City changes Civil Service Board rules

The requirement for place and time of residency for police officers appointed to the Civil Service Board have been loosened to allow more flexibility.
The city council, in its May 1 meeting, approved an ordinance to remove the current requirement that the police representative on the 3-member board must live in the city. The new ordinance will allow any officer who has served a policeman for one year or more to fill the position. They are chosen by a vote of serving police officers. Requirements for the other two members of the board, who are non-police civil servants, will remain the same: they must be five-year residents of St. Martinville.
In other business, the property tax millage for the city was approved. It remains unchanged from the existing 4.48 mills, which is dedicated to the retirement of current bond debt and a small percentage to go to the city’s general fund.
A resolution was also passed to open an account to receive a recently-approved Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) loan for the rehabilitation of the main sewer lift station. The approved amount of the loan is $2 million, but Mayor Thomas Nelson told the Teche News the borrowed amount will be closer to $1.4 million. A federal grant in the amount of $800,000 will pay a part of the lift station work.
The council also gave Nelson permission to sign the necessary resolution accepting a grant through the TECHE Project to construct a floating dock in the Bayou Teche. The city will build an informational kiosk as part of a trailhead for the National Water Trail, and sign a maintenance agreement for the facility. The dock will be located south of Evangeline Oak near the old boat ramp.
Finally, Nelson told the council a well-known youtube film producer Logan Paul will film a video in St. Martinville. The film crew will be in town May 3-7.