RSS Feed

BERWICK — The Town Council called a special meeting Wednesday evening to listen to a proposal for a flood reduction and drainage plan for Country Club Estates Subdivision from Miller Engineers and Associates Inc.
While the council seemed eager to move forward with improvements presented, the residents of Country Club were not as certain the options were improvements.
In the end, the council voted to move ahead with Hogan Street ditch improvements but to continue with two more extensive projects only when funding for both is available.
The town initiated a study in response to recent storms that have caused flooding of homes within Country Club Estates in Berwick. The flooding occurred in homes located along Hogan, Palmer, Hebert and Jones streets. The most recent event occurred June 7.
“My house has flooded twice in an eight-week period of time,” Kevin Lewis, a resident of Berwick who lives in Country Club Estates, said as residents in attendance began to voice their concerns to the council.
A resident said she has lived in Country Club for 40 years and never flooded until recently. Another said he has lived there for 26 years and has flooded twice, both in the last year.
Residents voiced their concern that something has changed, something is happening. “Hopefully we are going to address it now,” Mayor Duval Arthur responded.
The president of Miller Engineers and Associates Inc., Reid Miller, along with the company’s Project Engineer, Jules Darden, presented the council with three propositions for improvement.
Proposed improvement plan No. 1 is for Hogan Street ditch improvements. This improvement plan includes the removal of existing culverts within the existing ditch section and excavating a new open channel. The estimated cost for this plan is $110,806.
Proposed improvement plan No. 2 is for drainage improvements along Patti Drive. This improvement includes the removal of existing dual 48-inch CMP culverts parallel to Patti Drive and between the intersections with Hebert and Hogan streets. Some of the removed pipe would be reused to add a third 48-inch CMP culvert beneath the crossings of Hebert and Hogan streets and an open channel would be constructed. The estimated cost for this plan is $315,768.50.
Plan No. 2 lowers water stage elevations within the Hogan Street and Palmer Street areas, but it provides a rise in water surface elevation along Hebert Street due to the increase in flows. This fact was not overlooked by residents of Hebert Street.
Proposed improvement plan No. 3 is for storm sewer improvements. This improvement provides additional water conveyance along Hogan, Palmer, Hebert and Jones streets.
It requires the installation of a subsurface drainage system on the opposite side of the streets where storm drains already exist. This plan will reduce water levels significantly along all streets affected. The estimated cost for this plan is $1,192,597.90.
The total cost of implementing all three plans is approximately $1.6 million.
Mayor Pro Tem Lud Henry addressed Miller while looking at provided charts displaying water stage elevations before and after each proposed plan.
“After doing all three of the improvements you see a significant decrease, so I guess what you are telling us is that pretty much you have to do all three or we aren’t going to see much improvement on Hebert and Jones,” Henry said.
“I am in favor of doing all three,” Arthur said. “We need to go ahead if we are going to get in the middle of it. Might as well jump in with both feet.”
Berwick resident Randal Monceaux asked Arthur, “So what’s our game plan?”
Arthur replied, “One, two, three.”
“What kind of time frame are we talking about for starting this? A day, a month?” Monceaux asked.
“Definitely less than a month,” Arthur said. “I would like to start tomorrow.”
Henry made a motion to “proceed with proposal one and two and look into the finances for proposal three as soon as we can.” Councilman Raymond Price seconded the motion.
Resident Stan Beaubouef expressed his concern before the mayor could complete a roll call vote.
“My only question on that though is if we go ahead and approve one and two to get completed,” Beaubouef said, “then we have no guarantee of the funding for plan three yet, then at Hebert Street we are in worse shape than we are now. The plans would almost all have to flow together where everyone could benefit from them.”
“I think that is all of our intentions,” Henry said. “One way or another, we are going to find that money somewhere so we can proceed.”
“We are going to do No. three,” Arthur said, “but right now we don’t have the money to do it. We are seeking it. We have an avenue right now. I’m not going to really go into a lot of detail right now but I feel really confident that we are going to be able to do this.”
“But it makes it worse for us,” Beaubouef said. “That’s the reality of it. It doesn’t get better for us. It gets worse for us. What I’m saying is waiting until you find out if you get the money instead of just starting to do it.
“It doesn’t make any sense to say, ‘Well God bless you guys on Hebert Street,’ and that’s what we’re doing. If the funding doesn’t come through to do them all, if you do one and two, then things are worse on Hebert Street than they are now.”
Councilwoman Colleen Askew asked Beaubouef what he would like to see happen.
“Do one because that doesn’t make us worse,” Beaubouef said. “Don’t go do the second one while we are finding out if we have the money. If we find out we have the money, then fire away.”
Henry made a new motion to proceed with proposal one and move forward with two and three when funds are available. Price seconded the motion. Henry, Price, Askew and Councilman Kevin Hebert voted yes.

