The State of the Parish

Lafourche deputies arrest wanted felon in Gheens
January 23, 2020
Julie Pellegrin | Executive Director, The Haven
January 23, 2020
Lafourche deputies arrest wanted felon in Gheens
January 23, 2020
Julie Pellegrin | Executive Director, The Haven
January 23, 2020

I was honored to take my second term of office this month. Terrebonne Parish is still enduring tough economic times due to declining oil prices. We have seen sales tax revenue drop 12 percent, yet thanks to the resiliency of the Terrebonne Parish residents, businesses, and government, we have seen businesses diversify. Terrebonne Parish Government (TPCG), under my Administration and together with the Council, has streamlined the budget by cutting all departments by 23 percent (with no services cut and no layoffs) Despite all this, TPCG is still funding $157 million of construction and drainage projects, has adopted a 2020 budget of $212 million and maintains Standard and Poors Bond Ratings of AA, AA- and A. Terrebonne Parish remains fiscally strong.


Below is a recap of the projects that have been completed during my first administration, 2016 through 2019:

• Thompson Road Levee –
$13,180,812 (completed in 2017)

• Jeff Drive Overlay –  $522,957
(completed in 2017)


• Schriever Overpass Lights –
$161,592 (completed in 2018)

• CPRA Falgout Canal Road Levee
–  $5,400,000 (completed in 2018)

• Bayou Gardens Extension –
$8,434,634 (completed in 2018)


• Mayfield Bridge Replacement –
$731,170 (completed in 2018)

• Whiskey Island Restoration Project
– $118 million – Barrier Island
Rebuilding (completed 2018)

• Ellendale Levee –  $1,451,154
(completed in 2019)


• Emergency Operations Center –
$7,374,219 (completed in 2019)

• Hollywood Road South –  $24,730,089
(completed in 2019)

• Country Drive Widening –  $8,174,277
(completed in 2019)


• Hollywood Road Ext (Valhi to 182)-
$5,334,050 (completed in 2019)

• Bayou Country Sports Complex
(parking lots, ponds, soccer
concession, soccer fields) – $1,358,581
(completed in 2019)

• Emergency Operations Center Safe
Room –  $2,707,630
(completed in 2019)


• Eastside Safe Room –  $1,395,581
(completed in 2019)

• Upper Little Caillou Pump Station –
$5,879,485 (completed in 2019)

• Sylvia Street Drainage Phase 3 –
$879,138 (completed in 2019)


• Airbase Splashpark –  $728,696
(completed December 2019)

• Six Foot Ditch Levee –  $2,117,832
(completed December 2019)

• Lost Lake – $35 million –  Marsh
Restoration and Weirs


• Pump System at Savanne Road –
$200,000 – Rifle range area
(completed 2019)

• Plantation Gardens Pump Station –
$200,000 – (completed 2019)

Below are the ongoing projects into 2020:


• Asphalt Overlay Project –  $400,000
(funded in 2019 and 2020)

• Bayou Terrebonne Lock System –
$10,921,633 (estimated completion
12/2020)

• Petit Caillou Lock Structure –
$9,870,968 (estimated completion
3/2020)


• Bayou Black Pump Station (Bayou
Chacahoula/Hanson Canal) –
$13,545,715 (estimated completion
3/2020)

• Nelo Street Paving Project –  $410,000
(estimated completion date 2/2020)

• Valhi Levee Pump Station –
$3,799,875 (estimated completion
date 1/2020)


• Petit Caillou Drainage Project (Petit
Caillou Pump Station and
Conveyance Channel) –  $10,290,485
(fully funded – Currently
under construction – completion
3/2020)

• Health Unit Construction –  $2,740,000
(fully funded – engineering
and design phase)

• Government Tower Elevator –
$1,125,874 (fully funded – under
construction)


• Bayou Country Sports Park Asphalt
Road $781,620 (fully funded – out
to bid)

• Lashbrook Pump Station –  $5,094,158
(fully funded – bid date 2/2020)

• Westside Area Drainage –  $1,508,539
(State HMGP funding – bid date
3/2020)


• Bayou Terrebonne Pump Street (Shell
Oil) –  $1,377,789
(funding engineering)

• Elliot Jones Pump Station –
$1,236,540 (funding engineering)

• Bayou Black Pump Station at
Geraldine –  $300,000 (preliminary
engineering phase)


• Hollywood Road Extension Bridge:
$455,155 (engineering and
design phase)

• Timbalier, Trinity, West Belle Pass
Islands Restoration Project –
$150 million

• Bayou Dularge Ridge Restoration
Project – $27.2 million – 515
acres restored


• South Ellendale Pump System – 30’
pump system and 4 – 48” culverts
with gates

• HNC Lock System – $420 million – BP
Fine and Restore Act Monies
(construction 2020)

• Bay Raccouri Ridge Restoration and
Marsh Creation Project –
$35 million (Phase 1 engineering and
design)


Special thanks to the Terrebonne Parish Levee Board, along with Reggie Dupre, Director and Tony Alford, President, for the construction of the Morganza to the Gulf Levee System. Thanks to the Morganza Levee System, Terrebonne Parish was protected from the 9 ft. tidal surge from Hurricane Barry. Special thanks also to Shell Oil for the donation of 4,139 acres of land, north of Savanne Road that will be used as a drainage/retention area during heavy rains.

Terrebonne is in strong fiscal shape with the economy starting to pick up. The Parish has seen a 2.0 percent increase in Sales tax for 2019. FEMA is on schedule to approve TPCG flood maps in June 2020 which will include Morganza levees as well as floodgates and redundant levees in their formula for reduced flood insurance rates. My Administration, together with the Parish Council, have added monies for pump stations, cleaned and excavated drainage ditches as well as changed and replaced culverts. Over 200 pumps are currently 100 percent operational, with back-up generators where necessary.

Concrete panels have been changed where necessary and we are currently building three lock systems along with many other projects. All of this has been done while maintaining a strong fiscal position. My Administration and the Council have developed and initiated total sweeping reform over Terrebonne Parish Recreation (TPR) as well as Recreation Districts 2-3 and 11.


Terrebonne has prospered with many economic development projects including the relocation of Rouse’s Headquarters and Distribution Center to Hwy 311 in Terrebonne Parish; Shell Oil’s Deepwater 100,000 sq. ft. distribution building, Shell Oil Pipeline, 14,000 sq. ft. office building, both of which have been completed and are currently in operation on Houma’s Eastside; and the new CIS Medical Facility which is currently under construction on Hwy 90 near Troop C.

I am honored to have served Terrebonne Parish as a Louisiana State Representative from 2004-2015, as Chairman of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee as well as a member of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CRPA) and currently as Parish President since 2016. The positive results of my administration are evident as we continue to move Terrebonne Parish forward! Terrebonne Parish is the Good Earth.•