Editor, The Era-Leader:
Well, Folks, on April 14th, another town meeting where the “Obstructionists”, as I will now label the 2 aldermen, TJ Butler, and Patrice Crain, voiced all kinds of opposition to the needed upgrades to the town boat ramp.
Alderman Descant stated that the money needed, was already in the budget.
TJ Butler, the loudest voice when it comes to, as he puts it, money, money, money, whined about the town having to do this yearly. Yes, TJ, the river carries silt that builds up at the boat ramp, yearly. How much brain power do you need to figure that one out.
And yet, the loudest voice about money, was silent when past-Mayor Route spent $67,000.00 on two obsolete EV chargers. They are still costing the town money while they sit there mostly, if not completely, unused. TJ didn't offer one squeak of dissent when Mayor Route's administrative assistant cost the town $138,423.95 in penalties and fines for her incompetence. The silence from TJ on that one, was deafening. How many times could the town boat ramp be upgraded with that money, TJ?
Then, Alderwoman Crain piped up about getting the parish to fix the road with TJ going on and on about the taxpayers of the town being burdened. So, yeah, let's get the parish to spend taxpayer dollars on the town's boat ramp. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Well, TJ Butler and Patrice Crain, what if I and the other taxpayers in the parish, that don't live in town, don't want our tax dollars to pay for the town of Franklinton's boat ramp?
Then to add to the lunacy of the moment, Alderwoman Crain proposes to split the upgrade of the road and the dredging of the boat launch into two separate projects. Now, let's think about that. If you fix the road and don't dredge the ramp, what's the point of the road? And, if you dredge the boat ramp and don't fix the road, then you may not be able to use the ramp. Yes, there was some real deep thought going into that one.
Also, if you split the work into two parts, then all the equipment needed to do the work, will have to leave the job site when one part is done and then come back to do the other part, costing yet, more money.
There is money in the budget to fix the boat ramp. It's a done deal. So, IMHO, these two are only obstructing progress. The boat ramp is a town resource. Fix it.
Ben M Sarro
Franklinton, LA