Ochsner Health System and local officials are expecting Attorney General Jeff Landry to sign off by Oct. 1 on a lease agreement under which Ochsner would operate Morgan City’s Teche Regional Medical Center.
Ochsner representatives outlined their plans for the 165-bed hospital Wednesday at a public hearing run by the Attorney General’s Office at the Emergency Operations Center in Morgan City.
Ochsner would replace LifePoint, which currently manages Teche Regional under a lease with Hospital Service District No. 2 and which has all but left its Louisiana operations. After district board meetings at which hospital staff members offered sometimes testy comments, Wednesday’s hearing drew only two remarks.
They were from former Mayor Tim Matte and Parish President David Hanagriff, both of whom expressed support.
“We’re committed …,” Hanagriff said. “We cannot fail. We have to succeed.”
“This outcome is what we’ve hoped for,” said district Chairman William Cefalu, a physician, after the meeting. “We’re seeing the best operator the state of Louisiana has to offer.”
The proposed lease is for 10 years followed by a series of automatic five-year renewals. Ochsner will pay about $151,000 a year in rent to the district and agree to maintain 24-hour emergency services, lab service, imaging, and primary care and physician clinic services.
Another list of services includes endoscopy and other ambulatory or outpatient surgical services; general, gynecological ophthalmic and orthopedic surgery; inpatient behavioral health treatment; obstetrical and newborn care; pediatric services; and physical, occupational and speech therapy. The district would be able to require Ochsner to offer those services if they lose money, but the district would have to subsidize the services it wants.
Ochsner would also agree to install an electronic medical records system costing $6 million.
The company’s officials said it would emphasize training of medical professionals, recruitment and holding on to local patients who would otherwise go out of the area for hospital services. Plans would also include telemedicine and digital medicine programs.
In a public letter released Tuesday, Cefalu said LifePoint lost millions running Teche Regional in the last four years. And, because LifePoint’s rent was based on its financial success, the hospital district hasn’t received rent in four years.
“The downturn in the economy didn’t help,” Cefalu said.
But the hospital is also a free-standing institution that lacks the integration available in a network, Cefalu said. That would change with Ochsner.
“There’s not a service a human being could need that they couldn’t get through Ochsner,” Cefalu said.
The Ochsner representatives at Tuesday’s hearing were System Vice President Kristy Nichols, Regional Medical Director Dawn Puente and Bayou Region CEO Tim Allen. They pointed to Ochsner successes on the medical and financial fronts.
After Ochsner began to manage the St. Bernard Parish Hospital after Katrina, the hospital posted a positive cash flow for the first time, they said. At the Ochsner Medical Complex river Parishes, Ochsner created a 13-bed, 24/7 emergency room and offered lab services.
Ochsner assumed management of the former Chabert charity hospital, where long waiting times discouraged visits to its clinics. The number of people walking out after long waits dropped from 17% to 2%. The sepsis mortality rate dropped by three-quarters.
Nichols said LifePoint employees working at Teche Regional will be transitioned to Ochsner in a process that will be final in May.

The Central Catholic Eagles will open their regular season Thursday when they host the Loreauville Tigers.
Both teams are coming off shut out victories in their jamborees as Loreauville defeated Jeanerette 20-0 at the Iberia Parish Sugar Cane Jamboree Thursday, while Central Catholic defeated Centerville 13-0 at the Taco Bell Jamboree in Centerville Friday.
Central Catholic Coach Tommy Minton said that Loreauville will be a physical team.
“They’re a team that plays very, very hard,” he said. “That stands out on tape. They play very physical, and they play very hard on every down. We’re going to have to match that intensity level right off the bat.”
In terms of individual players, Zy Alexander, a dual threat quarterback, who Minton said is being recruited by some Division 1 schools to play wide receiver, stands out for the Tigers. The four-year starter did not play nearly the entire 2018 season due to an injury according to The Daily Iberian.
“They run a spread type of offense,” Minton said. “They’re going to run some zone reads, some power read stuff, try to give the quarterback the option to pull the ball and keep it, and they do all the RPOs (run-pass options) off of it that everybody is doing nowadays.”
In last week’s jamboree win, Alexander completed 4-of-4 passes for 89 yards and also rushed for a score.
On defense, Minton said the Tigers will utilize a four-man front and also will use a 3-3 stack look.
Last week, Central Catholic, led by its defensive effort, defeated Centerville 13-0 at the Taco Bell Jamboree in Centerville.
Centerville was limited to just 7 yards of offense (minus 6 rushing and 13 yards passing). The Bulldogs had one first down, which came on their final drive of the game.
Central Catholic’s offense totaled 219 yards, 216 of those on the ground.
Hugh Hamer was the Eagles’ top rusher with 113 yards rushing and two touchdowns, while Davidyione Bias had 90 yards on the ground.
Thursday’s game is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Tiger Stadium.
Additional reporting by The Daily Iberian.

Annie Marie Rebardie, 98, a native of Morgan City, died Monday, Sept. 2, 2019.
She is survived by four children, Joyce Rebardie, Anna Lodrigue, Larry Rebardie and Harry Rebardie; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two sons, a brother and eight sisters.
Visitation will be Thursday from 10 a.m. until services at 2 p.m. at Hargrave Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Berwick Cemetery.
Hargrave Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.