Cameras at school zone taken offline as issues are fixed
– The St. Martinville City Council spent more than half of its meeting this past Monday discussing a solution to a nuisance property on Seiber Road that has been discussed at several recent meetings.
The council ultimately decided to ask the property owner, David Daspit, to build a 6-foot-high privacy fence at the front of his property as cleanup work on the property continues.
Daspit said that photos provided by City Zoning Coordinator Otis Chatman don’t show that many of the items that had drawn complaints that brought the property to the city’s attention are being taken care of.
Daspit said he has been dealing with his son, who lives on the property, to clean up and remove items from the property.
Daspit said he got price quotes for a 40-yard dumpster to be filled with trash from the property and for tire removal, and he and his son moved a lot of the items to the back of the six-acre property.
City Councilman Mike Fuselier suggested that many property owners facing large cleanups of the sort Daspit faces put up privacy fences to hide the property from people in the area.
Daspit said he is not entirely in favor of that because he would like to see the property cleaned up. But he agreed that is an expensive proposition given that several bins would be filled and hiring a company to remove the tires also is expensive.
Fuselier got a price estimate for a 150-foot long wooden fence to be constructed at $3,000, and the property owner agreed that would be the best shortterm solution to the problem.
Councilman Jonas Fontenette, who represents the district where the property is, suggested giving the family two weeks to make progress on getting a fence built and continuing to clean up the property as well or the city would take action.
“I think we’re just kicking the can down the road,” Fontenette said. “We could give him a shot with the fence for two weeks, but after that …” “I think you need to get your coins together, because a fence costs about $3,000, according to Mr. Fuselier, so you know that’s what it’s going to cost,” the mayor said. “They’re going to go out there to see if that’s going to help the property. It may well. So that means when you come back in two weeks you should have that schedule to put that fence up. Not saying I’m going to get it scheduled, I’m going to do it. I think you need to have something say that fence is scheduled, maybe even a receipt, and then they’re going to give you maybe two weeks to have it up for the next meeting, and then if not, I think that they’re going to go forward with the other stuff.
“I think that’s more than fair because it’s going to be less (costly) than you doing that other stuff. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t still clean up, but the other way is, they’re going to send you to the court system, your son and it’s going to cost to keep him out of jail and putting a lien on your property and all that other stuff.”
Willis said the council feels it is wasting its time bringing the issue up at each meeting and virtually nothing is getting done.
The issue is complaint driven, the mayor stressed. Daspit suggested the family could put the fence up themselves, but the mayor said it needs to be constructed of new materials and not scrap materials.
The council tabled the issue until its next meeting in two weeks, when it will see if definite plans for the fence are in place and continued work is being done cleaning up the property.
School zone cameras
Fuselier asked Police Chief Ricky Martin to update the council and residents on the school zone enforcement cameras along N. Main Street from the St. Martin STEAM Academy (formerly St. Martinville Primary School) and St. Martinville Senior High.
Martin said the system has been taken offline as all the problems with the system are fixed.
The initial problems came when the flashing lights that warn drivers of the school zone enforcement were not working recently.
The speed limit on that stretch of Main Street is 35 mph, except during school zone hours of 7-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. on weekdays, when the speed limit is 25 mph.
The system was installed in October by Blue Line Solutions, a third-party company.
The city had gotten the company to send technicians to fix the flashing lights that indicate that the school zone speed limit is being enforced, but has since taken the system offline again as other issues have arisen.
The flashing lights are still not operating properly, Martin said.
Another issue was that the company, based in Tennessee, had set the school zone limits for Eastern time and not Central time, making it one hour off of the intended time.
That has been corrected, Martin said.
When the entire system is working to the city’s satisfaction, notices will be put up on the city police department Facebook page letting residents know that the automatic ticketing system is operating, Martin said.
Water bill adjustment
The City Council approved a one-time bill adjustment of 25 percent to an elderly resident whose daughter had called to ask city workers to turn the water off at her mother’s home on Cemetery Highway during the Jan. 20-21 snowstorm.
The city did not turn the water off, and while the resident was staying with relatives in New Iberia and could not return to her home because of the weeklong freezing weather, multiple water leaks led to a $900 water bill.
Cynthia Smithies, the daughter of the homeowner, told the mayor and council and city attorney Allan Durand that she had called the water department and was referred to the city barn. She called the city barn and asked to have the water turned off and was told that city workers they were going to do so, but they failed to do so.
Smithies said her mother is elderly and has dementia and was forced to leave her home during the storm because she didn’t have adequate heating. While she was gone, one water leak turned into several leaks, leading to a large bill. Because roads were closed it was a couple of days before the family could return to the home and turn off the water.
Durand said that because the city had apparently indicated it would turn the water off and did not, and because the winter storm was likely to be such a rare event, agreeing to reduce the bill was not going to set a precedent that anyone whose water was not turned off by the city during a weather event could ask for relief from the city for their bill.
Smithies stressed she was not seeking to wipe the bill out entirely but only seeking some relief like half or one-fourth of the bill. Her mother will be allowed to make installment payments on the remaining part of the bill.
The mayor said that such water leaks are one reason the city is recommending that all homeowners install cutoff valves between the city’s valve and the home so they can turn the water off themselves. The city shutoff valves require a special tool to turn them off.
Smithies said the family has since had a shutoff valve installed at the house.
Adjudicated properties The council approve the adoption of an ordinance, drawn up by Durand, to provide for the sale of adjudicated properties through E&P Consulting Services.
The council had heard a presentation from Wesley Johnson of E&P Consulting, which auctions off adjudicated properties, at its April 7 meeting.
In other business
In other business, the council gave permission to the St. Martinville Downtown Revitalization Committee to again install Juneteenth flags on utility poles on Main Street and Port Street, and to install July 4 flags on the utility poles this summer, with assistance from city work crews.
The council also agreed to have the city provide assistance to the committee with the lighting of its Christmas decorations later in the year.
The council approved the hiring of a wastewater operator for one who left the city’s service.
The council also approved employment status changes for LaTroy Johnson and Quincy Castille.
The council approved a variance for a homeowner whose new, larger mobile home does not meet city ordinances for the setback on one side of the home. The mobile home meets city requirements otherwise.
The council also approved a May Day procession for St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, down Evangeline Boulevard to New Market Street and ending at the Festival Grounds.
