Terrebonne military museum, port seek financial footing from parish

Veterans issues and the Port of Terrebonne were on the plate at the Terrebonne Parish Council’s regular Wednesday meeting July 25.

The Regional Military Museum Foundation, a group of mostly Houma-area residents who are building a military museum on Barrow Street, was seeking up to $75,800 in state money to help pay the costs of construction.

The foundation wanted the support of the parish council for the group’s application to the state Division of Administration for the funds.

The Division of Administration distributes some discretionary money on a parish-by-parish basis, said Council Clerk Paul Labat.

The money can only be given to projects involving publicly-owned buildings. The foundation is leasing the building on Barrow Street from a private owner.

The group was hoping to receive a waiver on the requirement that the building be publicly owned, said Bourg resident Lou Theriot, who is an informal member of the foundation.

“When we started out, we were confident we would qualify,” he said.

However, prior to Wednesday’s meeting, Assistant Adjutant General Hunt Downer, who is a member of the group’s advisory board and who is secretary of the state’s Veterans Affairs Department, informed the foundation that its application for funds had been turned down, Theriot told the council.

State Sen. Reggie Dupre also told the group the funds would not be made available.

The foundation only learned that its application for the money was in jeopardy shortly before the parish council’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting on July 23, Theriot said.

The museum is not yet open to the public, primarily because the building does not meet American with Disabilities Act code requirements. He said the building will be ADA compliant in a few weeks.

The museum has displays on all the major wars in which the U.S. has participated, beginning with the Spanish-American War of 1898.

The exhibits will soon include a five-inch naval gun removed from an aircraft carrier, and a personnel carrier used in the Vietnam War.

Councilwoman Teri Cavalier expressed concern that the museum would suffer from stagnancy, failing to bring in fresh temporary displays. She pointed to the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum, which has not rotated its exhibits. Terrebonne Parish has had to assume some operations of the Waterlife Museum.

Theriot assured her that the foundation has membership in a national museum association, and could even bring in items from the Smithsonian Institution.

“The Regional Military Museum is here to stay,” he said. “I am not a veteran, but veterans are my heroes.”

Councilman Harold Lapeyre supported the foundation’s efforts to receive state money.

“There will be other avenues to get funding,” he said. “We have to constantly remind people that freedom is not free. We will find a way to help you.”

Cavalier also indicated that Terrebonne Parish had to assume control of Veterans Park on Louisiana Highway 311, located diagonally in front of Southdown House along Little Bayou Black.

Terrebonne Parish is seeking $12,000 from the same pool of state Division of Administration dollars to help pay to stabilize the banks of the bayou in back of the Veterans Park, and $20,000 more to pay for security lights under the twin bridges spanning the Intracoastal Waterway in Houma.

The Terrebonne Port Commission operate the marina and park located under the twin spans.

To help pay for maintenance of the marina, Port Executive Director David Rabalais asked the parish council’s Community Development and Planning Committee for funding at its July 23 meeting.

The port hopes to be self-sustaining by 2008, operating on the lease income it receives from tenants. The facility is located near the intersection of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Houma Navigation Canal. It has been taking in lease income from tenants since December 2004.

The port also collects $2 million a year from a 6.96 mill property tax.

However, Galliano shipbuilder Edison Chouest has experienced delays developing its LA Ship shipyard at the port, leaving the port commission short of anticipated revenue, Rabalais told the committee.

Edison Chouest is constructing the yard using $65 million in interest-free funds from the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, the federal loan program instituted after the 2005 hurricanes to help businesses rebuild. LA Ship will be the port’s largest tenant, and is expected to create hundreds of jobs.

“I need to ask the administration for $100,000 because of delays in LA Ship and the need to fund the marina,” Rabalais said, noting that LA Ship should be operating by 2009.

Councilman Clayton Voisin proposed raising the port subsidy to $126,000.

Parish Manager Barry Blackwell had a mixed reaction to the port’s request for money from the parish.

“The port should be self-sustaining,” Blackwell told the committee.

He said that private investment in the facility is currently $65 million, and will be over $100 million after LA Ship is constructed.

Blackwell said that, if Terrebonne maintained the marina, the cost to the parish would be $30,000 a year.

Voisin and Blackwell said they had not seen a copy of the port commission’s budget.

“The taxpayers have been generous,” Blackwell said. “Rabalais asked for $200,000 last year. It’s easy to ask for money when it’s not yours. If you need another $30,000 to $40,000, we’ll support you.”

“The mindset of the port needs to be, ‘Generate your own revenue and get off the backs of the taxpayers,'” he said. “If the $126,000 is reasonable, we’ll support it.”