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Liz Touchet was involved in her husband Wayne’s political life for 18 years as he served on the Vermilion Parish Police Jury.
She will continue that work as the first female to serve on the police jury after being appointed to fill the District 5 vacancy left on the board by his death on June 15. The VPPJ voted unanimously to appoint her to fill the remaining 17 months of his term at a special meeting held Tuesday in the police jury room at the Vermilion Parish Courthouse in Abbeville.
Touchet displayed a photo of her late husband while addressing the police jury. Many family members and friends filled the public seating space in the police jury room for Tuesday’s meeting.
“Thank you all so much,” she said. “Thank you to our family and friends, especially to the police jury members and the staff who had Wayne, and I’s back at every turn, even these last two difficult years.
“We know he had a passion for service and was trying to take care of District 5 even on his lowest days. He would tell me what to say, who to call, and how to handle some of the issues. He was so upset when he missed his third meeting in a row. He knew he had never done that before and didn’t want the public to think he wasn’t working.”
She said she calmed him down and told him she would read him the minutes of the meeting when they got them, and he seemed to be satisfied with that.
Ronald Darby, who has served for 18 years on the Vermilion Parish Police Jury in District 4, which abuts District 5, nominated Liz Touchet to serve the remainder of her husband’s term in office.
Mark Poché, who serves as the District 6 police juror, said he looks forward to working alongside Liz Touchet.
“When Wayne first got sick, about six months ago, he called me, and he asked me to do this for him,” Poché said. “He said, ‘in the event, something happens, I want you to be the guy to bring Liz on board.’ It’s very unusual to get that call, and I was honored to be the person to get that call.
“I’ve been sitting on the side of Wayne for 18 years, and I’m excited to have you sitting on the side. We’ve had a lot of discussions. Me and Wayne would get fussed at a lot because we were the ones that would talk in the meetings.”
“Without recognition,” another juror offered.
Touchet often shared photos and stories of his family life with Poché, the District 6 juror said.
“So I’m honored to have you here until this election comes up next year,” Poché said to Liz Touchet. “I have some jurors that say I can’t stay sitting alongside of you because there were things I did to Wayne in the meetings that I can’t do to you, but I’m still very happy to have you here, and welcome aboard.”
Liz Touchet said she spoke with her husband several times about her being appointed to his seat, saying she would laugh and say, “‘They’re never going to do it.’ And he would say, ‘Yes, they will. You can do the job, and you will. God knows you had enough training listening to me on the phone and in my actions of how I handled things.’ So he would shake his head and he would say, ‘That’s enough, you can do it.’ Because Wayne would always say, ‘That’s enough, Liz. I’ll be watching you.’
So it is with great pride and humbleness that I accept the position of District 5 police juror to finish filling out Wayne’s term on the jury. I know I will have help along the way as you guys are the best, and you guys are our second family. Please don’t ever stop saying, ‘Well, Wayne did it this way.’ Thank y’all.”
Darby said he had been friends with Liz and Wayne Touchet for a long time, and that the two were there for Darby when his wife passed away, visiting and taking care of his kids.
“I just want to appreciate you, and I’ll be honored, you being the first woman in the history of Vermilion Parish to be called a juror here, and I’ll be honored to serve with you,” he said.
Liz Touchet tearfully thanked Darby and the other police jurors.
After the meeting, she said she had talked to her husband for many months about possibly having to serve out his term.
“When he talked to me about it, I told him I would try my best, and he said ‘Well, you should know what I’m doing. We’ve been doing it for 18 years,’” she said. “And I told him, yes, and I think I could handle it. I didn’t believe they would put me in, but I’m very proud to serve and honor him.”
She also said she’s very proud to be the first woman to serve on the parish police jury.
“We didn’t know that this is how it would end up, but I will do my best to honor District 5 and do what Wayne wanted me to do,” she said. “It’s bittersweet, but I’ve learned a lot in the last 18 years with him, so I think I can do a good job. I know I can.”
Parish legal counsel Paul Moresi III told the police jury that under state election code, when a vacancy occurs under a parish authority such as a police jury or parish council, the parish government has 20 days to fill that vacancy with someone who meets the qualifications for that office. If not filled in 20 days, July 5 in this case, the governor has the right to fill the vacancy.
Because the next police jury meeting was not scheduled until July 20 — more than a month after the seat became vacant — the police jury called the special meeting. Moresi said he would make sure that the proper paperwork was sent to the secretary of state by July 5 to let the state know the vacancy had been filled.
Moresi said he and police jury president Jason Picard weren’t sure if a special election would have to be called to fill the remainder of the term, but research into the election code and a letter to the secretary of state clarified the issue.
