– The St. Martinville City Council addressed complaints from residents near a property at 2040 Gerard Street who said the city has failed to handle nuisance complaints about the property for the past two years.
The council had planned to go into executive session to discuss the matter, because city attorney Allan Durand had planned to discuss the city’s legal strategies regarding a lawsuit over the property. But Councilman Mike Fuselier said the matter should be discussed in open session, and one person who owns property near the address also asked to speak to the council in open session.
Sarah Pierre told the council at its Jan. 20 meeting that she is one of the owners of a property next to 2040 Gerard Street.
“I was informed that there were two prior attempts/ citations that were issued to the property in the past, one in 2024 and in this past year of 2025,” Pierre said. “However, the city worker assigned to that failed to follow up on it. Due to that negligence, 2040 has become even more filthy, and I, along with every other individual constituent within that neighborhood, has to be affected by it. On numerous occasions, I’ve had to dispose of their trash in my own yard, waste that I did not create, and I’m here to state that it’s not my responsibility as a constituent to continue to hold them accountable, nor is it my place to enforce a statute that condemns this type of conduct in defi ance.”
Pierre said her property is listed as an airbnb and that an eyesore like 2040 Gerard Street is not good for business and is not a great reflection or impres sion on visitors to the city.
Pierre said she’s done her due diligence in informing the owner and occupants of the issues.
“However, I’m stating today that I refuse to pick up any more garbage because I’m entrusting you as the council to enforce the proper resolution to all who are affected by this matter,” she said. “To close, I hope it is rectified based on the statute’s recommendations to how it should be sanctioned, and that no further negligence is incurred.”
Nuisance
Mayor Jason Willis said he had gotten a city worker to talk to the owners in person and that the property had been cleaned up, though not to the city’s satisfaction.
Within a couple of months, though, it is back to its previous condition.
“We all didn’t actually know exactly what we could do about it,” Willis said. “You can’t really consider this as junk, it’s just out of order. It’s not like a wrecked car in the yard that’s broken down with broken glass or trash. It’s just bicycles, stuff that you don’t see, containers. But this is the worst I would say it ever has been.”
The city police department issued three citations against the property on Jan. 16, 17 and 18.
But Pierre said she has photos of what the property looks like from the upstairs floor of her house and that it’s not just bicycles. A shed on the property could be infested with rodents or insects, she said.
Pierre said she understands that everyone’s interpretation of cleanliness is different but that at the time of the last citation in September of 2025, the site was not clean.
The trash is moved from the front where it is visible to the backyard, where it then goes onto Pierre’s property, she said.
Councilwoman Carol Frederick said that the city had received complaints and sent a letter out in 2024 advising of the problem, so the city obviously felt at the time that the property was a problem big enough to address.
“In May is when I started making complaints, and I’ll tell you at that time, after making a couple of complaints, I got an email saying that it didn’t meet the threshold of violation, so there was nothing to be done,” Frederick said.
Willis said that anytime that complaints are made, the city’s attorney looks into whether the city has the right to take action.
“Well, in August of 2024, we obviously thought we had the right to do something because we sent a letter and were supposed to take action,” Frederick said. “And then in September of 2025 we sent another letter, so we must have thought we had the right to take action then also.”
The mayor said sending the letter gives the owner the chance to do something to address the issue.
But those actions are always band-aids, and things begin piling up again.
“People still have rights (as property owners),” Willis said. “I understand. I know I wouldn’t want to live next to it. But it started getting worse and worse and worse.”
Willis said the last couple of times the owner of the property has not made any effort to clean the property up.
Fuselier said that there’s no excuse for the city not to have taken action for the length of time since the first complaint on Aug. 5, 2024.
Pierre also told the council that there is a pole that should have a stop sign near the address but the stop sign is missing.
Durand said he could send a brief to the judge of mayor’s court noting that the city council has viewed photos of the property and has decided that it constitutes a nuisance, and will ask the judge, if he agrees that it constitutes a nuisance, to not only issue a fine but also a jail sentence, suspending it for a reasonable time (a week or so) to give the owner time to clean up the property.
“If he doesn’t, then we bring him back in front of the judge and ask him to revoke his probation to jail,” Durand said.
The fine is for $250 up to $500 per citation, with the judge deciding on the fine, Willis said.
Fuselier asked if the property owner had been invited to address the council about the issue in the past, and suggested he be asked to attend the next city council meeting to talk to the council about the issue.
Failure to take care of the cleanup or request a hearing with the city within 10 days would allow the city to clean the property up using city workers, at a cost of $175 per hour to be charged to the owner, Durand said.
Pierre asked if the city could act now to clean up the property since it’s been longer than 10 days since the property has been on notice.
Mayor’s court was scheduled for Jan. 27 with the property owner scheduled to attend.
The council voted to declare the property a public nuisance, at Durand’s suggestion.
Fuselier said he wanted to apologize because Pierre and other property owners in the area should not have had to go through dealing with the property.
CRT Requests
St. Martinville Culture, Tourism and Recreation Director Danielle Fontenette asked the council to revise policy for the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant 23 Clearance Grant.
The council approved a change of the Citizen Complaint Procedure to not exceed 10 days (previously 15 days).
The council tabled action on a revision of Summary of Actions required for the grants as policy is pending while the issues are addressed.
The council approved a request from the Acadian Memorial Foundation to close New Market Street and Evangeline boulevard and to sell alcohol for the Acadian Heritage Festival on March 21.
