Deputies to patrol levees

The St. Mary Levee District commission approved entering into a cooperative agreement Thursday with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office to patrol the levees in order to prevent trespassers from damaging the levees, Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said this morning.
“We’ve been having some problems with trespassers on sections of the levees,” Matte said. People driving on the top of the levees and four-wheelers driving all over the levees can lead to the deterioration of the levees, he said. “We’re going to ask the sheriff’s department through this cooperative endeavor agreement to do some specific patrols in those areas to try and stop trespassers,” Matte said.
The Morgan City Levee Improvements Project is in the permitting stage, and officials are awaiting comments from various agencies before doing the design on specific stretches of levees, Matte said.
At Thursday’s meeting, John Eblen of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported that the Tiger Island levee project contract had been awarded, Matte said. Construction is expected to start in November, Matte said. That project consists of work on the tie-in between the end of the floodwall and the end of the existing levee in the vicinity of the Bayou Boeuf Locks in Morgan City, Matte said.