Mamou council discusses raises for officers, chief and mayor; gives farmers one dollar break on gas

At a special meeting Tuesday night, the Mamou Town Council voted to introduce an ordinance to raise full-time officers’ pay from $11.25 an hour to $13.00 an hour.
The proposed ordinance came following the council’s vote that approved moving David Charlie back to being a part-time officer.
As Chief of Police Brent Zackary stated, Charlie “has another job with the tribal police department in Kinder where he will be making more money. He asked to stay part-time because he would like to help out.”
The chief further stated he understood Charlie’s reasoning for taking the job in Kinder and reported to the council that Roderick Pitkins had resigned as a full-time officer.
“Some of our full-time patrolmen are leaving for better paying jobs,” said Mayor Ricky Fontenot. “Nobody can blame them because they have to take care of their families and have to go where they can to make more money.”
The council also voted to introduce ordinances that would increase the compensation for the elected chief from $2,900.00 per month to $3,600.00 per month and increase the compensation for the elected mayor from $3,100.00 per month to $3,850.00.
Each of the proposed ordinances will be voted on by the council for adoption at its next regular meeting on April 10.
Mayor Fontenot explained the town is waiting to get numbers back from its accountant Mike Johnson before the village can come back and give raises to the police dispatchers, part-time officers, supervisors, and city clerk. He said, “We’re trying to increase everybody’s pay while we can.”
Upon request for clarification from Councilman Robin Young, the mayor explained the council’s salary “will remain the same.”
The proposed ordinances were introduced days after the council voted to adopt an ordinance to set the street superintendant’s salary at $2,940.00 per month as well as an ordinance to amend the natural gas rates for farmers.
As Mayor Fontenot explained at that time, “What we’re trying to accomplish here is to bring back some of these farmers who are big users of our gas supply. We are going down a dollar cheaper than our regular customers. Because they’re big users, we will catch up on it.”