Mobile home park owner Mark Brignac addresses the St. Martinville City Council on Monday regarding an ongoing dispute with the city over getting the electrical service to the park up to code.

ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martinville City Council spent the bulk of its meeting Monday night dealing with issues regarding the Evangeline Mobile Home Park and attempts to get its electrical service up to code.

Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper brought up the discussion of work for the mobile home park. Because it is more than 50 years old, the electrical infrastructure — both in the park and leading to it — is not adequate for modern mobile homes, which draw far more electricity than their predecessors.

Mobile homes have also grown over the decades, meaning that the lots originally designed for 60-foot structures are too short for the modern 70-foot homes. This has caused issues with mobile homes being set under the high-power lines which carry power to the park and also with homes extending into the utility easement, making it impossible for city workers to upgrade or repair power poles or lines.

Prosper proposed a plan to move some of the lines supplying power to the mobile homes to the center of the park. The city would provide new transformers and poles to supply power, but the owner, Mark Brignac, would have to provide approximately $17,000 in improvements to the private side to make the project work.

“Once you put these poles, it’ll be blocking access for my park,” Brignac complained. “It’s going to be a spiderweb of cables across the park.”

Brignac also said he had already made concessions to the city to allow for access.

“When we met in February, Mr. Prosper said he wanted a 10-foot easement. I signed it almost immediately. I signed it on Feb. 25. The mayor signed it on Aug. 27. Your servitude agreement, on the second page, says it is a ‘full and final settlement for the servitude.’ So the baby is yours. I gave you what you wanted.”

Prosper said that was not the entire story.

“We told you immediately afterward that was not sufficient,” Prosper said. “The parish requires a 50-foot easement. We told you we could work with a 30-foot easement.”

The city had previously repaired and replaced its poles on the south side of the park, where the easement was clear and workers could make the improvements. The problem is with the north side of the park where the access is not passable. At least two of the poles on that side are visibly damaged and the transformers are outdated.

Brignac said that he was not in agreement with any part of the plan, whether it be the easement, the cost to him or the placement of the poles.

“I greatly appreciate you having to do all this work, but when I remodel because my sink is falling through I don’t get my neighbor to pay for it,” Brignac said. “This infrastructure was put in 52 years ago. It’s outdated. The city has not done any work to update it. To clear that easement, you said you could get back there with chainsaws. Well, get after it. As for me paying $19,000 for your infrastructure, I didn’t know I was a stockholder of the city of St. Martinville.”

Prosper said that the reason there was so much work needed is because the previous owner, and Brignac since he purchased the park, had not kept up with the needs of modern mobile homes.

“Years ago, there were 60-foot trailers,” Prosper said. “Mr. Brignac continued to put trailers in the park, over water lines, over gas lines and under electric lines. He brought people in to say if those high power lines fall on their trailers, the city would be liable. He left us no choice but to make these changes.”

Prosper also said the problem is not with the mobile home owners but with the park itself.

“This is a business,” Prosper said. “The city should not be paying a penny for work in the park. The city is paying for transformers. The city is paying for new poles. But the city of St. Martinville should not be paying for anyone’s private work. Mr. Brignac was asked to pull the trailers up out of the easement. We bent over backwards to make it work. Instead, he’s threatened us to get sued. He’s threatened to get malfeasance in office charges placed against me. He has attacked me and attacked my family.”

District 4 Councilman Juma Johnson proposed tabling the discussion for 60 days.

“I was authorized to be a mediator on this,” he said. “I’ve been in touch with Mr Brignac. I met with E.P. Breaux (Electric), I’ve met with the property owners. I’m working on something right now that may solve this.”

“I’d like to make the park as safe as possible for the residents,” Prosper said. “If we can get it done in 60 days, then so be it. But we can’t keep kicking it down the road.”

The council also discussed a hardship permit for one of the residents of the park. Brignac had paid for a permit to add a security light at the park, then used that permit to install a 200 amp access and moved a trailer into the park without a building permit while the council had a moratorium in place on new mobile homes in the park. That resident, Neal Lapeyrouse, was seeking permission to have power hooked up to the home.

After several minutes of back and forth over how the mobile home came to be in the park, the problem at hand — how to make sure Lapeyrouse did not become homeless because there was no power to the home — was addressed.

‘If it can be hooked up to the south side of the park, I have no problem with it,” Prosper said.

The council agreed that it would be determined whether or not the mobile home could be added to the upgraded side of the park’s electric grid.

The council also agreed to purchase a Chevrolet Equinox under state contract for Mayor Melinda Mitchell’s use.