ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martinville City Council and Mayor Melinda Mitchell agreed unanimously that hiring a consultant to help the city maximize its reimbursements and funding after a record-breaking storm season was a great idea.

Keely Thibodeaux, principal with Landmark Consultants of New Orleans, said that her company specialized in helping municipalities with the filing and tracking of paperwork with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, helping the entities get the most out of the federal programs available after a storm or other natural disaster.

“We do project management also,” Thibodeaux said. “All the dollars come from FEMA, and we manage the project.”

She said that her company’s services are reimbursable at 100 percent under FEMA regulations, meaning that the city would not have to pay out of pocket for the consulting services.

“This is a no brainer,” said Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper. “I don’t know why we haven’t done this since the beginning.”

The emergency contract agreed to Monday night would only be active for 60 days. In order to negotiate a longer contract, the city would have to go through a request for proposals process in order to comply with state bid laws.

Under the emergency contract, Landmark will be able to assist the city in managing its current filings for damages from Hurricane Delta.

The council also discussed the performance of a part-time worker at its parks, Dwayne Anthony. In the absence of a park director, Anthony has been setting his own maintenance schedules and in some cases purchasing his own cleaning materials to maintain Adam Clawson Park.

“I been working in the park since the storm situation,” Anthony said. “I take pride in my work. Every day I go into the park and put out a list of what I am going to do. Last week, I painted the benches. I got the yellow and blue, but ran out of the red. Today, I emptied every trash can in the park. Today I started trimming trees around the tennis court. I even went down to the walk area and trimmed the trees there so people don’t hit their heads.”

He said that he wanted to make the parks more amenable and friendly to the residents using them.

“I want the public to see how I’m turning the park around,” Anthony continued. “I put extra trash cans out so they don’t throw any trash on the ground. This is my daily to-do, every day.”

District 1 Councilman Mike Fuselier was impressed.

“I think we need to bring you on full time, because what I have seen is you are doing what needs to be done,” Fuselier said. “It could come to a point where you could be running that park. It’s very rare we have someone speak that way. We need to keep that.”

Later in the meeting, the council voted unanimously to promote Anthony to a full-time position in the park department.

The council also approved hiring Albert Lewis as a Class III Operator for the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The goal, according to the discussion, is to have Lewis secure certification on the water production side as well, allowing the city to reduce its consultant costs for operating its water utility.