Tri-City area fares well in state budget

St. Mary Parish fared well in the state’s budget process during the recently ended legislative session, Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, said.
“In St. Mary, for our size, nobody got more money,” from the state capital outlay bill, according Jones.
From the $2.4 million in Berwick for sewerage system improvements near Cameron to $1.47 million in Morgan City for a drainage improvement project and $990,000 in Patterson for replacement of water and gas meters throughout the city, the Tri-City area fared well in the state’s construction bill.
The bill is being checked over before heading to the governor’s desk for signature, Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, said.
“We all expect him to sign it within the next couple weeks,” Jones said.
In Berwick, the town has $1.35 million of the $2.4 million for its sewerage system improvements in Priority 1 funding, meaning the money will come available immediately. In the 2013 capital outlay budget, Newell “Bubba” Slaughter, town chief administrative officer, said $300,000 was included for planning the project.
He predicts construction of the planned lift station near the old National Wheel-O-Vater building on La. 182 and laying ground sewer to Cameron and G&J won’t begin for a year.
With the Priority 1 money, “we hope to get the new Cameron site and the new G&J site hooked up to sewer,” Slaughter said.
“We’re hopeful the Priority 5 money will come the following year. Then we can hook up Old Spanish Trail,” he added.
Morgan City Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi said Morgan City got $1.47 million in capital outlay money for the La. 70 drainage improvement planning and construction project. The project runs from the pumping station on La. 70 to Morgan City Junior High School.
The city originally was going to have to put up a 25 percent match but Grizzaffi said he got state legislators to exempt the city from that match because La. 70 is a state highway.
The project already has been designed and will go out to bid for construction within the next few weeks, Grizzaffi said.
Meanwhile, the state has $990,000 in state Priority 1 funding to build three more cabins at Lake End Parkway. The design of the cabins has been approved. Construction should begin probably within the next 60 days after the project goes to bid, Grizzaffi said.
Patterson Mayor Rodney Grogan said the project to replace the water and gas meters in his city is planned in phases across the city with the oldest areas being addressed first.
The average life span of the meters, Grogan said, is 25 to 30 years. The oldest in the city are from the late 1940s or early 1950s in the areas of Main, First and Second streets, he said.
Of the $990,000, there is $200,000 in Priority 1 and $790,000 in Priority 2. The replacement meters will be calibrated correctly and able to be read electronically with wands, the mayor said.
Eventually, the entire city will be done through another two phases of the project. Also included in these phases are portions of Bayou Vista and Crescent Acres subdivision, both of which the City of Patterson serves.
Other items of note affecting the Tri-City area in the capital outlay bill include:
—A total of $13.1 million is in the budget, split between three priorities, for construction of the Governmental Operations and Emergency Center by the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District.
The 30,000 square foot, two-level Government Emergency Operations Center will serve the Port of Morgan City and surrounding communities. The facility, which is to be located on La. 182, between Myrtle Street and Martin Luther King Blvd., adjacent to the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium, will effectively serve as a fully integrated interoperable governmental command center for emergency response and recovery operations.
Port board attorney Gerard Bourgeois said $1.2 million is available now to open the bid process and he expects the $5.9 million in Priority 2 will be authorized for expenditure during the state’s September bond meeting.
The $6 million in Priority 5 is for a bigger building and contingencies, Bourgeois said. He noted the building cost is $9.5 million, but was originally estimated to cost $13 million.
He said the goal is to have the first phase ready for the 2015 hurricane season.
“We may be a little hard pressed to have it ready for the beginning of the season but we’re going to try to have most of it built for May of next year,” Bourgeois said.
—$650,000, split between priorities 1 and 2, for installation of culverts and associated infrastructure in the Middle Road Drainage Canal in Bayou Vista.
—Priority 1 funding of $470,000 for Plantation Pump Station replacement for Sub-Gravity Drainage District 1 of St. Mary Parish Gravity Drainage District 2. The money is for planning and construction as the complete net of the project is $2.7 million, according to Jones. It will increase rainwater drainage to 60,000 gallons per minute out of Bayou Vista, he added.
—Priority 2 funding of $75,000 for Recreation District 3 toward roof and flooring improvements at the Bayou Vista Civic Center. Chairman Stan Robison said the money is the first the district has ever had included in the capital outlay bills. “We’ve never even made it in the bill before, so I’m glad for that,” he said. The district has been applying since 1994, Robison said.
Additional reporting by Zachary Fitzgerald contributed to this report.