"Let me just say this, St. Martin Parish is not gonna sit on their ass and allow this to go unremediated.". Vital First, to authorize Cedars to "pursue litigation against every single person, farm and entity that may be complicit in the removal of the banks," including LCG officials. District II Wanda B. The spoil banks have been a point of contention between LCG and the St. Martin Parish Government for months as the two have debated the drainage merits and risks of removal. 337-909-2990, REPORT CHILD ABUSE: 1-855-4LA-KIDS (1-855-452-5437) The attorney general can pursue that violation. Logan and Guillory have defended the approach and use of quick take expropriation, characterizing the suits as negotiating tactics on the part of landowners looking for a better price in the case of Homewood and Lake Farm. Lafayette Consolidated Government may be drawing itself into a lawsuit with St. Martin Parish after quietly removingspoil banks, or makeshift levees,along the Vermilion River without St. Martin Parish's approval. St. Martin Parish - Acadiana Work Force Development Our restaurants offer authentic, renowned, and award winning Cajun cuisine. Email Davide Mamone at dmamone@theadvocate.com. And surreptitiously LCG went out and removed those spoil banks and, in our opinion, has put our citizens at peril, contrary to what they may postulate.". Its unclear how much information the bidders were given about potential projects to come and whether they knew of LCGs plans for St. Martin Parish. Jeremiah, I see that you failed to read the story. Cedars said studies have differed on the impact and risks of removing the makeshift levees and that he found out about LCG's quiet removal of the spoil banks Tuesday afternoon, weeks after the work had been done. Guy Cormier is the president of St. Martin Parish, and was a Police Juror back in 1999 when the change was adopted for good. Bid law trumps.. Home - St. Mary Parish Government St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars, who has disputed the merits and risks of removing the spoil banks, said Thursday he was given no advance notice of LCG's plans to "surreptitiously . ------------------------------------------------------------Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere. Project Coordinator Job Opening in Saint Martinville, LA at St. Martin 0:36. Corps of Engineers to remove the spoil banks along the Vermilion River in St. Martinville, but that request was ultimately withdrawn, according to Cedars. St. Martin Parish to sue, investigate removal of spoil banks by Lafayette Consolidated Government. On Feb. 23 Rigid invoiced LCGs Public Works Department $3.7 million for the work, billed as a change order, and was paid five days later out of the city general fund, according to LCGs Open Book, an online financial transparency tool debuted by the Guillory administration in 2020. Wanda B. Lafayette beats St. Martin Parish to court with lawsuit over spoil bank School Board - St. Martin Parish - saintmartinschools.org What's a spoil bank, and why is St. Martin Parish mad at Lafayette? Vital . All Rights Reserved, Opening/Purchasing a Bar/Nigh Club/Lounge, RESTORE Act Multiyear Implementation Plan, RESTORE Act Multiyear Implementation Plan-Amendment #1. How a St. Martin Parish agency connects seniors to vital services 2023 St. Martin Parish Government. The study found removing the spoil banks would have little impact on the overall water level in the swamp during storms, but Cedars has said his engineers determined the removal wasn't without risk for the people who live near Cypress Island. Removing the spoil banks could help drainage throughout Lafayette by lowering water levels on the Vermilion by almost 8 inches in a 2- to 10-year storm, similar to the one in May 2014, and by a little over 2 inches in a storm similar to the August 2016 floods, according to a study by the University of Louisiana at Lafayettes Watershed Flood Center. Fiber installed in public-private broadband project | St. Mary Now I asked. http://dss.louisiana.gov/page/109. Vice President: Kevin Martin. The current modeling of the spoil bank removal project shows that there is no threat of harm to St. Martin Parish.. This parish is not afraid to fight in the courts to protect the publics rights.. "Not . D. Kaplovitz Louisiana Parish Attorneys Association ("LPAA"): Group Parish Attorneys Association ("LPAA") j. touzet; It is also is my understanding that the USCOE 50+ years ago, by putting spoils on the St Martin banks of the Vermilion, inadvertently obstructed that natural flow to Cypress island swamp. "When I learned about this late Tuesday afternoon, we did certain things and had certain meetings, and we're developing what our course of action will be from this point forward," he said. Salary Schedules - St. Martin Parish - saintmartinschools.org He makes it clear that hes always promoted the use of masks while indoors and touches on the subject of the lack of vaccinations among adults. Open Books 10-digit check numbers, which seem to indicate wire transfers, show Rigid as the sole contractor paid by wire transfer this fiscal year, with LCG paying via wire transfer only 11 times out of 35,000 payments made so far this year. The Louisiana attorney general has opined that any additional public work outside of the scope of the existing contract should be negotiated