Lafourche council questions use of rental dam reimbursement

Controversy over how to handle revenue received from FEMA as reimbursement for rental dams used during Hurricane Rita continued to be a hot topic during the Lafourche Parish Council meeting last Tuesday at the Barrios Center in Raceland.

Originally, the council was to hold an Executive Session during Tuesday night’s meeting to discuss possible litigation by U.S. Flood Control, the company from whom the dams were rented.

However, District Attorney Cam Morvant II requested the Executive Session be pulled from the agenda. “After further reflection on it, and a phone call with a few people today, I just felt it was a close call on whether or not what we were going to discuss should be discussed in Executive Session or in the open, in public,” he said.

After the discussion with Morvant, the council voted 3-6 against an ordinance providing for a supplemental appropriation for the revenue received from FEMA as reimbursement for the rental of the dams. Voting against the ordinance were councilmen Michael Matherne, Brent Callais, Lindel Toups, Tommy Lasseigne and Daniel Lorraine.

It is possible that the company, U.S. Flood Control, could sue the parish if it does not pay what the company has billed it, but Morvant said he is optimistic that a lawsuit can be avoided.

“I’m optimistic we may not (be sued),” the district attorney said. “But it’s a good possibility, yes. I really believe that once we have an opportunity to sit down with the owner of the U.S. Flood Control and discuss the issues with him … I believe that we have a very good chance of coming to a settlement agreement with them. It’s a matter of getting to the table at this particular point.”

It is the “matter of getting to the table” that has been difficult, according to Morvant. He says that repeated attempts to meet with U.S. Flood Control owner Paul Vickers have not been successful.

“In a sense, what we have right now is that we’ve made several attempts to speak with Mr. Vickers,” Morvant said. “We were assured on several different occasions that he would come into our office with his attorney and sit down and try to talk this matter out. And each time, they failed to show up.”

Throughout the evening, council members argued on what to do with the revenue received from FEMA. Morvant said a letter from FEMA instructed for the undisputed amount—$4 million—to be transferred into the SmartLink account.

The SmartLink account, according to financial director Shannon Chiasson, is an electronic computer system to handle transfers.

Morvant said his only advice to the council was to make sure the money would be accessible after a decision was made, something he stressed on several occasions throughout his update. “At some point, my understanding is we can’t just hold onto the money forever,” said Morvant. “It’s going to have to go to … the SmartLink account that FEMA, in their last correspondence, has instructed us to do.

“You can either decide to send the whole out there, or you can decide to send the disputed amount—the $3.9 million, almost $4 million—to that particular account. Again, the only thing I request is that we get some assurance from someone, somewhere, that that money is earmarked for us to use or to have if we need to settle this case.”

Councilmen Toups and Lasseigne questioned why anything should be done with the money. Chiasson and Parish President Charlotte Randolph replied that the revenue must be booked because of concern over the audit finding in 2007.

“We need to book the revenue,” said Chiasson. “We have not booked the revenue. We’ve received the revenue, but we don’t have it on our books, so we need to book (it), and that’s what the supplemental is about.”

Lasseigne countered, “It amazes me that we are worried about an audit finding, when for eight months we didn’t even know that we had this bill. It’s unbelievable. I don’t want to recognize it, because if we recognize it, I believe that individually we are saying we approve of the way it was handled, and I’m never voting for that because I don’t approve of it. Is the money in an account? Where is it, in your drawer? Then leave it wherever it is.”