Police jury discusses problem of litter along roadways

The problem of litter along roads in the parish was one of the issues discussed during the monthly meeting of the Evangeline Parish Police Jury Monday, March 10.
Ryan Ardoin, police jury president, said the littering problem alongside roads has become “absolutely ridiculous,” and the problem involves state roads that are not being cleared of litter.
Juror Lamar Johnson said he has seen roads in the parish that have been cleared of litter that “look just as bad” just five days after being cleared.
Ardoin suggested the police jury adopt a resolution that had been drafted, which he read during the meeting. The resolution would be sent to Governor Bobby Jindal requesting the state resume periodic clearing of litter along state roads in the parish.
Jurors also discussed a new requirement that a member of any local law enforcement agency who uses state prisoners to clear litter along roads undergo a 30-day training program and become certified to use the prisoners.
Ardoin said the parish has an educational program about litter directed at young people and imposes fines for littering. “That’s about all we can do,” he said. He also suggested the police jury and the sherif’’s office share the cost of clearing litter from parish roads.
The police jury voted to send the resolution to the governor asking for the state to clear litter along state roads in the parish and asking the state to reconsider the mandatory 30-day training program for using state prisoners to clear litter.
The police jury also passed resolutions approving construction projects to be paid with federal grants for recovery involving storm damage caused in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in 2008 and Hurricane Gustav in 2009.
•Phillips General Contracting of Ville Platte submitted the low bid of $221,700 to renovate the pavilion at Crooked Creek.
•The police jury also approved spending up to $25,000 to replace a bridge and make other improvements on Morgan Road, just outside of Pine Pririe. Bids for that project have not been advertised for yet.
The police jury also approved of a request by Juror Eric Soileau to improve drainage along Bayou Des Cannes near Mamou. The low bid of $4.52 per foot of clearing, submitted by Dale Trahan Backhoe and Dozer of Rayne, will be paid from Soileau’s District 6 budget.
During a briefing by David Broussard, vice president of Lemoine Insurance Agency, regarding the new health insurance contract for parish employees, there was a brief discussion of the difficulty in determining requirements that are being caused by implementation of the Affordble Care Act.
Broussard said although the contract researched by his company is in compliance with the ACA, it’s difficult to predict what will be required next year and beyond. “I’m a professional and I don’t know,” he said.
Juror Lamar Johnson said the new health care law is an “embarrassment to the whole country” and juror Kenny Veillon said the new law will bring “so many changes” to health care requirements.
Broussard said the ACA requirements that are in force this year involve the higher cost of medical treatment outside the “network” of medical care providers and that people covered by Blue Cross should find out if providers they have used in the past or new ones being considered are in the network.
The parish’s new Blue Cross policy will increase premiums 3.6 percent, and the net cost to the police jury will increase by $1,000 a year.