or let out for public bid rather than by change order to the existing contract.. Since then, nothing has been done. U.S. President; U.S. LCG did not turn over any construction plans for the project, saying it had no known documents responsive to our request for them. The St. Martin Parish facility will employ 976 direct employees with an annual salary of $38,000, plus benefits, and will result in 793 new indirect jobs. Frustrated with spending excessive time and money buying and installing water filters only for them to get clogged or stop working, he tells KATC he and his neighbors have filed a class-action lawsuit against United Water in a last-ditch effort to get assistance. St. Martin Parish School Board Company Profile | Breaux Bridge, USA All rights reserved. document.write(year) Cedars said LCG removed the spoil banks without the appropriate regulatory licenses or permits required by law. The maximum price of the projects first phase was negotiated at $30.6 million, but grew to $38 million when Rigid was forced to mobilize to another drainage project during litigation with the landowners. Patrol boats, barges, cranes, ramps and an on-call mechanic were among the charges billed to Lafayette Consolidated Government for a February operation to dig up spoil bank levees on the Vermilion River. Box 9. The Oscars will air on ABC and can be streamed on ABC.com and the ABC app as well as Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV or FuboTV. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. var today = new Date() 314 Elmer St St. Martin Parish to Pursue Legal Action Against Lafayette - KPEL 96.5 500 Henry C. 'Bo' LaGrange Chief Administrative Officer Henry C. 'Bo' LaGrange, is currently the Chief Administrative Officer of St. Mary Parish Government, a position he has held since 1996. Tel: 337.409.9518, February 18, 2022 - Special Board Meeting, September 7, 2022 - Regular Board Meeting, September 1, 2021 - Regular Board Meeting, September 2, 2020 - Regular Board Meeting, December 10, 2020 - Special Board Meeting, September 4, 2019 - Regular Board Meeting, February 22, 2018 - Special Board Meeting, September 5, 2018 - Regular Board Meeting, September 6, 2018 - Special Board Meeting, September 11, 2018 - Special Board Meeting, December 19, 2018 - Special Board Meeting, September 6, 2017 - Regular Board Meeting, November 18, 2017 - Special Board Meeting, December 19, 2017 - Special Board Meeting, September 7, 2016 - Regular Board Meeting, November 16, 2016 - Special Board Meeting, February 19, 2015 - Special Board Meeting, September 2, 2015 - Regular Board Meeting, February 19, 2014 - Special Board Meeting, September 3, 2014 - Regular Board Meeting, September 10, 2014 - Special Board Meeting, September 04, 2013 - Regular Board Meeting, September 25, 2013 - Special Board Meeting, November 20, 2013 - Special Board Meeting, February 01, 2012 - Regular Board Meeting, February 08, 2012 - Special Board Meeting, February 29, 2012 - Special Board Meeting, September 05, 2012 - Regular Board Meeting, November 07, 2012 - Regular Board Meeting, December 05, 2012 - Regular Board Meeting, December 19, 2012 - Special Board Meeting, February 02, 2011 - Regular Board Meeting, February 23, 2011 - Special Board Meeting, September 7, 2011 - Regular Board Meeting, September 21, 2011 - Special Board Meeting, December 21, 2011 - Special Board Meeting, February 03, 2010 - Regular Board Meeting, February 24, 2010 - Special Board Meeting, September 1, 2010 - Regular Board Meeting, September 15, 2010 - Special Board Meeting, February 4, 2009 - Finance Committee Meeting, February 18, 2009 - Special Board Meeting, April 22, 2009 - Finance Committee Meeting, September 02, 2009 - Regular Board Meeting, September 16, 2009 - Special Board Meeting, November 04, 2009 - Regular Board Meeting, December 02, 2009 - Regular Board Meeting, February 13, 2008 - Regular Board Meeting, February 20, 2008 - Special Board Meeting, June 18, 2008 - Finance Committee Meeting, August 13, 2008 - Finance Committee Meeting, September 10, 2008 - Regular Board Meeting, September 24, 2008 - Special Board Meeting, October 29, 2008 - Finance Committee Meeting, November 05, 2008 - Regular Board Meeting, November 19, 2008 - Finance Committee Meeting, December 03, 2008 - Regular Board Meeting, December 17, 2008 - Special Board Meeting, St. Martin Parish SchoolBoard Office And the peculiar vehicle for awarding such a large contract, in effect side-stepping the transparency and cost controls required of public contracting, may itself have violated public bid law, according to interviews with a dozen contractors, engineers, lawyers and former LCG employees. "I want to give a full report to the council to the public at one time," he said. I guess I should have, Guillory reportedly told him. Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 LCG has been in a tiff with the St. Martin Parish Government for months over removing the spoil banks, which LCG believes will lower water levels on the Vermilion River during storms. Jimmy "Coach" Durio 1005 Judy Street LCGs drainage program is itself unusually massive in scope and speed. When asked if the project would harm residents of St. Martin Parish, Guillory said, We surely wouldnt bless off on a project that would hurt anybody, but the science is clear. Just $4,800 was spent on tree clearing and $260,000 on excavation and fill. Rigid billed $1.9 million for expedited mobilization, a sum that, according to the original contracts terms, should have been included in the contract pricing. With multiple boil advisories in the recent past, Cedars says it's no secret the parish and others with outdated equipment and infrastructure like it have issues with the systems, especially in rural areas. :And why are Lafayette and St. Martin Parish fighting over them? St. Martin Parish Library Board of Control Tommy Romero, President,Appointment 1992, Expiration July 2027 Freda Harrison, Vice-President,Appointment 1980, Expiration July 2025 Charlene LeBlanc,Appointment 1989, Expiration July 2023 Georgie Blanchard,Appointment 1998, Expiration January 2027 1005 Big Apple Lane In February it was chosen over The Lemoine Company to negotiate pricing with LCG on the $60 million Homewood Detention Ponds project, the largest drainage undertaking in the parishs history. Vicknair, who says by law the project should have been re-bid, believes the losing bidders could have standing for damages if they sued, with the runner-up bidder in the best position to succeed. St. Martin Parish Government | St. Martin Clerk He has also served as the Director of Planning and Zoning of St. Mary Parish. Box 993 Cormier: "Starting in, I guess, 1990, the parish Police Jury had tried in three attempts to at least bring it to a study. Many of these communities do not have the necessary funding to repair or maintain the water systems. Senior Advocacy | St. Martin Council on Aging, Inc St. Martin Parish School Board. Those spoils banks were keeping areas in St. Martin Parish from flooding, parish leaders say. The makeshift levees isolate the river from low-lying land east of the Lafayette Regional Airport and rise several feet over the river in most areas, preventing the rivers flood waters from flowing into the low-lying land and out of the riverand adjoining coulees, during storms. Copy and paste this code into your website. Pending the governors signature, both the spoil banks project and the catchall Bayou Vermilion Flood Control project are set to receive more state dollars in the 2022 capital outlay budget. "Many residents and local business in our parish struggle to access reliable internet service," St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said. Flooding:Five years later, Lafayette is still defined by the catastrophic 2016 flood, "We bought the property, took the dirt off the spoil banks and put it on the Chappuis (Dentention Pond project) side," he said. [1] At the 2020 census, the population was 51,767. But I did get an email response Sunday night thanking me for the proposal and saying they hope to speak again soon.. St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission | Louisiana Travel St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission Lake Martin at sunset Location 110 N. Main Street Breaux Bridge LA 70517 Get Directions Where Cajun Began..Breaux Bridge, Crawfish Capital of the World; Henderson, the Gateway to the Atchafalaya Basin; St. Martinville, Home of Evangeline. According to Cedars, LCG had initiated a study for a potential project that entailed the removal of the spoil banks in April 2021. LCGs drainage projects are already costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in city-parish legal fees, plus millions in re-mobilization costs. It was a very short call, Cedars said. Make a Donation . The spoil banks, left behind from the last time the Vermilion River was dredged decades ago, run along the rivers southern bank around the swamp in St. Martin Parish, just east of the border with Lafayette Parish. I do not need Lafayette Parish Government telling St. Martin Parish whats best for us. St. Martin Parish Federal Programs & Technology Annex 625 Corporate Boulevard, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337.332.3388. {0} important information hidden . St. Martin Parish Government officials and community members are now angry, as they say LCG removed the spoil banks without any warning and without permits. Cedars accused the parish government of removing spoil banks along the Vermilion River in St.. Cedars says he believes, however, more research on how it would impact their region should have been done before LCG moved forward with the project. Commenting is reserved for donors. It's uncalled for and unwarranted," Cedars said Thursday. "When they were telling me about the project, I said, 'Wait a minute! Why would you do that? dwayne.fatherree@daily-iberian.com. Durand said the value of the individual properties was low, about $1,000 apiece. This Tuesday (March 7th) is ACT Testing Day on our high school campuses. Public Works Director Chad Nepveaux said Thursday that LCG bought part of the land where the banks are located and removed the dirt over the course of a couple of days in February. In conclusion, I welcome all, and I look forward to sharing the very special and unique resources which St. Martin Parish has to offer. Well, guess what? Cedars did say he had productive conversations with members of one family about their concerns and proposed a possible compromise. Third, an investigation by the congressional delegation on what happened, in order, Cedars said, that we are not going to let it happen again.. Army Corps inspection finds