By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

VACHERIE – The St. James Council on Monday approved the change of a Convent street name to better reflect the area’s current utilization.
Convent-based St. James Stevedoring Co. requested to rename Central School Street as Safety Drive Street. The company proposed the name change after they purchased the property that formerly housed Romeville Elementary School. The ordinance, which initially introduced at the council’s Feb. 6 meeting, passed with no opposition.
St. James Parish and the State of Louisiana have signed an agreement to purchase land for wetland assimilation and wetland habitat restoration. According to the ordinance, the Louisiana State Capital Outlay Program has set aside $1 million for the parish to purchase approximately 236.2 acres of land for the project. Besides specific geographic coordinates, no further details were available concerning what the wetlands assimilation would entail.
The council passed the ordinance and agreed to discuss it further at their next meeting.
Toward the end of the meeting, Councilman James Brazan mentioned that someone attempting to stuff their recyclable products into an over-full bin cut their hands on something protruding from it.
Parish President Timmy Roussel had already mentioned earlier in the meeting that he had made contact with representatives of Ramelli Waste LLC and would meet with them soon to discuss more frequent emptying of the bins. Roussel advised that any residents who noticed a full bin should contact either Shane or Pam at the company.
Roussel also mentioned that the River Region Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a reverse trade show on March 6 and that more details will be publicized when available.
The next St. James Parish Council meeting will take place March 6 in Convent.