EP Police Jury OKs temporary move of voting precinct

By: RAYMOND PARTSCH III
Managing Editor

The Evangeline Parish Police Jury approved a pair of measures during its annual monthly meeting Monday that will directly effect the elections in October and November.
Lucas Buller, with the Registrar of Voters, recommended to the Jury that the voting precinct located at the Northside Civic Center in Ville Platte be temporarily relocated to the Evangeline Parish Courthouse for this upcoming election cycle. The reason being that the annual Cotton Festival will be going on the same week as the election.
The Jury unanimously approved the measure.
Buller also informed the Jury that the parish currently has 20 precincts considered small under the law, which is a precinct with 300 active voters or less. Buller said that 15 of those can receive exemptions but that the remaining five would need to be consolidated into another or have the Police Jury pay the cost which would include delivery of voting booths, cost of commissioner, paying rent if the building is private, etc. By paying those costs that would keep the precincts currently where they are located.
“When you merge two precincts together then you only have one commissioner,” Buller said. “You don’t have two sets of books and voting booths. It would cause participation to go down.”
Buller gave the Jury the option to either force those precincts to merge or to simply pay the cost to keep those sites open. The Jury opted to unanimously approve paying for those five sites to stay open
“You would hate to prevent people’s right to vote due to a few hundred dollars,” added Juror Lamar Johnson.
Also during Monday’s meeting, Secretary/Treasurer Donald Bergeron informed the Jury that the appraisal for the old Evangeline Parish Library building had been completed. Based on two comparable buildings in size and space in Eunice, as well as the old Floyd’s Record Shop building in Ville Platte, the old library building has been appraised for $156,000. Based on the recommendation of Juror Eric Soileau, the Jury agreed to start the process of listing the property for sale.
Public Works Director Chester Granger also informed the Jury that some of the parishes’ large equipment is currently out of commission and will not be up and running for a month to a month and a half based on the time of making repairs. He proceeded to thank the Jury for assisting him and the public for their understanding.
In other business on Monday, the Jury:
• Discussed the Inter Agency agreement for courthouse security which will have the cost split amongst the two judges, district attorney, clerk of court, tax assessors and sheriff’s department.
• Approved a liquor permit for Helen Patrick and Prience Robert for their convenience store in Ville Platte.
• Approved the appointment of Sandra Deville to replace Benny Ducote on the Lone Pine Fire Protection District.
• Approved new appointments for the Keep Evangeline Beautiful Board.
• Agreed to re-enter into a Cooperative Agreement with the LSU Ag Center for the next five years.
• Approved having speed bumps placed on Jewel Lane.