Chamber discusses issue of rising utility rates in Ville Platte

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The Evangeline Chamber of Commerce met Wednesday at Cottage Couture where Renee Brown, Director of the Chamber, updated members about the recent utility rate increases for the City of Ville Platte. She said she asked the Council at Monday’s public hearing if the city can make cuts to the budget and their spending. She also asked about the 28 different rates that were brought down to five rates and if the money that changed in that financial margin could be passed on to the businesses. She said it was not taken into consideration at that time.
“We are still going to continue to work with the city, see if there are things we can help them to help us with in the future, and help them to recognize what the effects of these ordinances have, not only on the businesses, but also on the residents in our community,” Brown explained.
Some Chamber members voiced their concerns. Mark Buller said, “I think as a business community we need to work with the city and maybe we can get monthly financial statements and try to help them. It’s very clear that from spending several hours over the past month with the mayor and the council--I don’t mean this in a derogatory way--but they really don’t understand financial statements. They don’t understand budgets very well, so possibly that’s something we can do to help them and better educate them. We need to work together. They didn’t seem to really want to work with us.” Buller was referring to a town hall meeting held on June 11 at the Girls and Boys Place. Buller continued, “We were very diplomatic, and we tried to get our point across. We tried to make the increases expand to four years instead of two.”
Buller also took issue with the city’s financial issues. “Some of the things we found in 2010, we had about $4.7 million in reserves, and now we’re at $700,000, so there was $4 million in the past eight years of this administration, and now we are out of that money, and that is the truth. They’re saying that they moved the money around. We did speak to the people who handle the books, and they confirmed to us that is in fact what happened. So, again here we were of the opinion that we’re going to give you an extra $1.4 million--they call it fees, we call it a tax--so that’s just an extra million dollars for you to be able to spend. We don’t want to spend a million dollars. We want to cut a million dollars. So that didn’t work our way. Maybe we can go to the monthly council meetings and see if we can get a monthly financial statement.”
Brown said they would have to submit a request in writing for financial statements, and they will be given to them at the City Council meeting, but only after it gets approved by the Council. “It’s not an easy process,” said Brown. “There are some agencies that have made requests, and those requests have not been met. I know KATC has reported to me that they have had an issue with that, and they still do. They have not been able to get some of that information.” She said the Chamber can put in a request every month for the city’s financial statement.
Brown said, “If anything positive has come out of what has happened with the city, it is that we are seeing our City Council more engaged than ever before. They have been spending time with their CPA to understand and ask more questions on what they’re actually looking at in their finances. So there are some positive things that have come out of it. They may not have necessarily worked in our favor at this time, but maybe in the long run because of the positive changes that are starting to happen because of our initiative. We are hoping that it is going to be something that is really going to change this administration moving forward, and it’s because of the engagement and awareness that may not have been there all these years.”
Continuing with the Chamber meeting, Brown said there will be a slight increase in membership fees. She gave an example of a past membership fee of $100 which would increase to about $125. In the past, membership programs were based on the number of employees or financials if the business was a financial institution. She said they now want to let businesses select which of three different programs in which it wants to participate.
Brown welcomed new board members: Dr. Gwen Fontenot, a professor at UL-Lafayette who is an expert in marketing, and Frank Butler, a resident of Turkey Creek who owns Butler Tree Service and Gobble Gully. Brown also welcomed new members, Sign Gypsies of Ville Platte, Vidrine’s Tire in Mamou, Evangeline Coalition in Ville Platte, and Southwest La Area Health Education Center in Lafayette.
Brown announced the Chamber banquet will be held August 27th. In the next couple of weeks they will be asking for best-of-the-year nominees. This year they will be recognizing a member who readily assists and volunteers.
Brown asked for more agricultural participants for the monthly farmer’s market. She said there are some arts and crafts vendors, but she would like to see more vendors selling produce.
Brown thanked Bob Manuel for letting them use a lift to aid in cleaning during community clean-up days. She then announced the purchase of an external hard drive to backup Chamber office computers.
Brown announced the Chamber is partnering with AmeriCorps, a non-profit organization that helps with rural or low-income communities, assisting with health, education and workforce. Brown said she spoke with the head of the AmeriCorps program in our area, informing them of the projects the Chamber has been working on through SLCC, through the Louisiana school system, and through local businesses and industries. She said she would like the program to focus on education and workforce. AmeriCorps is looking for someone to volunteer their time to work on these initiatives in Evangeline Parish. They want someone who specializes in grants who can make improvements to workforce and education issues.
Brown announced two ribbon-cutting ceremonies. One will be held July 19 at Heinen Medical Center of Ville Platte; the other will be Wednesday at Stisol Physical Rehab Center in Mamou. She also said the Chamber is working on holding a political rally, inviting candidates for the upcoming elections. The rally is scheduled for August 8th, after qualifying closes.
Brown announced the Chamber is planning to have a breakfast with representative Bernard LeBas to discuss the recent legislative session. She said they are putting some dates together right now, but need to know about how many people plan on attending.