“The next primary election for District 5 would occur in October of 2023,” Moresi said. “That’s less than 18 months from the vacancy. As a result, the law specifically says that no special election will be called, and the appointee, Liz, will serve the remainder of the term in office.”

Appropriations for a safe room to house a Vermilion Parish emergency operations center will be eliminated from the 2022 federal budget, and funds will be reappropriated for an EOC building, State Rep. Ryan Bourriaque, R-Abbeville, told the Vermilion Parish Police Jury at its meeting Wednesday.
Bourriaque was at the police jury meeting to report on the recent state legislative session and its impact on Vermilion Parish.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about the appropriation,” Bourriaque said. “As you know, the federal appropriation was for $5.25 million for a safe room. It’s been determined that really the appropriation would have been more appropriate for an emergency operation center, an EOC, which has a whole different set of guidelines, but it really is more suited to what the parish intends to construct.”
Parish administrator Keith Roy has been working with Congressman Clay Higgins’ office, Bourriaque said, to eliminate the funding and get new appropriation for an EOC building.
“Unfortunately, the EOC funding has a cap of $3 million, so your funding will go from $5.25 to $3 million,” Bourriaque said. “But it still appears that it’ll be more useful and you’ll get more out of the $3 million than you could’ve used with the $5 million, based on the safe room requirements.”
The parish sent a letter to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and FEMA, and GOHSEP sent a letter to the federal emergency organization as well requesting the $5 million in funds be canceled, in anticipation of the EOC funding being appropriated.
The safe room had been planned because the parish needed an area where officials could gather to monitor and plan for emergencies such as hurricanes. The parish courthouse is too crowded, and doesn’t have facilities like showers and cooking areas to be used in case of such emergencies.
“We got notification from Congressman Higgins’ office today,” Bourriaque said. “It appears that it’s going to be an appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security and the appropriation will be for next fiscal year, so the funds should be available in October.”
Fifteen hundred bills were introduced in the past legislative session, he said, and he thought local representatives did some good for the district, which he wanted to let the police jury know about. Bourriaque said he carried the fiscal year 2023 annual plan for the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority for the entire state, and he is one of three members of the CPRA board from the area. The CPRA annual plan was for $1.3 billion in coastal projects across the state.
“I was impressed to know the CPRA acknowledges this area, they acknowledge the Chenier Plain, the needs that we have,” he said.
Bourriaque highlighted some of the projects that were done the past fiscal year, including:
• $3.2 million for mill, patch, overlay and drainage on La. 697 from La. 343 to La. 167;
• $1.9 million for work on La. 35 from La. 14 to Suire’s;
• $1.8 million for patch, overlay and drainage on La. 3287;
• work on La. 13 from two miles north of La. 14 to the Acadia Parish line.
He also said work scheduled to be let this year includes downtown Abbeville streetscaping (sidewalk repair and lighting) for $480,000; phase 3 of work in Kaplan (landscape, signage and lights) for $669,000; and La. 35 from La. 82 to Suire’s, getting a thin overlay.
Bourriaque said he typically gets a lot of questions about why some roads are getting funds for improvement when other roads that are in worse shape are not getting repaired.
“When 82 from the Perry Bridge south to Palmetto was overlaid, I got quite a few calls saying, ‘Why in the hell are we re-overlaying one of the best roads in the parish when we’ve got all these other roads’ (that are in worse condition)? DOTD started a new program in the 90s, a preventative maintenance program, it’s a PMP. There’s federal money that comes in. You’re going to see those roads that were moved to the PMP, every six to seven years, if nothing else, get a thin overlay. So 35 from Suire’s south to that intersection with 82, really, all things considered it isn’t too bad, especially if you just came off of 82 from Esther back to 35.
“The preservation program is going to assist with the thin overlay on 35 so that we don’t wait 30 or 40 years for the full funding to get there, to get down to the base, do stabilization, do milling and then come back up with a two-inch overlay.”
The Perry Bridge rehabilitation project should get underway this year, he said, as part of a $9.1 million project.
In design in the highway priority program is $402,000 on La. 700 to replace the bridge over Bayou Grand Marais. La. 82 from La. 35 to La. 333, work is scheduled at $5.4 million to stabilize the base and do overlay.
Three bridge projects are in the highway priority program — the downtown Abbeville bridge ($8 million), the bypass ($8 million) and the Little Prairie Bridge. The number of antiquated bridges that have structural issues is important to discuss, he said, with the DOTD’s off-system bridge program in place to “replace or rehabilitate structurally deficient or functionally obsolete parish structures in a cost efficient manner.”
