By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. John Parish Council on Tuesday approved authorization for a Thibodaux firm to begin expansion work at the Lions Water Treatment Plant in Reserve.

Sea Level Construction offered a low bid of $3.6 million to complete work to expand capacity at the plant. The bid came in well below the parish’s original estimate of $4.1 million. The improvements will be completely funded through money out of a $29.5 million bond issue approved by voters last year.

St. John acting Chief Administrative Officer Buddy Boe said the design work for the project was completed during the bid process so that construction could begin as soon as possible. He said plans for the expansion call for an increase in treatment capacity at Lions from 3 million gallons per day to 5 million gallons per day.

The council also moved to seek bids to refurbish a 400,000 gallon ground storage water tank located near the parish’s Nano Filtration facility in Laplace. Boe said the tank, which is between 25 and 30 years old, is situated next to a newly constructed tank at the facility.

Much of the money needed to refurbish the tank will come from a $135,000 Water Enrichment Grant from the state. Boe said estimated cost of construction is about $160,000.

In other action Tuesday, the council unanimously approved an ordinance to streamline and revise the St. John Parish code of ordinances to remove repeat or conflicting measures.

Boe said the parish has been working the past nine months with a group called Municode, who revise city and parish code books to ensure all parish or city laws comply with state laws. He said the group has prepared the parish’s code of ordinances so that it can be put online and easily searchible.