Chataignier council firms up holiday season schedules

The Chataignier Village Council and Mayor Jackie Thomas began to firm up plans for the coming holiday season during its monthly meeting Monday, October 20.
They voted to set the time for trick-or-treating this Halloween -- Friday, October 31 -- from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Parents are advised to accompany their children, who should wear reflective material, or put a reflector on their bicycles if they will ride them when trick-or-treating. Also, only those houses that have porch lights on should be visited.
The community’s events coordinator, Debra Fontenot, briefed the council and mayor about other upcoming events.
She said although she had tried to organize a fall festival later this month, those plans came up against a couple of obstacles. The village’s community center is scheduled to have repair work start this week and underway late this month in order for the those repairs to be completed by the elections on November 4.
Fontenot also said she found that the entertainment she tried to line up had already been booked this month. She said donations that have been made to support a fall festival will be used to pay for those entertainers to perform as part of the village’s Christmas program on Sunday, December 14.
Line-up for the Christmas parade will begin promptly at 2 p.m. to avoid any delay in the start of the parade, she said.
Wilbur Rozas, Village clerk, suggested graduates of Chataignier High School organize a group to take part in the parade.
Rozas said he is inquiring with the parish’s tourism office if part of their grant to the village can pay for flags to be flown in front of the elementary school. Tourism grants will also be used to purchase new signs along highway entrances to the village.
Other grants are being processed to make water and sewer system improvements in the village.
The village’s sewer maintenance supervisor, Robert Perron, briefed the council and mayor of improvements that he has been making and repairs or replacements he has found that are needed.
Mayor Thomas asked if there were any suggestions from the audience at the meeting about what improvements are needed in the village. Someone in the audience suggested a pedestrian bridge connect the village’s walking trails to an apartments complex across Highway 29 from the trails.
The mayor said rest rooms at the village’s recreation park need to be completed.
The mayor said the new owner of the Gula Miller apartments are cleaning the interior spaces and are making any needed repairs to air conditioning or other features and have started mowing the property. The sale closed earlier this month. Mayor Thomas said she is not sure when applications for residency will be accepted.