Parks plans to relocate City Hall

The Parks Village Council has given Mayor Kevin Kately approval to spend $700,000 for the long-awaited purchase of an existing building for a new city hall.
The favored building is a vacant commercial metal building along La 31/Main Hwy on the south end of town. It will provide much more room for conducting meetings and village business. Kately said there will probably be enough excess space to allow part to be rented out.
The mayor commended the council, legal advisor Robert Chevalier and engineer Adam Thibodeaux for their effort over the three years he has been trying to bring the new city hall to fruition. A deal, Kately said, should be finalized very soon.
In other business, the council heard from a resident who is concerned about poorly maintained and abandoned properties, illegal dumping on her property by a neighbor and the presence of litter along roads in the village. She said she has been trying to sell her property and suspects that blighted neighboring properties are making it more difficult.
Council member Myra Yvonne Narcisse said the mayor and council have been working hard to find a solution to the problem and have actually had some success, but it has been a daunting process. She added that in a small town like Parks, officials usually get results by just talking to property owners. When that doesn’t work, however, options may be limited.
Kately said abandoned and blighted properties are a problem throughout the parish. The approach taken in larger municipalities is not a viable option in Parks.
After state requirements for due notice are met, parish or municipal governments can usually clean up properties using city workers or outside contractors. The costs are then added to the resident’s tax bill. Parks does not collect a property tax millage, so there is no way to recoup the cost.
“We can’t spend unrecoverable village funds to do the work and very few residents would want us to begin collecting a millage,” he said. However, Chevalier interjected, dumping trash on the someone’s property is a crime. Kately told the resident the village would do its best to help, and she should call immediately if the dumping occurs again.
Finally, Kately said the new restroom in the camper area of the park is under construction and should be complete within a few weeks.