Water/sewerage rates not on Monday’s St. Martinville City Council agenda

Published 6:00 am Sunday, August 16, 2020

ST. MARTINVILLE — It looks like the St. Martinville City Council will have to wait another two weeks before resolving its issues with its water and sewage rates inasmuch as that discussion, tabled from the council’s Aug. 3 meeting, is not on Monday night’s agenda.

The issue of raising the rates has been circulating since the city adopted its budget in June. At the public hearing on the budget, auditor Burton Kolder said the rates were too low, leaving the city in danger of not earning enough to maintain the system.

At its meeting on July 21, the council tabled the discussion after Mitchell had gone on social media the week before, saying that she had no idea why a notice had gone out to customers saying the rates were going up. She also attacked the council, saying that she was being kept out of the decision making process and that the city’s special charter should be dissolved.

Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper said that if the rates are not adjusted, the city will have to amend its budget to take the revenue shortfall into account.

The council will also have to readopt its millages for the 2020-2021 fiscal year in order to come in line with the St. Martin Parish’s millages.

The council will hear a request from Kayan Broussard with the St. Martin Academy of Fine Arts t to use the city’s Festival Grounds for an upcoming event. It will also hear from Jolene Adam, who is scheduled to introduce the Sudbury School Attakapas.

In other business, the council is scheduled to:

• Rehire a maintenance worker, a police dispatcher and a part-time recreation laborer.

• Hire a part-time assistant billing clerk.

• Approve new accounting software.

• Discuss the employment status of Samarian Lively.

A discussion of the ongoing issues at the Evangeline Mobile Home Park is also on Monday’s agenda, although that debate may be taken into executive session.

The St. Martinville CIty Council will meet at 6 p.m. Monday night in the city council meeting room of city hall, 120 New Market St. in St. Martinville.