Fall festival planning underway in Chataignier

The Chataignier Village Council heard from a village resident who is seeking help from other residents of the area in providing a fall festival featuring family fun events particularly for children.
“We are looking for donations,” to support an event, Debra Fontenot told the council during its regular monthly meeting Monday, September 15. “Our children are wonderful to invest in.”
Fontenot has been coordinating the village’s Christmas parade. She asked the council and Mayor Jackie Thomas to be designated the village’s events coordinator, reflecting her intent to expand her role in the community to include additional events.
She said she hopes the event could take place before the upcoming elections, and that politicians may take part in it. The “fall fest” might take place in October, but it wouldn’t be a Halloween event.
Fontenot said the village could raise funds by charging the politicians a fee for speaking at the event. She also said she is interested in organizing a farmer’s market where people could be charged for setting up sales tables.
“People do participate in these events,” Fontenot said. “They do travel” from surrounding areas to attend events such as the Christmas parade.
She said she is seeking people to volunteer their time and to donate in support a new fall festival. “It takes a team,” Fontenot said. Community volunteering has been a major goal of Mayor Thomas since her term as mayor began.
Mayor Thomas began the meeting with a moment of silence in memory of Phyliss Rozas, who died in the attacks on the Twin Towers -- The World Trade Center -- in New York on September 11, 2001.
Rozas, a Chataignier High School graduate, was off that day, but a friend who was unable to go to work called to ask Rozas to fill in for her.
The council was briefed on several grants the village has secured:
•The mayor said a Lafayette company sent the village a letter confirming their bid for improvements to be made to the community center. That project amounts to about $9,000. Those funds are part of a larger grant that is available for making improvements to the center.
•The town will match a grant of over $22,000 for a police car that the mayor said will not cost more than about $30,000.
•The mayor said the town will use a $2,120 tourism grant to replace signs in the village, including the sign in front of the community center.
Mayor Thomas briefed the council on a letter the village attorney sent to the owners and tenants of the Prairieview Apartments. The letter states that after a study of the location of a sagging sewer line that is thought to be the cause of sewer back-ups -- such as after heavy rains early last year -- the village has determined the problem exists on the property owners’ land and not the village’s. The letter states the village is not responsible for making the repairs.
Robert Perron, sewer maintenance manager, briefed the mayor and council about repairs and new equipment ordered for the sewer plant and system. Repairs have included clearing a clogged check valve and fixing pipes, and with those completed, the plant “seems to work OK.” He said he has replaced chlorine tablet containers with ones that he made, causing a reduction in the loss of chlorine tablets.