St. Martin Parish is considering installing GPS tracking devices in all parish-owned vehicles and equipment. Parish President Chester Cedars outlined the results of his search for the best vendor of the devices and monitoring service at the June 5 council meeting.
Many Acadiana parishes and municipalities have installed such systems to track government property. Aside from the ability to monitor the current location and movement history of vehicles for accountability reasons, the system could allow more efficient deployment of these assets.
Besides that, the system would provide information in the case of complaints and could help defend the parish from liability in the event of accidents, Cedars said.
About 70 parish vehicles and pieces of equipment could have the devices installed if approved. Cedars said the initial cost of over $11,000, would likely be recouped in short order.
In addition to the initial hardware purchase, a monitoring service contract would cost about $1,100 monthly. Dist. 2 council member Lisa Nelson commented that it was high time for the action saying, “This system will definitely pay for itself.” The council unanimously authorized Cedars to move forward with the plan.
Public Hearing
Introduced for public hearing were the following issues:
•The proposed abolishment of Water District 5 and transfer of its assets and the responsibility to provide water to Butte LaRose to the Henderson/Nina Water system.
•Authorization to purchase the First Baptist Church of Cecilia and grounds to be converted to a civic center.
•A revision of the parish littering ordinance to, among other things, apply to litter on private property. The proposed ordinance would also grant certain authority over the matter to justices of the peace.
•Setting the speed limit on Lucette Guidry Road at 25 mph.
All issues in the public hearing were passed by the council and will proceed to the July meeting as resolutions.
The June 19 council meeting will be held in the new multi-purpose building at Clayton Boudreaux Park in Catahoula. Cedars invited parish residents to attend the meeting, tour the new facility and see “how well the parish is spending the recreation bond proceeds.” The meeting will begin at 5 p.m.
The regular July 3 meeting is rescheduled for Tuesday, July 10 at 5 p.m.
Finally, the council voted to urge state and federal officials to adopt any and all measures to assist Water Works Dist. 4, which covers Catahoula, in securing the funding necessary to repair, improve and enhance the water infrastructure in the district.
