Now sewer commission grapples with records

PATTERSON — The Wards 5 and 8 Joint Sewage Commission learned Monday that five months of discharge monitor reports could be late to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
However, as the discussion began, board members discovered that five years of records have been stored on the personal computer of long-time Superintendent Mickey Carmouche, who exits at the end of this month,
The commission also elected Commissioners Michael Stewart chairman and Tim Kyle vice chairman.
And before those selections, they welcomed their former chairman Chris Cooper back to the commission. He resigned in September after coming under fire for announcing a rate increase that went into effect Oct 1, which affects residents from Calumet to Berwick.
The commission is an intergovernmental entity created 41 years ago by the St Mary Parish Council, the city of Patterson and the town of Berwick.
Its mission is to provide sewer services, and to operate a regional sewage treatment facility to eastern St Mary Parish. It is responsible for providing safe, high-quality sewer services to residents in those specific wards, as outlined in its mission statement and financial reports.
The commission has had numerous commissioners since who are paid a modest $60 per month for their board attendance and work.
For the past 20 years, Carmouche has served as their main employee. But in October, he announced his retirement effective Nov. 30.
The St. Mary Joint Sewage Commission of Wards 5 and 8 has been cited by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality multiple times for various violations. Specific instances of citations were found in search results in 2011, 2019, and 2020, according to an AI search.
In 2020, the Department of Environmental Quality cited the commission for “effluent limitation exceedances, record management deficiencies and storm water pollution prevention plan deficiencies.” The facility was found to be out of compliance with new Environmental Protection Agency fecal sample rulings and had instances where fecal sampling discharge was over state allowable limits. 
The AI search states, “The exact total number of all citations over the commission’s entire history is not explicitly stated as a single number in the provided snippets, but records indicate a history of issues leading to multiple enforcement actions.”
Most of the present commissioners have been serving on the board less than 10 years.
On Monday, Hannah Orgeron of Providence Engineering, a firm that has been working for the commission for decades, informed commissioners
that five months of discharge monitor reports are missing from the commission’s online file with the DEQ, specifically the months of June through October.
“Eventually you guys are going to get a letter from the DEQ,” Orgeron warned commissioners.
Carmouche, the commission’s superintendent, answered, “They’ll be done tomorrow, with an explanation as to why they are late.”
But Commissioner Stewart asked, “Why are they late? Right now, we have a month to get all of this together,” referring to Carmouche retiring from the commission at the end of November. “And, you still have November and December to finish.”
Carmouche replied, “It will all be done tomorrow. Just look at past records. They’ve all been done.”
“I’m not going to sit here and argue with you,” Stewart pressed.
“Neither will I. They’ll be done. But when I leave, so does my computer, because that’s my personal computer. We’ve only bought one computer within that time period.”
Karen Sehon, commission secretary asked, “So you’re going to take all that information and put it on a hard drive? Will you erase it off of yours?”
Carmouche replied yes, so he can have the memory space back on his.
But Orgeron suggested the commission move to give all of the commissioners authority to sign off on the reports so that they will be done in a timely manner, and all agreed.
On another topic, CJ Franklin, director of business development with Providence Engineering, outlined the information the commission will have to provide to complete an application for a grant to remedy over $5 million in needs.
“We need to do a full engineering assessment to fill in a lot of required information that is needed,” in order to complete a full ask, Franklin said.
“They always ask what are you doing. What needs to fixed and why? No one is just going to hand you money.”
The commission is compiling information to apply for grants as it waits for results from a rate study on exactly what it should be charging consumers, in the hopes of funding its financial woes.
In other business, at the start of the meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to rescind the resignation of their former Chairman Cooper, and formally reappoint him to the commission.
Cooper resigned Sept. 11, after coming under fire at a city of Patterson Council meeting, regarding a $1.50 rate increase the commission announced in August, saying the commission is basically broke.
“I cannot understand how any of us can put up with this ridicule and condemnation while giving our time as a volunteer to the commission,” Cooper said. “We are paid $60 a month.”
He further explained, he and “a very capable and knowledgeable board decided to implement a rate increase to help with the debt, much needed repairs, and updates to the facilities and equipment which suffer from many, many years of extreme neglect and total lack of maintenance to just name a few.”
Cooper made no mention of his resignation during the meeting.
Questioned afterward on why he wanted to return to service, he said, “Many people have called, asked and encouraged me to do so. I’m here to serve and help the community, which is something we should all want to do.”
The $1.50 increase is assessed per 1,000 gallons of water the sewage systems receive from consumers who live in the city of Patterson, the town of Berwick, and those who live in the Calumet, Bayou Vista and unincorporated areas outside Patterson.
Commissioner Kyle said that previously, the commission charged each entity $3.50 per 1,000 gallons of sewage outfall processed, by the commission’s equipment. However, he said that charge can’t cover rising costs and equipment issues.
Faced with obligations contained within the St Mary Parish intergovernmental agreement, the Patterson City Council and the town of Berwick have since voted to accept the controversial sewer service rate increase and pass it on to their constituents.