Nicholas Jagneaux/Ville Platte Gazette
The Mamou Town Council will be voting to amend its 2017 budget and to approve a 2018 budget at its next regular meeting in December. The decision to amend the budget comes following a report by certified public accountant Michael Johnson at Wednesday evening’s regular monthly meeting.
During the last year, the town spent more than the original budgeted amount and has to move money to make up a shortfall.
“We spent a boatload of money on unexpected expenses and improvements,” Mayor Ricky Fontenot said. “We spent money on street repairs, the water and gas systems, and because of the floods at the hospital.
“This is the first time I can remember that we’ve had to spend this much money in a year,” he added.
There will be a public hearing on both the amended and the proposed budgets prior to the start of the Dec. 13 meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.
Concerns about police officer applicants caused the Council to delay action on hiring two patrolmen. During the past month, Police Chief Brent Zackery – with the consent of the mayor – made emergency hires of a few officers. Those officers, however, could only be hired temporarily until the monthly meeting.
Although the Council agreed to hire two part-time dispatchers and one part-time patrolman, there was a hesitation on two other recommendations. The two proposed patrolmen had previously been fired from other departments. One of them had been fired from three previous departments.
Zackery said that he made repeated attempts to try to discover the reason behind the firings, but as of the meeting time was unable to do so. The Council decided not to act on his recommendation in order to allow him time to do more research. He could still bring the recommendations back to the Council at the December meeting.
The Council decided to pursue a contract with Payment Service Network, Inc. that would allow residents to pay utilities and court costs with electronic checks and credit cards. There is no timeline yet on when that service would start.
An agreement with PSN would mean that customers could pay online or over the telephone without coming into the office. The Town would not have to pay PSN for the service. Instead, PSN would assess a convenience fee that would be paid by the customer.
Although it decided to move ahead on a contract with PSN, the Council decided to postpone action on a contract with Acadiana Wireless, an internet and data communications company.
The company specializes in providing wireless internet and other services to rural areas that are not otherwise served by the bigger communications companies. Acadiana Wireless would like to begin servicing the Mamou rural areas.
Acadiana Wireless, represented by owner Andrew Taylor, wants to place wireless data communication equipment on the Mamou water tower. In exchange for space on the tower, Taylor said that his company could provide internet service at five government offices.
Normally, Taylor said, his company would pay $1 per foot of height of the tower, per month. For example, he said, if the tower is 150’ tall, Acadiana Wireless would pay $150 rent each month.
He proposed instead to provide internet service in lieu of the cash rent, saving the town hundreds of dollars it is currently paying for internet service to another provider. He could also handle other communications needs at a discounted rate for the town.
The problem, as far as the Council sees it, is the 10-year length of the contract. There is no clause in the contract allowing the Town to get out of the contract early, if it wanted to. The Council agreed to let Taylor and town attorney Peter Savoy negotiate the terms of the contract, with the intention of reconsidering it in December.