Mamou Council adopts millage rates, increases PD fees

MAMOU -- The Mamou Town Council adopted property tax millage rates, increased fees for police department services and discussed ongoing culvert work at its Wednesday meeting.
Police Chief Brent Zackery, in regard to fees for police department services, said, “I bring this up because local agencies around us are all going with this rate. We are the cheapest around, and I think we need to catch up with the times.
He continued, “People are coming here from Lafayette to do background checks because our services are cheap.”
Jessica Fontenot and Mayor Ricky Fontenot were absent from the meeting. The board voted unanimously to increase the following police department fees: accident reports increased from $7.50 to $10; parking lot crash reports increased from $5 to $10; complaints increased from $5 to $10; background checks increased to $15; fingerprints increased from $5 to $10; and drop charges, increased to $35.
The board also unanimously approved property tax millage rates of general alimony at 6.73 mils and public facilities at 11.49 mils. City Clerk Guy Pucheu said the mils went down because property assessments went up, and the mil rates were recommend by the parish tax assessor.
Council member Robin Young discussed ongoing culvert improvements in the town, and the town has applied for grants to help fund the work.
Young said, “Most of the culverts in town are 12 inches, and we want to upgrade them to help our drainage. A lot of them are not at the right elevation. A few have been done by Main Street, on Railroad. It did seem to help in the last rain we had, not the flood, but when we had three inches in a hour. It did seem to help.
“We are working on it. We are doing some culvert work now and trying to get some money, $35,000 in grants to help buy the pipe because that is the most expensive thing.”
At the start of the meeting, representatives for CASA of St. Landry/Evangeline Parishes introduced themselves to the council members. The organization opened an Evangeline Parish office in Ville Platte earlier this year.
Other actions approved were:
• Zackery’s police activity report was passed unanimously.
• Personnel action recommendations to move two part-time patrol officers to full-time and to hire two new part-time officers. All four actions passed unanimously.
• Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with the Evangeline Parish Police Jury regarding the parish sewer waste treatment and billing. Action passed unanimously.
A discussion on Town Ordinance 10.24.040 regarding parking in public rights of way was tabled by a unanimous vote until the council’s next meeting so that town attorney Peter Savoy could look into the ordinance.