FIRST IN PRINT: Council stands firm in ordinance

The Donaldsonville City Council was faced with a tough decision on last

Tuesday night during the council meeting. Frances Hernandez, a resident of

Donaldsonville, would like to move her mobile home about 0.3 miles from

where it is now due to noise traffic.

Seems simple? The problem is that the mobile home is 13 years old, and the

city has an ordinance in place that states: no mobile homes are allowed

after 12 years old.

Hernandez's daughter, Alida Chiquet spoke on her elder mother's behalf.

Chiquet stated that the ordinance is a contradiction with the mobile home

application.

"On the application the year reads 15, and the ordinance says 12, which one

is it," she asked the council.

The purpose of the mobile home ordinance is to prevent older, worn down

mobile homes from coming into the city limits.

"I understand the ordinance, but the mobile home is in good condition and

the mobile home already resides in the city limits, just moving it from one

spot to another," Chiquet  added.

Council Chairperson Raymond Aucoin said that an ordinance is a law, bottom

line. "We can't violate our own law, we put age limits on mobile homes in

our city and we have to live with our orders."

Chiquet raised the question to the council, "What purpose would it serve to

not allow the mobile home to be moved?"

The council requested the City Attorney, Chuck Long, for legal

representation on this matter. Long said that regardless of the application

having a faulty error, the ordinance outweighs the application.

Councilman Rev. Charles Brown said, "we understand that it is one year older

than our ordinance but if we approved it, we would be breaking our own law."

Chiquet asked the council for a exception as a last plea, but the council

voted to deny the request.

In other business:

Fire Chief Chuck Montero reported his office handled 77 calls in the month

of July, 59 of those were EMS calls. His office also performed 111 man hours

of training, six hours of recruiting, and nine hours of medical training for

a total of 126 man hours of total training.

Dean Werner of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office reported his department

handled a total of 556 service calls for the month of June. His office made

95 adult arrests, and 12 juvenile arrests. Mayor Leroy Sullivan also

commended the Sheriff's Office on working proactively in arresting all four

guys in connection with the shootings that took place on July 3.

The council denied liquor license for Club Rumors, located on 900 Maginnis

Street due to the city's concern of crime and other related problems in that

area.

"The area is a low poverty area and if someone wants to open a bar room in

that area will increase crime related activity and it is not a good image

for the city," said Councilman Reginald Francis.

Aucoin stated that the council should become more strict on first time

applicants on obtaining liquor licenses in the city.

The council discussed that having another bar room type business is not

helping the community.

Council meetings are held every second and fourth Tuesday of every month at

city hall at 6 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend to voice concerns and

opinions regarding the city of Donaldsonville.