Monday session seeks master plan input, financing suggestions

Movers, shakers and just regular folks – all are invited, in fact encouraged to attend a meeting Monday morning to discuss creation of a master plan for Eunice’s development.
The session scheduled by the city’s Economic Development Committee will be held at 8 a.m. in the City Council meeting room at City Hall.
Committee chairman Don Reber noted at Thursday’s monthly meeting that the Monday session is a follow-up to one in January at which preliminary discussion was held regarding the plan’s development.
“Now it’s time to get commitment to help,” he said. That help includes direction residents might want to give for the city’s future, as well as advice or assistance on how to pay to get the plan done.
Committee member Launey Griffith, on the business instruction team at LSU Eunice, said how to fund the road map for the city’s development and improvement is a key issue, noting consultants and experts necessary to create the blueprint “don’t come cheap.”
“I will present a perspective on what a plan can and should do, but we want to recruit help with developing the input that goes to the planners,” Griffith said.
Reber conceded the city has some catching up to do, in that it has reached the 21st Century without such guidance.
“Like many places after World War II, our city addressed immediate needs -- sewer, gas, water and other infrastructure. That served its purpose, but now much of it is on its last mile. What next? And what else? We need a robust plan to help plot our future, while preserving and protecting the city’s character and attraction.”
In other words, the committee believes it’s time to stop shooting from the hip, taking each decision as an individual action rather than as part of an overall scheme.
On another topic, the Training and Education Committee reported progress in developing a guide for residents to job opportunities created by LNG developments in Calcasieu Parish.