Editor, The Era-Leader:
Oh wow! This past meeting of the Franklinton Town Board is something to wonder about. EV charger rates, police promotions and an idea to turn over the town law enforcement to the sheriff's department. Strap in folks it's going to get bumpy.
The subject of the EV chargers, you know the plastic wrapped bundles of joy from the mayor, and what a rate charge would be. The proposed idea was 5 times what the cost of a kilowatt is now. Discussed was that amount for the first 30kw and then dropping to 4 times that after your EV consumed 30kw. The mayor also wanted a charge added for just pulling in to charge, above what power you consumed.
Alderwoman Crain stated that the chargers were “fast chargers”. Given how things are described, a fast charger would take about an hour to charge your EV enough to go 20-25 miles. So if you were going further, you would be at the charger longer.
Alderwoman Crain also stated that the chargers would bring people to Franklinton and they would spend their money at Pizza Pete's or the Coffee Station. I like Pizza Pete's, but I doubt anyone who doesn't live here would drive here to eat at Pizza Pete's. If you are charging your car, then you are on foot, so anywhere you'd like to go you would have to hike it. As far as access to EV chargers, there is one at the Giddy Up in Folsom and it's free.
Oh and one other thing about those chargers, not to get too technical, the connectors are a CCS type and a CHAdeMo type. The CHAdeMo type was a Nissan development for their Leaf EV. Nissan has abandoned that connector for the CCS type, so most EV's nowadays can't use it. So, essentially, it is obsolete. So most can still use the CCS connector; some may require an interface depending on your make and model.
Alas, there was no ordinance passed for the rate schedule, so if you have been waiting to charge up in town, you'll have to wait a little longer.
Also, the parking for the chargers is in a public lot. There is no signage indicating they are there. There is no ordinance in place that prohibits anyone from parking there, EV or not, signage or not. It's not like it's a handicapped parking spot.
And now onto the promotions within the Franklinton Police Department. These were in the 2023-2024 town budget. These and other budget items were in place for some time now. However, Alderman Butler said these were a surprise to him. Alderman Descant stated that the mayor had sent a letter to everyone outlining the budget and budget items and these promotions were identified in the budget. Alderman Descant also stated that these were a known item over the past 2 or 3 Board meetings. They were accounted for and approved, so it wasn't a surprise.
Alderman Butler stated he wasn't personally contacted pertaining to these individual people. He commented that, “maybe he felt that he didn't have to come through us. He's got 3 votes regardless.” Alderman Butler was non-specific as to who “he” was, and when asked which 3 votes he referred to, Alderman Butler replied, “No comment.” In regard to the letter the mayor sent everyone about the budget and budget items, Alderman Butler replied, “So, I never read it.”
The mayor has Alderman Butler and Alderwoman Crain overseeing the police department. When they saw the promotions within the budget items and they, by their own admission, had never been contacted over them, why, then didn't they seek out Chief Brown to go over these promotions? Why wait until this board meeting to bring this up?
The mayor, who has superintending authority and appointed Alderman Butler and Alderwoman Crain over the police department, why did he not check with them to see if they had performed their oversight when he saw the promotions in the budget?
And, following all this, Alderman Butler made the statement, “The police department is going to take us down.”. He went further to state, “The budget is over 2 and a half million. We could take one million to give the job to the sheriff. So we will be without a police department.” He considers this best for the town of Franklinton. With drug crime, violent crime and property crime reaching all new levels, doing away with your hometown police department is, “what's best for the town of Franklinton.”
Except, Louisiana Revised Statute Tit 33 §381,
A. The officers of every municipality shall be a mayor, aldermen, a chief of police, a tax collector and a clerk. This is current as of January 1, 2019. Alderman Butler would have to get Louisiana law changed to accommodate his suggestion.
Chief Brown, I do not envy you, your job.
In my honest opinion, from the start of Mayor Greg Route's administration, there has been this hostility against Chief Brown. Mayor Route's attempt to replace Chief Brown, even though he has stated he was doing a good job, the mayor bypassing department policy to promote officers (Alderman Butler didn’t have a problem with these promotions) and the “anonymous” ethics complaint that went nowhere. Now Alderman Butler's suggestion to do away with the entire police department. Is this the “Re-Routing” of Franklinton touted by the mayor?
Ben M Sarro, Franklinton
