Warranted to serve

Many teenagers feel inspired to become a famous celebrity, while still others feel inspired to become a doctor or a lawyer. Few of them like Ronald Doucet, who currently holds the office of city marshal for the City of Ville Platte, feel inspired to become a public servant.
Doucet credited then police juror Bob Manuel on inspiring him to get into public service. “I didn’t look at it as politics when I first got into it,” he explained. “Bob Manuel inspired me a lot to get involved in it. I was 15-years-old, and I was working at Western Auto when I was a sophomore in school. Bob Manuel would come pretty often, and I knew he liked helping people, and it inspired me. I told him one day I’ll become a police juror.”
“When I was 23-years-old,” he continued, “I ran for public office, and I was elected. From there I served 14 years as a police juror.”
As juror he represented roughly 1,500 people in District 8 which encompasses a majority of the city limits as well as subdivisions to the south of the corporate limits. During this time, his biggest way of helping out the district was getting the roads overlaid.
“I was the one that got these roads overlaid at the Kennedy Subdivision,” he said. “The jurors kept applying for grants, and the sales tax helped us. Some of the roads like in the Wyble Subdivision were gravel forever. We had a grant and some taxes that we passed that we were able to get them overlaid. We also built a new sewer while I was there at the Wyble Subdivision, but the biggest part was the roads. That’s what people are pleased with.”
Doucet complimented the current police jury on carrying on some of the same measures that he started. “They are still doing a good job,” he stated. “The jury just renewed a tax, and they’re doing some roads that were never paved.”
Also while on the jury, he was able to serve the parish as chairman of Crooked Creek for a four year period. “During my administration as chairman, we brought in some cabins that we started renting to the public to enhance Crooked Creek,” Doucet said. “We also developed some more camper slots, and we made the park a lot bigger for the parish.”
In 2006 Doucet saw a greater opportunity to serve the people of Ville Platte. “I decided I liked helping people and the marshal position came up,” he stated. “It’s like I got more involved in the community because it was a bigger area. Before I was representing a district, now I represent a ward.”
“I enjoyed my time (on the police jury), and if this opportunity wouldn’t have been here for the marshal, I would have still been there,” he said. “I enjoy helping people with their problems. People come to me, and I try to help as many people as I can.”
Doucet ran for city marshal when Eddie Soileau vacated the position to become Evangeline Parish sheriff. “The police jury appointed Mike Lee as interim marshal until they had an election, and I decided to run for it,” he said. “The people of Ward 1 elected me to the position, and right now I’m on my second term.”
The area that he currently represents is the area inside the city limits as well as Ward 1 because of a quirk in the statute. According to Doucet, the city had a population of less than 10,000 people, and, in order to create a city court, the lawmakers included “the surrounding area like Chataignier, Faubourg, Belaire Cove, and Tate Cove to create 10,000 or more people.”
His main job responsibility as marshal is to serve as administrator of the city court. As he explained, “It’s the same responsibility of the sheriff. We serve subpoenas, we execute warrants and evictions, and we do repossessions and garnishments.”
“Everyday we’re serving something from the marshal office,” Doucet explained. “We have subpoenas, and we serve evictions. Everyday is kind of normal.”
While most of the days at the marshal’s office are normal, one day out of the year stands out for its excitement. “We do a round up once a year,” he said. “That’s when we get other marshals from surrounding parishes to come and assist me with executing my warrants when we have an overflow of warrants.”
Subpoenas and evictions are not the only things that Doucet does as marshal. He has the opportunity to also serve the people of the ward, which goes back to his original mission as police juror.
“A lot of times people may have problems with the court, and we make some payment plans for them,” he said. “We call it probation, and the court system is not putting people in jail. It’s about always helping people.”
He continued, “My job is to collect the fines or make sure that the people pay the fines, and we have a payment plan where we let them pay some installments on fines. A lot of people don’t have money, and they are pleased with their probation where they can pay it on terms. A lot of people also come in here who need help with legal problems, and we go to the judge to help them.”
Like his time on the police jury, Doucet also has an opportunity to serve the parish while assisting the district court in executing warrants and serving subpoenas. “We help each other,” he said. “We’re supposed to be what you call a family to make the system work for everybody. Sometimes we also send some of my guys for security when they are short handed with the court system.”
The most rewarding part of Doucet’s job as marshal is getting to know the people. “It’s rewarding in my book just knowing the people and dealing with the public, the business people, the common people, and everybody really.”
“I love this position that I have just by being with the public,” he added. “I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s exciting working with the people and knowing the people on a first name basis. I always did work in a public place before I became a public official, so I got to know a big portion of people in the parish dealing with them as an employee or an elected official.”
Doucet does not know what the future holds in store for him. As he said, “I have to just play it by ear and see what happens. I’m just living day by day.”