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A move that’s been in the making for several months now, the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government (TPCG) has formally notified Terrebonne Parish Recreation District No. 2-3 that it is terminating its intergovernmental agreement for maintenance and right of use of the Bayou Country Sports Park (BCSP), relieving the rec district from its obligation to maintain the sports complex.
The letter sent to Rec 2-3, dated September 28, 2020, and signed by Parish President Gordon Dove, says the termination shall become effective 30 days from the date it was received.
The termination is not so much a surprise for the Rec 2-3 Board, said Christopher Chiasson, Board Chairman.
“We knew, based on what [Dove] had said, that they were going to take over the sports park. So the contract we had in place basically told us that we were in charge of maintaining the property,” he said. “So the word ‘termination’ sounds bad, but it’s really not. It’s just saying that the contract is no longer there; we no longer have that obligation.”
Signed in January of 2013 under the Michel Claudet Administration, the agreement has three options for termination: by written mutual agreement and consent of both parties; for cause by either party as a failure to comply consequence; and for convenience, needing a 30-day written notice. TPCG chose the last-mentioned.
According to the termination letter, TPCG, for convenience, is also terminating the intergovernmental agreement with Rec 2-3 for supplemental funding for the various phases of construction of BCSP, which was signed in April 2014.
Months before the termination letter was sent, the transition had already begun for Dean Schouest, Director of the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, and his team at the Civic Center, to take over the complex’s operations, maintenance and marketing. Schouest appeared on HTV 10 and attended a council meeting in July to present the master plan for the BCSP construction and discussed bringing in sports competitions and tourism.
At a Community Development and Planning Committee meeting on July 13, Dove expressed that the Parish wants to move forward quickly with BCSP, and that Rec 2-3 can’t afford to continue operating it — the latter of which Rec 2-3 board members have also said in past meetings.
“The sports park is for all [recreation] districts to operate and use under the guidance of this administration and this council, and that’s the basic way I plan on setting it up,” Dove said. “We still have some tweaking along the way; I’m willing to take any ideas. But Rec 2-3 does not have the funding to move forward with the sportsplex.”
The termination notice also notes that Rec 2-3 “will be allowed” to complete the construction of the splash park at BCSP.
“We still have the obligation to complete the splash pad,” Chiasson said. “…But other than that, 30 days after September 28 is when the contact is technically over, so we won’t have the obligation of maintaining the park, scheduling practices and doing all that stuff. That’ll be taken over by Mr. Schouest.”
Chiasson also noted that Schouest and his team have already started working with Rec 2-3 and have been given insight on how the BCSP operations work. “He [Schouest] and his team are going to do great,” he continued.
With the Rec 2-3 10-year 5-mill renewal, which failed to pass last year, to be placed on the ballot for the November 3 election, Chiasson said that now that BCSP doesn’t need to be funded with Rec 2-3 dollars, the Rec 2-3 park improvements in the millage plan can happen sooner.
“Now if the millage passes, that money that we intended to spend at the [BCSP] can go into improving and doing extra things at our community parks,” he said.
“Because the park [BCSP] is still within Recreation 2-3, our constituents down in that [Highway] 311 area have one of the biggest and best parks in the parish,” Chiasson later added. “…It’s really a relief for Rec 2-3 because of course, we don’t have that financial obligation, but it’s still a great thing for our constituents because yes, we invested money on the front side, but we no longer have that obligation moving forward.”
