The town of Port Barre held its monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, July 2nd. The hot topic of the town has been a proposed ordinance Mayor Johnny Ardoin suggested at last month’s meeting that would subject the police department to no more than 8 fully commissioned officers.
According to the town officials, one of the driving factors was the town’s budget. However, Chief of Police Deon Boudreaux argued the budget was not the issue, rather the ordinance proposition was one of a personal matter. On the agenda for the July meeting was to put the proposed ordinance to a vote by the board of alderman.
A news crew was present at the meeting and footage from a live recording showed a full house at the town hall meeting. Alderman Greg Hardy presented his concerns with the ordinance to board members stating that there is currently an ordinance already in place which states the town council and Mayor must approve the hire of any new officers without the exception of the 8 limit.
“I just don’t see why we need to put a maximum number on this” stated Hardy. He also presented evidence on the budget concerns addressing that the town could sustain itself sufficiently for another 9 months without collecting any additional funds. When put to a vote, the board unanimously voted no on the new ordinance, a decision that was well received as it was made apparent by the residents of Port Barre who were in attendance at the meeting.
