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JIM CANTORE and his crew from the Weather Channel were broadcasting live from downtown Breaux Bridge as Hurricane Delta stormed into Louisiana. (Sally Angelle)

Delta sideswipes St. Martin

Tue, 10/13/2020 - 4:08pm

Just as it did six weeks ago with Hurricane Laura, St. Martin Parish escaped major damage when Hurricane Delta roared into Louisiana as darkness fell last Friday, Oct. 9.
The eye of the storm hit almost exactly where Laura did, near the Cameron Parish community of Creole, about 70 miles west of St. Martinville.
Delta caused widespread power outages across the parish and SLEMCO’s Mary Laurent said the utility company still had approximately 20,700 customers in its territory, including 1,600 in St. Martin Parish, without power as of noon Tuesday.

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Mayor Mitchell

Court asked to rule on mayor’s veto

Tue, 10/13/2020 - 4:03pm

City Attorney Allan Durand has filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgement in 16th Judicial District Court, seeking a ruling on the legitimacy of Mayor Melinda Mitchell’s claimed veto power.
The question arose when Mitchell vetoed recent city council action that would reduce her position from full- to part-time. The measure passed by a 3-1 vote, with councilman Edmond Joseph the sole dissenter. Councilman Juma Johnson was absent.
The proposed change would reduce the mayor’s salary from $56,000 to $30,000 per year.

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SMSB will operate parish Head Start

Tue, 10/13/2020 - 4:00pm

The St. Martin School Board has been awarded a multi-million grant to operate the federal Head Start program in St. Martin Parish beginning in January.
Nicole Angelle, supervisor of the board’s Title I Family Involvement and Early Childhood programs, announced the grant award during last week’s monthly board meeting.
The award total for the first year of implementation is $4,568,352, which includes $831,180 for start up costs and $3,737,172 for program implementation.

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Committee Meeting – The St. Martin parish Council will consider a renewed budget for the long-planned Bayou Estates subdivision flood wall project near Stephensville at their October meeting. (Karl Jeter)

Lower SM floodwall being reconsidered

Wed, 09/23/2020 - 5:02am

After a decade of organizing efforts, engineering studies and complicated but unsuccessful bid strategies, the St. Martin Parish Council will consider approving a revamped push to bring the Bayou Estates Floodwall Project near Stephensville to fruition.
At the Sept. 15 council meeting, Parish President Chester Cedars recommended approval of a new proposal that, if accepted, will boost the projects overall budget and increase the parish’s share of the cost by $500,000.

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Mayor’s powers – St. Martinville Mayor Melinda Mitchell said she will veto a charter amendment to make her office a part-time position. .(Karl Jeter)

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Attorney Allan Durand responded that she does not appear to have that authority. (Karl Jeter)

Part-time mayor, term limits proposed here

Wed, 09/23/2020 - 5:00am

The St. Martinville City Council approved a charter amendment that, if ratified by the governor, will result in substantial changes in the way city officials operate.
The amendment, proposed by Councilman/Mayor Pro tem Craig Prosper at the Sept. 21 council meeting, would limit all elected municipal officials to three terms, effective with the next election cycle, and change the mayor’s office from a full-time to part-time position.
Charter changes require approval by the governor.

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