Not enough money to pay the bills
An executive session was held by the Oberlin Council Wednesday, March 16, to discuss budget cuts. After returning to the regular meeting, Councilman Bobby Thomas motioned to reduce the town’s workforce by two people, effective Friday, March 18, due to the town’s finances. The council unanimously agreed. (Oberlin Mayor Joseph “Moochie” Manuel was absent due to sickness and Councilman Romelzy Willis Jr. was not present.)
During its financial report from Tina Maddox, finance clerk, the council learned the town did not have enough funds to pay its bills. “In February, you signed off on the bills – bills I could not pay due to finances,” Maddox said.
She said this month bills totaled $120,771.76 and she could only pay $48,754.82.
Maddox presented the council with reports listing all of those bills, which bills she paid, a list of monthly bills averaging $95,792.14 per month and ideas to reduce some of the town’s expenditures.
In the end, the council made a hard decision to reduce its payroll by two employees – one in maintenance and one at city hall and stop dog catching services. Other cuts would come in the form of replacing a maintenance contract with a cheaper company and parking its supervisor’s truck.
Thomas asked if a monthly mileage log was being utilized for town vehicles, and Maddox said she made workers bring mileage when they requested POs (purchase orders).
Mayor Pro Temp Wayne Smith (councilman at large) said he hoped maintenance and the police department could assist with dogs when problems arose until the town’s finances were in a better place.
In other business, the town tabled adopting its compliance questionnaire because of two questions (17 and 28) that the council believed were not accurately answered. The first question involved doing business with those who hold an elected office. The second question involved the use of town equipment – either loaned, pledged or granted to anyone in violation.
City Clerk Charlotte Artis explained this questionnaire was needed to complete the audit, which is late and the deadline for the six-month extension to complete it was quickly approaching.
Thomas said he wanted an explanation or opinion to make sure the town was correctly reporting the information in regards to the compliance questionnaire.
The council also tabled the Mueller’s contract. Artis explained this credit application needed to be completed so the town could receive assistance with its utility software and purchase equipment when applicable. She said the company had ended its association with Ferguson. She said the company did assist the town with a problem this month despite there being no maintenance service plan in place. The previous one expired in February. She said they were having problems with the laptop to run files so meters could be read. If they needed something they could ask DeRidder for help, but they needed to make a decision. Both Thomas and Smith said they needed a contract with figures included.
The council later decided to add these two items to the special meeting it was calling on Monday to deal with reapportionment.
The council also:
•Discussed the Safe Routes to School with Sidewalks project, started seven years ago but not completed. The monies were still there and Artis said they were requesting an answer by March 25th. She said they needed to complete this project before they could participate in any similar DOTD project from the information she had been given.
•Agreed to terminate its contract with Turnage Environmental Services and begin using Cenla Environmental Services. There was a difference of $37 in monthly fees but Turnage charged an hourly rate when they had to come to Oberlin. Cenla would not charge an hourly rate and would send a representative each month at no cost.
•Approved its February bills and minutes.
Questions answered Monday
In a special meeting held Monday, March 21, the Oberlin Council developed a redistricting plan.
Cedric Floyd, president of Data Center LLC of Kenner, explained the council needed to bring the four districts to 351 residents to balance the districts based on 2020 census counts. He said this meant District Two did not have enough residents in the boundaries set by the last reapportionment plan, and District Three had too many. Districts One and Four both fell within the deviation of one to five percent.
It was agreed to move three blocks of residents from North Sixth Avenue to Highway 165, North Seventh and North Eighth from District Three to District Two to bring the boundaries between district into guidelines set by the Justice Department.
Before the move was made, Floyd explained District One had a population of 361 (2.85% deviation), District Two had 311 (-11.40% deviation), District Three had 400 (13.96% deviation) and District Four had 330 (-5.98% deviation). Floyd explained the town must submit a plan to the Justice Department before June 22, four weeks before qualifying would be held for the November 8, election for council seats.
Since the census population numbers had decreased from 1,770 to 1,402, lines needed to be redrawn and each district could have no more than a 10 percent deviation. He said the ideal district size should be 351 or between 333 and 369 to meet the requirements.
The council chose to move the three blocks across from city hall, located near the area where its Farmer’s Market was held, to District Two to meet the requirements. By making this move, District One remains with 361 residents (2.85% deviation), District Two grows to 360 residents (2.56% deviation), District Three shrinks to 351 residents (0% deviation) and District Four remains at 330 (-5.98% deviation)
Thomas asked if they approved the plan and Councilwoman Linda Bordelon, who was not present) believed her district lost voters that should have remained in District Three, could the council revisit the plan. Councilman Wayne Smith also questioned the plan because Bordelon was not present.
Floyd explained if the majority accepted the plan, then it would be submitted. Bordelon was contacted by phone to discuss the changes, which she thought were okay. The council agreed to submit the plan to the Justice Department. (Councilman Romelzy Willis Jr. was also absent from the meeting.)
In other business, the council:
•Approved the credit application for Mueller. This will give the town a service maintenance plan for equipment and software associated with its utilities.
•Learned the town would receive the milled asphalt from the old track in Oberlin when the asphalt was dug up and removed.
•Approved the compliance questionnaire for the audit. The town’s attorney, David Vidrine, read the law pertaining to the two questions being discussed, Numbers 17 and 28. Councilman Bobby Thomas, who questioned the answers at the previous meeting, abstained from the vote.