At Tuesday’s meeting, the Turkey Creek Village Council voted to approve amendments to two ordinances and voted to propose an ordinance regarding building permits.
Public hearings on each of the matters will be held prior to the start of next month’s council meeting on Tuesday, March 17, beginning at 6:15 p.m.
The first ordinance amendment pertains to water deposits for renters inside the village.
Mayor Phillips Cavins proposed increasing the water deposit from $50 to $100. “That would help us pay those unpaid water bills.”
According to the mayor, the problem is renters who do not pay their water bills are having their water cut off and then putting their bills in another person’s name.
“Then we get stuck with an unpaid water bill,” he said.
The other ordinance amendment deals with rental agreements for the community center.
Mayor Cavins proposed implementing a $20 key deposit.
The mayor said, “We had our keys changed to the town hall and the community center because the community center had so many keys out. People would rent it and wouldn’t come in for a key because they would just keep the key from the last time.”
The new keys, according to the mayor, cannot be duplicated and cost $20 a key. He said, “If somebody would decide to keep our key, then we’re not losing money.”
The new proposed ordinance for building permits comes on the heels of a cooperative endeavor agreement signed in 2007 between the village and the Evangeline Parish Police Jury.
As Mayor Cavins explained, “The agreement is for the parish to handle all of our building permits. The parish gets to keep the money because people building in Turkey Creel were paying the parish instead of us.”
He continued, “The price would stay exactly the same. We’re just going to move that responsibility from the parish’s office to ours so we could keep those funds.”
Earlier in the meeting, Mayor Cavins reported he had met with the state Department of Transportation and Development at a recent road show in Lafayette and presented them with pictures and maps regarding the condition of U.S. Highway 167 North.
He said, “I asked them that emergency funds be dedicated for our hurricane evacuation route because there are federal dollars available. I’m hoping with our newly elected senator and representative they can maybe get us some money allocated for that road.”
Police Chief Ben Bordelon then reported he hired Shawn Eckhart as an officer to work nights and weekends.
In other business, the council voted to keep the Ville Platte Gazette as its official journal and voted to change the time of traffic court from 10 a.m. to 8 a.m.
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Tony Marks
Editor