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PUBLIC NOTICE
NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that the following proposed ordinance has been submitted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Patterson, Louisiana on the 6th day of May 2025.
INTRODUCTION OF
ORDINANCE NO. 2025-05
AN ORDINANCE levying a GENERAL ALIMONY TAX of 8.10 Mills for the tax year 2025 of all property situated in the CITY OF PATTERSON, LOUISIANA, subjected to taxation therein, and auth- orizing extension by the Assessor of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana.
BE IT ORDAIN-ED, by the Mayor and Council of the City of Patterson, Louisiana, in regular session assembled that:
SECTION I: That there be assessed, levied and collected for the year 2025, a GENERAL ALIMONY TAX of 8.10 Mills on the dollar assessed valuation on all property situated in the City of Patterson and taxable thereby:
SECTION II: The Assessor of the Parish of St. Mary is hereby authorized to extend the aforementioned Tax on the 2025 Assessment Roll of the City of Patterson, Louisiana.
THE FOREGOING ORDINANCE was offered by ——————— who moved for its adoption, seconded by———————, and upon roll call vote, the following vote was recorded.
YEAS:
NAYS:
ABSENT:
ABSTAINED:
WHEREUPON THE MAYOR declared the ORDINANCE ADOPTED on this —— day of ———————, 2025 at which a quorum was present and voting.
———————
Rodney A. Grogan,
Mayor
Attest:
———————
Midge Bourgeois,
City Clerk
* * * * * * * *
Notice is further given that a public hearing on the aforesaid proposed ordinance is set for 6:00 p.m. on the 3rd day of June 2025, during the regular meeting of the Patterson City Council to be held at the City Hall in Patterson, 1314 Main Street, Patterson, Louisiana, on that date and at that time, and final action on said proposed ordinance shall be taken at said meeting.
———————
MIDGE
BOURGEOIS,
CITY CLERK
Adv. May 16, 23 and 30, 2025

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PUBLIC NOTICE
NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that the following proposed ordinance has been submitted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Patterson, Louisiana on the 6th day of May 2025.
INTRODUCTION OF
ORDINANCE NO. 2025-05A
AN ORDINANCE providing for the Tax of 9.2 Mills for the year 2025 on all property situated in the City of Patterson, Louisiana, subject to taxation to pay for PUBLIC IM- PROVEMENT BOND FOR WATERWORKS ISSUES of the City of Patterson, Louisiana, and authorizing extension by the Assessor of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana.
BE IT ORDAIN-ED by the Mayor and Council of the City of Patterson, Louisiana, in regular session assembled, that:
SECTION 1: That there be assessed, levied, and collected for the year 2025 a Tax of 9.2 Mills on the dollar of assessed valuation on all property for paying PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT BOND FOR WATERWORKS ISSUES of the City of Patterson, Louisiana.
SECTION II: The Assessor of the Parish of St. Mary is hereby authorized to extend the aforementioned Tax on the 2025 Assessment Roll of the City of Patterson, Louisiana.
THE FOREGOING ORDINANCE was offered by Councilmember ———————, who moved for its adoption, seconded by Councilmember ———————, and upon roll call vote, the following vote was recorded:
Yeas:
Nays:
Absent:
Abstained:
WHEREUPON THE MAYOR declared the ORDINANCE ADOPTED on this —— day of ——————, 2025 at which a quorum was present and voting.
———————
Rodney A. Grogan,
Mayor
Attest:
———————
Midge Bourgeois,
City Clerk
* * * * * * * *
Notice is further given that a public hearing on the aforesaid proposed ordinance is set for 6:00 p.m. on the 3rd day of June 2025, during the regular meeting of the Patterson City Council to be held at the City Hall in Patterson, 1314 Main Street, Patterson, Louisiana, on that date and at that time, and final action on said proposed ordinance shall be taken at said meeting.
———————
MIDGE
BOURGEOIS,
CITY CLERK
Adv. May 16, 23 and 30, 2025

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PUBLIC NOTICE
TOWN OF
BERWICK
PLANNING AND ZONING
COMMISSION
PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE
Date: Wednesday June 4, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Council Meeting Room
Berwick Town Hall
3225 Third St
A•G•E•N•D•A
Public Hearing(s);
Case #1: Application for Minor Subdivision by De- hart Subdivision to subdivide 8.94 acres into three parcels, first is Lot 1A – 4.15 acres (to remain with current owner Mr Dehart), second is Lot 1B – 2.17 acres, and third is Lot 1C – 2.62 acres, both To Be Sold and used as R-1 Residential. Dehart Subdivision - Applicant; Miller Engineers & Assoc. - Engineer.
