Check it Out!
February 26, 2007Yvonne Cuneo
March 1, 2007
The lighting at Terrebonne High School’s Tiger Stadium continues to be a sore point for two local utility companies. The argument over which company has the legal right to illuminate the field could be decided in court.
Nearly three years ago, Terrebonne High’s booster club and baseball staff elected to apply for a Baseball Tomorrow Fund grant for the lighting. The parish school board gave its blessing to the project.
School principal Graham Douglas said the grant was awarded last year by an auxiliary of the Major League Baseball Player’s Association and Owners
Association, a component of the MLB association.
“The foundation wants to see young people play baseball because it helps to build character and integrity. They want us to encourage minorities and disadvantage kids to play baseball,” Douglas said.
The school system received approximately $100,000. However, according to Douglas, the grant did not include money to install the lights on the field.
“The school board gave us $45,000 to install the lights, which was done by Valure Contractors in Houma. The next step was finding someone to service them,” the principal explained.
Terrebonne Parish’s Utilities Department and the South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association both submitted bids to the school board to install the lights. The bids were reviewed at the board’s December meeting.
Following much discussion, the school board elected to allow SLECA the project because the company agreed to do the work for free.
But the decision has sparked electricity between the parish-owned utilities service and SLECA.
The two entities have been threatening a legal battle to determine which company can legally keep the lights burning at Tiger Stadium. For years, the parish utility company has been servicing the lighting system at Terrebonne High, according to parish manager Barry Blackwell.
“We have been a longtime provider at that particular site and we consider that to be an asset of the municipal electric utilities operations, which is a benefit of the people who reside in the City of Houma,” Blackwell said, explaining that the increased service pool translates into lower prices for customers.
But the parish views it differently.
According to parish utility director Tom Bourg, the parish’s initial bid was $5,300 to construct a line across part of the school board property. “The $5,300 quoted because the school board requested that some services beyond the property line,” Bourg said. He noted it is unlawful for a public-owned entity to provide such a service at no charge.
Bourg told the parish council at its bi-monthly meeting that the utilities department legally has control of the electrical service.
At the school system’s request, the parish removed its equipment from the stadium in mid-February. The following week, SLECA installed the MLB-purchased lighting.
Parish school board president Clark Bonvillian said SLECA would continue to service the lights until matter is resolved. He said the school board gave the go-ahead for the project because it was faced with a deadline to have lights on time for tournament play this past weekend.
“We received a request to provide service to the baseball field. A week ago, we built the lines to feed the lights so that the tournament could take place and the deadline could be met. Whatever happens next is probably going to be a legal matter for the attorneys,” SLECA manager Mike Guidry said.
