Council questions Cyprien pump station

Lafourche Parish Council members want to know, what’s the real story with the Cyprien pump station.

Councilman Daniel Lorraine sparked a conversation regarding the total rebuild of the facility, which was earmarked to cost $3.5 million, at the council’s last meeting on Dec 11.

Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle was absent from the meeting. So were representatives from T. Baker Smith, the engineers on the project.

At the beginning of his administration, Cantrelle chose to refurbish the facility, rather than rebuild the entire station, because engineers from T. Baker Smith estimated a refurbishment would cost about $1 million, a far cry from the $3.5 million earmarked.

The Cyprien pump station sits in District 5, but drains District 4. 

It is located on Bayou Folse Road near Lockport.

“God knows what is going to happen here,” Lorraine said.

“This project should have been completed at the very beginning of this administration. But here we are, three years later, and going into year four, with no significant progress at all,” Lorraine said. 

Lorraine said he heard pumps were bought but they had been sitting on the ground for over a year.

“What kind of warranty are we going to get on those things?” Lorraine asked.

“They started working on the refurbishment, but that was two hurricane seasons ago, and now it looks like we’re going to play with it some more,” he said.

Council Chairman Luci Sposito commented, “it’s too bad no one from T. Baker Smith is here tonight, there is definitely a story here.”

“It’s time we get moving along and quit playing Romper Room. The money was there, this project was funded,” District 4 Councilman Bo Melvin said.

Councilman Jerry Jones said he would like to see a print out of money that has been spent on the project.

“This just doesn’t add up,” Jones said as he made the request to Council Clerk Carleen Babin.

“People need relief and they can’t get it,” he said.

Melvin chimed in, “Yeah, the money is there and they still can’t get it right.”

Lorraine said the original $3.5 million funds earmarked for the Cyprien Pump Station, were from a road sales tax.

He sparked the conversation on the project when the council reached an agenda item where parish administration was making a request for additional monies to remove an abandoned pipe line that would interfere with the pump station’s rehab.

“The pump station has been there all along, why are we just now seeing this,” Lorraine asked.

“The engines are in, but gee, this project is nowhere near to being finished,” he said. 

Cantrelle