Popular Mandeville Public Market Gets New Contract from City Council
The popular Mandeville Trailhead Market was given new life by the City Council Thursday night with the approval of a one-year agreement with the contractor who has operated it for the past 10 years. Last month, the council raised several questions on a resolution authorizing Mayor Donald Villere to execute a one-year renewal with Donna Beakley to run the market, which features gourmet foods, plants, crafts and other items.
Instead of passing the resolution, the council voted to extend Beakley’s contract for two months to allow the market, which is staged every Saturday in Old Mandeville, to continue without interruption.
Several market vendors attended Thursday’s meeting to support Beakley and applauded the council’s decision to renew the contract. Mayor Pro Tem Rick Danielson explained that the decision was deferred last month because council members, four of whom are newly elected, did not have a clear understanding of how the market worked. “We now have a much better understanding of how the market is managed,” said Danielson, who said the questions were not intended to cast doubt on the Beakley or the market itself.
Under the contract, the city pays Beakley $15,000 a year to coordinate the market. Each vendor pays $15 a week to set up booths at the market. Beakley is allowed to keep the fees, which she says she uses to offset expenses. The market draws an average of 35 vendors each week, but can attract up to 70 during the holiday season.
Council members were told they would receive regular reports on the market’s activities under the new agreement. The market draws between 150 and 400 shoppers each week, depending on the time of year.
The council Thursday night also cleared the way to launch the city’s long discussed water tower project. The council approved a resolution to authorize Mayor Donald Villere to enter into a $211,306 contract with Richard C. Lambert Consultants, LLC for engineering services for the tower on Rapatel Street at the far eastern side of the city near Fontainebleau State Park.
The issue was brought before the council in October, but was deferred because of concerns with the wording of the proposed contract. On Thursday, the contract was approved with little discussion. The entire water tower project is expected to cost about $2.3 million, city officials said.
The city currently has one 750,000-gallon water tower on St. Ann Street and a second decommissioned tower on Monroe Street that is leased to communications companies for cell phone antennas.
Construction of a new tower would improve water pressure, especially for fire fighting, facilitate future expansion of the Mandeville water system and allow the city to shut down the St. Ann Street tower for maintenance, officials said.
The engineering contract is mostly for foundation work on the tower, which will be similar to the St. Ann Street tower.
An ordinance aimed at preventing bow hunting mishaps in Mandeville was introduced at Thursday’s meeting. Sponsored by Councilman David Ellis, the measure would disallow the use of high-powered bows within the city limits.
Ellis said some Mandeville residents became concerned after a man was cited last month for trespassing in the Sanctuary subdivision, where police said he had been deer hunting with a bow. The ordinance is designed to strengthen laws that currently disallow the use of firearms in the city. It would make it unlawful for anyone to shoot a bow with a pull weight of 30 pounds or greater within the city “except for persons acting in the necessary defense of life or property.”
If put it place, the law would not prevent Boy Scouts or students at Mandeville High School from using low-powered bows for archery practice.
