Lafourche Parish culvert permit fee reinstated, again

Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph’s third veto of the culvert installation process was short lived; the council overrode her veto at last week’s meeting with a 7-2 vote.

Following the Nov. 14 meeting, residents will have to obtain a permit from the parish to have a culvert installed.

The $25 permit fee, Randolph argued, was not the issue; because of demands on manpower, she said the service should be abolished.

As the measure has made its way through council meetings, the council and administration argued about charging residents more for the work performed to compensate the parish for its losses.

Lafourche Parish District Attorney Camile Morvant even weighed in on the subject, issuing an opinion months back.

Before the vote Randolph said, “ I just wanted to say very quickly and simply, this is not an issue that we [the parish administration] anticipated having to bring to you at anytime.”

She added that the installation of culverts has been a long-debated issue and is a great concern for the parish.

At a previous council meeting, District 4 Councilman Tommy Lasseigne said the parish has an obligation to clean out ditches and install culverts, even if it is on private property. Improving drainage serves a public purpose, he insisted.

In response, Randolph said that the equipment and time it takes to install culverts would better served the public if it were to be used in other ways. “We would prefer attending to levees and drainage, more so than installing culverts,” she said.

The parish president reasoned that Lafourche could find itself in the business of installing culverts full-time were the measure to pass.

“I am concerned that this will lead to developers asking us to put in culverts and we have no recourse to say no,” Randolph said. “It doesn’t matter who is asking.”

In recent months, she said Lafourche Parish workers installed over 300 feet of 72-inch culverts. “That’s a considerable amount at an expense to the parish,” she said at a recent meeting.

Prior to the final vote last Tuesday, Randolph said, “I’m not just anticipating the outcome of the vote, I know what the vote is going to be. It disappoints me but it’s one of those things we are going to have to accept, move on and work with.”

Councilmen Mark Atzenhoffer, of District 5, and Phillip Gouaux, of District 7, were the two nay votes.

The ordinance passed and will create a permit process and parish policy for the installation of culverts, catch basins and/or bridges on private property in public right-of-ways.

In other action, the parish council approved the following measures:

• A resolution granting a contract extension for Huey Stockstill, Inc., for road and drainage work in Road Sales Tax District.

• A resolution decreasing SeaLevel Construction, Inc.’s, contract price by $4,302 and increased their contract time by 25 days.

• A resolution granting Lafourche Parish Head Start to use a portion of the funds in the current budget to purchase two school buses.

• A resolution urging the state to dedicate a “significant portion” of surplus funds to coastal restoration and hurricane protection.

All resolutions above passed 8-3 with Councilman Lindel Toups of District 8 absent.

Jared Bailey can be reached at (985) 876-3008 or jared@tri-parishtimes.com