By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. John the Baptist Parish Council on Tuesday approved the execution of a contract with the South Central Planning and Development Commission that would help the parish secure grants for repairs to two streets in Reserve and Garyville.

Angelic Sutherland, special assistant to Parish President Natalie Robottom, told the council the amount paid to South Central Planning will depend on the level of services provided in securing the grants. She said the contract would not exceed $29,000.

The parish is applying for funding through the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant Program for street overlay projects on East 14th Street in Reserve and Marigold Street in Garyville. Sutherland said the grant application is for $600,000 per street.

The LCDBG program requires the parish to use a firm such as South Central Planning for administrative services involved in the grant application. Sutherland said the parish has used the program since 2005 and has gotten funding to overlay two streets every year.

Sutherland said the parish will use local funds for design, engineering and inspection services for the overlay projects. Parish engineer C.J. Savoie will be the engineer on the project, according to the contract.

In other action, the council approved a resolution to allow the parish to reallocate funds from the ongoing inflow/infiltration sewer project for use in the Minor Housing Repair Program. The parish will use $746,000 from the sewer project to make repairs to 50 additional homes in need of repairs from damage caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008. The council approved the additional homes back in September, bringing the total number of homes served by the program to 110. Total budget for the Minor Housing Repair Program is $2.024 million.

The inflow/infiltration project is now being funded through the 2009 bond issue and a loan from the state Department of Environmental Quality.