Parish government has plans for COVID aid money

FRANKLIN — The St. Mary Parish government administration has plans for the first installment of federal COVID-19 aid. Parish Council members want to hear more them.
At its meeting Wednesday, the council introduced an ordinance amending this year’s budget to account for roughly $4.8 million it has received under the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Another $4.8 million is due next year.
This year, the administration is proposing that about $1.2 million be directed toward one of the goals marked as allowable and desirable by federal authorities administering the funds: improving water and sewer infrastructure.
The remaining $3.6 million would go to replacing revenue lost because of the COVID epidemic.
The administration presented its proposal at a Budget/Finance Committee meeting that preceded the council meeting. That led to questions from the council about why so much of the funding is going into replacing lost revenue.
Parish President David Hanagriff and Chief Administrative Officer Henry C. “Bo” LaGrange said they’ll provide council members with details about the proposal.
“We’re happy to give them that information,” Hanagriff said after the meeting.
Councilman Craig Mathews of Jeanerette said he hopes that public health will be a factor in deciding how the money earmarked for water and sewer improvements will be spent. Mathews mentioned problems with water from a well in the Glencoe area.
The budget amendment ordinance could come up for a public hearing and passage vote as early as the Sept. 8 council meeting.
Also Wednesday, Councilman James Bennett of Morgan City and Hanagriff engaged in a brief debate centering on St. Mary Parish Gravity Drainage District 2A, which serves the Morgan and Amelia areas.
The district has been a source of contention since separate districts serving Amelia and Morgan City were consolidated last year in what Hanagriff said was a move to save money and provide better service.
Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna, who chaired the Morgan City district’s board before the consolidation, has repeatedly challenged the procedure by which the districts were merged and the actions of the consolidated district since then.
Bennett asked Hanagriff why the District 2A board is paying for outside legal counsel when the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office will provide an attorney at no cost for political subdivisions in the parish. Eric Duplantis of the District Attorney’s Office, who serves as legal counsel for the Parish Council, was also the attorney for the consolidated district before the board retained outside counsel.
“There’s no reason to have a paid attorney,” Bennett said.
He said he’ll call drainage district chair Hanko Hoffpauir to every Parish Council meeting for answers if he has to.
Hanagriff said the Morgan City district hired outside counsel before the consolidation. And the board has been attacked and accused of malfeasance, Hanagriff said.
The failure of a ballot measure that would have consolidated the new district’s taxes complicated the board’s business by leaving three separate tax structures in place, he said.
“This board is under a lot of pressure,” Hanagriff said.
Just as the exchange between Bennett and Hanagriff became heated, Duplantis broke the tension with a joking objection to being referred to as a free lawyer. He’s paid by the District Attorney’s Office, he said.
But “the hiring of outside counsel by District 2A is perfectly legal,” Duplantis said.
In other action Wednesday:
—Councilwoman Gwendolyn Hidalgo of Bayou Vista asked the administration to find a way to cut grass in ditches along La. 182 and U.S. 90.
“It’s an eyesore coming into our parish,” Hidalgo said. “It’s time we did something.”
Storm season is also here, she said. “The water is not going to flow.”
—The council voted to remove Jeremy Chesteen from the St. Mary Parish Hospital Service District No. 2 board because of repeated absences from board meetings. A parish ordinance allows for the removal of any member of a political subdivision board who misses three meetings in a 12-month period.
The district serves the east end of the parish and owns the Morgan City hospital operated by Ochsner Health System under lease.
—The council passed a resolution to congratulate Mickey Carmouche, who has been named a 2021 Wastewater System Operations Specialist of the Year South by the Louisiana Rural Water Association
Carmouche has been an employee of the St. Mary Wards 5 & 8 Joint Sewer Commission for more than 20 years. The commission serves the area between Morgan City and Calumet.
—The council received the resignations of Tim Tregle from the Gravity Drainage District 2A board and Rickey Bourque from the Fire District 11 board.
—The council agreed to consider a request from Baldwin Mayor Abel Prejean to establish a no-wake zone on the Bayou Teche from Baldwin’s boat launch to the town limits.
“During times of high water, rapidly moving vessels have caused damage to property and accelerated erosion along the bayou,” Prejean wrote in a letter to LaGrange. “Additionally, they have also endangered fishermen in the bayou.”