Harlan Kirgan
During its second meeting, the newly formed Economic Development Committee heard from Mayor Scott Fontenot about some of his goals.
Fontenot handed out copies of a “Strategic Plan for Community Growth’ believed to have been written during Lynn LeJeune’s term as mayor and asked the committee to review it.
“I’ve learned over the last couple of studies I’ve went through, you can take a plan that you already have and go back and review, and tweak it. And, they encourage that they do that every two to five years,” he said.
Goals in the plan were:
— Address the high crime rate.
— Formulate an economic development plan.
— Hire a qualified economic development professional.
— Develop a business retention and expansion program.
— Coordinate economic development efforts with St. Landry Parish Economic and Industrial Development District (SLEIDD), and Acadiana Regional Development District (ARDD).
— Develop a fully served and attractive industrial site.
Fontenot called business retention as a key goal “because 80 perent of the job growth comes from existing businesses.”
Donnie Fontenot, who is working with the city on its website, said the city has secured its domain address, eunice-la.com.
Fontenot said he has been working on making the site viewable on tablets and smartphones.
After it was mentioned the city needs to have a presence on social media, the mayor said he learned at an economic development course that investors look first at a location’s website.
The city’s website has been pretty good, he said, but he wants “something we can be proud of.”
Launey Patton Griffith, a committee member, said the site needs someone running who owns its content.
Holly Bertrand, also a committee member, observed that the site failed to have the Experience Louisiana Festival and Noel on the Prairie listed as upcoming events.
The mayor said, “You want to brand a city. How do we want to showcase Eunice to the world.”
The biggest asset to Eunice is Louisiana State University Eunice, he said. “How do we put that together with the city of Eunice?” he asked.
After Griffith, who is director of Economic Development and Continuing Education at LSUE, said LSUEs’ enrollment is 3,051.
The campus is housing is 100 percent filled, he said. “We don’t have a enough places for students to stay.”
The mayor added, “Housing is a huge issue in the city.”
Robert Johnson, city recreation director, returned to the committee to pitch the city’s recreation complex as an economic driver.
He estimated a recent tournament brought in $10,000 to the city, which does not count spending outside the complex.
The committee’s next meeting is scheduled at 11 a.m. Oct. 9 at the Eunice Municipal Complex.