The Vermilion Parish Police Jury signed off on a parish RV ordinance, voted to raise the fine for breaking parish ordinances to $1,500, and agreed to pursue a new levee district for Vermilion at its Oct. 21 meeting, according to minutes the parish posted online.

The minutes are marked “not signed,” meaning they are a draft until jurors approve them at their next regular meeting. Twelve of the 14 jurors attended; Dane Hebert and Mark Poche were absent. Every motion recorded passed unanimously.

The RV ordinance

Jurors told the parish’s lawyer, Paul Moresi III, to strike every mention of temporary housing other than RVs from the RV ordinance, and voted that once that correction is made, the ordinance is approved. In a second vote they told him to update the code terms supplied by the parish permit specialist.

Before that vote, jurors let Vanessa Duhon speak, and she presented information on park model homes, according to the minutes.

The minutes do not include the ordinance’s text, and the corrected version had not been posted on the parish website as of Sunday morning. The Vermilion Times will report what the ordinance requires once the final text is public.

Fines go to $1,500

On a recommendation from the Courthouse/General Needs Committee, jurors approved raising fines for parish ordinance violations to $1,500. The minutes do not say what the fine was before or which ordinances it covers.

A levee district of Vermilion’s own

Jurors also adopted their coastal committee’s recommendation to create an independent levee district for Vermilion Parish through the Legislature, with the parish’s legal counsel reaching out to Iberia Parish. Going through the Legislature means the idea would need a bill in Baton Rouge.

The same vote supports placing a coastal restoration project along the north shore of Vermilion Bay in an area not already funded for rock, and lets the parish advertise for bids on Phase IIA of the North Vermilion Bay Shoreline Protection Project once permits are in hand and the state coastal authority agrees.

Gueydan drainage tax heads to the April ballot

Jurors approved Resolution 2026-R-24, which lets Sub-District No. 5 of the Gueydan Drainage District hold an election on Saturday, April 17, 2027. Voters there will decide whether to renew a 14.04-mill property tax for drainage work for 10 years, 2029 through 2038. The resolution estimates the tax brings in about $284,000 a year.

Where else the money went

  • Opioid settlement work: $33,429.24 to JEPCO Holdings LLC for recovery housing support services for eligible Vermilion residents, paid as part of the parish’s opioid abatement effort.
  • Courthouse: $32,858.10 to Minvielle Lumber Company and $1,679.95 to The Sellers Group for third-floor courtroom renovations, and $69,144.30 in two payments to Tilden A. Bonin Contractor for waterproofing and painting the outside of the Courthouse Annex.
  • Ethics case: $1,902.50 to the law firm Sternberg, Naccari & White in a state Board of Ethics matter, Docket No. 2023-940.
  • Juvenile housing: jurors approved an increase in what the parish pays for juvenile housing. The minutes give no amount.

Roads and neighborhoods

  • The parish administrator will ask the state Transportation Department to review the intersection of LA 335 and LA 14.
  • Pumping Plant Road will get “No Truck Route” signs and lights like the City of Abbeville’s.
  • Jurors sent blighted-property letters about homes on Lynnedale Loop and Nicole Drive in Abbeville, and approved a preliminary plat for the Stillwater Development on LA 699.
  • They asked the St. Mary Community Center to add two board members representing the Kaplan, Gueydan, Delcambre and Erath areas.

The jury’s committees meet next on Wednesday, Nov. 4. [What’s on those agendas.](/news/police-jury-committees-nov-4-spacex/)