Water bills will go up thanks to state legislation
Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 1, 2000
ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / July 1, 2000
LAPLACE – The bad news is that everybody’s water bill in St. John Parishwill go up by $3.20. The good news is it will only happen once a year.At least that is what Director of Public Works and Utilities Henry DiFranco hopes.
At Tuesday’s Parish Council meeting, DiFranco said that because of recent state legislation each parish must pay for the upkeep of the Safe Drinking Program.
Run by the State Department of Health and Hospitals, the Safe Drinking Program monitors every water system in the state to make sure that they are all producing safe water for consumption.
In order to pay for the program the parish must charge $3.20 for eachwater connection in the parish. Of that fee, $2.88 goes to the state, andthe parish keeps 32 cents to pay for collecting the fee.
DiFranco said the parish is being invoiced by the state starting July 1 and by Sept. 7 the parish will owe the state $42,000. The parish has 13,345water connections, and at $3.20 a connection $42,000 is what the parishowes.
DiFranco asked the council to put the water fee on residents’ bills only once a year.
“I hope to convince the council to make this fee a once-a-year thing,” said DiFranco.
The council will take up the matter at the July 11 meeting.
In another matter, director of the Department of Economic Development, Julia Remondet, unveiled the new St. John Parish logo and motto to thecouncil.
“It’s time to get rid of the egret,” said Remondet. “and time to have aunique design that identifies us.”The logo is a red structure that symbolizes progress and growth sitting on a field of sugar cane, and that sits on blue water symbolizing both the Mississippi River and lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain.
“This logo shows that we are ready to compete in the global economy,” said Remondet.
The new motto of St. John the Baptist Parish is: “It’s a Great Time to BeHere.”The council unanimously voted to adopt the new logo and motto.
The council also voted to accept the bid of Sunbelt Fire Apparatus Inc. andbuy two new pumper trucks for the LaPlace Volunteer Fire Department.
Each truck will cost $314,497 for a total of $628,994.
Director of Civil Defense, Brent Madere said that the equipment for the fire department is badly needed plus it will help reduce the parish’s fire insurance premiums.
“The more fire equipment we have the lower our fire insurance rating, and that helps everybody’s fire insurance,” said Madere.
Despite the fact that there is money for the new trucks, Madere admitted the community is getting too big for a volunteer fire department.
“We’re going to have to start thinking about paying our firemen,” said Madere.
In other council business: Lester Rainey appointed Shirley Trench to the Grant Committee. Cleveland Farlough got a resolution passed requiring the administration to arrange that all regular and special council meetings be broadcast live. Allen St. Pierre got a resolution passed re-naming W. Seventh Street inReserve to Historical St. Peter Street and renaming the private drive ofWest Eighth Street as Monsignor Jean Eyraud Drive. Rainey got a resolution passed to expand the Insurance Committee to include two employee representatives. DiFranco got council authorization to proceed with the design for the Edgard Water Plant. Parish President Nickie Monica got support for the $100,000 Rural Grant application for the development of the U.S. Highway 51 Recreation Park. The council passed a resolution proposed by Rainey and Farlough asking the administration to review all parish contracts six months before they expire and furnish the council with recommendations for or against renewal. Rainey won acceptance for his resolution that the Economic Development Council hold quarterly meetings with industry to get an update on local hiring.
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