State Representative from Avoyelles Parish Darryl Deshotel told the Evangeline Parish Police Jury, during its meeting held Monday, November 2, about federal programs to get increased Broadband access to the parish.
Deshotel, before being elected to the legislature, started the largest privately owned Fiber company in the state.
As Deshotel explained, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) identified census blocks in Evangeline Parish that are not currently served with Broadband access. In those areas, the FCC maps show there are 3,871 structures.
“I’m here to tell you that number is wrong,” Deshotel said. “It’s way more than that.”
Based on those maps, the FCC is auctioning off those census blocks to Broadband providers.
“About 50% of those census blocks will have bids placed on them,” Deshotel said. “It’s significant, but it’s still not going to fix the problem.”
Deshotel told the police jury there will be a second round of auctions and the FCC will send new maps before then.
“It’s very important for Evangeline Parish to make sure that map is correct,” he said.
Deshotel proposed the police jury to set up committees to make sure that map is correct.”
No action was taken on the issue by the police jury.
Earlier in the meeting, the police jury heard from State Senator Heather Cloud on updates about the U.S. Hwy 167 N project from Turkey Creek to I-49.
She advised money has been dedicated this year for the planning and design phase of the project then the remaining $7 million will be allotted next year. The projected start date is the fall of 2021.
“We want you to know how much we appreciate the hard work y’all did to make that happen,” said Juror Eric Soileau about the work done by Senator Cloud and State Representative Rhonda Butler. “Y’all took that bull by the horns, and it looks like it’s going in the right direction.”
In other business, the jury passed a resolution calling for cemetery tax renewal elections in District 2,3, and 7 on March 20, 2021.
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Tony Marks
Editor