St. Charles budget gets council OK

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 7, 2012

By Aly Davis

Contributing Writer

HAHNVILLE – On Monday the St. Charles Parish Council adopted the budget for 2013 and addressed several ordinances for drainage issues and levee projects for the parish.

Also making waves on the agenda was information regarding St. Charles Parish receiving the incorrect amount of sales tax from the New Orleans Airport and the subsequent $740,000 check from the city of Kenner, as well as a zoning dispute regarding the extension of the Antioch Baptist Church cemetery.

After months of planning and several weeks of budget hearings and amendments being made, the Parish Council adopted the Consolidated Operating and Capital Budget for Fiscal Year 2013, with six council members voting for, two against, and one absent. Councilman Paul J. Hogan, who voted against adopting the budget, stated that he could not support the budget without an appropriation of funds for the Sunset Drainage District. The budget will be enacted Jan. 1, 2013.

Two important ordinances of the third phase of the West Bank Hurricane Protection Levee passed unanimously during the meeting. The council approved Mitigation Participation agreements with Chevron and Coastal Louisiana Resource that will allow the parish to move forward with plans for the West Bank Levee. Steve Wilson, president of the Pontchartrain Levee District, addressed the council and stated that with the approval of the two agreements, the parish is “now down to building the levee. The parish has put in a significant amount of money.” Wilson also said the state has granted another $2 million toward the West Bank Levee, and Wilson’s office has made “requests for many more millions in the next few years.”

After Wilson presented that piece of good news, Neal Clulee, recently appointed a member of the New Orleans Aviation Board, came before the council with what he called a “troubling bit of information.” Clulee claimed that in his research in preparation for becoming a member of the board, he found that for at least the last four years St. Charles Parish has not been receiving the correct amount of used sales tax from the New Orleans International Airport. According to the intergovernmental agreement between the city of Kenner and St. Charles Parish, a portion of the used sales tax generated at the airport is supposed to be handed to St. Charles Parish. After addressing this with St. Charles Parish Chief Financial Officer Grant Dussom and Kenner’s Finance Department, Cluelee continued, St. Charles Parish received a check from the city of Kenner for $740,000. Dussom explained that there was an issue with Kenner’s computer system in 2009 that has not been resolved, and Dussom is working with the Kenner finance director and Sheriff’s Department to make sure it is taken care of correctly.

Members of the Antioch Baptist Church located at 16461 Old Spanish Trail in Des Allemands have been working toward expanding their cemetery for many years, Pastor Mitchell Bolden stated, and brought a petition before the council to change the zoning classification of the area behind their church building to OL, or Open Land, in order to fulfill that expansion. Several of the church’s neighbors, however, opposed the zoning petition, stating that they did not want to have a graveyard “right at [their] back doors.” Although the Antioch Baptist Church originally asked to have the requirement of a fence waived, Bolden stated that to appease their neighbors, they would construct a 6-foot solid fence before putting the land to use as a cemetery.

The zoning reclassification was passed, though council members Carolyn Schexnaydre and Hogan voted against the petition.

Several other ordinances concerning the West Bank Protection and Preservation passed with a unanimous vote from the Parish Council, including authorization of contracts for the creation of a fifth West Bank Water Storage Tank for $1,690,217 by Gottfried Contracting, as well as an upgrade to the Ashton Pump Station and Force Main by Advanced Quality Construction Inc. with a bid of $956,542.20. A portion of Christina H. and Tams M. Mullins’ property was sold to the parish, which Councilman Dennis Nuss, who will be leaving the council in December, called “one of the last pieces” before the restoration of the levee along Coronado Park Subdivision in Luling can be put out for contractor’s bids.

The council approved a contract for the construction of the Norco Fifth Street sidewalk, which “will run from the spillway levee to Apple Street,” by HHP Construction Group LLC. Jay Robichaux of the St. Charles Parish School Board thanked the council for their assistance in creating a safe area for locals, especially the children attending the three schools along this stretch of road.

Also unanimously passed was an agreement between the State Division of Outdoor Recreation and St. Charles Parish for $200,000 in federal funding for Rathborne Park improvements, including “a baseball field, bleachers, lighting for the trail, parking lot, tennis courts, pavilion, picnic tables, a restroom/concession stand/storage building, bike racks, fitness stations, benches, and water fountains.”

Also Monday, Schexnaydre presented a plaque of recognition to Samuel J. “Sammy” Accardo, director of the Wastewater Department, for many years of dedicated service. Accardo thanked the council and Parish President V.J. St. Pierre for working with him on $10 million worth of sewer improvements, as well as thanking the employees of the Wastewater Department who “did all the work.”

Joel T. Chaisson, executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, reported to the council that “your port is doing great.” With the widening of the Panama Canal and other changes in international shipping, the Port of South Louisiana is looking ahead and hoping to become “the port of the future and a super-port for years to come.” Chaisson asked for a council resolution stating support of a container facility in Hahnville along the Bonnet Carre Spillway, estimated to transfer 250,000 containers within the first year of operation and create 2,000 jobs within the parish.