By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – After scraping the original bids due to a disqualification by the lowest bidder, The St. John the Baptist Parish Council on Tuesday were presented with new bids for the Homewood Place drainage project.

The council also received bids for construction of an elevated walkway for a raw water intake structure at the Edgard water treatment plant.

The apparent low bid for the Homewood project came from Civil Constriction, which submitted a $1.074 million price tag for the work. The bid is roughly $76,000 short of the estimated $1.15 million budget for the project.

The work involves moving an existing pump station on the Reserve Relief Canal to the north, converting that pump from electric to diesel power, adding a second pump station in the same area and boring a second drainage culvert under Airline Highway. The project is expected to correct flooding that has plagued the Reserve neighborhood for decades.

The apparent low bid for the elevated walkway project came from Cecil D. Gassiot, LLC, which proposed a roughly $103,000 total cost. Estimated budget for the project is $180,000.

The walkway to the newly constructed raw water well is necessary to allow plant employees to access the well safely during periods of high water in the Mississippi River. In the past, workers were forced to use a boat to get from the levee to the well.

In other action from Tuesday’s meeting, Parish President Natalie Robottom told the council and the parish that the Reserve-Edgard ferry should reopen by the end of June after being closed for nearly two months because of high river levels. She said the work is being done by the state Department of Transportation to raise the docks so that the issue does not occur again in the future.