Council postpones Cleco renewal

Published 3:30 pm Thursday, December 22, 2022

The New Iberia City Council is continuing to postpone a vote on its franchise renewal agreement with Cleco to January following extensive discussion at Tuesday’s meeting.

The renewal agreement, which Mayor Freddie DeCourt decided to introduce two years early, will continue to put Cleco as the primary utility provider for New Iberia residents for another 25 years.

However, several council members had lingering questions during a vote to introduce the ordinance for the renewal Tuesday after legal counsel Jeff Simon prepared extensive background information concerning the history of the agreement.

Simon said the agreement would largely be the same as the one currently in place for the City of New Iberia, although there were some red line items to highlight changes made in the new franchise contract.

One of the issues Simon clarified was whether Cleco owned the utility poles in the city, which some local residents had questioned during previous conversations regarding the agreement.

“I have no doubt the wires and poles belong to Cleco and not us,” Simon said. “In 2000 there was talk about why the city didn’t take it over and have its own (utility operation), it didn’t last very long because the feeling was we didn’t have the money to buy it or expertise to operate it.”

Councilwoman Deedy Johnson-Reid questioned aspects of the agreement like lighting for the utility poles, which has been an extensive undertaking for the city. Johnson-Reid said the city has incurred more costs because some of the utility poles do not have LED lighting, and now was the time to ask those questions.

“We can say we want you to get rid of these bulbs that are not LED, this is the time to ask for these things,” Johnson-Reid said. “We’re paying higher bills because we don’t have all LED lights.”

Councilwoman Deidre Ledbetter also said programs that assisted poor and disabled members of the community also needed to be discussed.

DeCourt asked that a date be set for further discussions regarding the franchise renewal. One of the reasons for the early date, DeCourt said, was to use funds generated from the agreement to purchase more cameras to be used by the New Iberia Police Department.

“I’m going to camera this whole town, the problems I have with law enforcement, that’s a way to fix it,” he said.

In other business, the council voted to approve an introductory ordinance approving an agreement with Blue Line Solutions for speeding cameras in school zones.

Although several questions from council members were also asked, including contract stipulations and maintenance, the council approved the ordinance to go up for adoption at the next meeting.