Lafourche Parish moves forward, despite turnover

A massive change in leadership has not stopped Lafourche Parish from continuing its work throughout the parish.

Jimmy Cantrelle has been parish president for one year after taking over for three-term veteran Charlotte Randolph last year, and the parish council welcomed six new members to the government complex in Mathews. While the turnover has come with growing pains and discord among council members and Cantrelle, Lafourche’s Public Works Department has kept a busy schedule focused on pump station renovations and drainage improvements. According to Cantrelle, Public Works Director James Barnes completed six times the amount of work orders last year that the department did in the previous two years combined.

Lafourche has also completed or is in the progress of completing a number of road and recreation improvements spanning from Thibodaux in the northern end of the parish to Golden Meadow down the bayou. In between at Lockport, a Coastal Restoration and Protection Agency project will help guard Bayou Lafourche, the drinking water source for hundreds of thousands of residents across four parishes, from saltwater intrusion.

District 1, represented by Jerry Jones and primarily in Thibodaux, has seen a collection of drainage projects over the past year. Public Works has swept Waverly Ditch and the Leighton Outfall Canal as well as continued drainage by installing pipes and culverts on Abby Road. The parish also installed culverts on Diplomat Way in Jones’s district. More drainage work is coming down the pipeline, as the council approved Jones’s plans to add $350,000 to the parish’s 2017 budget for more Diplomat Way drainage work and another $200,000 for Abby Lakes drainage.

On the southern end of the parish, Daniel Lorraine is always happy to wax on the work being done in District 9. Of particular import to the council member from Golden Meadow has been the addition of a handicap-accessible fishing pier and pavilion to the Leeville boat launch. Lafourche had received $500,000 from the state in capital outlay money in 2015, matched by $166,000 from the parish, to build the pier, but the previous administration did not immediately move on the project, and last year the state reneged on its obligation as it scrounged for any available money during its budget crisis. According to Lorraine, the Greater Lafourche Port Commission stepped in to offer $166,000 to help supplement the project, while District 8 Council Member Jerry LaFont helped to get the Lafourche Tourism Commission to contribute $42,000 toward the pier. Lorraine added another $100,000 from the parish in the 2017 budget, which the council approved.

The parish is now working with the state’s Department of Natural Resources to adjust the permit on the project to move the pier and pavilion a bit further into the water so as to not interfere with a water line. However, Lorraine said he expects the pier and pavilion to be ready by this summer. According to Lorraine, the launch has already been a boon for Leeville businesses who have been harmed by the Louisiana Highway 1 elevated bridge bypassing the small community. The boat launch has brought sportsmen back to the area to spend money, and Lorraine predicts “business will be booming again” once the launch’s additions are completed.

“This’ll be the best fishing spot in Lafourche Parish – it’s the best now. But once we put this pier with some lights at night? Game warden’s gonna have a lot of fun,” Lorraine said.

Cantrelle praised the pier for the promise of bringing one of Lafourche’s favorite pastimes to more people. He noted not everyone has a big boat to hit the waters, and said the handicap-accessible aspect of the pier makes the launch a prime destination for all.

“If you have a disability you should be able to enjoy the same aspects as everyone else in your community,” Cantrelle said.

At Oak Ridge Community Park in Golden Meadow, citizens are celebrating an addition different from everything else. The parish has completed a skate park, with a ribbon cutting for the $340,000 project coming soon. According to Lorraine, the parish initially forgot to ribbon off the park, and dozens of children were riding on the completed course with skateboards and bikes. Lorraine said the addition will bring a whole new crowd to Oak Ridge and could see expansion in the future.

“This is real nice. We built it here for enlargement. We can go wider, we can go longer,” Lorraine said.

The parish has also completed a number of drainage projects down the bayou, including filling in a ditch and adding catch basins near Lady of the Sea Hospital and along La. Highway 308 from East 149th Street to East 152nd Street. Lafourche also filled in a ditch that was bumping up against homeowners’ properties on West 111th, which Lorraine highlighted as a safety improvement for neighborhood children. The parish’s 2017 budget includes further drainage work for West 107th, West 217th and West 124th streets.

In Lockport, Council Member Armand Autin saw the unveiling of a big CPRA project and is targeting derelict vessels along the bayou. The $4.1 million Bayou Lafourche Saltwater Control Structure is a combination gate and weir that can prevent saltwater intrusion north of the structure. The parish also cleaned the Romy Drive Outfall Canal, dug the Company Canal and installed culverts on Louis and School streets.

Looking toward the future, Autin said he hopes the parish can break ground on the $4 million recreation center in Lockport as well as tend to the town’s boat launch, which he said “has been neglected for years.” Autin wants to upgrade the deteriorating wharves and bulkheads as well as expand the launch’s limited parking. Autin has also helped to secure $250,000 for the removal of derelict vessels along Bayou Lafourche. While the money will also be spent in areas outside of Autin’s district, he said setting aside money is a sign of Lafourche’s intent to clean up its key waterway.

“Talked to Wildlife and Fisheries, they do a GPS coordinate and note it as a navigational hazard. But there is nobody that’s funding to get rid of them. So, like Terrebonne and the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, we’re going to take action,” Autin said.

Luci Sposito’s District 2 saw a string of drainage projects in the form of levee, canal and pump repairs over her first year. Sposito detailed Barnes’s department’s accomplishments in a January Facebook post. Public Works completed work, in the form of conversions, rebuilding and reservoir cleanings to 10 pumps in District 2. The department also built one levee along Peltier Drive, cleaned out seven others along canals and raised and extended one by the Rodrigue pump station. Sposito said the Elsie, Morvant Nos. 3 and 4, Legendre and Rink pumps are set to receive equipment replacements in 2017.

