Baldwin gets PC, state funding for various projects

Good news was the order of the day at Baldwin’s town meeting, Thursday.
It began with a visit from outgoing State Representative Sam Jones, who announced several awards for the town from the recent legislative session in Baton Rouge.
According to Jones, he and Senator Bret Allain were able to secure for Baldwin $15,000 toward the town’s beautification/Main Street upkeep and $1.2 million toward water independence realization.
Baldwin Mayor Abel “Phil” Prejean said to Jones, “Thank you. You said you were going to do it, and you did it.”
Jones said, “It has been an honor serving you (Baldwin), and thank you.”
Following Jones’ departure from the meeting, Baldwin Fire Chief Lance Mire reported that the Baldwin Volunteer Fire Department had retained its Class Five rating following its recent audit by the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana.
Mire further explained that the retention of the Class Five rating “means that your fire insurance will not be adversely affected by our operations.”
Additional announcements subsequent to Mire’s report, were:
—Alderman Herbert Bell announced having secured, with St. Mary Parish Councilman Craig Mathews, $2,065 toward funding the procurement of baseball equipment for Baldwin’s youth summer league, as well as $1,500 to “off-set the cost of the use of the Baldwin Park for the summer league”
—Alderwoman Margaret Coleman announced that with the assistance of Town Attorney Joseph Tabb, she has formatted the letters, soon to be sent to violators of the town’s lawn length and “junk car” ordinances
—Tabb advised the board to approve to accept the proposal of the single company who bid for the contract to install the town’s new water meters.
In other news, the town’s budget for 2019-2020 was accepted at a three to two vote, to the objection of Coleman, who could be heard after the meeting saying, “How is it that we can pay someone $900 a day to clerk, but we can’t find $40,000 to give to the police department?”