Ecton Lawrence "Ji" Billiot Jr.
July 7, 2008
Jaime Pineda
July 11, 2008
Terrebonne Parish will put off, for at least a year, constructing a sewer system in Bayou Cane along Martin Luther King Boulevard near Bayou Garden Boulevard, following a successful motion by Parish Councilman Billy Hebert at the council’s June 24 meeting.
Hebert’s action also cancels the parish’s proposed purchase of a small piece of land to build a sewer pump station serving the private land developments.
Hebert is insisting that private developers ordinarily pay the cost of building sewer pump stations serving their land.
“If passed, this will set a bad precedent,” he said at the meeting. “If we move this project forward, do we pay all other developers?”
Hebert’s action temporarily nixes the parish’s signing of tentative contracts with the Baton Rouge-area construction company Notthingham Construction for $932,000 to build the sewer system and the Houma engineering firm Shaw Coastal for $209,000 to perform the engineering.
His motion also postpones the purchase of the land to build the sewer pump station. Owner Regions Bank will sell the land to the parish for $27,000.
All contracts would have become firm only with approval from the parish council.
Hebert’s motion declares “all improvements rescinded and bids rejected until the overall scope of the project can be revisited.”
After Hebert asked for an opinion in May, the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney’s Office issued a letter stating the parish’s actions were not illegal. Last month Hebert sought an opinion from the state Attorney General’s Office.
Parish Public Works Director Gregory Bush said he supported postponing the sewer system project, saying Terrebonne needs to create a comprehensive wastewater master plan.
Bush said he wants to combine individual sewer pump stations. His department has already issued Requests for Proposals on the new project.
Councilman Johnny Pizzolatto expressed little confidence that a comprehensive wastewater master plan for Terrebonne can be created within 12 months.
“How long will it take to get a master plan?” he said. “I know we’re going to end up with individual treatment plants.”