Property address per SMP Assessor listed as 417 Fairview Dr, Parcel #314401166.00, Section 28; Township 15; Range 12.
Case #2: Application for Minor Subdivision by L.L. Guarisco and Associates, L.L.C. to subdivide 19.18 acres into two parcels, first is 1.549 acres (listed as Tract “LE-7”) To Be Sold as Lot Extensions Only, and second is 17.631 acres to remain with current property owner (listed as Tract “ABCDEFGHIJA”) and remain as R-1 Residential Use.
L.L. Guarisco and Associates L.L.C. - Applicant; David A. Waitz Engineering, Engineers. Property address as Per SMP Assessor is 500 Fairview Dr., Parcel #3074364027.00, Section 24; Township T15S; Range R12E.
Persons requiring reasonable accommodation to attend the public hearing and meeting are requested to contact the Office of Director of Planning at (985) 384-8858 prior to the meeting to discuss their particular needs.
Adv. May 23, 28 and 30, 2025

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PUBLIC NOTICE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the St. Mary Parish Board of Adjustments will hold a PUBLIC HEARING on MONDAY, June 2, 2025, AT 5:45 P.M. in the Parish Council Meeting Room, Fifth Floor Courthouse, Franklin, Louisiana, for the following purposes:
South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association represented by Terral Martin with Red Stick Power, LLC, for a Lot Area Variance to deviate from the required 20,000 sq ft. to 9,900 sq ft., a Lot Depth Variance to deviate from the required 200 ft. to 66 ft. and a Buffer yard Variance (Table 3.11.1 Buffer yard Re- quirements) to deviate from the required number of canopy trees ( 1 ), evergreen trees ( 1 ), understory trees ( 1 ) and shrubs ( 10 ) to canopy trees ( 0 ), evergreen trees ( 0 ), understory trees ( 0 ) and shrubs ( 0 ) in a Heavy Industrial (HI) Zoned District situated on two parcels at 9351 Hwy 182 Amelia LA, Sec.42 T16S R13E; Parcel Id# 3404261005.00 Lot PTUVP Containing .74 Acre 21s 178130 and 9367 Hwy 182 Amelia LA, Sec.42 T16S R13E; Parcel Id# 3404261001.00 Tract PQRSTP Containing 1.96 Ac Per Plat 21s 178130. (ZON- 1461)
All persons are invited to this meeting to submit their approval or objections to the above VARIANCE REQUEST.
St. Mary Parish
Board of
Adjustments
Barry Druilhet, Chairman
Adv. May 16, 23 and 30, 2025

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PUBLIC NOTICE
Advertisement for Custodial Supplies
The St. Mary Parish School Board is requesting bids for Custodial Supplies. Sealed bids will be accepted at the School Board Maintenance Office in Centerville, La. until 10:00 A.M. on Friday, June 27,2025 at which time bids will be opened and read.
Bid packets will be furnished at the School Board Maintenance office at 474 Hwy 317 in Centerville, La. 70522 or online at www.centralauctionhouse.com.
Please call the Maintenance Office at (337) 836-9661 for further information.
Adv. May 23, June 6 and 20, 2025

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PUBLIC NOTICE
Accepting sealed bids for one (1) surplus 1997 Dodge Pickup, mileage 58,542
To be sold to highest bidder as- is, where-is.
Contact Jacob or Kenney at 985-384-8990.
Bids can be mailed to: Pickup Truck Bid, P O Box 322, Berwick, LA 70342
Adv. April 30, May 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 21 and 23, 2025

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PUBLIC NOTICE
PROCEEDINGS OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE MORGAN CITY HARBOR AND TERMINAL
DISTRICT
April 14, 2025
The Board of Commissioners (“Board”) of the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District (“District”) met in regular session at the District’s office at 7327 Highway 182, Morgan City, Louisiana on April 14, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Deborah Garber, Vice-President, convened the meeting with Commissioners Joseph Cain, Steven Cornes, Matthew Tycer, Troy Lombardo and Michael Wise in attendance. Ben Adams, Adam Mayon and Matthew Glover were absent. Also present in the meeting were Raymond Wade, Executive Director; Cindy Cutrera, Economic Development Manager; Tori Henry, Office Manager; Michael Knobloch, Special Projects Manager; Gerard Bourgeois, Board Attorney; Lt. Jenelle Piche, United States Coast Guard (“USCG”); Robert Karam, T. Baker Smith; Bill Blan-chard, GIS Engineering; and members of the general public.
