SMCC seeks to adjust remap

At last week’s meeting of the St. Martinville City Council, members agreed to submit a request to amend the recent reapportionment plan to ensure that residents of three small areas are included on the municipal voter roles.
The areas that do not appear on the reapportionment plan prepared by Cedric Floyd of DATA Center LLC and approved by the council does not include Sieber Road and Brian Street on the northwest side of the city and the Conde and Trosclair Road neighborhoods bordering North Main Street.
These areas were annexed into the city in 2014 and 2015 but were not included on the official map used by U.S. Census officials  in conducting the 2020 Census.
The Sieber/Brian area will be part of the city’s Council District 3, while the Conde/Trosclair area will fall in District 2.
The addition of the areas will no affect the rest of the reapportionment plan

Youth Challenge
Also at last week’s meeting, Sarah Troncale received approval to initiate an ambitious new program for high school students to help local youngsters develop life skills and habits to ensure employability and transition into responsible adult life.
Aimed for at-risk students, the program will involve a 5½ month residential phase followed by 12 months of post-residential instruction.
Councilman Mike Fuselier, who was involved as an instructor in the program in the past, commented, “This is one of the best educational programs in the country today.”
Application forms and information are available through the St. Martinville Police Dept.

Testing Change
The police department will make a change to its testing requirements for new employees.
Drug and psychological testing will now be conducted as a part of pre-employment screening in hope of reducing problems sometimes encountered when provisionally hired personnel have to be terminated due to test results.

Cameras Coming
Research into options to install security camera systems at the city parks, museums, city hall, and the city pool continue.
Planning and Zoning Coordinator Danielle Fontenette told the council that a full commercial system will cost upwards of $9,000. But the search continues for less costly options.
Councilman Craig Prosper suggested adding more cameras to the existing city hall and police station systems. Such additions could be aimed to provide a level of coverage for the nearby museums as well, he said. The council approved those additions and will await other options for the parks and pool.

Pop-up Shops
The success of recent pop-up    vendor days on Main Street downtown have motivated the council to make them a regular feature.
The council approved the hiring of vendor and organizer Katie Menard to oversee the program. Menard will receive 20 percent of the $25 fees charged to vendors that participate.
The next pop-up shopping day is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 12.

In other business:
•John Broussard, president of the Acadian Memorial Foundation, was given permission to hold an Acadian Memorial Festival on New Market Street and Evangeline Boulevard on Saturday, March 19. 
•In preparation for the reopening of the museums, the rehiring of two experienced docents and two new docents was approved. The hiring of a prospective office manager was delayed to get input from the museum boards.