SLEIDD Rep Office now in Eunice on weekly basis

Parish economic development officials have announced the formation of a satellite office located in the city of Eunice.
The St. Landry Parish Economic Industrial Development District team said recently hired a new community and business resource coordinator to work at Eunice city hall every Thursday. Judy Meche said that while she is working on behalf of the parish, she is also working for the betterment of the city of Eunice.
“We will now have a presence in the city of Eunice so that we can make some contacts and bring people in, to be a resource for them,” said Meche. “We want to try to find people any kind of assistance that they would need to start a small business. Most of them are small businesses that are looking for funding. Or we pretty much try to educate folks on how to start a small business, if they haven’t already started their business plan. If they haven’t already started their business plans, we can help to give them what they need to know.”
Meche that the real push is for economic development, job creation and job retention within the parish and the city.
“We’re trying to grow the area, “ said Meche. “And our service area is St. Landry Parish.”
Meche said that she, along with other SLEIDD representatives will be visiting with other communities, business owners and other potential small business owners in the parish.
Don Reber, head of the Eunice Economic Development Committee, said that the advent of Meche marks a refreshing and welcome change for economic development to the area. He said that Meche is a welcomed team member to the staff headed by Bill Rodier, the new head of St. Landry Parish Economic Development.
“This is a significant step forward with Judy coming on board and working with Bill Rodier,” said Reber. “In Bill’s capacity, he has taken the St. Landry Parish Economic Development process and he’s spreading it throughout the parish, including Eunice. And now there’s a different degree of cooperation in the economic development for Eunice that hasn’t been there before. So, it’s great.”
Reber said that he and the administration of Mayor Claud “Rusty” Moody, Jr. is working with SLEIDD to help facilitate to grow Eunice and the surrounding region.
“Regionalism is the wave of the future,” said Meche. “It’s the way to go. If everybody in the parish would share and benefit in the good things that are happening in the next six to seven years in this area, there will be a lot of business growth and a lot of money coming into this area.”
Meche said that part of her plan will be the use of marketing skills to try and relocate established businesses to the area. She said that if a company might be looking to locate in Opelousas, that prospective business should have Eunice in mind for a location alternative.
“We want to make sure that any company coming into the parish knows about the entire parish,” said Meche. “We’re going to be working on workforce, labor force and work-readiness. And we’re going to try to provide business training classes for folks looking to start their own business in the parish.”
Meche is a resident of Leonville. She has a background in working with the US Department of Agriculture, from which she retired one year ago.
She was a business and cooperative specialist working with federal loan guarantees so that lenders could reach out to companies that may not have been qualified for total financing. After her retirement, Meche said that she met Rodier who then offered her a position on his staff after she had attended several meetings.
“And I really felt like I was home,” said Meche. “Because my former office was in Alexandria. And so now I feel like I am back home in St. Landry Parish.”
Her office, open on Thursdays, is located in the Alderman-At-Large office space within the mayor’s office.