By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — St. John Parish administrators said Tuesday that the high water level of the Mississippi River has hindered the final bit of work at the parish’s new $640,000 animal shelter and pushed the official opening date back by a month.

During his remarks at Tuesday’s council meeting, Parish President Bill Hubbard said the building still does not have working electricity and utility crews cannot run wires to connect it until water levels on the river go down.

“The contractors have been using generators to power parts of the building while doing most of the work, but it can’t be finished until the entire shelter has complete power,” Hubbard said. “The Corps of Engineers does not allow any excavation within 1,500 feet of the levee system during times of high water. We are at the whim of the river at this point.”

St. John Public Information Officer Buddy Boe said work at the facility had been on schedule, and the parish expected to open no later than June 30, but the seasonal rise in the river led to a temporary work stoppage. He said crews with Entergy need to get under the shelter to run the wires.

“A few of the offices still need paint, and there are a few other odds and ends that need to be taken care of,” said Boe. “Most of the work is in rooms with no windows or no open air lighting. We are now aiming for the third week of July before we can start housing animals.”

A similar delay in progress occurred around this time last year when St. John School Board officials said the opening of Emily C. Watkins Elementary School in LaPlace would have to be pushed back because Entergy could not install utility poles due to flooding concerns on the river. The school, which is situated about a mile downriver from the shelter, will be open for the 2009-10 school year.

Plans for a new shelter had been a bone of contention in St. John Parish for more than eight years as St. John Council members debated over where it should be located before finally deciding to rebuild at the existing shelter site off River Road in LaPlace. The pet project was a key platform issue of Hubbard’s parish president campaign last fall. The newly sworn in council approved the shelter at their inaugural meeting in January, and the project has been fast tracked ever since, despite a few debates over design changes to bring down cost of construction.

The completed building will include office space, grooming rooms, feeding areas, spay and neutering rooms and lots of holding space.

The new shelter would also include a comprehensive system of sewerage and drainage as well as various fresh air intake components.