From town to city?

Mayor Duval Arthur spoke with members of the St. Mary Industrial Group Monday to recap his administration’s first-year accomplishments and upcoming projects for the town of Berwick — maybe soon to be called the city of Berwick.
“According to the 2010 census, Berwick had 4,946 residents,” Arthur said. “However, a July 1, 2018, LSU study revealed a Berwick population of 5,158, which is a city. That is what we are trying to get.”
The Census Bureau estimates have shown a slight decrease in population since 2010.
The basic difference, according to Arthur, in the distinction of “city” from “town” is funding. Currently the city’s funds come from 62% taxes and 38% from other sources such as utilities, permits and police fines. A lot of funding for Berwick’s major projects is funded with grant money.
Some of the projects Arthur has completed since he has been mayor are a sewer project that provides better sewage services for all residents of Berwick; completion of a drainage project funded by a grant for Golden Farms, Cantrell Heights and Fairview subdivisions, installing larger culverts and three natural gas pumps that more than triple the pumping capacity for that area; asphalt overlay on Fairview and Patti drives, and Second, Third, Fourth, Oregon and Bowman streets.
More asphalt projects are coming as “we secured $600,000 in funding to pave the following streets at the end of this month: Francis, Texas, Ehrlich, Kyle, Fourth and Fifth. This is the area around the library and the elementary,” Arthur said.
“These streets look like a war zone, looks like bombs went off in the middle of the street. We know it is bad. We applied for this grant, we took bids on the work, and we are just waiting on the state to make the final approval,” Arthur said.
Berwick also received $600,000 in funds that became available in September that can be used for street improvements, drainage projects and public safety.
The town purchased a street sweeper, a generator for the Berwick/Bayou Vista water plant, as well as a generator to power the new sewer lift station on La. 182, should it lose power.
Berwick’s participation with Morgan City in the St. Mary Excel program to become a Louisiana Development Ready Community was one way Arthur learned about grants that were available, and how to apply for them, to help the town of Berwick.
Arthur also discussed issues that he has had to deal with as mayor, starting with the nine months of flooding “that affected everyone outside the sea walls. We tried to keep our gates open to the very last that we could, and it really put a hurt on some companies that are trying to do business and there is that high water.
“In July, we experienced street flooding that affected Country Club Estates. We began a maintenance program for drainage ditches, many of which had not been maintained for years,” Arthur said. “We added two new additional ditches and cleaned out all of the rest.
“We initiated a drainage study on what caused this problem and the study revealed three areas of concern and focused on completing three phases of work that will improve the drainage in the Country Club area with a price tag of 1.6 million dollars,” Arthur said.
“We have completed phase one and applied for a grant to complete the rest and we should know in January if it is approved.”
Another issue Arthur is addressing is blighted property. The town hired Ovay Rogers, a retired police chief, to assess and handle blighted properties around Berwick. One that he has focused on was an old building that was falling down on La. 182 that “if you notice, there is no more skin on that building and it looks like there is going to be a business that we are excited about. Riding around the city, you should notice a cleaner, nicer, neater Berwick.”
Arthur said the biggest challenge Berwick has is the 2020 Census, because “we want to be a city! We are going to highlight Berwick High School and try to get to the students there to get to the parents, make sure that everyone takes part in the census. It is really important. The bigger your city, the more money you get.”