in Evangeline Parish.  This year 4H doubled the amount of workshops given and they have also doubled the size of their shooting sports program sending 8 successful shooters to represent Evangeline Parish in the State Shooting Sports Competition.

Secretary/Treasurer, Donald Bergeron, reported that he has been told the Ville Platte Sudden-link office will be closing on May 26^th.  He also reported that May 4^th is the National Day of Prayer and asked everyone to take a moment of silence.

Sales Tax Collections for March were $396,933.97 which was up $14,626.00 from this time last year.  The Jury thanked everyone for shopping locally and keeping our tax dollars here.