Council threatens Laf. levee district

Multiple Lafourche councilmen have ratcheted their rhetoric regarding the north Lafourche levee district’s lack of parish engagement, but it’s unclear what recourse the council can take short of subverting existing contracts.

The parish council has repeatedly requested project updates from the North Lafourche Conservation, Levee and Drainage District at its meetings, to no avail. Councilmen critical of the levee district’s decision to not attend the bimonthly meetings say the council chambers offer a wider audience for parish residents to hear about progress on projects the district is undertaking.

“They want to ignore us; it’s an insult as far as I’m concerned,” said Dist. 5 Councilman Phillip Gouaux, who has requested the district give an update on a project spanning from Lockport to Larose at consecutive meetings. “It’s time that stops.”

Levee district Executive Director Dwayne Bourgeois declined to comment.

Bourgeois last appeared before the council at its Jan. 10, 2012 meeting. Councilmen questioned him intensely then, which Bourgeois has said he believed was exaggerated for the public arena. Bourgeois has also said people who have questions for the levee district can pose them at regular NLCLDD meetings, which, held in Thibodaux, are open to the public. Minutes from the meetings are sent to each council member.

But that’s not enough for some parish lawmakers, who want the chance to question district representatives about council-district-specific work in their chambers. That the parish makes financial and labor contributions through existing agreement with the district warrants public dialogue, they said.

Lafourche Parish’s director of Public Works is reviewing the parish’s cooperative endeavor agreements with the levee district and intends propose revisions to the contracts, Parish President Charlotte Randolph said. Any changes would require both parties’ approval.

Gouaux and Council Chairman Lindel Toups expressed a desire to withdraw the parish’s contributions – equipment, manpower and fuel for in-house work – from the state-created levee district, tasked with flood protection efforts north of the Intracoastal Canal and west of Bayou Lafourche.

Such a severance would further hinder the district, which already has more than $200 million worth of projects in its backlog versus roughly $3 million in annual revenue. But the parish is committed to provide the assistance through its cooperative endeavor agreements.

“I don’t know that that’s the way to go, in my opinion,” Randolph said. “We’ve made some effort in trying to entice them to come back to the meeting to make these reports. But there’s some bitterness on both sides, so it’s difficult to get people together when they’re that far apart. … The bad relationship is through personalities. The work relationship is a good one.”

Councilman Daniel Lorraine suggested the council cut its contributions from the levee district during its upcoming budget process. However, the council doesn’t specifically earmark its offerings in the budget, so it’s unclear how the council would accomplish that.

Bourgeois works with a nine-member board of commissioners, who are appointed by the governor. Randolph is required to nominate three candidates for one of the governor’s appointments. Toups asked Randolph to increase the pressure on her de-facto appointment to make a presentation before the council.

“It’s something I’ve suggested to (my appointment) already, but he’s one of them who’s not amenable to that,” Randolph said.

Randolph said she’d like the district to submit reports on a weekly basis detailing how parish personnel and equipment is being used.

“We’re internally attempting to get more information from them and have a more active presence in the particular projects they’re working on, so that we will, not only during but in advance of these projects, know how much we are involved,” Randolph said.

Neither Bourgeois nor the commissioners are under statutory or contractual obligations to communicate with parish government. Doing so would increase the public’s awareness of projects’ statuses, said Gouaux, who is penning a letter to the governor expressing his discontent.

South Lafourche Levee District Executive Director Windell Curole routinely briefs the parish council on the district’s ongoing work, usually multiple times over the course of a hurricane season.

Marsh erosion has made north Lafourche more vulnerable to storm surges and flood threats in recent years, as proven by Hurricane Isaac last year. Stakeholders worry the problem will continue to worsen as land continues to sink and protection systems are enhanced elsewhere at a quicker pace.

State funding has largely not been made available to the levee district, increasing the importance of local government contributions and property tax revenues. Voters rejected the district’s 1-cent sales tax proposal last year.