Mayor Foulcard: Infrastructure is main focus issue

Among his administration’s accomplishments in 2019, Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard listed water and sewer refurbishment efforts, road repavements, swift and decisive reaction to Hurricane Barry, and city-wide revitalization efforts.
And what he said he considered the most difficult of 2019’s issues was the city’s “aging infrastructure with our water distribution.”
“It becomes very, very frustrating,” Foulcard said, “when we have multiple lines that are broken throughout the city and we have to have those lines repaired pretty frequently.
“We have to go in and replace those lines with brand new PVC pipes. It is very frustrating and difficult addressing our aging infrastructure with limited resources. Which is why we have been so aggressive with doing our best preventatively to repair and fix lines that we see are in total disrepair.”
He added that the challenge of fixing Franklin’s water lines was made more evident to him after he spoke with other municipalities about their similar difficulties, and after looking at previous administrations’ estimates for replacing the city’s entire water distribution system.
“That was done maybe five or six years ago (the estimate), and that price tag was in the neighborhood of $30 million,” and that the problem of replacing many of the water lines is that they run down the middle of city streets.
So, the replacement of the lines comes, in many cases, with the added price and difficulty of having to replace the streets that must be dug through to reach the lines.
Foulcard went on to say that despite the looming specter of water line replacement, his administration did find some ground gained in 2019 through rural water grant funding utilized to replace a water line on Norman Bauer Drive. “We bored underneath Highway 182, near the John Deere store,” he explained. “We bored underneath and tied-in a brand new water line that provided a huge increase of water pressure to those apartments behind the John Deere store, and provided increased water pressure to the neighborhoods behind the car wash.
“On Roseville Street, we tied-in a water line which provided increased water pressure in the Blakesly subdivision, where St. John Elementary School is, in that entire subdivision water pressure has increased, which helps with fire ratings and things of that sort.”
Foulcard attributed those successes to the “tapping into” available grant funds.
He said, “We’ve applied for some other tie-ins, too: Clark Street, Morris Street, Liner Street, and the East Third Street area, which will help us with water pressure issues.”
According to Foulcard, since the refurbishment and retrofitting of the city’s water plant, there is a disparity between the power and ability of the water plant, and the dilapidated water distribution system throughout the city.
This, he reported, is why he is glad that the city takes part in the independent monitoring process from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
“They come in monthly, and two and three times a month, and independently go to random sites and run water tests throughout Franklin.
“So, the water has been safe, even if from time to time some neighborhoods get a little discoloration. So, I continue to ask residents to continue to be patient as we try to address the situation as best as we can.”
When asked about the previous year’s successes in and around the city, Foulcard said his administration was “very, very happy” about receiving a $30,000 National Recreation and Park Association grant in cooperation with Walmart, allowing new kitchens and bathrooms to be outfitted at both of Franklin’s recreation centers, as well as purchasing “a number of new tables and chairs.”
Foulcard also pointed to funding received from bonds from the St. Mary Parish Council which were used to repair roads around the city, and he is looking to a second round of funds which will be spent on “major street repairs to take place in 2020.”
“Hopefully we can get the Pocket Park up and running and we can get that taken care of so we can continue to breathe life into the downtown area, but also in other pockets of Franklin as well,” he said.
With the revitalization of Franklin a major platform of his administration, Foulcard stated that though he has hit some “benchmarks” in fulfilling campaign goals and administration platforms, he is by no means ready to declare victory or completion, yet.
“I don’t want to become complacent,” he revealed, “because I would like to continue to strive to do the things necessary to impact change.”
He stated that the administration’s blight mitigation project will continue throughout the next year, and is expected to yield more visible results as blighted properties in the city begin to come down.
“We currently have 19 properties that are condemned and awaiting demolition, and we have another 35 properties that will be going before the city council at our January meeting,” Foulcard explained.
“There have been 27 properties that have been completely demolished by the owner or the city in 2019. So, moving forward I would like to keep that same aggressive stance to continue to clean the city up.”
He expressed gratitude to St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff for agreeing to waive the parish’s tipping fees, allowing the city to carry on with blight mitigation at a fraction of the cost that would otherwise be incurred, and which made previous attempts by previous administrations, unfeasible.
As for Franklin’s future in 2020, Foulcard said, “I plan on aggressively pursuing the tourism angle so that we can cultivate businesses downtown and throughout the city. We are going to start making a hard push to encourage people to shop local, eat local, and fuel local.
“In 2020 we will hopefully have the rest of the sewer plant rehab work done so that we can meet the mandates regulated by the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) concerning that nearly $2 million rehab being done in our sewer plant.
“We will also be paying homage to our bicentennial and the 200 years that the city of Franklin has been in existence. Each month we will be doing something in relation to the bicentennial.”
He concluded by thanking the city’s staff and employees of every department, saying, “They all play a huge part in some way to make things right in Franklin, as well as does a wonderful city council. We don’t always agree on everything, but we work and compromise to do what we feel is best for the city.”