City gets clean audit report; debates cemetery plot mixup

Franklin received an “unmodified,” or clean opinion on last year’s financial audit.
The mayor and council heard from Blaine Crochet, with Darnall, Sykes, Gardes and Frederick who presented the 2014-15 audit report.
City sales tax collections have declined sharply in recent months, Mayor Raymond Harris Jr. said. That is a result in declining oil field operations affecting most governments in Louisiana.
Also Tuesday, Chucky Henry, a local provider of burial services, approached the city council regarding a deceased man who was placed in the wrong plot in the Franklin Cemetery.
A discussion ensued between Henry, City Clerk Karen Leblanc and the mayor. Henry maintained that he had placed the body in the proper plot according to city instructions; Leblanc said the usual forms provided to Henry specified a different plot nearby.
As a compromise, Leblanc said if the deceased’s family provided the deed to the plot that had been purchased by the family, the city would swap ownership with the other, which had not been sold. Henry said the only family member he had been able to contact was elderly and hard to communicate with and that the deed had not yet been found.
The council took no action.
Councilman Dale Rogers initiated a discussion regarding sidewalks on Cynthia Street beside Franklin High School.
The city resurfaced Cynthia Street about 10 years ago and Mayor Harris said there was an agreement with the St. Mary Parish School Board that they would construct sidewalks after the road was repaired. Those sidewalks were never constructed. The council took no action, but legal counsel Russel Cremaldi said he would speak with the school board’s legal counsel on the matter.
In other business:
—Pearl Rack and Cynthia Prince discussed the Red Ribbon Week schedule for the Oct. 23-Nov. 1.
—Judge Lori Landry invited the mayor and council as well as the public to Lighthouse Missionary Baptist Church’s upcoming fall festival event Nov. 5-8.
—Susan Thibodaux and Lil Miss Shining Star Haydee LaCoste invited the mayor, council and the public to the Franklin Harvest Moon Festival set for Oct. 31.
—Drake Daigle requested and was granted a noise variance on Nov. 21 for a car and audio show at Franklin High School.