St. Martinville – Mary Desormeaux brought a proposal for installing commissioned religious paintings throughout the city to the St. Martinville City Council at its regular meeting Monday evening at City Hall.
The council eventually opted to encourage Desormeaux to seek private businesses willing to have the artwork placed on their property. The paintings would be part of a beautification project through the St. Martinville Chamber of Commerce. Desormeaux is president of the local Chamber.
She told the council that she plans to commission several paintings by artist Sarah Melancon to place at a number of locations in the city, starting, she said, with a painting of the Madonna and Child.
“I’d like to bring some religious painting throughout the town,” she said. “They’re not going to be everywhere. All of the paintings would be in the design of a traditional paintings, nothing modern.”
The paintings would be similar to the ones being done for the Stations of the Cross Basin Project, a public art and spiritual attraction in the Atchafalaya Basin’s Prayer Cove. Melancon and Jessalyn Newton are working on the 14 hand-painted 4x4 scenes, which are expected to be finished in April.
Desormeaux said the painting would be on a 4x4 metal sheet and she hoped to place it on the corner of the Maison Duchamp building owned by the city, where it could be seen from three directions.
Desormeaux said that a request had been made for a painting of St. Michael at the Police Station and a painting of the Virgin Mary she also would like to place elsewhere. Another suggestion was for a painting in the Trinity School building parking lot at Notre Dame Catholic Church.
“They’ll be positioned and placed where they have the most visibility,” she said.
The paintings would be paid for by money raised for the project, at no cost to the city.
She asked the council for suggestions where the paintings could be placed, and said she preferred not to have them placed on people’s homes because if the house is sold, someone might move or take down the painting.
She asked for permission to place the paintings on city property, but city attorney Allan Durand said he would need to research recent federal court rulings about religious items on public property.
The council initially proposed granting permission for a painting to be placed at Maison Duchamp with other projects to be considered on an individual basis as proposals were made, but a resident attending the meeting asked if the city would not have to allow paintings representing other religions to be placed on public property as well.
Paintings
“If you do it (allow the Christian paintings to be placed on public property), then you limit your options to deny the same right to people similarly situated,” City Attorney Allan Durand said.
Durand then suggested putting off a vote until the next meeting so he could research recent federal court rulings on religious displays on public property.
City Councilman Mike Fuselier reconsidered his motion to approve the plan, saying he had concerns about such permission meaning any kind of religious representation would then have to be approved by the city council.
“I would think the best thing to do would be try to find private locations,” he said.
Desormeaux asked if the city council would have an issue with her trying to find businesses where such paintings could be placed.
Any such paintings in the historic district would have to be approved by the Historic District Commission and the Main Street organization. Desormeaux agreed to seek private locations for placing the paintings.
Dilapidated properties The council voted to remove items from the outside of 116 Main Street, the former Richie’s Drive In, and place them in the restroom and board it up, at city expense, with charges sent to the people paying taxes on the property.
The city also will post a notice on a dilapidated structure at the corner of Denbas and Theatre Street with plans to demolish the property at the owner’s expense after 10 days.
The city will research who is paying taxes on the property to determine who will be charged for the issue. Sealed bids will be placed for the work.
In other business
The council heard from Kelli Cantu of Chez Hope about a fundraiser scheduled on Saturday, May 2 in Franklin.
The domestic violence agency is holding the “Do Your Thing with a Wing” chicken wing cookoff that day.
The council granted permission to sell alcohol for a St. Martin de
(Chris
Tours Catholic Church Fundraiser Project that will be held on April 11 from 7-11 p.m. in the St. Martin de Tours gym.
The council approved selling alcohol at Dr. Kim’s Pop-up Bash on April 11.
The council also heard plans for DJ Pugh to use of Adam Carlson Park to hold his annual Egg Hunt on Easter Sunday.
The council also authorize Mayor Jason Willis to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with St. Martin Parish Government relating to cleaning of Willis Canal.
The chamber also authorized the mayor to the city’s contract with C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates for the Main Street Enhancement Project, which is scheduled to begin March 24.
Willis announced that two 53-passenger tour buses and a 53-person tour caravan had visited the city recently.
He also said the Acadian Memorial Festival is scheduled this weekend starting at 8 a.m. Saturday in front of City Hall.
A voter registration drive is set Saturday at Magnolia Park from 5-7 p.m.
And he said that the Teche Theatre is being renovated, as a resale antique mall.
