Mayor Harris: City hopes to continue upgrades

BY JANELL PARFAIT
The St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon at The Forest in Franklin on May 24 for the parish mayors and leaders to give updates on their respective communities.
Mayor Raymond Harris Jr. of Franklin spoke about the progress made in the utility fund and the liquid and solid waste fund.
“It’s been easy to make progress there, than in our general fund, because we can set our own rates in our utility fund,” Harris said. After voting to increase water rates by $3, “where they should be,” Harris has noticed an improvement in funds.
“I suppose in the first few weeks, customers wondered why there was an increase in their bills,” he said. “But after they came in and saw the value it had, they understood.”
“(The increase) is something I looked at years ago when I was an accountant,” Harris continued, “but it was too complicated to invest in. Well, I feel good about that now; I’m in a financial position where we’re able to go out and do that.”
The water system, which has relied on outdated technology, will be upgraded “into a state-of-the-art system and improve our collections.”
Harris is prepared to secure a $2 million loan to “make some much needed improvements at our sewer plant.”
The sewer plant was put online in 1986 and has since then experienced difficulties due to its flawed design.
“We’ve done our best to manage,” Harris said, “but the truth of the matter is that on rainy days, we could never advance because we were exceeding all of our limits because the body of water coming into the plant was much more than we could handle.”
An engineering firm specializing in sewer plants was brought in to replace older equipment, which will allow the plant “to handle any capacity on rainy days.”
“We’re buying new technology and investing in technology that will keep us operating effectively for a long time to come,” Harris said. “As we’ve seen in other places, if you do not invest in your infrastructure, you will have major problems. We don’t want to get fined and we definitely don’t want citizens getting sick because of something we failed to do.”
In addition to upgrading the sewer plant, Harris announced that new pumps will be built along Franklin Canal to combat storm surges and flooding. Yokely Canal will be widened “in the next few months to a year” so that more water can reach its pumps.
Harris has also noticed more local businesses sprouting throughout Franklin.
“We’re seeing a lot of start-ups, a lot of mom-and-pop,” Harris said. “And that’s good because that means those businesses will generate sales taxes and employ people. It doesn’t make up for the losses in our oilfields, but it does help. So I’m excited that, economically, we are seeing some gains; we are moving forward.