Patterson and Berwick deal for firetrucks

The volunteer fire department plans to buy a new firetruck in 2018 that the fire chief says will have the ability to effectively respond to major emergencies.
A sale of another truck approved Tuesday will help provide some of the funds to purchase the new truck.

The Patterson Council accepted a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting to sell a 2004 pumper firetruck to the town of Berwick for $130,000.

Patterson Fire Chief Scott Domingue said the firetruck the city will sell to Berwick has only been minimally used in the past 12 years and is too big for what Patterson needs. However, the truck is in mint condition and will assist Berwick “because they’re in a dire situation for trucks,” he said.

In 2018, the Patterson Volunteer Fire Department is set to receive a scheduled allocation of funds from St. Mary Parish government to buy a firetruck to replace the one the city is selling.

The sale of the old firetruck will also help offset the cost of some of the new truck, he said. Domingue expects the new truck to cost about $325,000. Domingue plans to deliver the 2004 firetruck to Berwick soon.

Regulations require the city to have two primary fire trucks and a reserve fire truck.
“That’s the reason for purchasing a new truck,” Domingue said.

The new truck will be a “commercial chassis” modified to meet Patterson’s needs with the capability to handle a tanker fire on the highway or airplane fire, he said.

Patterson has 50 volunteer firefighters and “is doing the work of a big paid department,” responding to over 200 calls in 2016, including medical emergencies, Domingue said.

Maintaining proper equipment is essential for the department to continue to function at a high level, he said.

Also, the council approved donating a different firetruck that is in disrepair to Bayou Country Children’s Museum in Thibodaux.

During the council meeting, Melanie Caillouet, an environmental engineer for Providence Engineering, presented the results of a sewer rate study the city of Patterson requested the firm perform.

The last sewer rate increase was in 2007. Before that rate hike, rates hadn’t been raised since 1996, Caillouet said.

The city hasn’t added many new sewer customers during the past few years, while the city’s costs have risen, she said. Patterson’s average expense per customer is now higher than the average revenue per customer.

Though Patterson has covered those expenses with revenues from other utilities, an agency, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, may not award a grant to Patterson unless the city raises its rates.

“We have got to start increasing the rates to try to get this into the positives,” she said.

Caillouet recommended a rate increase schedule where rates would go from the current rate of $21.79 per month for customers using over 3,000 gallons of water to $23.72 per month in 2018. That schedule would progress to $25.06, $26.41, $27.75 and $29.10 per month each following year.

Those rates would give the city closer to the amount of revenues it needs to take care of Patterson’s sewer system with maintenance and repairs, Caillouet said.

Patterson officials also discussed the need to raise the city’s natural gas rates. The city is losing between 16 percent and 19 percent comparing expenses to revenues due in part to old meters, which the city plans to start replacing this year with state capital outlay funds, Mayor Rodney Grogan said.

But the city has to raise rates, too, to keep up with expenses, Grogan said. Patterson currently charges a flat rate of $3.70 per month for each customer using up to 300 cubic feet of fuel. Officials haven’t yet decided what the gas rate increase may be.

Grogan said the city should have followed a consumer price index starting in 1995 and raised gas rates gradually, but that didn’t happen.

Ordinances for the proposed sewer and gas rate increases will probably be introduced at the April council meeting, go through a public hearing and be up for adoption in May, and go into effect July 1 for the start of the city’s fiscal year, Grogan said.

In other business, the council
—Approved a flood damage prevention ordinance.
—Approved a liquor license for The Office, a bar and daiquiri shop to be located on Catherine Street.
—Introduced an ordinance to remove verbiage restricting bikes and skating on sidewalks.
—Introduced an ordinance to enter into intergovernmental agreement with the St. Mary Parish School Board for Hattie Watts Park.