By LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – Engineer John Bivona took the St. Charles Parish Council to task at a recent meeting, saying the parish could save money and provide a measure of hurricane storm-surge protection at the same time. Bivona argued the estimates to provide interim protection until the levee could be completed could be accomplished at 10 percent, or less than $500,000, of estimates provided to the parish.

“Steel is super-expensive, but there are alternatives,” Bivona, the chief of the civil engineering branch for the New Orleans office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said.

He instead suggested, for the hurricane protection levee area north of Airline Drive, the use of high-strength vinyl sheet piling at a fraction of the materials cost, as temporary closure over exposed land at elevation 6-feet or below, in addition to steel-sheet piling with flap gates in canals.

In addition, at the pipeline location, Bivona suggested either complete earth closure over the pipeline or paralleling the pipeline canal on the east and west sides, tying into Airline on the south and the protection levee to the north.

Also, at the railroad location, Bivona suggested a stockpile of clay material for fast response and also sandbagging the railroad to Elevation 6 feet. St. Charles Public Works Director Greg Bush, in an Oct. 18 memo to the parish council, said the total gaps come to 6,845 feet in six locations, the largest being a 2,500-foot wide drainage canal.

Bush stated he did not believe the 520-foot gap at the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad could be closed with sheetpile. In addition, he said, closing the gaps at the St. Rose, Almedia and Walker canals with sheetpile would involve 5,050 feet, costing $5 million to install, and perhaps another $4 million to remove.

Bivona claimed it would cost one-tenth of that estimate. Bivona sent a package of material to Councilwoman April Black, who promptly forwarded it to Parish President Albert Laque. At the meeting, however, Laque and Bivona disagreed on the engineer’s suggestions and conclusions. Laque said he forwarded the ideas back to his contacts at the Corps, who told him the notion “isn’t feasible.”

Councilman Brian Fabre suggested tabling the matter to the council’s construction management committee, but Councilwoman Dee Abadie objected and claimed Fabre was “trying to bury it,” as she said the committee never gets around to holding a meeting.

Bivona claimed the parish’s figures are based on the full use of steel piling, based on Elevation 10 feet, “and it’s wrong.”

Setting it to Elevation 6 feet would have blocked the tidal surge of Tropical Storm Isidore, he said, which flooded 50-70 homes, mostly in St. Rose, Bivona asserted. Bivona’s job at the Corps is to set accurate cost estimates for projects.

In another matter, discussion centered on a request by Councilman Terry Authement for a legal opinion on a contract narrowly approved by the St. Charles Parish Council at their July 22 meeting, to continue the parish’s push for pumps on the East Bank hurricane protection levee. The contract, with Evans-Graves Engineers Inc., received a boost of support from Sen. Joel Chaisson II and Rep. Gary Smith, both of whom spoke in favor of it in July.

Councilman Lance Marino tried to block Authement’s resolution, saying it had the potential of derailing the contract with Evans-Graves.

Authement’s opposition arose over the exact scope of the contract, its unspecified price tag and whether the engineers should pass through the parish’s engineering review board.

The July resolution passed, with opposition from council members Authement, Dee Abadie, Barry Minnich and G. “Ram” Ramchandran.

“That ordinance passed 5-4, and it was totally illegal,” Ramchandran said. “but we are responsibile.”

This time around, Authement’s resolution received an 8-1 affirmative vote, with only Marino objecting.

The discussion did derail into flared tempers, such as when Clayton Faucheux and Dee Abadie snapped at each other. “Are they going to install them?” Faucheux asked. “They’re going to oversee them,” Abadie said. The exact exchange was stated three times.

“The reason I ran for office was to do something about how we spend money,” Authement said. “I’m not going to compromise my principles.”

Also at the Nov. 4 meeting, the parish council –

• Unanimously approved a contract with All Star Electric Inc. for the lighting of three ball fields in the expanded portion of the West Bank Bridge Park in Luling, totaling $154,650.

• Approved in a 7-2 vote a change order at the St. Charles Parish Health Unit under construction by Lamar Contractors Inc., totaling $16,646.74. Council members G. Ram Ramchandran and Dee Abadie voted against the change order.

• Approved in an 8-1 vote an amendment to the contract for engineering services with Shread-Kuyrkendall & Associates for services associated with project representation for subdivision construction.

“Do we need this service,” Ramchandran asked.

Public Works Director Greg Bush responded the service is paid for by the developers, who are pleased to pay it, since it ultimately saves them money.

Abadie voted against it.