Patterson council grapples with drought costs, Housing Authority board

PATTERSON — The City Council on Tuesday learned that it’s facing two deficits. One is the financial kind, and the other is a deficit of Patterson Housing Authority board members.
The council learned that it will have to amend its budget to account for a $500,000 shortfall, the biggest component of which is damage to city water lines resulting from the prolonged drought.
And, unless the council takes action, the Patterson Housing Authority board will soon have three vacancies on its five member board and will be without an executive director. The vacancies occur as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is pressuring the city to rebuild the board and hire a director.
Budget
Shifts in the ground as it dries during the drought has caused breaks in older city water lines. Mayor Rodney Grogan estimated the number of breaks at 13-14. Public Works Director Steve Bierhorst put the number as high as 20.
Overtime pay required to make repairs, and payments to contractors for such work as breaking up and pouring cement, has cost the city $200,000, the mayor said.
And that’s probably not the last the city will have to pay to fix water lines, Grogan and Bierhorst said.
“I foresee major problems this winter,” Grogan said.
“It’s going to be just as bad when we get the rain,” Bierhorst said, “because the ground is going to start shifting.”
Also contributing to the shortfall are one-time payments for recent projects and the fact that some revenue sources, including property taxes and business licenses, come in after the first of the year, said Chief Financial Officer Reginal Weary.
By law, major state funds must be in balance, and budget amendments are required when they vary from the budget by more than 5%.
Housing
Authority
The council has a decision to make: Either try to reconstitute the Patterson Housing Authority board in time to hire an executive director or turn over authority to the Berwick Housing Authority, as Morgan City has done.
Either way, the Patterson officials are likely to seek the mentorship of Berwick-Morgan City Director Clarence Robinson, who is often credited with straightening out financial problems with housing authorities in those municipalities.
The sense of the council seems to be that it would like to keep the Patterson Housing Authority board in action.
On a motion by Councilman Ray Dewey Sr., the board called a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall to consider appointments.
Whitney Breaux, a certified public accountant, told the council Tuesday that she’s willing to serve, but City Attorney Russel Cremaldi said the council couldn’t take action because it wasn’t listed as an action item on the agenda.
Meanwhile, HUD is telling the city that it should have a police officer on the board.
Board member Veronica Johnson resigned from the board Tuesday, and the Rev. Richelle Lewis Castine, who is also pastor of Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church, will be reassigned in early December and will leave the board. One of the five board seats was already vacant.
A recently hired director quit after only a few days on the job, Grogan said.
Insurance
The council decided to accept a proposal that would save the city $257,000 on health coverage for 42 city employees while giving the employees a $60 a month break on their share of the premium.
The city government had continued coverage with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, despite a 14.2% increase in premiums last year, Weary said after the meeting. The premiums would have gone up 12.4% this year.
The council had been reluctant to change plans out of concern for city employees or covered family members who were receiving treatment for expensive health conditions covered by city insurance.
But council members R. DeMale Bowden and Miranda Weinbach reported that a different Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan would continue coverage for those employees, reduce costs to the city and the employees, and offer vision and dental coverage options currently unavailable to employees.
Weary said that continuing the previous coverage would have cost the city government $843,000 in annual premiums. Under the new plan, the cost will be $586,000.
Jail visits
In-person visits to inmates at the Patterson Police Department Jail will be replaced by virtual visits via electronic tablets under a proposal accepted by the council Tuesday.
City Telecom is offering to run the program, with the city government receiving a portion of the costs charged to inmates.
The switch to virtual visits would prevent the smuggling of contraband into the jail by visitors, Police Chief Garrett Grogan said.
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Grogan reported that Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur has asked Patterson to consider providing natural gas to Berwick, which is experiencing low gas pressure on its own system.
A meter and regulator would be installed near the Cameron facility.
The potential problem, Bierhorst said, is hurricanes and other events causing power outages. When gas-operated generators go on, he said, demand for natural gas rises steeply.
Arthur’s request is being considered by the Patterson city government.