Port board OKs $1.2M more funds for center

The port’s Government Emergency and Operations Center, which was originally expected to cost about $9.8 million, is now projected to cost about $11 million, Port of Morgan City officials said Monday.
Port Commission Attorney Gerard Bourgeois said the project is currently about $1.2 million over the original budgeted amount for the center. The Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District commission approved committing to provide the $1.2 million in additional funding, if necessary.
Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said, “We were surprised, but the bids are what they are.”
The commission already approved a roughly $2.3 million match to come from port funds and $400,000 in additional funds, if needed. The port received $7.1 million in state funding to go toward the project.
Even with the increase in projected cost of the center, Project Manager Walt Adams said the cost of the building is well within the market cost per square foot.
The commission also accepted signing the contract with M.D. Descant LLC in Bunkie for construction of the center and approved signing a change order to the contract subject to Louisiana Office of Facility Planning and Control approval. The company’s low base bid totaled $8.288 million, but the change order reduced the contract by $419,397 for a final contract amount of $7,868,603, Architect Carl Blum said.
The port commission accepted M.D. Descant’s low bid at a special meeting Nov. 26. The work order will be issued Dec. 18 and the contractor will be on site to begin work as quickly as possible, Blum said.
The center will be located on La. 182 adjacent to the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. The building can serve as an emergency command center during events such as hurricanes and will also house tenants from governmental agencies on a day-to-day basis.
Officials realize the construction of the center is a time-sensitive project, and the goal is to finish substantial completion of the center by the end of September 2015, Adams said.
During the meeting, the board approved an agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the port to do maintenance on the Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems. The systems are set to be installed between Dec. 15 and Christmas on the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel, Wade said. The devices will give real-time data to mariners around the world including wind speed, temperature, current, waves and salinity.
Also at the meeting, Port Economic Development Manager Cindy Cutrera said she attended a coastal restoration summit in Thibodaux where officials discussed the Atchafalaya Long-Distance Sediment Pipeline Project. The feasibility study for the project was completed during the summer, Cutrera said. “They’re working to get this project into the 2017 master plan,” Cutrera said.
Another project discussed at that summit was one to increase Atchafalaya River flow to Terrebonne Parish, which officials called the No. 1 way to get freshwater into Terrebonne Parish, she said. “This would be diverting 15,000 cubic feet per second around the Bayou Boeuf Lock,” Cutrera said.
Port Commissioner Gary Duhon said the Atchafalaya River diversion project could affect the siltation in the river, flood control and even the economy. “My problem with the whole project is that we weren’t involved. They left us out. Nobody told us anything about it,” Duhon said.
Duhon suggested the port commission send the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority a letter saying that the commission wants to be involved in the discussion, he said.
In other business, the commission approved
—A resolution of support to promote container on vessel shipping along the Mississippi River at the request of Inland Rivers Ports & Terminals.
—Keeping the commission’s officers the same for 2015.