Home Care In Cullen, LA

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing independent investigative reporting series examining municipal operations, public accountability and transparency in the Town of Cullen. The reporting and original work in this series were independently produced.

CULLEN, LA -- A municipal meeting was announced. Some council members said they were never officially notified. No council packets were distributed.

Then, when council members and residents arrived at Town Hall for the meeting Monday, they found the building locked.

No meeting was held.

The events marked the latest breakdown in a growing series of administrative and transparency concerns surrounding the Town of Cullen — concerns now extending beyond public-meeting procedures to renewed questions surrounding the town’s water and sewer operations and its ability to maintain essential services.

Cullen’s regular council meetings are typically held on the fourth Monday of each month. But the town’s recent meeting schedule has departed from that predictable pattern, raising renewed questions about how and when official municipal business is being conducted.

The latest meeting was announced for Monday, July 27, at 6 p.m. Council members Barbara Green and Bianchi Veal said they were never officially notified of the meeting and did not receive the council packets typically used to prepare for matters before the governing body.

The meeting notice appeared on the Town of Cullen’s website, which had been inaccessible for weeks before recently returning online with the new meeting announcement and other changes to the site.

But the notice and agenda were not posted at Town Hall, the location where the meeting was scheduled to be held.

Under Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law, public bodies are required to provide notice and make an agenda available in advance of public meetings. The law requires notice to be posted at the public body’s principal office or, if the public body has no principal office, at the building where the meeting is to be held. When a public body maintains a website, the notice and agenda must also be posted online.

The website posting does not replace the physical posting requirement.

When council members and residents arrived at Town Hall for the meeting Monday, they found the building locked.

Mayor Terry Hoof and Alderwomen Yolanda Castleman and Denise Epps-Hoof were not present, according to council members and residents waiting outside Town Hall. No public cancellation notice or explanation was provided by the mayor’s office, according to those who arrived for the meeting.

Water and sewer concerns add to growing questions over town operations

The turmoil at Town Hall unfolded as residents reported renewed problems with Cullen’s water system.

Residents reported that water pressure dropped to a trickle Sunday. By Tuesday morning, residents again reported extremely low water pressure, prompting renewed concerns about the reliability of the town’s utility operations.

The latest complaints come after months of previously reported issues involving Cullen’s water and sewer system.

Earlier reporting found that the town did not have a certified operator overseeing its water and sewer treatment facilities. At the time, questions were raised about whether non-certified personnel were performing duties typically handled by certified operators and whether the town was in compliance with state requirements.

The town has also experienced repeated boil-water advisories, raising questions among residents about communication, oversight and the long-term reliability of the system.

Months earlier, a leak was discovered at the town’s water tower, prompting involvement from the Louisiana Department of Health. The agency provided the town with a timeframe to correct the issue.

The leak was reportedly repaired; however, it remains unclear from available information who performed the repair work, what company or contractor was involved, and whether documentation of the repair has been made available.

The town has also recently increased water rates, while a proposed sewer-rate increase remains under immediate consideration. The proposed change would increase the sewer base rate from $8 to $30.

The cause of the current pressure problems, the extent of the affected area and whether they are connected to previous utility concerns were not immediately clear.

For residents who have experienced repeated water-related disruptions, the latest reports have intensified calls for transparency, reliable communication and answers from town leadership.

CULLEN, La. – Mayor Terry Hoof’s last day in office is Friday, according to a resignation letter he wrote two weeks ago to the Secretary of State’s office.

The letter was only received, however, early this afternoon, according to Deputy Secretary of State Trey Williams.

It had to be in the state's hands before it was official.

“I appreciate the opportunity to have served the citizens of the Town of Cullen and thank them for the trust placed in my during my tenure,” Hoof wrote in the letter dated July 13. It was notarized two days later.

Two Cullen alderwomen confirmed Tuesday to KTBS that Hoof had submitted a resignation letter. But neither knew or would say when he sent it to the Secretary of State and what effective date he provided.

Trey Brazan, an attorney in the Commissions Division, wrote a response to Cullen clerk UnTracy Brittentine also today, enclosing a copy of Hoof’s letter and spelling out the steps to take when the office is vacated.

The Board of Alderwomen has 20 days – after Friday but by Aug. 20 – to make an appointment to fill the office. Then the board must call a special election within 20 days, or on or before Aug. 18. The next available election dates are April 17 and May 29, with qualifying dates of Jan. 13-15.

However, the town also has the option to call the special election in the fall of 2027 during the gubernatorial election dates of Oct. 9, 2027 and Nov. 20, 2027.

If the board does not timely call the special election or make an appointment then it will be left up to the governor to make the decision.

Hoof was serving his third term as mayor. His term does not end until Dec. 31, 2028.

Alderwoman Floydean White, a former mayor, serves as the mayor pro tem and will act in his absence until an appointment is made.