Use of electricity for Kaplan’s Food Fest comes under scrutiny

A quiet Kaplan City Council meeting turned into a heated discussion between Mayor Kirk Champagne and two event chairmen last Tuesday.
The Louisiana Cajun Food Fest chairman, Alice Stelly, and the Boogie on the Boulevard chairman, Mike Kloesel approached the council table to turn in two checks to the mayor for their respective events.
According to Stelly, her $250 check was to cover utilities used during the Food Fest and Kloesel’s $75 was to cover the rent of Turnley Park for the Boogie on the Boulevard.
Upset about being charged for utilities and rental of the park for the festival, the two wanted to present the check to the mayor in front of the council and ask why they were charged when no other festival held in Kaplan were charged these fees.
“We all should be working together on this,” said Stelly. “The city should be helping us, not charging us. I just feel that we shouldn’t have been charged for utilities when we are bringing money to the city. I didn’t go to the meeting to fight. I went to the meeting to thank the city for all their help.”
Kloesel said he attended the meeting to find out if everyone else who used the park was being charged the fee, along with how the amount was determined.
Champagne, in turn, began to take offense, stating that the city had gone above and beyond the call to help the festival.
The problem began when the electrician for the city asked the mayor where to put the 50 amp hookup needed for the police command trailer.
“Because Gerald always took care of that,” said Champagne, “I had no idea all the electricity was paid by the city and not metered.”
Gerald Lemaire, the long time electrician for the city, has since retired.
The mayor stated he knew it was against the law to give away free electricity, so he turned to the city’s CPA to question him on the procedure to take.
“We cannot give away public monies or commodities,” said Champagne.
“I have the misfortune of disconnecting little old ladies and single mothers with young children for non payment of utilities. How can I do that and in turn give away utilities to fund raising organizations? It is unfair.
“We will, however, adopt into policy guidelines to avoid this in the future. I am committed and will continue to be supportive to any organization to help them through manpower”.
“Our employees are so proud to be a part in these events by assisting in the set up and clean up afterwards. We appreciate all that is done by all volunteers.”
Because there was no ordinance on the book to cover this situation, the CPA said he had to lean towards what the law said and that was to charge for electricity.
“We felt a $250 flat rate was fair for the festival, and the charge to rent the park was $75,” said Champagne.
Stelly and Kloesel felt this was wrong and this was the reason they attended the council meeting, to pay their fees and to ask questions.
“All this could have been avoided if I could have spoken with the mayor since the event took place,” said Kloesel. “I have been to city hall on numerous occasions to speak with him about this charge, and he was never there. That is why I was at the council meeting. To speak with him, not embarras him. When I tried to talk and ask questions, I was told my two minutes were up.” (Discussions from the audience have a time limit of two minutes.)
After the three exchanged words, Champagne took their check and tore them up and said, “I’ll pay the fees myself.”
When Champagne told them their two minute allotment was up (all speakers at the council meetings are alllowed two minutes to speak to the council), Stelly’s parting words were, “I think you are being very rude the way you are handling this.”
After a call was made to Woody Woodruff, the city attorney, he said there is a way to solve this problem.
Woodruff said it is called a ‘cooperative endeavor agreement.’
“If the proceeds from the event are used to help the community, then the city can allow the use of electricity, but all vendors must be individually metered to pay their own usage.”