The meeting was called to order and the presence of a quorum was noted. Raymond Wade led the invocation, and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
It was moved by Mr. Lombardo and seconded by Mr. Tycer that the minutes of the regular meeting of March 10, 2025 be approved and adopted, with said motion carrying unanimously.
It was moved by Mr. Tycer that the report of receipts and disbursements for the month of March, 2025 be received and ac- cepted and that all invoices presented to the Board for the month of March, 2025 be paid. Mr. Lombardo seconded that motion, which carried unanimously.
Raymond Wade reported on behalf of Tim Connell that Dredge Arulaq continues dredging 24/7 in the Bar Channel, Dredge Mike Hooks was moved above the Bayou Chene flood structure and is now headed to shipyard for repairs for a couple of weeks, and Coastal Dredging will be working the Bollinger slips after disposal areas have been identified. He also noted the Corps is monitoring Stouts Pass, as no funding was issued for that area.
Lt. Piche reported that: (i) there were 2,312 total transits in March through the VTS zone; (ii) the 1st two weeks of April have been busy, with MSIB’s is- sued for Stouts Pass, to close the river for 12 hours while removing scaffolding from bridge due to water levels rising and for the closure of Bayou Chene. And, (iii) she noted once the Atchafalaya River hits 5’, assist tow restrictions go into effect. Mr. Wade noted that Mrs. Cutrera has been in contact with our stakeholders re- garding sail outs.
Charles Brittingham reported that Congress passed a full CR in March and the Corps is operating on FY24 baseline levels, allocated on a discretionary basis by the work plan, which will be made available mid-May. The president’s budget should be released by May 19th, with top-line items only and no individual line items. His priority is to make sure there are sufficient funds for the Atchafalaya River in work plan as well as President’s budget.
Michael Knobloch reported that: (i) plans are being reviewed by the Fire Marshall’s office for the warehouse fire suppression system; (ii) he expects the camera project to be completed by the end of May; and (iii) we submitted the FY2026 Community Project Funds and Congressional Directed Spending application to Senator Cassidy prior to the March 28th deadline, but we are still awaiting Congressman Higgins and Senator Kennedy deadlines.
Robert Karam reported that we are waiting on the public comment period to expire and the permit to be issued on the West Dock.
Bill Blanchard reported that: (i) drydock work continues and presented Change Order No. 1 for 45 additional days at no additional cost, which was moved by Mr. Tycer, seconded by Mr. Cain and carried unanimously; (ii) Notice to Proceed was issued to Coastal Dredging on April 14th, but discussions continue regarding cubic yard differences for disposal areas; and (iii) bulkhead design is currently underway.
Cindy Cutrera reported that: (i) our 13th Annual Hurricane Preparedness meeting will be held on April 22nd at 9 a.m.; (ii) she and Mr. Wade attended the Corps high water public hearing where Mr. Wade stressed the benefits of this area to industry and the need for dredges, as well as Stouts Pass dredging need; and (iii) she attended a Sustainable Rivers two day workshop, focusing to im- prove the basin by possibly altering the flows at Old River, with information being turn-ed over to the LMR comprehensive study.
Gerard Bourgeois presented Ordinance No. 63 for adoption of the 2025 millage by the District of 4.45 mills. It was mov-ed by Mr. Lombardo and seconded by Mr. Cornes that the following ordinance providing a rate of 4.45 mills be adopted, which motion carried unanimously.
ORDINANCE
NO. 63
An Ordinance levying and imposing a tax on all the property subject to taxation in the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District, State of Louisiana, for the year 2025 for the purpose of paying the administrative, operative and maintenance ex- penses of the Board in said District.
SECTION 1, BE IT ORDAIN-ED, by the Board of Commissioners of the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District, a political subdivision of the State of Louisiana, acting as the governing authority of said Harbor and Terminal District; in regular session convened, that under and by virtue of the Authority of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 LSA-R.S. 34:329, as amended and Art. 7, Sec. 23 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, that the following millage(s) are hereby levied on the 2025 tax roll on all property subject to taxation by the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District:
MILLAGE
administrative, operative, and maintenance expenses, 4.45 mills
(Tax for: e.g. General Alimony, Library, Maintenance)
SECTION 2, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that the proper administrative officials of the Parish
of St. Mary, State of Louisiana, be and they are hereby empowered, authorized, and directed to spread said taxes, as hereinabove set forth, upon the assessment roll of said Parish for the year 2025, and to make the collection of the taxes imposed for and on behalf of the taxing authority, according to law, and that the taxes herein levied shall become a permanent lien and privilege on all property subject to taxation as herein set forth, and collection thereof shall be enforceable in the manner provided by law.
