Welding school to be built at port industrial park site
State Representative Sam Jones and Senator R. L. Bret Allain II have recently repurposed funds to build a welding school on Charenton Navigation and Drainage Canal across from Metal Shark and Gulf Craft’s facility sites.
In the early 80s, when Jones was mayor of Franklin, he organized a group of elected officials, including the parish president, the mayor of Baldwin and others, to buy 100 acres on the canal to develop into an industrial park.
The land was eventually placed under control and operation of the Port of West St. Mary and they placed there the bulk-heading and access points. Jones reports that this year, $500,000 has been acquired to add on to the public dock in that area, with an eye toward broadening its utility.
Jones said that representatives from Metal Shark came to him and Allain in reference to being in need of skilled aluminum welders who knew how to do precisely the kind and caliber of work necessary to build boats at their facility.
“The idea of a training center came up,” Jones said. “So, Senator Allain and I talked, and we got this money repurposed at the interim emergency board meeting, last week.”
The money is still in the process of being approved, but Jones assures that the approval of the funds is merely a formality. Add those funds to a grant and a contribution from the Port of West St. Mary, and the goal of the million dollars required to build the school, will have been achieved.
Jones says that the welding school is going to be across the canal from Metal Shark and Gulf Craft, on the port property, and if all goes according to plan, will be finished and operational in a year, or so.
Senator Allain said, “We’ve got $420,000 in capital outlay that Representative Jones and I are steering towards this project, and we hope to get it built within the year. The need is obvious."
“We’ve already got a commitment from South Louisiana Community College, in Lafayette, to run the school and put the instructors there. So, everything has fallen into place.”
Allain went on to say, “The one thing that is still employing people in this area is aluminum fabrication. That seems to be the shining star, even with the downturn in the oil and gas industry. A lot of these boats that are being built and aluminum fabrication being done has gone elsewhere in the country, where the economy seems to be doing better than we are here."
“We are just trying to find ways to continue to employ people in St. Mary Parish.”
Allain said to prospective students of the welding school, “Give us two years, and we’ll find you a job that’ll make you $60,000 to $70,000 per year. You have the potential to make more money here than with a college degree.”