Mayor: MC opts out of deal for drainage district work

Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna told a well-attended public meeting Tuesday that the city government is opting out of an agreement in which it shares a portion of the expense for running flood-control pump stations operated by Gravity Drainage District No. 2A.
The agreement allows the city government to opt out after giving 45 days’ notice, Dragna said.
The meeting at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium followed the May 14 Parish Council vote to remove the Gravity Drainage District 2A board.
Under the terms of the cooperative endeavor agreement between the city and parish governments, the city has staffed the pump stations from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. when rain makes pump operation necessary. The city also performs work such as mowing ditches.
The city isn’t abandoning the people whose homes are protected by the district’s pump stations, Dragna said.
“I never said we weren’t going to pump water,” Dragna said. “I never said we wouldn’t cut grass. But we just want to be reimbursed for the cost.”
Dragna characterized the situation as double taxation for residents who are paying property taxes to the district and seeing some of their city taxes go to support the drainage district as well.
“Why should the city not be able to upgrade a park somewhere,” Dragna said, “put in a new slide, put some rubber in a park somewhere … all the things with hundreds of thousands of dollars that they don’t need to be paying?”
The drainage district, a source of controversy since it was formed by consolidating districts serving Morgan City and Amelia, came under additional scrutiny after Hurricane Francine on Sept. 11. The storm’s rain, 8-10 inches officially but 20 inches or more by some local accounts, pushed water into more than 300 Morgan City homes.
Even before Francine, problems with the system had been identified.
Engineering problems left a new pump station near Lake Palourde far short of the designed pumping capacity.
“I was there for that test,” Dragna said. “Trust me. It did not work.”
A fix to bring the capacity up to 50% cost $700,000.
The Parish Council voted 8-3 May 14 to remove the board members on an agenda item put forward by Councilman Patrick Hebert, whose district straddles Berwick Bay.
The board’s ability to keep the system in good condition came into question.
Hebert also pointed to delays in responses to public records requests and what he said was the board’s lack of awareness about how much the district was spending on rental pumps to make up for deficiencies in the pump stations.
Other council members defended the board, saying the current members were seated after the questionable pump station contract was awarded.
Parish President Sam Jones, present at Tuesday’s meeting, said that he found the district’s pump stations to be in bad shape when he took office.
Charlie Solar, the city chief administrative officer who chaired the drainage board before last week’s council vote, said the pumping system was in better shape than it looked.
“Just because they look like s*** doesn’t mean they’re not pumping,” Solar said.
Solar also pointed to instances in which he said the parish government intervened in the pump station project.
Former parish Public Works Director and Chief Administrative Officer Jean Paul Bourg challenged Dragna on the decision to end the agreement with the parish.
“I think it’s the mayor’s responsibility to make sure that we can continue to function at the lowest cost possible so we can continue the service,” Bourg said.
“I don’t see the reason for pulling out of this agreement because some board members or people were removed from the board.”
Looking ahead, Jones said his contact with Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority Chairman Gordon Dove resulted in $14 million in funding for pump station upgrades. That work is beginning, but it’s not clear how soon in can be completed as hurricane season rapidly approaches.
In the meantime, parish CAO Paul Governale is overseeing the drainage district’s operations until a new board can be seated. That’s expected to take about six weeks.
Contacts with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have indicated emergency pumps may be available, but they won’t commit them to a specific place because hurricanes are unpredictable, Governale said.
“The decisions I make ... will be in the best interests of Morgan City,” Governale said.