Mayor, alderman recite oaths

Mayor Scott Fontenot and Alderman Dale Soileau were sworn in Wednesday afternoon at City Hall as several family members and friends looked on.
“It’s a pleasure to be able to represent the citizens, and I will do that to the best of my ability and continue to serve like I have been doing,” Fontenot said. “I want to just keep moving Eunice forward, and that’s what we are doing this for.
“We’ve got a good team. We are going to get a lot accomplished.”
Fontenot, 34, is Eunice’s youngest-ever mayor. He previously served as Ward 4 alderman until becoming interim mayor after the October 2015 resignation of late Mayor Claud “Rusty” Moody.
Fontenot won the March 5 election with 1,435 votes, 69 percent of the vote, defeating Roland Miller, William “Mr. Bill” Thompson and Tim Longman.
Soileau won the election to take Fontenot’s alderman spot with 62 percent of the votes, defeating James “Donnie” Fontenot and Shantell Arrendondo Ward.
“It’s a great day,” Soileau said. “We will do whatever we can to help the city of Eunice and make it a better place to live.”
City Judge Terry Hoychick swore the men into their new positions.
“I am proud to be part of it, to have a great new mayor and alderman and hopefully we won’t be doing this anytime soon with the turnover we had which was unfortunate with Mayor Moody,” Hoychick said. “We have an absolutely great replacement, and I know that Mr. Soileau will do a great job of replacing our former alderman.
“The city of Eunice is in really good shape.”
The next election for mayor and alderman’s races will be in the fall of 2018. The current mayor and board member terms end Dec. 31, 2018.