Mayor: Patterson needs a flood plan

PATTERSON — The City Council heard more Tuesday about the possible factors that worsened two floods in two months: too much mown grass blown into streets, inadequate culverts, low-lying lots, trash in the ditches and construction that changes the runoff flow.
What the city needs before another big rainfall, Mayor Rodney Grogan said, is a plan in case money starts raining down from Washington.
Also at Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting, the council passed ordinances to let the St. Mary Community Action Agency and the Council on Aging use city facilities; appointed a new prosecutor for the mayor’s court; considered changing the speed limit on Red Cypress Road; and heard that bear-proof trash cans may actually be working too well.

Flood plan for flood plain
Patterson, like other Tri-City communities, struggled with high water in two one-day downpours in April and June.
Red Cypress Road resident Pat Wiggins, who appeared earlier this year to say cane trucks were making her life miserable, was back Tuesday to report that the June flooding put 1-1/2 feet of water on her property. Water didn’t get into her mobile home, which is raised.
But “I don’t know what to do,” Wiggins said. “But something has to be done.”
She said after the meeting that she didn’t feel she got much help.
But Grogan made a pitch for a comprehensive flood control plan for Patterson, based on discussions he attended recently in Washington.
Grogan was one of 25 mayors from Gulf Coast states and Arkansas who were invited to talk with federal officials. Flood control was an important topic.
Grogan learned that $1.6 billion in federal money is headed to Louisiana, including $60 million to be shared by agencies in Louisiana’s eight watersheds after the state takes a $20 million cut.
One big boost for Patterson seems unlikely, and a citywide flood fix would be expensive. Fixing problems south of the railroad tracks alone is known to require $3 million, the mayor said.
“But if we have a plan to do it in increments, we can get some things done,” Grogan said.
One place to start may be gauges placed at strategic points to measure differences in water levels, City Engineer Clay Breaud said. Those differences would help pinpoint blockages.
The need for grants makes the 2020 Census important, Grogan said. Government grants often rely on population totals and factors such as median household income, all tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau.

New prosecutor
The council confirmed the nomination of Erica Rose, an assistant district attorney in the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, as the mayor’s court prosecutor.
State law governing cities originally allowed the mayor or the mayor’s representative to serve as both judge and prosecutor in city courts, which handle alleged violations of city laws. But that system has come under fire for creating an impermissible conflict of interest.
So the council recently passed an ordinance creating the city prosecutor position.
Rose already serves in the same role for Franklin.
“My job is to protect the city of Patterson and make sure the laws are enforced,” Rose said. “But I have to make sure the laws are enforced equitably."

CAA and COA
The council unanimously approved ordinances authorizing lease agreements with the Community Action Agency and the Council on Aging.
The CAA will use space in the new Community Center at the old junior high school site. The Council on Aging will lease the old city hall.
From the CAA, the city will receive the consideration required by the lease in the form of the Head Start program, feeding programs, housing counseling for residents, health transportation for the needy and a residential energy program.
The consideration received from the Council on Aging will be services for seniors including meals at the site and for the home-bound, a wellness program, arts and crafts, civic information, and day trips.

What the
market will bear
Bears are stirring up more than old coffee grounds when they dig through trash cans to look for a nighttime snack.
Residents south of the railroad tracks use trash pickup containers with latches to keep the bears from spilling the garbage. According to the council discussion, bears that can’t find grub on one side of the tracks are foraging on the other.
That creates a problem. Like other companies, Pelican Waste & Debris, which picks up trash in Patterson, has gone to automated trash pickup.
Public Works Director Steve Bierhorst said the bear-proof cans require more effort to empty because they’re latched.
The company already factors the extra labor in for its south-of-the-tracks routes. But if the use of bear-proof containers becomes more widespread, costs will go up for Pelican and ultimately for Patterson residents.
Bierhorst threw out an idea for the Shady Grove area near U.S. 90 and north of the tracks, and it may not prove popular: asking residents to unlatch their containers after daylight but before 7 a.m.
The bears clear out after dawn, and the unlatched containers could be emptied into the trucks without adding manpower.
Change
in speed?
Without taking final action, the council talked briefly about changing the speed limit on Red Cypress Road, which had been the source of Wiggins’ cane truck problems.
But there are other problems as well, Grogan said, including young people driving to and from school and a lack of shoulders and good lighting on the road.
The speed limit is currently 35 mph from U.S. 90 to Martin Luther King Avenue, and 45 mph from MLK to La. 182.