By Richard Meek
Contributing Writer

EDGARD – After a year of uncertainty, the fate of the Edgard/Reserve continues to hang in the balance but St. John the Parish Baptist President Natalie Robottom said there is adequate funding to keep the service operational for up to a month while financial arrangements continue to be negotiated with the state.
Robottom told parish council members Tuesday night she is working on two grants through the state that would allow the parish to assume the financial responsibility of the ferry. The grants would include money the parish is eligible for from damage incurred during Hurricane Isaac.
Robottom said she is also negotiating with the River Parishes Transit Authority and the Louisiana Department Transportation and Development to finalize the agreement.
“We are working with the RPTA (detailing) what responsibilities we are absorbing and what (the DOTD) is absorbing,” Robottom said, adding that there exists adequate funding to maintain the ferry for “two weeks to a month. There’s still (enough) there.”
Once an agreement is reached, negotiations will begin with an operator that will staff the ferry.
Negotiations have been ongoing for several months to reach an agreement for DODT to continue to maintain the ferry. In 2012 the parish faced a similar dilemma but DOTD kept the ferry operating through the end of June after the parish agreed to take over maintenance of several state roads.
A similar agreement, although not as extensive, was reached earlier this year where the parish took on additional state roads to prevent the ferry closing June 28 as originally scheduled.
Although the hours of operation had been temporarily scaled back, the ferry is currently running from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The ferry was closed for inspection earlier this week but reopened Wednesday evening.