Zeringue leaving district for state position

Jerome Zeringue, the executive director of the Terrebonne Parish Levee and Conservation District since 1998, will leave the position to become an assistant in the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities on May 13.

The levee district had proposed increasing Zeringue’s salary by 10 percent as an incentive to keep him in his job, but Zeringue said the move is not so much about money as it is an opportunity.

“I appreciate their support,” he said, “but it’s a chance to look at projects throughout Louisiana.”

The Terrebonne Parish Council scheduled a vote at its May 14 meeting to widen Zeringue’s role as the levee district’s executive director to lobbying the federal government on behalf of Terrebonne Parish. The council proposed paying him an extra $1,500 a month.

In his new job, Zeringue will work as a liaison between the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and levee districts in south Louisiana. The authority, known as the State Wetlands Authority, had been joined with the Office of Coastal Activities since their founding in 1989, but broke away following the hurricanes of 2005.

“It’s a great deal for ‘Zee’ and for his family,” said Tony Alford, levee board president. “It’s great for Terrebonne to have him in that position. This will help us with some issues.”

“It’s an opportunity for him to help us and the state,” he said. “I don’t think money would’ve stopped that.”

Members of the levee board praised Zeringue’s 10-year tenure with the district during a finance committee meeting Monday.

“It’s remarkable the amount of respect you had in Washington,” said board member Gilbert Talbot.

Last year, Congress authorized the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project, which will pay for the construction of hurricane protection levees in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, pending appropriations.

“The project is rolling,” Alford said. “It’s tremendous work you’ve done for the parish. The parish doesn’t realize how long a project like this takes.”

Board Vice President Allan Luke said, “Morganza … is something that will be a part of you forever.”

“Any success I’ve had is attributable to the support you’ve given me,” Zeringue told the board. “I’ll be around. I’ll make myself available.”

Alford said a successor should be chosen soon.

Zeringue’s move is happening while the levee district is being sued by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of the environmental group Save Our Wetlands over a 2.7-mile stretch of levee being built by the district around 16 miles southeast of Houma.

The levee is intended to become part of Morganza. The cost will be used to pay for the local match of the mostly-federally-funded project.

The clinic asserts that the levee district needed to obtain a permit under the federal Clean Water Act to ensure the nearby environment is protected. Zeringue said the district received permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the levee.

“We’re planning a response,” said levee board counsel James Dagate. “The corps has been with us all the way on this project. We will proceed as expeditiously as possible.”

“I don’t know too much except what we’ve been served with,” Zeringue told the board. “We have everything we need to defend the board. I’m confident we’ve adhered to and complied with all federal and state regulations.”

Alford said, “This is ridiculous. People say every day, ‘When will you build it?’ After doing everything you have to do, after jumping through hoops, some will still file a lawsuit.”