Morgan City Council supports juvenile justice district

The Morgan City Council on Tuesday signed on to an effort to tackle an increasingly vexing and costly problem: how and where to detain juvenile offenders, especially violent offenders.

The council approved a resolution supporting the creation of an Acadiana Regional Juvenile Justice District. The district could be a first step toward building a center that would create regional detention space that local officials say is badly needed.

Also Tuesday, the council paid tribute to Coast Guard’s role in the community and introduced an ordinance setting property tax rates for 2023. And Mayor Lee Dragna said Morgan City is about to get a $7.5 million grant for – something.

Juvenile justice

Media accounts credit state Rep. Mike Huval, R-Breaux Bridge, with plans to introduce legislation creating the Acadiana Regional Juvenile Justice District when the 2023 session opens April 10. Although there are different versions of which parishes might be involved, the three parishes in the 16th Judicial District – St. Mary, St. Martin and Iberia – are part of the plan.

Government and justice system officials from across the region have been meeting to talk about what the district might accomplish.

Louisiana has struggled to find the best way to deal with juvenile justice since at least 2003, when the Legislature attempted reforms in response to reports of physical and sexual abuse of detainees at the notorious Tallulah juvenile facility.

Louisiana eventually adopted what has been called “the Missouri model,” based on moving away from large, centralized detention facilities to smaller facilities close to where the offenders live, and offering mental health counseling and other services.

The reviews are mixed. But it seems clear that not enough small facilities have been created to handle the demand, especially since 17-year-olds began to be treated as juveniles in 2019.

Both 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhé and Morgan City Court Judge Kim Stansbury have publicly warned that raising the maximum age has increased both the number of offenders in the system and the level of violence in their offenses.

“Juvenile crime, violent juvenile crime, is at an all-time high,” Morgan City Court Judge Kim Stansbury told the council Tuesday.

Local police departments face a tough choice after arresting a potentially violent juvenile: Put a hole in the city budget by sending the youth to an out-of-the-area facility, if one with space can be found, or release the offender to the custody of parents.

Officials had to hustle to find space to detain a teenager arrested with a gun near the site of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival last fall. And Stansbury told the council that Berwick recently sent one juvenile to a facility in Alabama at a cost of $250 per day.

Stansbury said officials involved with the proposed district will be looking for capital outlay funding in the coming legislative session. And federal grant money to help operate the center may be available, he said, if it can provide services such as mental health and substance abuse counseling.

Coast Guard

The council gave Positive Image recognition to the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit Morgan City and its top officer, Cmdr. Ben Russell.

Councilman Lou Tamporello said people know the 90-member Coast Guard for unit for its rescue, safety and inspection work. But “they’re a group of people who have been involved in the community.”

“This is a Coast Guard town,” Russell said. “We live here. We range across the parish as well. …

“I’m only the guy who gets the picture. This is for them.”

Russell thanked Dragna and the council for supporting the Coast Guard after Hurricane Ida came ashore at Port Fourchon in 2021. Morgan City housed 250 Coast Guard members in Ida’s aftermath.

Grant
Dragna announced that he’s been notified that he’s been told that the city will receive a $7.5 million federal grant. But he didn’t say what the grant is for or which agency it will come from. That will have to wait for an official announcement from the agency, Dragna said.

Taxes

The ordinance setting property tax rates would keep them 16.07 mills for general purposes and 2 mills for operating the Municipal Auditorium.

The ordinance could come up for a public hearing and passage vote as soon as the April 24 meeting.

The latest reassessment set the assessed valuation of Morgan City property at about $134.7 million.

A mill is 1/10th cent of tax on each dollar of assessed valuation. Louisiana’s homestead exemption does not apply to property taxes levied by city governments.

Streets
The council accepted the low bid for proposed street work at the intersection of Sixth and Duke streets.

The engineer estimate was that the work would cost about $277,000. The council accepted the bid of Gray Construction Corp. of Morgan City for about $186,000.

The council also passed a resolution accepting substantial completion of work by Gray in the Justa-Allison area.