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Staff Report
The consolidation of two drainage districts may not look like the stuff of high politics.
But the St. Mary Parish Council’s consolidation of districts serving Morgan City and Amelia has been the subject of debate since the council made the move in April. And it remains controversial with a proposition to combine the property taxes for the combined districts into a single millage that appears on the Dec. 5 ballot.
Early voting is underway now and continues 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at either the Parish Courthouse in Franklin or the Registrar of Voters Office, 301 Third St. in Morgan City.
The tax proposition is for residents of St. Mary Consolidated Gravity Drainage District 2A, which was formed by combining District No. 2 in the Morgan City-Siracusa area and District No. 6 in the Amelia area. It would replace the separate property taxes that had been collected by the separate districts with a single property tax of up to 7.30 mills for 10 years beginning in 2021.
A mill is 1/10th cent of tax applied to every $1 of a property’s assessed valuation. The ballot language says the 7.30 mills would raise about $1.3 million per year.
Consolidating the district’s patchwork of more than 40 taxing districts has long been a goal of some members of the St. Mary business community. And in April, the Parish Council moved in that direction by voting 8-3 to merge the two districts.
Parish President David Hanagriff was the most visible proponent of the consolidation. Hanagriff said the merger would reduce administrative overhead and put both districts in better position to perform their work.
The council appointed a new board composed of Leroy Trim, Larry Aucoin, Charlie Solar Jr., Dr. Tim Tregle and Hanko Hoffpauir and voted to put the tax proposition on the ballot.
But some opposition developed from people concerned that either Amelia or Morgan City would end up paying taxes for work in the other community.
There was also some pushback over the effect on District No. 2, which over five or six years had pulled itself together after a scandal over district work performed by a company belonging to a district staff member.
A new district board went on to perform its portion of a multimillion-dollar levee improvement project and launch an extensive upgrade of the pump stations that protect Morgan City from flooding inside the levees.
Parish Council Chairman Dean Adams challenged the appointment of Tregle to the consolidated board, saying Tregle is a parish employee in a position to influence consolidation decisions. Adams asked the State Ethics Board to consider the question.
Hanagriff denied that any conflict exists and noted that Adams had voted for the slate of new board members. Adams responded that the proposed board included good people and that they were nominated together for a single vote.
The Ethics Board decided not to take up the question.
Hanagriff and Adams debated the topic indirectly again in a pair of live-streamed appearances locally.
Hanagriff appeared on a KQKI Facebook stream to clear up what he said is misinformation about the tax proposition.
The Dec. 5 proposition won’t increase taxes, Hanagriff said. The resulting tax will be 6.68 mills across the combined district.
“If anything, we’ve lowered the main amount,” Hanagriff said.
Voting down the tax proposition won’t reverse consolidation, he said. But it would create a situation in which the new district would require three audits for separate district finances and the consolidated district’s finances.
He also said rumors that passing the tax would lead to the decertification of the local levees are untrue.
“By consolidating Morgan City and Amelia, we’ll be able to save money by sharing those costs.
“By bringing them together, by bringing their resources together, together they’ll be stronger than they are separately.”
In a KBZE live stream, Adams urged voters to say no to the proposition.
Adams said Amelia had the opportunity to lower the tax there by 2 mills but didn’t at the urging of the parish administration.
“All the money will go into one pot,” Adams said. “The money will be distributed according to how the board sees fit.
“One of the two districts will suffer.”
Also on the Dec. 5 ballot:
—The runoff between Lee Dragna and Kevin Voisin for Morgan City mayor.
—The runoff between Anthony “Tony” Saleme and Natalie Broussard for the 16th Judicial District Division F judgeship.
—The runoff between “Alicia” Butler and Roger P. Hamilton Jr. for the 16th Judicial District Division H judgeship.
—A state constitutional amendment that would allow the governor to appoint out-of-state residents to at-large posts on the state’s three college and university governing boards.

Several parents and public school superintendents on Monday argued the state’s quarantine guidelines are too restrictive, harming students’ education and social well-being.
The current guideline, which is based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, calls for someone who has been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 to quarantine at home for 14 days. Mike Faulk, executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, suggested limiting the length of a quarantine to seven days.
“Students are not getting sick from exposure during classes where students are wearing masks,” Faulk told the state House of Representatives’ Health and Welfare Committee.
Ascension Parish Superintendent David Alexander suggested Louisiana should follow the same model as Missouri, where Gov. Mike Parson recently changed the rules so that people who wear masks may not have to quarantine. Rapides Parish schools leader Jeff Powell said only 1.14 percent of his system’s students have tested positive, while on average 18 students have to quarantine for each test.
Several speakers said they have seen increasing signs of depression among young people who are missing school and extracurricular activities.
Rep. Kenny Cox and Rep. Dustin Miller, both Democrats, said they didn’t think the science supports a quarantine of only seven days. And Miller noted that since not everyone gets tested and many people who are infected don’t experience symptoms, officials don’t actually know how many people in their schools are carrying the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Rep. Joseph Stagni, a Kenner Republican, said he was concerned about students getting infected at school and bringing it home to their parents and grandparents.
The discussion comes as Louisiana is facing its third surge of COVID-19. In a letter Gov. John Bel Edwards circulated Monday, Louisiana Hospital Association President Paul Salles urged residents to do what they can to reduce the spread of the virus this Thanksgiving.
“Unfortunately, we once again find our country in the midst of a spike in COVID-related hospitalizations, and recent reports show Louisiana’s COVID-19 cases are increasing,” he writes.
“It is imperative that we continue to wear masks, practice social distancing, and protect our high-risk and elderly loved ones to reduce the number of individuals requiring hospital care so that our healthcare workforce is not stretched too thin.”
Louisiana on Monday reported 971 new cases of COVID-19 and 24 new deaths. There were 1,012 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, officials said.

Submitted Photo
Lenny Dartez, left, hands Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur a ticket to the annual Boy Scouts of America Dinner, scheduled for Dec. 10 at the St. Mary Senior Citizens Center, 4014 Chennault St. in Morgan City. Tickets are $75. Take-out orders are preferred this year because of COVID-19. For tickets, call Dartez at 985-755-0515.

Berwick High School had a top-four finish among its boys’ cross country team at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Cross Country State Meet’s 3A competition at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches Nov. 17.
Senior Darby Frickey led the Berwick squad with a fourth-place finish with a time of 15:57.9.
As a team, Berwick finished No. 11 with 329 points.
Other Berwick competitors were as follows: senior Milton Barrilleaux, No. 43 with a time of 18:48.3; junior Zachary Campbell, No. 80, 20:44.2; senior Gildon Jackson, No. 103, 22:05.3; and junior James Decondris, No. 126, 24:55.4.
E.D. White won the event with 53 points.
Ivan Appleton of St. Louis won the individual title with a time of 15:27.9.