By Zoe Pickett

The Town of Cullen has enlisted a specialist to shine light on the town’s financial situation.

Helen Godfrey-Smith, the advisor, explained to the aldermen that the town has always had the funds to settle the $22,000 outstanding balance owed to Knights Services. These funds were found in a Louisiana Asset Management Pool (LAMP) account. Godfrey-Smith is providing her services without compensation.

Residents learned in this meeting the town also owes Indian Creek Construction approximately $16,000 for repairs to broken water lines. The LAMP account will also be used to pay this invoice. The council approved the transfer of the funds found in the LAMP account to be used to pay its outstanding invoices. 

“We are working with CPA firms,” Godfrey-Smith said. “Within the next 30 to 45 days we will have a budget submitted to the aldermen, and she (CPA) is working hard to get the audits up to date,” Godfrey-Smith said. 

Mayor Terry Hoof asked his secretary to read House Bill 555 which states that residents are not allowed to select their own garbage collection services.

Hoof said the town will be in a trial period with town employees picking up residents’ trash and disposing of it in one of the dumpsters provided by Republic Services. There are 4 dumpsters for Cullen residents at the moment, and the town employees have made a route to ensure every resident’s trash would be picked up on Fridays. Residents are responsible for buying their own trash cans. 

It was reported that Knights Services is charging for 463 households and they only have 412. It was not stated whether this was a new change to their contract. The town will no longer be using Knights Services after paying the balance due in attempt to help save the town money. 

Other items on the agenda included town attorney giving the council a template of the ordinance pertaining to business hours for them to look over and come to an agreement on when business should be opened and closed. They also voted to hire Officer Katie Rankin.