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Landfill position, video poker on agenda

Police Jury meets in special session to fill supervisor position, protect gaming revenue

A supervisory opening at the landfill and a state law that could impact video poker gaming in parish brought the Acadia Parish Police Jury into special session here Wednesday morning.

Robert Hebert, supervisor at the Acadia Parish Sanitary Landfill near Egan, has notified the police jury of his intent to resign. He currently is the lone holder of a Class A Landfill Operator’s license, a license mandated by state law.

Through action taken Wednesday, the jury will immediately begin accepting RFQs (requests for quotes) to fill the position.

Jurors also authorized Secretary-Treasurer Richard “Dickie” Latiolais to contract with an interim Class A operator.

“That way we’re not rushed into hiring someone without being thorough,” explained A. “Jay” Credeur after the meeting.

Jurors discussed making the landfill supervisor an “appointed” position versus its current “hired” status, saying the “appointed” designation would give jurors more control over the hiring and firing, but no action was taken in that regard.

Residency requirements for the potential supervisor also were discussed with some jurors saying the supervisor must live in Acadia Parish and others opting for a predesignated distance from the facility itself. Again, no action was taken.

Jurors unanimously adopted a resolution asking the state Legislature to exempt Acadia Parish from enforcement of Revised Statute 27:422 adopted in 2012.

The statute prohibits the granting of a video poker license to any truck stop facility located “within one mile from any property on the National Register of Historic Places, any public playground, any residential property or a building used primarily as a church, synagogue, public library or school.”

The measurement of the distance is described as “a straight line from the nearest point of the truck stop to the nearest point” of the aforementioned properties.

“This means that the new $8 million Love’s truck stop that just held its grand opening last week can’t get a video poker license,” said Credeur.

He added that, should any of the other eight truck stops in Acadia Parish change hands, they would not be able to obtain a gaming license either.

All nine truck stops in Acadia Parish are “much less than one mile from the nearest resident,” the resolution points out.

Credeur said he would deliver the resolution to state Rep. Mickey Guillory, who agreed to sponsor a bill exempting Acadia Parish. He added that the deadline for filing the bill is Friday.

There are currently two truck stops in Crowley, two in Rayne, one on Interstate 10 west of Crowley and four in Duson, the latter including the new Love’s truck stop. Eight of the nine are currently licensed for video poker.

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