Lack of animal shelter again on Evangeline police jury's mind

The Evangeline Parish Police Jury returned to the issue of possibly building an animal shelter -- or buying a building that could be used as one -- during its first meeting of the new year on January 12.
The president of the police jury, Ryan Ardoin, got the discussion started by saying, “This has been a problem since I can remember.” He said an ordinance the police jury passed in 2001 states the police jury is responsible for enforcing the ordinance.
He also said people have been calling him when they have problems with stray or vicious dogs on their property. “What am I supposed to do?”
The jurors talked about the need for more information, such as how much it would cost to build a shelter, and what an animal shelter would have to include -- such as walls and air conditioning -- to comply with regulations.
They also discussed the need to hire someone who would be responsible for picking up animals and feeding them at the shelter, or properly disposing of them. If the parish does not have the funds for an animal shelter and a person to operate it, the parish should “do away with the ordinance,” Ardoin said.
Juror Kenny Burgess suggested that the parish should collect fines for allowing animals to stray, and juror Lamar Johnson said a responsible animal owner is seldom identified and asked, “Is the dog going to pay the fine?”
The police jury has identified $250,000 in health-related funds that might be used for animal control, but it needs to clarify legality issues regarding the use of those funds. The jurors also said they need more information about the annual costs of operating an animal shelter.
Juror Eric Soileau cautioned the police jury about the possibility of taking funds from road maintenance or other necessary funding to provide for animal control.
No action was taken on the issue of animal control, but Donald Bergeron, police jury secretary/treasurer, was asked to get more information about the costs involved.
The police jury voted to increase the pay of its staff at the police jury office on LaSalle Street by $1 an hour.
Bergeron said the police jury staff was asked to find ways to reduce spending on contracts and insurance costs last year, and was able to cut the budget by by about $90,000. He also said sales taxes collected by the police jury in November increased by nearly 50 percent.
The jurors also discussed allowing pay raises for the nearly 30 people who work on road crews. Some of the jurors were prepared to make the decision to allow the raises, based on their district budgets, and others said they would make sure their budgets would allow the raises, retroactive to the date of the January police jury meeting.
In other police jury business:
•Jurors voted to retain Ryan Ardoin as police jury president and Brian Vidrine as vice president. They also voted to retain the times for committee meetings on the first Monday of the month at 5 p.m. and the regular monthly meetings on the second Monday at 6 p.m. They decided to keep the January committee meeting optional; there was no committee meeting this month because the police jury held a special meeting near the end of December.
•The police jury voted to offer the old main parish library for sale after Bergeron reported that he was told there was someone interested in purchasing the building.
•The jurors accepted the low bid of Jody Cloud Trucking of Turkey Creek to provide limestone. Bids for providing limestone were postpoined from last month after an error was found on the bidding forms.
•The jury voted to keep the same holidays for parish employees in 2015.
•Jurors discussed installing a lock on the back door of the courthouse and giving managers and elected officials keys -- or key codes to enter on a key pad for an electronic lock -- to enter the building. The back door would remain unlocked for anyone to exit the courthouse from the inside.
•The police jury voted to accept the qualifications of an applicant for courthouse janitor, who will begin working there in two weeks.
•Engineer Ronnie Landreneau briefed the jurors on progress on the first phase of the parish’s major road improvement project. Chester Granger, public works director, asked the jurors to provide him with a list of roads to be improved in the second phase of the project, using funds left over from the first phase.