By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. John the Baptist Parish Council on Tuesday approved a pair of resolutions asking federal officials to expedite hurricane safeguards for the region in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac.

The parish petitioned Congress and President Barack Obama to expedite funding and construction of a hurricane protection levee for St. John Parish. The resolution indicated the levee is needed to protect the region’s millions of dollars worth of residential property and heavy industrial and commercial property. It would also keep Interstates 10 and 55, both major evacuation routes, from being submerged in floodwater.

A copy of the resolution has been forwarded to the president’s office as well as to Louisiana’s congressional delegation representing the River Parishes.

The other resolution implores that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fund, install and maintain an accurate system of real-time gauges and storm surge measurement devices in Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas. The resolution states that the present system of gauges and flow meters are a compilation of data from various agencies and have shown failures during various recent tropical events.

In other action, the council approved a $65,800 contract with Professional Engineering Services for design specifications for a telemetry system for major sewer lift stations in the parish.

The project calls for the installation of telemetry sensors on 156 major lift stations throughout the parish that can send alerts when the stations are not functioning properly. The design contract approved Tuesday is for the first 50 lift stations.

“The system will notify us when a problem arises before an overflow occurs,” said parish spokesperson Paige Falgoust. “This will not eliminate an overflow, but it will allow the department to become aware a problem is at hand before an overflow.”

The $500,000 project will be funded by a bond issue from 2010.

The council also approved an act of donation of a plot of land along East 21st Street in Reserve. The land, valued at $40,000, was held by Community Bank of LaPlace.

Councilman Lennix Madere said he came up with the idea for the land exchange because he wanted to use the land for creation of another park in his district.

“I’m not looking for a large park,” Madere said. “I just want something where families can bring young children to swing or play around. I want them to have another safe place to play.”