Judge-elect, chief-elect preview plans

The city judge-elect and the police chief-elect previewed their administrations with the Eunice Citizens Advisory Committee just days after winning their run-off elections.
The committee was created to serve as a sounding board to hear citizens’ complaints without bogging down City Council meetings. If the committee thinks there are substantive issues, it recommends the council add them to its agenda.
During this fall’s campaign, the panel invited candidates to talk with it about their plans if elected.
Tuesday, the committee, chaired by Mary Ellen Donatto, herself a newly elected St. Landry Parish School Board member, asked Judge-elect Terry Hoychick and Chief-elect Randy Fontenot to a follow-up[ session.
Both re-iterated general planks of their campaigns as building blocks of their administrations, which begin Jan. 1.
They also added a few things to their previous comments:
Hoychick said his first day of court will be Monday, Jan. 5 and that court will begin at 10 a.m., as opposed to the 6 p.m. start time that has been in place for years. He said he could find no one who really favors continuing night court.
He said retiring Judge Lynette Feucht is trying to clear the docket as much as possible before the end of the month.
Hoychick is reviewing options for appointing Fontenot’s successor as the court’s Chief Probation Officer.
Fontenot’s transition team is in the process for “auditing” different segments of the department -- from equipment to evidence to policy and procedure.
If feasible and affordable, he would like to have a second juvenile officer. He and Hoychick agree that the juvenile crime rate is a top priority in the city.
The new chief intends to keep the deputy chief system and would like to have a designated training officer.
He would like to equip every officer with a body camera, assuming it is affordable, and will have a definitive policy for the cameras’ use.
Fontenot hopes to hire Eunice-area recruits when at all possible. He is not adverse to putting some former officers back to work, expanding the department’s age and experience range.
Police and judicial topics have been at the forefront of issues aired by the committee since its creation.
Some of those topics were discussed again last week, including how the public is treated, how to reach juveniles heading down the wrong path, what to do about “saggy” pants, muffling loud music and cleaning the place up.
Considerable discussion took place regarding truancy, and the issues it raises with youthful offenders.