Bayou Vista concerns test Parish Council

BAYOU VISTA — Two concerns stemming from a resident called town hall meeting last Tuesday will test the St. Mary Parish Council during their first meeting of the year.
One is to allocate $500,000 from the Wards 5 & 8 Sales Tax Fund for drainage and sewer system improvements, and the other, which could become an issue that could affect the whole parish, is to have separate checking accounts for each sales tax fund that the parish collects.
Both concerns are listed on the Jan. 14 meeting agenda, as items 17G and 17H. The meeting begins at 6 p.m., in the council chambers on the fifth floor of the St. Mary Parish Courthouse.
Dr. Kristi Prejeant-Rink, councilman at-large, listed the items on the agenda, after promising the Bayou Vista residents who attended last week’s meeting at the civic center.
“The is to garner a response from the rest of the council in regards to addressing the concerns of the Bayou Vista Community,” Rink said.
The meeting was hosted by Andrée Hebert, a concerned citizen of the area, who began to focus on St. Mary Parish government early last year, after her daughter’s car was flooded on her driveway, while sitting outside her home.
Hebert said she is grateful to Prejeant-Rink for listing the items on the agenda and encourages all Bayou Vista residents to attend.
“I won’t stop pushing until we see real fixes. We can’t keep doing the same things and expecting different outcomes. Let’s keep moving forward and find ways to tackle these issues together,” she said.
“Drainage in Bayou Vista has been neglected. Not that anyone specific is to blame, but I think it’s something that’s gotten away from parish government.”
Hebert said that from what she understands from reading and speaking with people, many have tried to make a difference, but their voices were silenced. They were told they didn’t know anything.
“We’ve spent a ton of money just trying to keep the system functioning. And since 2013, we have spent an immense amount of money in litigation over a faulty pump system the parish handed us. It never operated properly from the moment it was installed.”
Hebert said the $500,000 is greatly needed, “but it is a drop in the bucket for what we need.”
Chad Ross, chairman and co-chairman of two drainage districts which encompass Bayou Vista, agrees with Hebert.
“We’ll take the money. $500,000 doesn’t do a ton, but it can work with a matching grant. I will have to get with our engineers to find out what projects we can start with that kind of money.”
“We’ve talked about a fourth pump at our station. Maybe that’s something we can look at,” explaining presently there are three pumps and a generator at the site.
Ross told the town hall attendees last week that he has four shovel ready projects to fix problems, but doesn’t have a majority of the money needed for most of them, because the costs are into the millions.
Also, he said nine years ago, a pump station was built for Bayou Vista, but when it was designed, there was flaw and it never acted right. So for nine years, the drainage board has been in litigation to get it right.
“This year we were able to settle the lawsuit and come to an agreement to get the funding we need to get that pump station 100% operational,” he said last Tuesday.
The drainage chairman also noted the district is in the process of taking a land survey to see how much Bayou Vista has sunk over the years.
He said before the former Councilman Scott Ramsey died, he kept reiterating that Bayou Vista had sunk, “and our engineers believed him. Now, we’re going to establish how much it has, through this survey.”
St. Mary Parish President Sam Jones believes Bayou Vista has sunk along with Morgan City and Franklin.
“Results of a survey from 30 years ago showed Franklin had sunk over 1.3 feet, due to parts of the Atchafalaya flowing under the city.”
Jones said that while a new engineering survey will confirm data, “it’s safe to assume those numbers are probably more since folks are getting water in their homes that have never experienced that before in Bayou Vista.”
“We’ve had reports of Morgan City sinking as well. These reports all point to the fact that the river flows under our area. It’s all pointing to science.”
Councilman At-Large Dean Adams believes separate checking accounts for each sales tax fund will allow for more accuracy in spending parish dollars.
“The problem through the years is a gentlemen’s agreement over how the money in this tax is spent. Everything goes into the general fund. And it’s divided based on population.
“But if the parish administration needs money, I was told they borrow from this fund, and leaves an IOU, and there is no specific accountability,” Adams said.
He further explained that the only entity in the unincorporated areas of the parish that has their own share of the sales tax revenue is the Amelia area. He said that was created when the tax was originally brought up for a vote by T-Shoo Duhon, a former parish councilman. It was permanently marked to have a portion of its proceeds dedicated for Amelia recreation.
Rink agreed that the parish accounting of sales tax receivables and expenditures needs a lot of transparency and work, however, it suffers from a huge problem. It’s too swollen with convoluted wants and needs.