City of VP to resume cutoffs and late fees, says mayor

At Tuesday’s Ville Platte City Council meeting, Mayor Jennifer Vidrine said the city has not cut off anyone’s utilities or added late fees since March because of COVID-19, but they will resume cutoffs and late fees in September. “We’ve tried to be as compassionate as we can, because we know this is a trying time, but we hope everyone has made the adjustments they need.”
Vidrine also addressed the issue of rising COVID cases in the parish and reminded the public we are still in Phase II, and the curfew is still in effect. The curfew is 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. for adults and businesses; for minors it is 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. She also said the city is adhering to the state’s mask mandate and pleaded with everyone to wear a mask to help get out of Phase II. She said there are 908 total cases, with 13 new cases in the last 24 hours, and a total of seven deaths reported, as of August 11th. “For the naysayers and the negative people and the people who don’t believe this is real, and the people who say ‘It’s only seven deaths for the parish’ Stop being so insensitive. Those seven people were somebody’s mom, dad, son, daughter, somebody’s loved one. In my book, one was too many.” The main cause of the rise of cases is due to community spread. She adamantly asked people to not congregate in large gatherings, and asked people with underlying conditions to stay home as much as possible.
Chief of Police Neil Lartigue said on August 10th there was an alarm call from a bank located on Main Street. When an officer drove up, he saw a man inside the bank. When the officer went around to get him, the man escaped through a side door. He said they are still trying to determine the point of entry, but it looked like he let himself in through the roof, but the bank had not confirmed yet if there was a way for the suspect to enter through the roof. Lartigue said he attempted to break three windows on the building and broke one, breaking the front part of the glass, but not the second. Once inside, he dug through the register drawers. The police are still investigating, but a suspect has been arrested in connection with the incident.
Vidrine cheekily said, “We’re going to put an announcement right now: There is no money left out in the bank for you to steal. That’s an all-points bulletin in case anyone wants to get in trouble breaking into a bank. The money is not left in the drawers or on the desks or on the counters for you to steal.” Her comments drew chuckles from the council. She reminded the public, “If you see something, say something,” and said anyone can use the Tip Ville Platte app to anonymously report information on a crime or anything suspicious. Lartigue said the public has been utilizing the app. As always, for emergencies, call 911.
Vidrine also announced the city has two new dump trailers on the road, picking up trash. The city now has four dump trailers. The two new trailers were part of the city’s capital outlay in the budget to purchase. Vidrine reminded the public if they have furniture, large appliances, and other bulky items or branches, to call Evangeline Solid Waste at 337-363-7254 to pick it up. She also urged residents to pick up the trash in their own yards, adding that one case was so bad they had to call the police to tell the homeowner to pick up the trash in their yard. Vidrine also asked people not to leave their trash bags at the road for days at a time because stray and wild animals go through them and make a mess.
Further Vidrine said there are still job openings in the Streets Department. Applications may be downloaded from www.CityofVillePlatte.com or applications may be picked up at the city annex on the corner of Railroad and Cotton Street. The only qualifications are to not have a felony in the last seven years and pass a drug test. The city has had a difficult time finding qualified applicants because they cannot pass the drug test, but they did hire three new people for that department. Councilman Bryant Riggs suggested possibly paying a little more than the starting pay of $9 per hour. “There’s something happening when we’re attracting the people who can’t pass a drug test. We have to figure that out. Not having workers for the city is affecting us getting jobs done. We must have a lot of money just sitting there to hire people. Maybe we can just contract people for that money and have them come in and cut along the ditches. We have to come up with some solution to start moving forward, other than waiting for the perfect candidate who can pass a drug test.”
Councilman Mike Perron asked about cleaning up the city cemetery. Vidrine said they plan to use inmates who can be on work detail, but as of now, there are no inmates who qualify in the jail. She said, “Anything we can do to beautify it, we’ll definitely look into it and do it.” Riggs said the city should create a compliance officer position and have that person watch over the inmates on work detail and deal with home owners who let trash accumulate.
Vidrine addressed the issue of blighted and abandoned properties. The city lets property owners know they need to take care of their property. When the owners do not reply to repeated attempts for contact, the city tears down the abandoned buildings and cleans the property, and the owner has to pay the city the costs of doing so. Vidrine said in the last eight weeks, there were 21 properties demolished and/or cleaned. She asked the public to contact City Hall about blighted properties as the city continues to take care of the situation. Some people have been calling about properties on Lincoln Road, but they are not inside city limits. They contacted the property owners, and one of them said, “Well, it’s not in the city limits, so why are y’all worried about it?” Vidrine said if property owners on Lincoln Road do not respond to courtesy calls, they will be turned over to the parish and their police juror contacted.
Riggs suggested taking stronger action when it comes to blighted properties, saying the council should consider amending the ordinance for blighted properties so they can fine the owners for not taking care of their property. “It’s time to start seriously fining them, maybe $500 a month. We go through the process of trying to get them to respond to us and we don’t get any response. We can’t make them respond by sending letters, but we can make them respond by hitting them with a strong fine, and the fine will continue until they get back in contact with us. If you can’t take care of it, adjudicate it to the city or the parish.”