Morris tapped new parish CBO; replaces SCP

The Lafourche Parish Council named Frank Morris of Tri-State Consultants the parish’s new chief building official last Tuesday, replacing South Central Planning, who had served as the parish’s CBO for the past three years.

The vote passed 6-3.

Voting in favor of Morris’ appointment were councilmen Jerry Jones, Michael Delatte, Louis Richard, Joseph Fertitta, Matt Matherne and Daniel Lorraine.

Councilmen Phillip Gouaux, Rodney Doucet and Lindel Toups voted against the hire.

In the approved resolution, Morris, a Benton native, will be paid $17,300 a month, up from the $14,000 a month South Central Planning was earning.

Morris will operate under a six-month contract that will begin immediately, even though South Central Planning’s contract does not end until April 1.

“We will make Lafourche Parish shine,” Morris said as he addressed the council following his approval. “We’ll make it a model permit department.”

Morris’ primary responsibility will be to work with the parish’s permitting department and he will maintain a residency in the parish throughout his stay.

Problems with that department are one of the issues that ultimately eroded the parish’s relationship with South Central Planning, who is a government-funded agency. They also provide similar services to other parishes in the state, including Terrebonne Parish.

Parish President Charlotte Randolph said South Central Planning’s location in Gray sometimes created confusion that led to permits either being issued late – if at all.

“Having someone on site, who you can turn to and ask a question to is essential,” she said. “That’s so much better and so much more efficient than having to e-mail a question or talking on the phone … we just think having someone here will enable us to do a better job.”

But people within South Central Planning opposed Randolph’s position and said the actual problem lied within the parish’s permitting department.

Michael Wich with South Central Planning cited Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in his defense. He claims the parish-permitting department illegally filled out claims, which ultimately slowed the recovery process.

“I’m not given any authority over Lafourche Parish employees,” said Wich. “I can’t make them do anything. And I’ve tried over and over and over again. We assisted several parishes during those storms that managed to follow the law and not hold up their recovery processes.”

Randolph refuted Wich’s claims and said it was South Central Planning’s responsibility as the parish’s CBO to make sure things were done correctly.

“We try to make South Central Planning to be this perfect organization, but I am not going to sit here and allow people to discredit the people in our permitting office,” she said. “Quite frankly, South Central Planning works for Lafourche Parish and if there were problems within Lafourche Parish, it’s South Central’s fault. Because we’ve been paying them to be our CBO. If there are problems here, it’s their fault.”

Prior to the resolution going before the council, Doucet proposed an ordinance to defer the decision until the council’s first meeting in March.

He said he believed the council, South Central Planning and the permits department were capable of resolving their issues.

“Who, what, when and where,” Doucet said. “We need to find out who, what, when and where on this whole situation.”

Toups agreed and said he trusted South Central Planning’s ability.

“I have faith in them,” he said. “If we get rid of them and we still have problems with permitting, then we’ll know where the real problem is.”

But the deferment failed and the vote was held, making Morris the new CBO.

The council also passed five other resolutions during Tuesday’s meeting. All listed below passed by a 9-0 vote:

• Resolution requesting the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to clean out the culverts under LA 1 at the corner of 110 Danos Street and Highway 1.

• Resolution requesting the administration to hire South Central Planning to assess the current Code of Ordinances and make recommendations to the council of any changes.

• Resolution accepting the proposal of Philip Reclamation Services, Houston, Inc. for contractor services relative to the Household Hazardous Material Collection Project and authorizing the Parish President to sign, execute and administer said contract and any and all relevant documents and amendments.

• Resolution approving the purchase of culverts and bands for Laurel Valley Project from Allemand’s Culverts, LLC in the amount of $15,672.50 and authorizing the Parish President to sign, execute and administer any and all relevant documents.

• Resolution approving amendments to the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement between the Lafourche Parish Government and the South Louisiana Levee District for funding of the Northwest Little Lake Marsh Creation and Enhancement Coastal Impact Assistance Plan (CIAP) Project; and authorizing the Parish President to sign, execute and administer said agreement and amendments.