Some Delcambre residents were receiving town services for free

DELCAMBRE - Five months into the Mayor Pam Blakely administration in Delcambre, the new mayor is still discovering items to cut in order to save the town money, and she also learned that some residents are not getting billed for utility services.
Blakely, from Delcambre who beat out long time mayor Carrol Broussard, has already stopped employees from using town vehicles for personal use. She also got rid of using Cintas for work uniforms and providing rugs for city hall. Total savings of just over $1,000 a month.
Through her looking at the financial books and bills, she recently learned that a handful of residents were not getting a bill from the town for water, sewerage and trash pick up.
This has been taking place since 2012.
After Blakely added the total amount the town lost because of at least five residents not paying a bill, it equaled to just under $15,000.
One resident’s savings over five years totaled $5,500 while another’s totaled $4,000.
She is looking into why these residents never received a bill. But as of this month, those residents will begin getting a bill from the town.
Blakely said those residents will not get off cheap. The town plans to send them a letter letting them know that they owe the town money for free services they have been getting over the years.
One of the things Blakely and the aldermen did not decide is how the residents will pay back the town.
In her short five months, Blakey also learned that some workers had I-phones and the bills were being paid by the Delcambre residents. It was not uncommon for the town to pay cell phone bills that totalled $1,300 a month, because many had I-Phones.
No longer.
Now, the aldermen voted to do away with I-phones, unless it is the employee’s personal phone, and give the town employee two options.
The first option is for the town to furnish city workers with a flip phone and pay the monthly bill.
The second option is for the town employee to use their personal phone and town contributes $30 or $50 a month towards their cell phone bill.
The head of the department will be paid a stipend of $50 a month and a city worker will get $30.
Alderman Tim Derise asked the question, what if a city worker drops his personal cell phone in the water, will the town pay for a new phone? Blakely said no. They have the option of using a town’s cell phone for free, she said.
The aldermen were also informed that the town’s garbage pickup will be going up just over a dollar a month more. Blakely said Progressive, the company that picks up garbage in the Iberia Parish side of the town, is raising its rates from $12.51 a month to $13.99 a month. The town will be billed the increase and the town will pass it on to Delcambre residents.