Parish Council votes to remove MC drainage district board

The St. Mary Parish Council on Wednesday voted to remove the members of the Consolidated Drainage District 2A board, who saw years of controversy escalated to urgent by Hurricane Francine’s home flooding in Morgan City.
The district, or at least the pre-consolidation portion of the district that covers Morgan City and Siracusa, operates the pump stations designed to move flood water outside the levee system. Those stations were overwhelmed during the 8- to 10-inch deluge Sept. 11, when Francine came ashore nearby.
Water ended up in more than 300 homes. But even before that, officials had identified deficiencies, including inoperative and poorly installed pumps.
In advance of Wednesday’s council action, Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna spoke in a Facebook video about ending the agreement under which the city government handles pump station operations 7 a.m.-4 p.m. and mows grass for the district.
“I care about Morgan City,” Dragna said, “but I can’t handle you all,” referring to the parish government, with which the mayor has clashed before.
He also warned of trouble ahead.
“It’s coming like a freight train,” Dragna said. “It’s rolling downhill like there’s no tomorrow. And the only people who will be hurt are the citizens of Morgan City.”
Wednesday’s debate was between those who said the board failed to keep the pumps in good working order and didn’t manage money wisely, and those who said the current board members inherited a bad hand from their predecessors.
The vote to remove the board members was 8-3. Voting for removal were council members Jimmy Davis of Morgan City, Mark Duhon of Amelia, Patrick Hebert of Berwick, Gwendolyn Hidalgo and David Hill of Bayou Vista, Rodney Olander and J Ina of Franklin, and the Rev. Craig Mathews of Jeanerette.
Voting against were Dean Adams of Morgan City, Les Rulf of Patterson and Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves,” Rink said after the vote.
Hebert put the removal proposition on the agenda. He told the council about long delays in obtaining public records he requested from the district.
And when he received the information, he found that the district had paid for repairs to a leased excavator and passed up a chance to purchase the equipment economically before entering yet another lease agreement.
Based on Hebert’s account of board meeting tapes he reviewed, members didn’t seem to know that pumps that were supposed to operate automatically were switched to manual, and that the board was spending $27,000 a month for rental pumps to make up for pump station deficiencies.
“The board was astounded about it,” Hebert said.
Don Hicks, a Gravity Drainage District 2A board member whose resignation was also on Wednesday’s agenda, said even he has had difficulty obtaining information about the district.
“I didn’t agree with the way things were being done,” Hicks said.
Duhon talked about difficulties getting ditches mowed.
And former Parish President David Hanagriff described the district board as overwhelmed and not competent to do its jobs. Hanagriff linked board Chairman Charlie Solar, who is also Morgan City’s chief administrative officer, to Dragna, who has been a rival of Hanagriff.
Adams defended the board, and said some of the members complaining about its operations haven’t been attending the district’s meetings.
“If we’re going to remove these members, let’s get involved,” Adams said.
He also objected to the description of the board members as incompetent.
Adams said he doesn’t know board member Oscar Toups well, but doubts that Solar, Chuck Walters and longtime Port of Morgan City board member Tim Matthews could be described as lacking competence.
“I can’t believe that in the middle of hurricane season, two weeks before,” Adams said, “we’re going to remove a board when it’s going to take probably a month and a half or two months to get a new board assembled.”
Rink said one big problem is Pump Station No. 9, which was moved to near Lake Palourde from the area near Ochsner St. Mary. Officials have said the new pump station’s design is flawed and that it can operate only at 30-40% capacity when the water level is below 4-1/2 feet.
The deal to build Pump Station No. 9 was complete before this board was seated, Rink said.
Chief Administrative Officer Paul Governale will be in charge of the district's operations until a new board can be seated.
Parish President Sam Jones, who played a key role in obtaining $12 million-$14 million for a pump station upgrade, said the parish charter gives him little power to intervene.
“Until that’s changed, this is going to be happening over and over again,” Jones said.
Dragna has called a public meeting for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium to discuss the drainage district.