Sewer board names superintendent

PATTERSON — The Ward 5 and 8 Joint Sewage Commission has a new leader, and he’s no stranger to wastewater treatment.
Commissioners voted Monday to promote from within and hire Calvin Sanders, who for the past two years has worked as the protégé of their longtime Superintendent Mickey Carmouche. The long-time superintendent retired after 25 years of service Nov. 30.
A rate hike approved by the commission became a source of controversy in the fall, leading to pointed questions from the Berwick and Patterson council about the need for the increase. Now the parties seem to have agreed that they’ll work together to find funding for upgrades to an aging system.
Sanders has worked for a total of 12 years as a wastewater treatment operator for the city of Patterson, and the city of Franklin.
A native of Verdunville and a resident of Franklin, Sanders also holds an associate degree in electronics from Young Memorial.
He said his main objective as the new superintendent is to be pro-active when it comes to the maintenance aspect of the job.
“To actually run a facility where I can serve the general public and the whole region that will ensure the safety of what we put out into the environment, is my main objective,” he said.
“Safety is crucial for environmental concerns,” he said, noting that the joint sewage commission facility, which is located on Cotten Road in Patterson, treats, contains and releases sewage.
Sanders said his challenge however, is equipment. “We’re using old stuff that we continually try to make better.”
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 which collects sewage from Calumet to Berwick.
In September, Commissioner Chris Cooper, then chairman, sent out letters to the parish municipalities announcing a rate hike for the entity beginning Oct. 1, stating they needed the money or else they would go broke.
Commission Chairman Michael Stewart said Monday, “I guess we kind of opened a can of worms when we asked for a rate hike a few months ago. Now all of the entities are watching what we’re doing.”
On Monday, Karen Sehon, the commission secretary-treasurer, presented a preliminary 2025-26 profit and loss budget for commissioners to review, which showed $1.3 million in revenues but $2 million in expenditures, resulting in a $664,523 deficit.
Sehon said the budget was based on the 2024-25 fiscal year and did not include any monies received from the rate hike, which she expects will be close to $360,000.
Commissioner Brandon Monceaux said that amount will only cover half of the deficit, and suggests the commission begin looking at expenditures, one of which is electricity, which last year cost the commission $286,000.
Cooper suggested that the commission look into obtaining more solar powered buoys because they take less energy to break down fecal matter and are more environmentally sound and safe.
Commissioner Tim Kyle said that up until recently, the joint commission was the only sewage plant in the United States to use a solar-powered buoy system that improves water quality without the need for chemicals or mechanical agitation. It uses a small amount of energy, less than watt, to modify the physical properties of water on a large scale.
Kyle explained that all of the joint commission’s system drains into one pond at the end of Cotten Road. He said that for years, it has been their practice to use mechanical aerators to break down pollutants.
But repair and upkeep of the aerators is costly, Sanders said, and to replace just one is $70,000.
Kyle said the mechanical aerators act like a giant blender to rotate the water in order to break down the solids, where the buoy transfers oxygen from the air, supporting aerobic bacteria to break down the solids.
“We only have one buoy, but one or two more would certainly help us in reducing the utility bill,” he said.
Glen Duncan, client support director with Providence Engineering, the commission’s consulting firm, said the commission has been using the buoy on a pilot basis from EM Fluids of Ontario, Canada, but now, the company wants to charge the commission a $5,000 monthly usage fee.
Cooper said that cost is minimal compared to the money the commission would save against utilities.
In other business, Stewart introduced newly hired Johnny Olivier, who will work with Sanders in operation of the sewage treatment plant.