Fire rating lowered in Dist. 5 area

Homeowners in the area served by Fire Protection District No. 5 will see a significant decrease in their fire insurance premiums.

The fire rating in that area — namely the Estherwood, Mermentau, Midland and Morse area — dropped from a “10” to a “6,” according to Julie Borill, police juror.

Fire ratings are determined by the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana (PIAL), a private, non-profit association made up of all insurance companies licensed to write property coverage within the state.

Ratings are on a 10-point scale with 10 being the poorest rating and 1 the best. The higher the rating, the higher the insurance premiums.

“I want to thank the volunteer firefighters for all their hard work to get the rating lowered,” Borill said during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Acadia Parish Police Jury. “This is great news for all the homeowners in that service area.”

In other action Tuesday, jurors introduced an ordinance merging a number of voting precincts and authorized the president to call a public hearing on the ordinance.

Demographer Mike Hefner told members of the Acadia Parish Police Jury’s legislative committee last week that the Louisiana Secretary of State has submitted eight voting precincts that can be consolidated under state law because those rural precincts contain less than 300 active, registered voters.

Those precincts to be merged include:

• Ward 2, Precinct 4A merges with Ward 2, Precinct 2 (new designation, Ward 2, Precinct 2): polling location changes from the Mowata Catholic Church to Cramer Dryers.

• Ward 4, Precinct 3 merges into Ward 2, Precinct 5 (new precinct designation, Ward 2, Precinct 5): polling location remains unchanged  from Crowley High School Commons Area.

• Ward 4, Precinct 5A merges into Ward 4, Precinct 4 (new precinct designation, Ward 4, Precinct 4): polling location changes from Evangeline Elementary School to Egan Elementary School.

• Ward 5, Precinct 1B merges into Ward 5, Precinct 3 (new precinct designation, Ward 5, Precinct 3): polling location changes from Mermentau Town Hall to Morse Elementary School.

• Ward 5, Precinct 2B merges into Ward 5, Precinct 5 (new precinct designation, Ward 5, Precinct 5): polling location changes from Estherwood Town Hall to Midland Catholic Church Hall.

• Ward 6, Precinct 13A merges into Ward 6, Precinct 1 (new precinct designation, Ward 6, Precinct 1): polling location changes from School Board Media Center to North Crowley Middle School.

• Ward 6, Precinct 5 and Ward 6, Precinct 12A merge into Ward 6, Precinct 4 (new precinct designation, Ward 6, Precinct 4): polling location for Ward 6, Precinct 5 remains unchanged;  polling location for Ward 6, Precinct 12A changes from School Board Media Center to St. Michael Catholic Church Hall.

Had the jury opted not to go along with the state recommendadions for merging the precincts, the parish would have been saddled with 100 percent of the cost of operating each voting poll (instead of the pro-rated cost for statewide elections) until such time as the poll had 300 or more active registered voters.