In Eunice, there’s a mayoral race on the ballot. Current Mayor Scott Fontenot is up for reelection and has a competitor hoping to take his seat
Fontenot says his experience as a council member, mayor pro temp and current mayor is what makes him qualified to hold the seat for another four years.
“I think I’ve done everything that we’ve set out to do, to be honest,” Fontenot said. “I think we run a pretty transparent government. Things we set out to do, like build a splash pad for the kids, went really well. We’re rebuilding infrastructure.”
Fontenot says he has more projects in planned for the city.
“We do have a project that will be in the works hopefully in 2019,” Fontenot said. “We’re redeveloping our downtown district and our Thirteenth Corridor North and south of Eunice.” He added, “We want to continue to try and make our city grow, focus on economic development, which we have in the past. We want to keep promoting our college here at LSUE.”
Tim Smith, who’s in the ATM business, has prior experience in journalism. Smith has also managed truck stop restaurants. He says those experiences will help him if he’s elected mayor
“I have more worldly experience,” Smith said. “I know a lot of state people and legislatures. I would like to see Eunice pick up some new industry and new jobs.”
Smith, who’s originally from Mamou, has lived in Eunice since 1969 and says if he’s elected mayor, he’d like to create a public works director position for the city.
“To oversee these departments, make sure they got the right people in there,” Smith said. “When something breaks here, they (city) have to send it out and hire contractors to fix it, and that shouldn’t happen. The town ought to have a lot of help to fix something minor.”