SECTION 3, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all Ordinance or parts of Ordinance in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed, and this Ordinance shall take effect upon its adoption, the public welfare so de- manding.
(ii) We received last reimbursement payment related to advances made on Baker Hughes’s behalf in April of last year; (iii) the proposed deal between Baker Hughes and Vamtec will not happen, but another party is interested; (iv) Mr. Wade and Mr. Knobloch are in discussions about adding additional rail lines, which could result in purchasing property for tracks; and (v) the Corps asked to use disposal areas 2 and 3 right above the IWCC and turn at Bayou Black, and as neither has been used in over 30 years asked the Board to let him know if they hear about any problems from owners or hunters in those areas.
With there being no further business to come before the Board, it was moved by Mr. Cornes and seconded by Mr. Tycer that the meeting was adjourned.
Attest:
———————
Matthew K.
Glover,
Secretary
Adv. May 23, 2025
Cost: $186.00
PUBLIC NOTICE
The Patterson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners’ monthly meeting will be held Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at 5:30 pm. The office is located at 409 Grout Street in Patterson. The meeting is open to the public. There is no agenda at this time.

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It’s the last day of April. It’s the kind of spring day you want to be at the beach anywhere along the northern Gulf Coast, while those stuck in the north country are still trying to figure out if winter is over or not.
However, on this day I’m not spending time relaxing in the sand with an umbrella shading me while listening to the surf crash along the shore. Instead, I’m at a camp on Grand Isle waiting for the tide to turn with David Newstead, director of the Coastal Bird Program at Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Newstead is in Grand Isle to trap Rufa Red Knots, a rusty-orange robin-size species of shorebird that he has been monitoring since 2009, due to its steady decline since the 1980s. A population decline by some estimates that may be more than 75-80%.
While taking up some of Newstead’s valuable time, he and I discuss the plight of Red Knots and how they wound up being listed in 2015 as “threatened” on the Endangered Species List.
Rufa Red Knots during migration pass along the Atlantic coast. Initially it was assumed one of the main causes for the bird’s decline was the overharvest and therefore decline of horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay area. Subsequently, that led to a reduction in horseshoe crab eggs, an important food source that Red Knots specialize on to fatten up in the spring before their migration northward to the arctic.
To list a species, Newstead pointed out that you must compile everything that’s known about it, and then fill as many knowledge gaps as you possibly can through additional research.
In 2009, Newstead was contacted by Larry Niles, a wildlife biologist in New Jersey who had been working with Red Knots and horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay. Initially, Newstead says, Niles was just “poking” around to see what he knew about the birds in Texas. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a lot of answers. That’s when Niles and Newstead began working on a project together to trap and install tracking devices on Red Knots in an effort to find out where they were wintering.
Newstead said, “There was a lot of records from the fall and spring, so the assumption was they were wintering somewhere else. We weren’t seeing any of the Red Knots in Texas that they had been marking for years in Delaware Bay and along the Atlantic coast.”
“So, it turns out once we got data back from those devices,” Newstead continued, “almost all of the birds were wintering in Texas. The next piece of the puzzle was, well, where the hell are they? Because, we don’t have records. We didn’t have a lot of winter records for these birds.”
That’s when Newstead started catching birds himself and doing other tracking projects that included aerial and radio telemetry for a couple years. What he discovered was the birds were there all the time.
According to Newstead, they were on immense tidal flats located in south Texas that can extend for miles and are inaccessible to birders.
“We found out that there’s an actual wintering population in Texas and they’re unique. They’re not going through Delaware Bay, and they’re not effected by horseshoe crab harvest and things like that. They’re being affected by other things, but not horseshoe crabs.”
In talking with colleagues in Louisiana around the same time, they also were seeing a spring buildup of Red Knots in places like Grand Isle and Elmer’s Island, but they weren’t seeing any Texas marked birds. So, the question was, just like the Texas population, where were they wintering in Louisiana?
Newstead felt, since roughly 10 percent of the Texas Red Knot population were marked, then some of those birds should have been showing up in Louisiana. It was then in partnership with the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Natural Heritage Program, the U.S. Department of Interior, Port of Fourchon, and the Town of Grand Isle, a plan was developed to trap and track Red Knots in 2014, similar to the project Newstead had done in Texas.
