PC in-house mosquito control approved

Parish government will move ahead with securing a grant to create an in-house mosquito control program.
The St. Mary Parish Council approved a resolution to allow application funding operation of a mosquito abatement program in the amount of $250,000. The grant period is five years.
Matt Yates, a board-certified entomologist with Mosquito Surveillance & Control Consulting LLC said the grant is a unique opportunity for the parish.
Yates said the funds would allow purchase of “top of the line equipment that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to because of the start-up cost of a mosquito control program.”
He said Jean Paul Bourg, the parish’s new public works director, has a background in mosquito control, having previously set up an in-house program for the City of Morgan City, a program Yates considers best in the state.
Components of the program include bio-pesticides, or larvicides, which are applied to standing water areas and are far less expensive than spraying. “Once they begin to fly away, you’re spraying whole neighborhoods,” Yates said. “Larvicide is much more effective because you’re dealing with a captive audience in a small space.”
Modern spray trucks are highly technological, Yates said, including monitors with GPS that report the amount of insecticide being dispersed and control flow-rate based on speed of the truck. “So you’re applying exactly the amount of material you need. It’s equipped with an on-off switch.” The system includes many other controls of spraying volume vs. speed of the vehicle.
In addition to cost of chemical control, it assures that the program is not over- or under-applying chemical.
The system automatically downloads all information over Wifi when the truck returns for record-keeping and reference.
Only two parishes have applied for the grant, Assumption and St. Mary.
Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange said the operations center will be the old parish voting machine site near the Hanson Canal in Franklin, and repair cost and equipment will come out of the grant funding.
Councilman Craig Mathews expressed concern that coupling Bourg’s duties in public works with mosquito control might be too much.
Yates expressed confidence that Bourg was up to handling both tasks, based on his experience and association with Bourg in the past.
The equipment, Yates said, will require routine maintenance, with the life expectancy of the blowers (sprayers) at 15-20 years. Vehicles typically last about five years.
Parish President David Hanagriff, who previously offered the proposal which was voted down by the council, said that while he has been a strong proponent of the current contractor, Cajun Moquito Control. “This is about economics, this is about moving forward in St. Mary Parish and save a significant amount of money,” Hanagriff said. “This is actual data based on actual facts.”
Hanagriff said he is confident Bourg can initiate and operate the program. “We’re getting state-of-the-art equipment,” he said.
The current program is costing about $250,000 a year, and brings in through user fields about $185,000.
Hanagriff expects to save about $400,000 over five years. “This is being handed to you; it’s being placed in your lap.”
He added, “To vote this down and come back to me and say we need money for roads, we need money for drainage, we need money for all this, I just don’t know how you can do that.”
Councilman James Bennett called for the question, and the grant application was approved 7-4.
Also Wednesday, Two requests were made for funding of youth programs: Mathews for $1,000 to the Franklin High School Business Leaders of America to attend a conference and from Councilman J Ina from the Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 & 10 sales tax fund for travel and operating expenses to Centerville Youth Basketball for tournaments in Kansas City, Missouri.
These items drew a protest from Councilman Gabe Beadle. “This is a slippery slope yet again that we continue to come to,” he said. “You have every high school in the parish with students that are going to this conference…so eventually it will turn into every school coming ask for money, and where does it stop. This may be a matter for the school board as opposed to the parish council.”
Beadle said issue should be brought to the school board so that “we don’t continue to allocate this money over and over.”
Councilman Ken Singleton said he agreed with Beadle, and asked if the groups had held fundraisers.
“They need to strive to raise some money, take some pride in their efforts, and not rely on someone else,” he said. “It’s part of the learning experience.”
Mathews said the school board is restricted by law on what activities they can fund. “But there is a mechanism that the parish council put in place to support what’s called recreational activities…for our citizens. This certainly does qualify, and when it was created it was for rural, unincorporated parts of the parish. That’s what these funds are for.”
Beadle said he knew of schools that held fundraisers to help finance the trip. “There are a number of students who are going to the conference and not using parish funds to do it.”
There were fund raising activities, Mathews said, contributing to the overall cost of about $2,000.
Ina said he took offense because Singleton inferred that the allocation was a “handout.” Singleton said he misunderstood his statement.
Ina insisted, “It’s our duty to support kids in these endeavors. It seems like every time these matters come up I’m finding myself having to explain…it doesn’t happen every time. Why do we need explanation on our sales tax on this end?”
Mathews echoed that other allocations were not challenged.
Beadle protested that he has objected to similar requests in the past.
Members of the Centerville team and coaches were present in the audience while the parish council debated the merits of allocating the funds.
The allocations were approved 8-3, with council members Patrick Hebert, Beadle and Kevin Voisin against.
In other business:
—An ordinance was introduced authorizing a lease agreement between the parish and school board for Verdunville Recreation Park.
—A resolution was approved for issuance of not more than $20 million of limited tax revenue bonds for infrastructure projects.
—A resolution was approved authorizing a contract with Volute, Inc. in the Gilmore drainage improvements project.
—Mathews was approved $500 from the Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 & 10 sales tax fund to Water and Sewer Commission 5 for Baldwin water tower repairs.