The city council made progress on addressing a shortage of experienced electrical workers by approving the hiring of a recently-retired, top-rated SLEMCO lineman.
In a special meeting on July 31, the council voted unanimously to add Kevin Benoit to the Public Works staff. A Rayne resident, Benoit was, until his recent retirement, a foreman, trainer and Lineman III at SLEMCO. He has worked extensively in the St. Martinville area and is already quite familiar with the local system.
Benoit’s hiring will fill a vacancy left by the recent resignation of lineman Michael Douet.
A vote to increase the wages of another city lineman, Cassius Bourda, was not unanimous. After exiting an executive (secret) session, which is generally required when personnel issues are discussed, Councilman Mike Fuselier said he did not feel that Bourda’s work record was fully presented in executive session.
Fuselier told the Teche News that a number of negative job performance letters had been issued for, among other things, failure to respond or delays in responding to after-hour service calls from the St. Martinville Police.
All other council members voted to grant the pay increase. Councilman Craig Prosper commented that it was “not just for the employee, but for the position.” The pay increase was deemed necessary to remedy the problem the city has had in keeping a full staff of electricians.
One of the recommendations from financial consulting firm Faulk and Winkler, hired to review the city’s accounts, was that it is important to “right size” the maintenance staff for the electric system.
Utility systems like St. Martinville purchase electric power from a producer and resell it to city residents, so the city is responsible for system maintenance. The most cost-effective way to manage it, the consultants said, is with a large enough employee base so that more-costly assistance from contractors and neighboring power providers is needed only in unusual circumstances.
