By Stephen Hemelt
L’Observateur

VACHERIE — Bids that all came in above budget forced St. James Parish Council members to reject them, delaying construction of a Lutcher Sewerage Pond Improvements Project.

Parish President Timothy Roussel said the parish would do some of the work itself before re-bidding the project in an effort to ensure future bids fall within budget, which is funded through a CDBG-DR Program

“First of all, we’re going to spend some time with our crew to reduce the cost of it,” Roussel said. “We have to take care of some of the cost ourselves to get it to the ballpark of the money we have through that grant available.”

The Town of Lutcher owns an oxidation pond and provides sewerage to its citizenry through that and a network of piping and pumps.

The parish previously met with the town and state Wildlife and Fisheries and Department of Environmental Quality about turning that pond into a wetlands assimilation program for wastewater treatment.

“They loved the idea, because it would be adding nutrients to the swamp,” Roussel said. “Presently, all of the discharge waste, once it oxidizes, it goes to the Mississippi River. Now we’re going to have two options.”

The parish signed a contract with the Town of Lutcher and will pay for the improvements to the pond to be able to accept parish waste. Roussel said the parish would gain use of Lutcher’s pond and, after the project is completed, offer sewerage to parish residents.

“Of course, we will be paying the Town of Lutcher a per-household stipend for a monthly charge,” Roussel said.

“So they have something to gain out of it, we have something to gain out of it and the people in the parish have something to gain.”

Roussel said he is confident once the parish does some initial work on the renovation project, future bids will come within budget.

The vote to reject the project’s initial bids was made at June 18’s board meeting, where council members also unanimously added to the parish government staff by approving Michelle Nailor Octave’s appointment as chief administrative officer for St. James Parish.

Roussel said the position’s salary had been approved in a budget previously adopted by the council and it was “past time we tried to fill this position.”

“There is not enough time in the day to do the work of the parish,” Roussel said. “(Nailor) will be helping me, but her door will always be open to all the projects you are working on, so she will be helping you too.”

Octave has a degree in business administration from the University of New Orleans, worked with FEMA as a voluntary agency liaison following Hurricane Katrina and worked with state government as the program manager for emergency preparedness.

A report to council members listed Octave as having achieved 20 years experience in public policy, planning and implementation.

In other business, St. James Parish Council members signed an intergovernmental agreement with the St. James Parish School Board for use of the swimming pool at Gramercy Recreation Park, which the school board wishes to make improvements to and use for its swim teams.