Mayor says fire hydrants aren’t dummies

Quashing rumors, Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine assured residents on the south side of Ville Platte that the city is not installing “dummy” fire hydrants.
“The fire hydrants that we are installing are painted black to indicate that they are not on-line yet,” Vidrine told the City Council at its regular meeting Tuesday evening.
“They are not “dummy” hydrants. That’s a lie. Period,” she said. “We would never install ‘dummy’ hydrants. It is insulting to us all.
“They are black,” Vidrine explained, “so that it is clear that they are not able to be used yet.
“And,” she continued, “no houses have burned down due to lack of water in the hydrants. That rumor is not true either.
“Before people jump to conclusions and believe hearsay, they should call us. We’ll be happy to answer any questions.”
The topic came up because Arthur Sampson had requested to talk to the Council about it. Although Sampson did not show up at the meeting, Vidrine decided to address it anyway.
“We are installing the hydrants on the south side as part of our water line replacement and improvement,” the mayor explained. “Before we put the hydrants up, that side of town did not have any hydrants at all.
“But, we are putting hydrants in that part of town now,” Vidrine said. “The City is in the middle of ongoing water projects with the city engineers, and the piping for those particular hydrants is not finished so the hydrants are not active. They are painted black so that fire fighters are aware that they are not active.”
During the meeting, the Council voted to introduce amendments to the city’s ordinance concerning drainage culverts. Vidrine asked the Council to consider making it a requirement that residents obtain a permit before installing culverts and have the city inspect the work.
“We’ve had a culvert ordinance since 1987,” Vidrine explained, “but apparently it hasn’t been adhered to. People have been installing the drainage culverts themselves, on weekends with a little ‘coup de main’ from family and friends. They would just eyeball it to see if it was correctly done.
“But this has caused tremendous, tremendous drainage problems throughout the city,” she said.
“The culverts are sometimes not installed properly, and they block the drainage flow of water. This causes problems, and the city gets blamed for poor drainage.”
The changes to the ordinance will be discussed at a 4:45 p.m. public hearing before the next council meeting. The Council changed the date of the November meeting from Tuesday, Nov. 8, to Monday, Nov. 7, due to the federal elections.
There will also be a public hearing on Nov. 7 at 4:30 pm to discuss an ordinance increasing the pay for the chief of police and city marshal. The pay raises have already been put into the budget.
Both new ordinances will be voted on for approval during the regular meeting following the public hearings.
In other business, Vidrine told the Council that her office is moving forward with 13 more cases of abandoned property. The City has mailed out letters to owners of the abandoned properties, informing them that they have 30 days to clean the blight themselves. If it is not taken care of, then the City will clean up the property, tacking on the cost to the owner’s property taxes.
The Council set Trick-or-Treat hours from 5-8 p.m. on Halloween evening.
Vidrine announced that she has received the old nursing home from Medical, LLC, which donated the facility to the city. Vidrine plans to use it to house various city departments and offices there.
Former professional wrestler Kenneth “Frogman” LeBlanc told the Council about a program he has created to encourage high achievement for high school students. The program can be found at his website, www.urthefuturela.com.
U R the Future La allows parents and other people to nominate outstanding students for four categories: academics, athletics, arts, and community achievement. In the first half of each month, the top students in each category will win a $25 gift card.
Then the four winners will compete for a single monthly winner, who will receive a $100 gift card, a plaque, and publicity on a radio show and community newsletter. Each monthly winner will be eligible for a final, grand winner at the conclusion of the school year.
Latisha Vital, representing Primerica, announced that her company will reestablish an office in Ville Platte. The financial planning, investment, and insurance company used to have a field office in Ville Platte years ago.
Vidrine also proclaimed October to be Catholic Daughters Month.