Welcome center to open Tuesday

The new $4 million Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau Welcome and Interpretative Center is set to open to the public Tuesday, according to Cajun Coast Executive Director Carrie Stansbury.
The center will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Weekend employees still need to be trained before the center can open on weekends, Stansbury said. Once the welcome center does open on weekends, hours will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
The St. Mary Parish Tourist Commission met Wednesday at its new welcome center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The commission is also known as the Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau.
The grand opening for the welcome center is scheduled for Aug. 20. The board approved allotting up to $5,000 for the grand opening.
St. Mary Parish Drainage District No. 2 board member Jean Paul Bourg said a drainage pipe at the front of the welcome center property is causing soil to wash out into the drainage canal. “This is going to continue to do that unless we put some kind of bulkhead or something there to keep it from just washing away,” Bourg said.
The drainage district board has not come up with a solution yet, but is working on possible options, Bourg said.
The drainage board is concerned that the soil will wash up to the road, Bourg said. The drainage pipe in place is temporary until the permanent parking lot is constructed, but Bourg did not know how long before that permanent lot will be built, Bourg said.
Stansbury said the contract for the permanent parking lot should be awarded by October. Cajun Coast board member Dale Rogers said the permanent lot may not be finished until October 2015 or later.
Rogers suggested getting the parish to drive some sheet pile to prevent the erosion, he said.
Stansbury also noticed some mold growing on the outside of the building, she said. Cajun Coast got the building inspected for mold. Monitoring devices were installed to detect moisture in the building, she said.
The inspector told Cajun Coast officials the mold is not bad, but could have permanent effects if not addressed, Stansbury said. The contractor is working to address the issues, she said.
The inspector recommended raising the temperature in the building higher to draw out the water in the air, Stansbury said.
The center will open to the public two years after the building sank about 4.5 feet on June 14, 2012. The center had been scheduled to open about a month after the date of the building collapse. Expert House Movers raised the building back to its original height in May 2013.
Cajun Coast used about $3 million in insurance money plus money it had not yet spent before the building sagged in order to repair and lift the building. Cajun Coast employees have been working in the new building since the beginning of May.
In other business, the board:
—Approved the purchase of miscellaneous items for the welcome center at a cost of $4,000.
—Approved Kim Walden as chairwoman, Dale Rogers as vice-chairman, Nelson Cortez as treasurer and Sandra Marshall as secretary.
—Approved covering $2,500 in hotel costs for umpires’ rooms for the Dixie Youth Tournament in Franklin.
—Declared surplus items of furniture.
—Set its next board meeting for Aug. 6.