St. Martinville – The St. Martinville City Council debated allowing the Greater St. Martinville Economic Development District to use the Maison Duchamp building as its headquarters before voting to lease the building to the organization for a year, with the option to cancel the lease with a 60-day notice if the opportunity to lease the building to a business arises.
The lease would be for $1 for one year.
The economic development district was created earlier this year by the state legislature as a political subdivision for the purpose of promoting economic development in the city. Gov. Jeff Landry signed the bill creating the district in June.
Economic development district vice-president Sam Hayes told the city council that Maison Duchamp’s central location, at the corner of Evangeline Boulevard/Port Street and Main Street, and historical significance are signals to potential investors that the city is serious about expanding its business opportunities.
“We wanted to be a central hub for economic development in St. Martinville,” Hayes said. “Its central location is fantastic for visitors driving through the town to be able to see that St. Martinville is open for business and we’re working toward something even better.”
The building has been vacant for years, but was leased this past year to be used as a private school. That lease was canceled when the school could not get the funding or enrollment to open.
Hayes said that Initially the building would be used to hold board meetings and as a place to hold classes or meeting places for new businesses that potentially want to open in the city.
City Councilwoman Carol Frederick asked how the development district would pay for its operations.
Development district president Kimya Cruz said that the district has made capital outlay requests from the state and is waiting to hear if they have been approved. The district also can apply for grants, and has other funding options as well. The city provides $14,000 annually to the St. Martin Economic Development Authority, for example.
“Every community gives in some way to that (economic development entity),” she said. “The other option we have is that we could, by legislation, levy taxes, but that’s not something that ideally we want to go into right now. We want to try to be able to do as much in the community without actually having to tax the people.”
Office
The district could potentially lease space in the building as a startup space for businesses such as a cubicle where meetings could be held, as well as a place where a business mailbox could be, similar to a UPS mailbox location, “We want to show that we’re business friendly, we want businesses here and we’re going to be good to the businesses that come here,” Cruz said.
Hayes added that the organization has thought of other ways to possibly raise funds including holding festivals.
Frederick said her concern was where the development district plans to get the funds it would need for the upkeep of such an old building, and said the city has other properties such as office space at its Magnolia Park office building that would not require such upkeep.
But Hayes said the development district wants to be a presence in the historic Main Street area to show that the city wants to recruit new businesses, and doesn’t want to look like the district office is being hidden somewhere out of sight.
“I’m very well-versed on historic properties and I know how much they can cost,” Hayes said. “We are waiting to see if we get these funds. We’re coming here as a preliminary thing. We’re not telling you right now that we’re going to restore this building. In a year if it’s going great, we can come back and say we’re willing to undertake something a little more.”
Mayor Jason Willis, who serves on the development district board, said that economic development districts are able to get funding that the city can’t get. He said the city should be willing to help get the district off the ground.
He also said the building is in great shape though it has some issues such as a broken air conditioner unit.
“Once we sign a lease with them they can apply for funding from the state to put money into that building, to fix the air conditioning, to fix lighting issues, to have startup money, all that,” he said. “But without a lease agreement, an intergovernmental agreement they cannot (apply for those funds).”
The mayor said that the building is not being used and will fall apart if it is not maintained. Helping a group that is designed to bring money into the city through economic development and new businesses is a blessing to the city, he said.
“Nobody is saying whether they can be useful to the city or beneficial to the city, it’s simply, for one, we just did an agreement with something that didn’t think it was going to fail,” Frederick said. “The school didn’t think they were going to fail, either.”
“But we did it,” Councilwoman Flo Chatman said of the lease agreement with the Maris Stella Classical Academy school that had been planned.
“We did, and it makes sense to question if there is a better place,” Frederick said. “And Sam was explaining why he thinks this is the best place.”
“Here’s the really, really important part of it,” Hayes said. “It is 100 percent anywhere you’re sitting on any part of Main Street, you see that building. The main reason I’m asking for that building in particular is … I want people to see when they’re driving through town, ‘Look at what St. Martinville is doing. This building has been here vacant for year, and now there’s economic development in the heart of the town.’ I just don’t want us to be hidden. That’s the main part of it.”
Councilman Mike Fuselier expressed concerns about leasing the building without first looking into whether the city could get an exception to the restrictions on who it could lease the building to. When ownership was transferred from the federal government to the city, the agency overseeing the building restricted the city from leasing it to any private business.
Fuselier also questioned using a 5,000-square foot building as a meeting space and possibly a mailbox location when there are other city-owned buildings that could be used for that.
Efforts by city attorney Allan Durand to reach the federal agency that had put the restrictions on the city were unsuccessful last year, and Fuselier asked if the city would be better served by attempting to lease the building to a business that would be able to afford the maintenance and renovation work the nearly 150-yearold building needs.
Fuselier suggested contacting Congressman Clay Higgins to expedite inquiries into the restrictions placed on who the city can lease the building.
After Durand said he could put a clause in the contract allowing the city to cancel the lease with 60 days notice, the council voted to put a lease together with the economic development district for a year.
Christmas Parade
The city council heard from George Choplin, who has set up a committee to organize this year’s city Christmas Parade, about the event.
The parade will be from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14. Choplin said the organizers keep costs down as much as possible, charging $100 for float entrants and $25 for cars and dance teams, because he wants the parade to have as much participation as possible because the event is for the children of St. Martinville.
The city council also tentatively approved permission for the St. Martinville Senior High Alumni association to hold a Christmas Festival following the parade, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., at either the Festival Grounds, if work on the grounds is complete by then, or at Magnolia Park if not.
The SMSH alumni must get a completed assessment for security for the event from Police Chief Ricky Martin and must secure insurance and a liquor license for the event to get final approval from the council.
In other business
City Culture, Recreation and Tourism Director Danielle Fontenette received permission from the council to sell alcohol for the Veterans Day Celebration to be held on Saturday, Nov. 8, on S. New Market Street.
The Main Street Association had to cancel its Music on the Market event this past week because of the weather, but since it had to pay the band it had scheduled for that event, the band was rescheduled to play after the Veterans Day celebration. The liquor sales will be held in conjunction with the band and booths that will be opened for the event, as well as a planned chili cookoff.
The council tabled introducing ordinances pertaining to grass clippings on city property and on recreation vehicle parking restrictions.
The council approved permission for fireworks to be discharged as part of the Feast of St. Martin de tours on Nov. 11.
The council also approved a request by Councilwoman Flo Chatman to use $70,000 from the city’s Duchamp Opera House savings fund to demolish nuisance properties.
The council will vote on any money spent for those projects beforehand, and will add the cost of that work to the property tax bill for the property owners, or recoup the money through litigation against those property owners.
