Lafourche council to hold special meeting Monday

With new questions about a $5 million invoice from the U.S. Flood Control, the Lafourche Parish Council will hold a special session Monday evening asking for legal aid from the District Attorney’s Office.

At the last parish council meeting District Attorney Camille Morvant said that the amount billed to the parish is not congruent with the services provided by the company.

Morvant said that according to a brochure published by the U.S. Flood Control, a rate of $350 would be charged for each day the levees were “set up.” Only 102 of the 500 inflatable levees charged to the parish’s bill were ever “set up,” according to the district attorney.

If the parish and U.S. Flood control were to enter into litigation and the parish won, the bill would be cut down by one-fifth, saving $4 million in taxpayer money, Morvant said.

Morvant asked the council to consider deferring the payment to the U.S. Flood Control. “Let a judge and jury tell us how much we owe for the 102 tubes that were out there for the 28 day period,” he said.

Chairman Brent Callais said that the parish council will hold a special session on Monday to pass a resolution formally asking the district attorney to negotiate on its behalf. The meeting is open to the public and will be held at 6 p.m. at the Lafourche Parish Council Barrios Center in Raceland.