“The fact that we’re getting all of these in the highway priority program at the same time when the legislature is putting a priority on shifting one-time surplus dollars to preservation and to off-system bridges, and when you’ve got IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) money coming down, $200 million that’s going to nothing but bridges, we’ve got to get these projects designed and ready to go when that grant money hits,” Bourriaque said.
The police jury also heard from Waste Connections officials about trash pickup issues and container replacement issues that some residents reported.
Ben Rivera of the Vermilion Economic Development Alliance introduced new program administrator Victoria Sagrera Bourque to the council. A Vermilion Parish native, Bourque studied coastal restoration and worked in coastal restoration and advocacy in southeast Louisiana.
“I’m excited to apply that here, but also apply the economic development list to that, because those two tie in very nicely,” she said. “I’m very excited to be back home, working with you.”

The Vermilion Parish School Board is still dealing with repairing school roofs from a pair of hurricanes that occurred two years ago, while at the same time, trying to find ways to save money to run the school system.
Two years ago, Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta damaged school roofs. The schools had more than $20 million worth of damage, most being the school roofs.
At Thursday’s meeting, the school board approved another $200,000 to repair the roof at Kaplan High School. The repairs have been taking place over the last month and the total bill thus far for the new roof is $1.7 million.
The additional $213,000 was to replace piping used for the drainage. The cost includes:
• The PCV pipes.
• Two plumbers charge $80 per hour.
• A plumber’s helper at an hourly rate of $60.
• Speaking of plumbers, the school board is now in the market to hire a Master Plumber to work for the school board.
The qualifications for Master Plumber:
• Must have a valid Louisiana Masters Plumbers license
• Able to lift 80 pounds
• Read and interpret blueprints
• Must be able to compile a bill of materials from blueprints or drawings
• Must know about all applicable plumbing and sanitary codes.
The salary of Master Plumber was not mentioned.
In other business, the school board rehired LUBA Casualty Company insurance company to be the school system’s workers’ compensation insurance company.
Out of the 14 insurance companies requested to send a quote, only LUBA responded. The 13 others declined to give a quote.
LUBA provided workers’ compensation insurance for the school system last year for around $300,000.
LUBA’s new price is $523,695, which is $223,000 more than a year ago.
The school board approved rehiring LUBA despite the $223,000 rate increase.

Sister Leah Sellers, O. Carm. Returns to God

Sister Leah Sellers, O. Carm., a Sister of Mount Carmel, died June 17, 2022 at Eastridge Nursing Home, Abbeville, LA. She was 83 years old and in the 65th year of her religious profession.
Sister Leah, formerly Sister Mary Alphonse, was born on January 9, 1939 in Abbeville, LA. She was the last of three children born to the late Alphonse J. “Sam” Sellers of Abbeville, LA and Nella DeRouen of Jefferson Island, LA. She entered the Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1954 and received the habit of the Sisters of Mount Carmel in 1955. On Aug. 1, 1957, she made her first profession, and pronounced perpetual vows in 1962. She celebrated her 60th Jubilee in 2017.
Sister attended Mount Carmel Elementary, Abbeville, LA and Mount Carmel High School, Abbeville, LA. She received a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Administration and Supervision from Loyola University, New Orleans, LA.
Sister Leah devoted 49 years to Catholic education. She served on faculties of Cathedral Carmel School, Lafayette, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Westwego, St. Louis King of France, Metairie, Mount Carmel, New Iberia, St. Joseph Elementary, Thibodaux, St. Dominic School, New Orleans, and Trinity Catholic School, St. Martinville, LA. She also served as principal at St. James Major Elementary in New Orleans and St. Joseph Elementary in Rayne, LA. Sister worked as Director of Religious Education at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Erath, LA, and as a full time teacher she started a literacy program at St. Martin Parish Correctional Center, Breaux Bridge. She also served as full-time teacher at St. Landry Parish Jail which, through the Diocese of Lafayette, started an Adult Basic Education Program. She volunteered at Pelican Point Nursing Home, Maurice, LA and she served as spiritual advisor to Lay Carmelites in Abbeville, LA.
Sister was preceded in death by her parents, sister, Loretta Faulk and brother, Paul Daniel Sellers. She is survived by nieces and nephews.
Services will be celebrated at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, 300 Pere Megret Street, Abbeville, LA on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. Interment will follow at Saint Paul Cemetery, 515 Jacqulyn St. Abbeville, LA. Arrangements entrusted to Martin & Castille Funeral Home, Lafayette, LA.
View the obituary and guestbook online at www.mourning.com
Martin & Castille-DOWNTOWN-330 St. Landry St., Lafayette, LA 70506, 337-234-2311.