The use of light-level geolocation data loggers allowed Newstead to, as he put it, dig around where the birds are throughout its annual life cycle. Through his research, one of the things Newstead determined was one third to one half of the Louisiana bird’s population were wintering further south, but an equal or larger portion were indeed wintering in Louisiana, but where?
The Louisiana Red Knots wintering further south were more specifically along the Pacific coast of Central America and as far down as southern Chile on an island known as Chiloé.
Newstead said, “The Pacific coast of southern Chile is very rocky and not very good habitat except for the island of Chiloé. That particular island has a number of little embayments that provide good habitat. It’s a unique population, because they’re separated from other groups by hundreds and thousands of miles. It also seems to be made up of Rufa Red Knots and another subspecies of Red Knots known as Roselaari.”
Interestingly, an Elmer’s Island bird banded and marked “077” on April 25, 2016, was sighted near Galveston, Texas, exactly nine years later on April 25, 2025. The Red Knot had been previously resighted multiple times on its wintering grounds in Chiloé. To reach the arctic breeding grounds, the Red Knot would have to travel an unimaginable 9,000 miles.
Newstead says all signs were pointing to the Chandeleur Islands. What’s more, further investigation via aerial and ground surveys indeed revealed there were some 2,500 Red Knots wintering in the Chandeleurs and some further west all the way to the Isles Dernieres Barrier Islands south of Dulac.
“So, Louisiana has got its own population that basically moves a little bit west, which is not to say we don’t occasionally see birds from Texas here and vice versa, but it’s not many. The other thing about Louisiana is these birds, for the most part, are not going through Delaware Bay either,” Newstead said.
Through his research Newstead has determined there are three populations of gulf birds. One in Texas, one in Louisiana, and one in Florida, of which the Florida population doesn’t intermingle with Louisiana’s population.
Newstead notes, none of the three gulf Red Knot populations are doing well. He points out that some of the Florida population does migrate through Delaware Bay and could be affected by the horseshoe crab decline, but there are other things as well.
Loss of habitat, human interaction, rising sea level from climate change, are some of the things biologists have cited over the years. But late season snowstorms or snow melt can also affect productivity on the arctic breeding grounds by reducing habitat, Newstead says.
However, Newstead, who did his doctoral dissertation on Red Knot survival says red tide is killing a lot of the birds. Moreover, though not so much in Louisiana, red tide is a severe problem in Florida and a sporadic problem in Texas.
Around four o’clock I met the team I was to accompany on Elmer’s Island. For the next couple of hours, the biologists performed prey sampling along the beach at predetermined 1,500 meter transects. More specifically, looking for Coquina Donax, a hard shell bi-valve prey and important resource that Red Knots can reliably get to.
Random core samples were taken at 500-meter intervals along each transect that had each team sifting through sandy muck looking for anything edible. During this process, we also scouted the beach for Red Knots to potentially trap towards evening at low tide, which we did find.
To be a good biologist, you must have patience. During the week the CBBEP and BTNEP teams had to deal with poor tides, winds, and spooky birds coming off roost to feed in the late afternoon falling tide. What’s more, prime catch time most afternoons was closer to dark.
For a while it was much like a game of pickleball, as we raced back and forth along the sandy beach trying to pick out which was the better group to attempt a capture.
To trap the Red Knots, Newstead would be using a cannon net. I pondered how he was going to get the birds scattered in little bunches here and there across miles of beach into a 10-meter by 10-meter spot of sand where he could fire the net over them.
Finally, a spot was selected that had a decent bunch of birds, and Newstead set up close to them. A few of the Red Knots wanted no part of it and flew off, while those remaining were more interested in probing the sand for food.
Once the cannon net was set in place, Newstead made a wide loop through the sand dunes and then back onto the beach where the birds were between him and the net.
Newstead says there’s a term developed around cannon netting by English researchers called “twinkling.” Derived from ballroom dancing, the thought is to give your partner a little nudge or a little pressure.
Newstead would make a good candidate for “Dancing with the Stars,” because the Red Knots waltzed into the trap as if they were choreographed. That’s when Newstead remotely fired the cannon catching five Red Knots.
With birds in hand, the teams went to work banding, marking, and taking critical measurements and weight of each bird while being careful to not stress them any further.
Standing next to Newstead, I noticed he had a look of satisfaction and seemed to be enjoying the whole outcome. While gazing towards the horizon where the sun was now setting on Elmer’s Island, Newstead says to me, “We see a lot of sunrises and sunsets in what we do…”
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflow@cox.net.