Council moves forward government complex funding

One night after locking in a 4-4 tie vote on a controversial $4.8 million land purchase, the Terrebonne Parish Council passed the measure 7-2 last Wednesday after little debate.

The difference between the two nights? Parish President Michel Claudet and Council Chairwoman Arlanda Williams were in New Orleans representing the parish at the Saints’ victory parade during Tuesday night’s committee meetings.

The land buy will be the site for a new government complex, including a new juvenile jail, a public works yard, and hurricane center for the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Councilmen Clayton Voisin and Billy Hebert again voted against moving the measure towards a public hearing, while Joey Cehan and Pete Lambert switched their votes to join Williams and the rest of the council in passing the resolution.

The initial proposal slated $3.4 million for the land itself and $1.4 million for site development, exactly the amounts needed for the property owned by Ronnie Shaw and lauded by Claudet would cost. On Wednesday, the council changed the resolution to read $5 million for the entire project.

“The way it was written, [the Shaw Property] was the only one that would have fit, and a lot of us on the council have questions about that property,” said Williams.

This land purchase issue has become a stick in the spokes of the parish government. What Claudet sees as a visionary opportunity to put critical parish services in a centralized location outside of the flood plane, some on the council see as expansion of government while revenues are down and claim it loses sight of ever-present drainage problems.

In December, the council split 5-4 against buying a piece of land near La. Highway 311 and U.S. Highway 90, citing drainage issues in the northern part of the parish and concerns of the quality of the land, which flooded in December. Several on the council appeared to favor an alternate piece of land offered by local real estate mogul S.P. Larussa.

In the past, Claudet has said the LaRussa property would likely cost the parish about $1 million more than the Shaw property. Now, in order to purchase that property, the council would have to appropriate additional funding.

Wednesday’s vote is seen as preliminary approval for the concept of the government complex, even if choosing a parcel of land for the complex is still contentious.

“This vote means says that we believe this idea has merits, we just want to look at a few little issues before we move ahead with it,” said Claudet.

Those issues, however, could prove to be major hurdles and lead to more arguing at council meetings.

The money allocated to buy property was taken from drainage accounts that had been refilled by FEMA reimbursements. Clayton Voisin, however, wanted to see that money put back into drainage projects rather than using it for new government facilities.

“We have areas in [four different] districts that have recently flooded. And what we’re going to do is, rather than address drainage and flooding in Terrebonne Parish, we’re going to grow government” said Voisin. “I think that we need to move forward with protecting and taking care of our citizenship that’s here right now. You said we have too much money in these accounts, that they’re redundant and double funded. Let’s use it for drainage projects in those areas drainage projects.”

Voisin also pointed out that sales tax revenue in January was down $3.2 million this year, and said the move showed “poor fiscal judgment.”

“According to where we’re going with sales tax right now and other possible revenues in this parish, we don’t need to grow government. If anything, government is too big right now,” said Voisin. “Once this parish is protected and is properly drained, then let’s look to grow government and build these buildings.”

Those ideas were refuted by Al Levron, who noted that several fully funded projects to update drainage systems to 25-year storm levels were under way. Those projects are still at least two years from completion because of procedural delays.

“It’s not a lack of resolve or funding that holds these projects up. It’s always a matter of getting them out of engineering,” said Claudet on Thursday.

Although her district has some of the most dire drainage problems, Councilwoman Teri Cavalier supported the measure because the project would help improve quality of life other areas. Cavalier is also a school administrator and said that a new juvenile justice center is also very needed.

“There’s $5 million budgeted for drainage. Is that enough? No. If I thought that the money we’re looking at right now was going to effect [drainage], I don’t see that,” said Cavalier. “I don’t think voting on this means you’re against drainage. I think it means that you’re voting for the quality of life for all the people in our parish.”