IBERIA PARISH (JEANERETTE) — Jeanerette City Hall is getting a new look, but the mayor is looking to enhance more than just the paint job; he also wants to enhance security protocol.
This comes less than a week after employees were evacuated from the building after a man started a fire under one of the benches.
"I was sitting at the desk, had just finished eating lunch, and we could hear the mayor chit-chatting and dealing with the public and stuff." Jeanerette meter reader Patrice Sexton went to work last week like any other day.
"At the time, we heard a noise, and we thought somebody had fell; but when we came out and seen [it], that's when we seen the blaze."
Desmond Eugene, 41, is accused of biking to city hall and planting a fire-starting "incendiary" device underneath a bench next to the mayor's office. IPSO says Eugene is still in custody, booked on multiple charges including aggravated arson.
"...and me, and other workers, and the mayor," Sexton continued, "assisted and put it out."
"The gentleman literally brought in a Molotov cocktail," said Jeanerette Mayor Carol Bourgeoise. "There wasn't any damage to the building. There was a little scorching to the bench that was there, but thank God, again, that there was no damage to the building."
Thanks to over $1 million in capital outlay funds, Mayor Bourgeois says plans to build a safer, more modern city hall have already begun.
"What I'm looking for is number one, security. Number two functionality. This is the citizen's city hall; this is not 'Mayor Carol's, or any of the other elected officials'. We're trying to upgrade things to take us further into the 2000s."
"Any public official's office, any city hall, should have security to protect their mayor and their workers," Sexton said. "'Cause some people can get a little upset about their bills and stuff, and you don't know what they're capable of."
The mayor says more plans and blueprints will be in place sometime in November.
