Harlan Kirgan
The Eunice Library will reopen this week following its split from the Opelousas-Eunice Public Library in July.
On Friday, Mayor Scott Fontenot said, “We are going for a soft reopening the end of next week.”
The library has been closed since July 10, the morning after the Eunice Board of Aldermen approved breaking away from the Opelousas-Eunice system created in 1967.
A meeting was held in Opelousas on July 24 where it was voted to separate the assets, he said.
The city owns the building and has changed the locks on the doors.
“What’s in our library is our’s and what’s in their’s is their’s other than any items on lease such as copiers,” he said.
An inspection of the Eunice Library found computers were missing and he hopes they will be returned.
Fontenot believes there were at least 13 computers removed, but the monitors stayed.
“We are going to try to retrieve those computers. I believe they should be the property of our library,” he said.
There are commitments from the business community in Eunice to support the library, he said. Walmart is going to give $3,000 for the library, he said.
The electricity is on at the building and the internet is to be switched over to the city, he said.
Three former employees have been asked to apply for jobs and there will be an advertisement for a head librarian, he said.
“We are moving in the right direction. We are moving forward. I can’t wait to have it open and serve the community,” he said.
The Eunice vote to split from the Opelousas-Eunice Library system was greeted the next day by a sign on he door of the library stating, “... due to City Council & Mayor’s decision. We will gladly fill your library needs in Opelousas until 8-1-19.”
At one point during the July 24 meeting, Fontenot said there was motion to seek an attorney general’s opinion about the breakup, but it went nowhere.
Vernon McManus, Eunice city attorney, sent a letter to Estelle Perrault, Opelousas- Eunice Library Board chairwoman, citing the city’s legal right to step away from the system.
McManus’ letter stated, “The termination of Eunice’s participation in the Opelousas-Eunice Library system was indeed recommended by Mayor Fontenot, but the ordinance enabling the termination of participation by the City of Eunice in the Opelousas-Eunice Public Library, and the ordinance creating a separate Eunice Public Library was the action of the entire Eunice City Council.”
Fontenot said the city’s payment to the library was $162,000 a year. The last payment was through July 9, he said.
“I feel positive about this thing,” he said. “We are going to be closed less than 30 days.”