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Officials with the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, City of Abbeville and members of the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce take part in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new LSU AgCenter Extension Office in Abbeville.

AgCenter ribbon officially cut in Abbeville

On Thursday morning, Vermilion Parish officials cut the ribbon on the new LSU AgCenter Extension office building in Abbeville, more than two-and-a-half years after the old building became a casualty of historic flooding.
AgCenter agents have been operating out of the building, located on West Port Street, after moving in a few weeks ago. Vermilion Parish 4-H is also centralized in the building.
“We are enjoying this building,” LSU AgCenter agent Andrew Granger said. “It’s going to be great for the people of Vermilion Parish.”
Vermilion Parish Police Jury President Kevin Sagrera agreed.
“It’s a beautiful building,” Sagrera said Thursday morning. “It’s a good thing for our kids in 4-H to have this. There is a lot that goes through this building, from the farmers to aquaculture. This is a tremendous
organization here.
“We’re glad we were able to get this building together and get it back.”
During the historic flooding in August of 2016, the old extension office suffered heavy damage and the police jury made the decision to completely demolish the parish-owned building. Through the use of rededicated funds approved by Vermilion Parish voters, there is not only a new building, the ground it sits on is elevated.
“We want to thank the Police Jurors,” Andrew Granger said. “It is their vision and leadership that helped get us back in this building.”
Granger also acknowledged the citizens of the parish, who voted to approve re-dedication of $1.3 million from the Health Unit Advalorum Tax.
“We thank the people of Vermilion Parish,” Granger said. “They voted to make funds available to help make this happen.”
There had been some discussion of finding a new location for the AgCenter office. Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said Thursday during the ribbon cutting ceremony that he is grateful it remains in the city.
“I want to thank the jury and the county agents’ office for continuing the presence of this facility in Abbeville,” Piazza said. “I know there were a lot of choices and decisions of where to locate this facility. You had a lot of good options.
“You decided to pick Abbeville as your home site, and we very much appreciate that.”

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