ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- With financial issues in the town of Melville, Parish President Jessie Bellard and the St. Landry parish government have stepped in to lend a helping hand.

" Well, Melville has a unique situation, issues financially and administratively. It was brought up to the legislative auditor's office over the last year and they were trying to come up with a plan to fix it. But I met with a legislative auditor last week and he wasn't happy with what they call progress being done over there."

Bellard said the town has no policy or procedure for collecting payments from it's residents, making it a top priority.

"Our first game plan is to come up with policies and procedures and our team is already addressing that now. They have started collecting water bills and gas bills that have not been collected all year, without any revenue coming in it's hard to pay your bills," he added.

He also explained that with policies for collecting and dispersing money in place, the legislative office can release funds to the town to be used for improved water systems with new meters, new businesses to acquire sales tax, and even building the town's first gas station.

"We have to get to the basics right now and have the town operational to the point where they can start getting money in from the feds and the state, and once that money starts coming in and they start putting water meters in place it'll be a lot better," Bellard said.

Bellard said a C.P.A. has also been hired out of Baton Rouge to assist in getting Melville's finances in order.