Sposito also added $250,000 to the 2017 budget to complete engineering and design on a bulkhead or culvert to stop corroding on Waverly Road from the ditch beside it. She said the parish will install a new raised wharf at the Theriot boat launch, completing phase two of the projects. Sposito said the parish has two drainage improvements for Manchester Manor budgeted in 2017 as well as road projects at Choctaw Road and Bayous L’Ourse and Onion.

In west Thibodaux, Michael Gros’ District 3 has some major road work scheduled. According to Gros, the parish has chosen an engineer for the Abby Road overlay project and it should come before the council very soon. Cantrelle said he has told Barnes to “fast track” the overlay project. The parish president said the length of the work will be determined when a contractor signs on, but he hopes the overlay can be done promptly.

“You know there’s always delays with rain and weather, but hopefully they can get it done in the amount of days,” Cantrelle said.

Lafourche cleaned up Parish Road and multiple ditches located in District 3 over the past year. While still waiting on the overlay, the parish did do repair works on the road over the last year, which the parish called a “work in progress.” Gros said there is additional drainage work planned in his district, including the cleaning of the ditch behind Abigail Drive. Gros said the parish is working to obtain a right of way to begin the project, which will be done in-house. Lafourche has also scheduled repairs for the Leighton pump station, according to Gros.

Council Member Aaron Melvin’s District 4, the center of a debate over a pump station last year, saw a number of other drainage projects. While parish administration, held up by the Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District and Terrebonne Consolidated Waterworks No. 1, did not move forward with a paid-for Dugas Canal pump station that could have helped alleviate flooding in the area near the Bayou Country Club, it did do supplementary drainage work in the area. Public Works swept culverts in the Country Club and Crossing North subdivisions and replaced culverts at Four Point Drive. The parish also cleaned a number of roads in District 4.

Cantrelle said there is still a plan in place to further alleviate flooding in the Country Club area, saying the parish is transforming the Country Club lift pump. He said he is having a meeting to determine permitting through the waterworks office concerning the pump, but that should move forward as well.

Back in south Lafourche in LaFont’s District 8, the parish cleaned a host of streets and made a few drainage upgrades. Public works cleaned and repaired 20 total streets, repaired the roads and ditches of two more, and changed the culverts on and cleaned another two streets. LaFont was also able to secure money in the 2017 budget for significant improvements to the Cut Off Youth Center. The parish has $100,000 tabbed for handicapped playground equipment and another $50,000 for an air conditioner and hood vent system at the center.

Corey Perrillioux added recreation upgrades for District 6 to this year’s budget. The council approved his measure of setting aside $150,000 to upgrade the sewers and bleachers at the Raceland Recreation Center and repair lighting at the Lafourche Parish Roping and Riding Arena. Over the past year, Perrillioux’s district has seen culvert repairs on Central Lafourche Drive and Williams Street as well as the cleaning of six streets, the Coastal pump station, 40 Arpent Canal, Greenville and Sugarland Center.

In the Bayou Blue area, James Bourgeois’ District 5 has seen a wave of drainage work, with more on the way. DPW repaired or improved equipment at four pump stations in District 5 and also installed culverts and catch basins in Paradise Cove. The council has accepted a low bid on the Cyprien pump station, which the parish has set aside $3.2 million for, according to Bourgeois. Bourgeois said the Cyprien project had been in the works for a while and had seen delays, but he is happy it is finally moving forward.

“Cyprien was long overdue. It should have been done years ago. We can’t give the time back to the people when it should have been done. All we can do is move forward, that’s what we’re doing,” Bourgeois said.

Also in Bourgeois’ district is the addition of the Bayou Blue Splash Park. The $900,000 project is set to go out to bid by March, according to Cantrelle. Both Cantrelle and Bourgeois said they do not understand why the splash park suffered from delays during the previous administration, but they are hopeful to see shovels hit the dirt soon.

“The focus is moving things forward,” Cantrelle said.

While his administration has featured an array of shakeups, hires and firings over the first year, Cantrelle is also working to update day-to-day operations in his departments. The finance department, under the leadership of Carrel Hymel III, is working on streamlining capital management and human resource payment and procedures with outside consultant Stagni and Co. to further minimize error, according to parish spokesperson Caroline Eschette. Hymel’s department is also working to automate the bid process and make it entirely online.

In communications, Eschette has taken over all communications duties from Doug Cheramie, the parish’s former communications director who resigned three weeks ago. Eschette said the parish’s website is currently under audit for upgrades and may see a redesign to promote user-friendliness and accessibility.

The Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is continuing to update a list of citizens who plan on staying during storms. Any citizens who plan on staying put can volunteer that information, as well as medical situations, to the LOHSEP to add to its database. The list gives the office the chance to identify and get to residents faster during search and rescue missions. Eschette stressed the importance of such preparations in improving the chances for both residents and first responders.

“Anything you can do prior to a chaotic event is extremely helpful in the aftermath of the storm,” Eschette said.

The parish is also working on renovating a facility owned by Lafourche to give the Civil Service Department its own building to operate with more privacy, according to Cantrelle. The parish president said he and the Civil Service Board will be setting down to update and revise some of the civil service code in April. Cantrelle said some of the civil service changes, as well as other departmental adjustments, could come with growing pains for managers and employees, but they are in the best interest of the parish.

“Most of the time people resist changes, but we want to be more efficient and spend people’s tax dollars wisely,” Cantrelle said.

Lafourche Parish ProgressKARL GOMMEL | THE TIMES