New Parish Council members will get down to business

The newly elected members of the St. Mary Parish Council will roll up their sleeves Wednesday for their first regular meeting since the fall elections and the Jan. 13 swearing-in ceremony.
They’re likely to hear about dredging at the Port of Morgan City and the possibility of another round of high water.
Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District Director Raymond “Mac” Wade is on the agenda for the 6 p.m. Wednesday meeting at the St. Mary Parish Courthouse in Franklin.
At the port meeting last week, members learned that efforts to remove fluff mud, which interferes with some vessel propulsion systems, from the Bar Channel are beginning to work.
But an attempt to have more than $30 million added to a federal budget appropriation for work on the Bayou Chene and Atchafalaya River channels has been rejected.
Port officials are also keeping an eye on the Atchafalaya River level. The river is forecast to reach 5.8 feet, or 0.2 feet below the minor flood stage, at Morgan City early next month.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has already increased levee inspection patrols because of high water in the Mississippi River at New Orleans.
The concern is that an early flood-stage level is a bad sign for the spring, when snow melt and rain runoff are likely to be coming down the river from the north.
Also on the agenda:
—A report from Jeffery Duhe, who represents the U.S. Census Bureau in Louisiana.
—Introduction of an ordinance that would combine Consolidated Drainage Districts No. 2 and No. 6 into a new District 2a.
Earlier this month, Drainage District 2 Chairman Lee Dragna appealed to the council to wait to consolidate the districts.
Dragna said he agrees with consolidation, but said District No. 2 is currently in the middle of work that includes levee certification.
The district is also about to begin $6.5 million in work on a pump station in Morgan City, he said.
—A resolution setting a tax election for St. Mary Parish Water and Sewer Commission No. 1.
—Appointments to Fire Protection District 1 and Mosquito Control District 1 boards in the Cypremort Point area; to the Advisory Budget/Finance Committee; to Fire Protection District 11 in Four Corners; Recreation District No. 6 in Baldwin, Jeanerette and Charenton area; Water & Sewer Commission No. 2 in Bayou Vista; and Water & Sewer Commission No. 4 serving Chatsworth, St. Joseph, Irish Bend, Yokely, Sorrell, Websterville, Charenton and St. Peter Street areas.