Harlan Kirgan
The coronavirus and Gov. John Bel Edwards’ stay-at-home order created a surprising problem for Eunice’s city work crews, Mayor Scott Fontenot said.
“I think the biggest issue right now is debris pickup. It is so much stuff,” he said.
“When people started to stay home two weeks ago they started cleaning everything. Cleaning their yards, their flower beds, their houses,” he said.
The city’s public works crew started falling behind the citizen cleanup, he said.
“We were hauling back and forth to Beggs every time we picked up a load in order to get streets cleared,” he said.
Beggs is the site of the parish’s landfill.
The crews started dumping the debris at the City Barn to gain time on the cleanup, he said.
Another cleanup issue is the wipes that disappeared off store shelves. The state Department of Environmental Quality issued a news release asking the public to avoid flushing the wipes down the toilet.
The problem has not shown up at the Eunice wastewater treatment plant, Fontenot said.
But he asked that people check the labels of those wipes to make determine if they are flushable.
The problem will develop at the city’s lift stations where hard to pump material will stress motors, which are expensive, he said.
With many business closed, Fontenot expects the city finances are going to suffer.
“We are going to take a hit. I think everybody in the country will,” he said. “Right now everybody is still employed. We know we may have to reduce some hours. We haven’t made that decision yet,” he said of city workers.
The public has been obeying the shutdown of the city’s parks and other public areas, he said.