PC wants a say in golf course management RFPs

Proposals from management companies to operate Atchafalaya Golf Course at Idlewild in Patterson had St. Mary Parish Council members considering how much involvement the council should have in the selection process.
Councilman Glenn Hidalgo said a second round of proposals have been received by the golf course commission. There were four submitted proposals. “I’d like to get a meeting set up with the council, the commission and these companies, so we can all discuss and hear the same presentations to make an informed decision,” he said.
Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange said the requests for proposals (RFPs) were evaluated and scored, and the commission moved to “make a follow-up request to the companies to see if they would entertain a negotiable or performance-based management fee all or in part as opposed to just a flat annual fixed fee.”
Those responses were presented to the commission, and set a special meeting to discuss the responses, LaGrange said.
“It’s my understanding at this meeting they were not planning to invite the management companies to come to the meeting,” he added.
Hidalgo said that would be a separate meeting from the one he is proposing.
Councilman J Ina said the commission has “earned the right to at least have a meeting among themselves” first before a follow-up meeting is held.
Councilman Patrick Hebert asked, “If they make an unfavorable decision on what we think may be favorable…does this council have the right to limit funding to them?”
LaGrange said the parish ordinance regulating the commission authorizes the commission to operate the course, but the parish allocates the budget.
“In my observation, these gentlemen do not favor this option,” Councilman Craig Mathews said of the commission after attending a recent meeting. “I think there is a consensus… there are a couple of members who favor it, but I think the majority do not.”
Mathews said the commission seems to be “attempting to appease what they think we want them to do, in considering this, but I don’t think they have any intention of entering into a management agreement with anybody.”
He added that the parish “continues to invest an exorbitant amount of public funds into this operation, particularly when there are other investment opportunities in the lives of people that would improve their quality of life that we’re restricted from.”
The council moved to request a meeting with the commission at a date to be determined.
Parish President David Hanagriff said the council should attend the already scheduled meeting of the commission. LaGrange said the meeting was set for 8:30 a.m.
Mathews said there is an ordinance that forbids parish public bodies from meeting before 5 p.m., an effort to allow public attendance of meetings.
“The council has waived that before, but you’re right,” Hanagriff said.
The normal monthly meeting time is 5 p.m. on the first Tuesday.
LaGrange said he would remind the commission of the provisions of the meeting time in the ordinance.
In other business Wednesday, Morgan City Port Executive Director Mack Wade reported Sen. Bill Cassidy’s office reported that the port was awarded an additional $20 million, on top of $12 million previously allocated. “This will give us a channel open on both ends that we haven’t had in four or five years,” he said.
Wade said local representatives in Washington have managed to send some $200 million to the district.
He said there are possible other funding sources up for grabs that the port may be eligible to receive support from.
Also Wednesday:
—The council allocated $2,000 to the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce for its annual Bayou BBQ Bash.
—An executive session was held “regarding potential litigation involving the Plantation pumping station in Bayou Vista” that resulted in the council approving the hiring of a special legal counsel.
—An ordinance for introduction setting a no-wake zone along the Charenton Navigation and Drainage Canal was pulled by Councilman Paul Naquin.
—Ordinances were adopted approving a lease of parish office space at 201 Everett St. in Morgan City to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at no charge; and another was approved establishing a no wake zone in the area of the Quintana boat landing.