Lafourche council opts not to weatherize ‘needy’ homes

Thirteen Lafourche residents who were told their dwellings would be weatherized this year will not receive government assistance this winter after the parish council refused to supplement a $25,000 budget deficit.

Councilmen debated at a special meeting Monday night whether or not the parish should subsidize the program with money from its autonomous royalty fund, but, by a 5-to-2 vote, the council opted to not restore funding the voting majority said was lost by “mismanagement.”

Councilmen Phillip Gouaux and Matt Matherne were absent. Jerry Jones and Mike Delatte voted in favor of supplementing the program. Louis Richard, Joe Fertitta, Lindel Toups, Rodney Doucet and Daniel Lorraine voted against the measure.

Jones argued that the council should support the low-income people in the parish and accused dissenters of succumbing to political tactics. “I don’t care how you look at it, it’s a no-brainer,” Jones said. “It’s a political game and it’s stupidity.”

Fertitta said he could not support the appropriation because the problem arose from “nothing but mismanagement. Somebody should be accountable for this.”

The grant in question totaled $822,799 and was secured in 2009, according to Jones.

Weatherization expenditures totaled $847,418, but the parish came up short on the funding because the grant’s director at the time did not apply for administrative-cost reimbursement, Parish President Charlotte Randolph.

The parish employee resigned last year and was not able to be reached for comment Monday night.

The parish’s administrative costs typically include salaries and benefits for procuring and utilizing the funds.

The weatherization funds, a reimbursable grant administered from U.S. Department of Energy through the state and to the parish, can be applied to energy-efficiency measures to homes with low-income residents.

The services include the building itself and heating and cooling systems, according to the DOE website.

Homeowners applied for the grant, and state officials compiled a list and informed the homeowners they would receive the service. Now, with winter starting to settle in throughout south Louisiana, the service will not be provided.

The parish’s Office of Community Action provides weatherization services.

Freddia Ruffin-Roberson, its current executive director, said the problems started in 2010, before she arrived, and the former employee simply did not file for reimbursement for administrative costs.

“I cannot take money away from road royalty to put into Community Action,” Toups, District 6, said. “I think Community Action, they’ve got too many chiefs and not enough Indians.”

Randolph clarified that royalty funds could be used any way the council sees fit, and not strictly for roads.

“Because the money is available now in the parish fund to assist in these very, very needy homeowners having their homes weatherized, we think it is very important to supplement this program in order to complete what the state set out to do,” Randolph said.