Police Jury discusses ways to combat flooding in area

The Evangeline Parish Police Jury on Monday night discussed possible ways to combat heavy flooding such as the one that hit the area over the previous weekend.
The Jury passed a motion by Bryan Vidrine to purchase a drone that can be used to look at every canal. These drones, according to Vidrine, run on the high end at $2,500.00 plus the cost of training remote flying operators. “It’s smart in itself,” said Vidrine. “You don’t have to be smart to operate them.”
Vidrine also advised his fellow jurors that he spoke with Congressman Mike Johnson who advised him that he will look into all the gateways that our drainage flows into such as the Mermentau and other federal waters. Johnson also advised Vidrine that he will look into the purpose of the weirs that were put in place “and if removing them would serve us better.”
Secretary-Treasurer Donald Bergeron spoke about an upcoming regional meeting to discuss draining the watersheds such as the Calcasieu and the Mermentau. “Whenever it’s all clogged down our water has no place to go,” Bergeron said.
After a public meeting earlier, the Jury voted to abandon a portion of Adeuse Road starting at La. 363 (Faubourg Rd.) to Harrison Rd.
This action asrises out of a dispute on where the center line of a 50-foot right-of-way is located between property belonging to the Henry J. Vidrine Plantation and the Savant family.
Pierre Vidrine representing the Plantation addressed the Jury regarding the issue.
“We were previously told by the police jury attorney at the time, with the rules he provided us, basically states that the road is where it is and where it’s been maintained,” he said. “It has slowly moved to where it is now. It doesn’t need to go further to the side. It’s moved far enough.”
“We’ve showed where the road is and where the road was,” continued Vidrine. “It hasn’t moved. We have a survey that agrees with the aerial photos, but yet we can’t pour gravel.”
Juror Kevin Veillon responded to Vidrine’s comments by saying, “I wanted to maintain the road, and I couldn’t because I had two different opinions, and I couldn’t bide by either one without legal documents.”
“I refuse until a judge would tell us where the center point was, and we didn’t have a problem maintaining the road, but we cannot do a road where two land owners disagree on both ways with no legal documentation to tell us one way.”
Veillon proposed abandoning the road until “the judge tells us where it’s at and go from there.” He continued, “Once y’all fight it out in civil court and the judge says this is where the road goes we’ll put it down and fix y’all road.”
The Jury also heard from Bryan Savant on the other side of the issue who voiced his support for abandoning the road as well.
In other business the Jury:
• Heard from County Agent Todd Fontenot who gave his annual report and heard from Lelia Deville who is the Evangeline Parish Junior Leader Club President and who serves on the State 4-H Executive Board as well as the State 4-H Foundation as a Youth Member.
• Approved a trail ride for Tony Pickens to be held on May 7, 2017.
• Tabled a motion a set a special meeting to discuss possible Louisiana Community Development Block Grant (LCDBG) projects.
• Announced intentions for millage resolutions at the June 5, 2017, meeting.