no permit was needed for Lafayette spoil banks removal, removed a March lawsuit by LCG against St. Martin Parish, St. Martin Parish wants Lafayettes lawsuit thrown out for being in Lafayette, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Rather, it seems we are more interested in protecting and advocating our individual ideologue rather than adhering to the advice of medical science and thus protecting our fellow citizens, our businesses, our employers/employees, our healthcare system, and our children.. "This is the most incredible, unprofessional thing that I think one governmental jurisdiction can do to the other. Bid law exists to protect against cost overruns and to keep negotiations honest. TOLL-FREE,24 HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said Thursday his government is aiming to have LCG restore the spoil banks as an immediate remedy and said it may seek other remedies as the case. Martin Parish line. Investigation begins into firings in St. Landry Parish government Public Works Committee @ 4:30 on the 3rd Tuesday; Administrative Committee Meeting follows Parish President. On October 14, 2021, I met with Mayor-President Guillory and several members of his staff. C) Multi-Parish Races. and last updated 8:09 PM, Feb 27, 2023. Contact her at (337) 207-4312 or [emailprotected]. The St. Martin Parish Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to authorize Parish President Chester Cedars to pursue litigation against Lafayette Consolidated Government for removal of spoil banks along the Vermilion River St. Martin leaders said happened without permission. ALLother St. MartinParishSchoolswill beopen on Tuesday, March 7th,for IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION. Cedars has been serving as the interim parish president since former President Guy. In an intense special council meeting attended by more than 100 angry St. Martin Parish residents, Cedars vehemently expressed his dismay toward LCG Mayor-President Josh Guillory. Copyright Waiting for a judge to be assigned to the suit, according to public records at last check on Friday. Since November, Rigid has been paid a total of $37 million from LCG for various projects, $3.7 million of that coming for the spoil banks project that took less than two days to complete. The investigation could force changes to the project to blunt its impact on the Black and low-income neighborhoods that will house it. LAFAYETTE, La. As for the spoil banks, theyve stood by the merits of the project and accused St. Martin Parish of trying to obstruct it. St. Martinville, LA 70582 Cedars cites the latest COVID hospitalization data in the Acadiana Region 4 and positivity rates within the parish. Local Workforce Development Board #40 is certified by Louisiana's Governor as a local workforce development board, as required by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Public Law 113-128. In other reports, the council heard from Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Executive Director Lt. Col. Billy Guidry about the projected water flow along the Bayou Teche this coming spring. St. Martinville, LA 70582 Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population.This encompasses all city, county, and special district elections appearing on the ballot within those cities. I dont see anything else MP Guillory could have done more reasonable to finally get something accomplished to protect the interest of Lafayette residents at risk of flooding, due to changes in the landscape, beyond their control. ONLY10th&11th graders will report to their respective high schools on Tuesdayto take their required ACT exam. The wire transfer to Rigid came five days after LCG lost the Homewood ruling and is for work on that project. The contract also requires LCG to give written instructions to the contractor increasing the quantity of work and/or change orders. var today = new Date() He was eventually taken into custody by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff . St. Martin Parish's objection the spoil bank removal could cause legal trouble for LCG, as Lafayette's local government did not get a necessary permit to remove the spoil banks from St. Martin Parish, according to Cedars. My office and the St. Martin Parish Council recognize that business is the bulwark of our local economy, and we stand ready and willing to assist you in your ventures. On Aug. 30, according to Cedars reports, the Corps advised that LCG had requested the proposed project be divided into two parts. Initially, he said, the landings were built using parish materials and using trusty work crews from the parish jail. Parish Government Information - Police Jury Association of Louisiana Sign up for our free newsletter. Of course, I fully recognize that my remarks will ignite a flurry of criticism and comments. His statement reads, In order to successfully sue for damages in a plaintiffs case, you must show that there was harm created. ST. MARTINVILLE, La. The council also discussed the potential sale of property within the city of St. Martinville that had been adjudicated as being co-owned by the city and the parish. Census facilitator Tomika Scott gave council members a briefing on plans for the 2020 Census in St. Martin Parish and went into depth on the importance of getting an accurate count of the parishs population.