Morgan City Mayor; Vermilion Parish. I trust that my fellow elected officials in St. Martin Parish want for their constituents the same thing that I want for mine, which is to do all we can to protect life and property. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said Tuesday evening that the administration is looking to fund several ambitious initiatives using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act: Water system consolidation $1 million Broadband expansion $3 million Water infrastructure in Water Works District 5 and along Highway 94 $3.8 million St. Martin Parish Federal Programs & Technology Annex 625 Corporate Boulevard, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337.332.3388. At 3 oclock as of today, a week ago, we discovered that Lafayette Consolidated Government decided to remove the spoil banks, Cedars said, describing a phone call with Guillory that he said took place two hours after the discovery. The property around the lake is privately owned. Follow Andrew Capps on Twitter or send an email to acapps@theadvertiser.com. 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. 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. One contractor interviewed by The Current defended the pricing in the contract, noting its what he would charge for the work. Three days later, on Feb. 21, before obtaining permits from either St. Martin Parish or the U.S. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars says St. Martin Parish is no longer going to be one of them. He was eventually taken into custody by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff . We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. And its connected to all three stormwater projects mired in lawsuits. Thats our job, Cedars said. 600 Corporate Boulevard / PO Box 1000,Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 But even against that backdrop, the spoil banks project stands out. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. This might be a risk-free endeavor for Lafayette Parish, but it is not a risk-free endeavor for St. Martin Parish, Cedars said. Copy and paste this code into your website. "When they were telling me about the project, I said, 'Wait a minute! St. Martin Council on Aging, Inc. accepts applications from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. 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. Stay up to date with the latest news by downloading the BRProud App from the App Store or Google Play. Coupons are available only to seniors who reside in St. Martin Parish. [citation needed] From 2000 to 2004, Angelle was the first parish president of St. Martin Parish and the vice president from 1998 to 2000 of the Huval Companies in Lafayette, Louisiana. Vicknair also notes the original December bidders could go to court to enjoin the remainder of the as-needed contract, which has options to be extended another two years, if any of that work is out of scope of the original bid work. "We need clean water, that's the very first thing we need because this is not a third-world country, this is America and we shouldn't have third-world water going through our pipes.". The "surreptitious" move enraged St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars, and led the St. Martin Parish Council to unanimously back Cedars' request to sue LCG over the removal this week.. There can be a myriad of violations, says Shaye, who declined to comment on whether her office has been alerted to LCGs contracts. It was a very short call, Cedars said. Cedars cites the latest COVID hospitalization data in the Acadiana Region 4 and positivity rates within the parish. Contact information. 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. You had a 12 feet levee, and youre reducing it to 6 feet. There was hesitation. Lafayette Mayor President Josh Guillory says LCG removed the spoil banks to help flash flooding and drainage. The update, which was posted at about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, says that "as stated in. (BRPROUD) St. Martin Parish President Chester R. Cedars wrote a message addressing the community on the stark reality of this fourth surge of COVID-19. In all, the as-needed contracts value alone has ballooned to approximately $5.2 million in a few short months. (KLFY) A feud over spoil banks, levees of dirt and debris formed on either side of a river is reaching new heights and creating a major controversy between two Acadiana parishes. and last updated 8:09 PM, Feb 27, 2023. 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. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. Marshals,, Hooded man wearing sagging pants steals $9K in purses, Acadiana foster dad fighting to get children back, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. "We believe that we need to proceed as quickly as possible to protect the citizens from being harmed. The spoil banks are makeshift dirt levees, nearly 4,000 feet long, that follow the river's southern bank around the Cypress Island Swamp in St. Martin Parish, isolating the river from the low-lying swampland and preventing floodwaters from dumping out of the river and into the swamp during storms. We won't share it with anyone else. Why? In the midst of French culture, exploration, and settlement during the late eighteenth century, St. Mary bears the distinction of being a primarily Anglo-Protestant settlement in the midst of French-Catholic Acadiana. St. Martinville, LA 70582 He says it will benefit the entire region. 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. This is a great day for our region, Guillory added. Jimmy "Coach" Durio I also trust in the science and all of the engineers who have spent years analyzing the benefits of restoring the natural hydraulic flow in this area. 301 West Port Street. The current modeling of the spoil bank removal project shows that there is no threat of harm to St. Martin Parish.. 2023 St. Martin Parish Government. The wire transfer to Rigid came five days after LCG lost the Homewood ruling and is for work on that project. "Not . The removal will allow the river to flow into the swamp during storms. 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. If LCG was to successfully pull off its plan to go into the Cypress Island Swamp area without St. Martins knowledge or cooperation, it needed to move quickly and quietly. "This is the most incredible, unprofessional thing that I think one governmental jurisdiction can do to the other. This document is available in PDF format. P. O. Im not frustrated as much as Im disappointed. The contract also requires LCG to give written instructions to the contractor increasing the quantity of work and/or change orders. He can be reached at dwayne.fatherree@daily-iberian.com. No records of such documentation have been produced in our records requests, besides the half-page bid table pricing the rush-ordered work. Even if it tries to maintain that the work was an extension of the existing contract, LCG has so far not produced a single record to suggest that it did anything more than accept what Rigid put in front of it. Lafayettes spoil banks project in St. Martin Parish avoided public bid law and netted a contractor millions. All 10th & 11th graders must bring their fully charged Chromebooks to school on Tuesday for testing. Mike Clay Some members of the St. Landry Parish School Board say they are in favor of changes to the student dress code. Cedars did say he had productive conversations with members of one family about their concerns and proposed a possible compromise. Attached to it was Rigids half page invoice. Why would you do that to neighbors when you don't have a permit?. On Friday, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars levied the allegations against LCG. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Workday sued on suspicion of discriminatory hiring, 86-year-old woman honored for years of community, Attic Trash and Treasure organization hosts three-day, Scary video: North Carolina kids nearly hit at bus, Southern University experiences power outage across, No. As the spoil banks are already gone, Cedars says theyre trying to fix this. The problem a challenging bidder is going to have in a damages claim, which LCG may have assumed when they structured the contract this way, is that theres a lot of case law from various appellate courts and the Louisiana Supreme Court requiring a losing bidder in a damages claim to show good cause on why they did not seek injunctive relief to stop the work before making a claim for damages, Vicknair continues, so the question really is could they have known within the very short period of time from when that change order was publicly recorded until the work was performed to file for injunctive relief?. 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. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. St. Martin Parish Federal Programs & Technology Annex 625 Corporate Boulevard, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337.332.3388. 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. About Us. At this point in time, there is absolutely no articulable, cogent reason most of our community should continue to refuse to wear masks in indoor setting or refuse to even consider receiving a vaccine. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. 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. Bid law trumps.. Bid law exists to protect against cost overruns and to keep negotiations honest. (KLFY) St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars has signed new guidelines for COVID-19 for parish-owned and operated facilities, effective immediately. "I can give you 14.3 million additional reasons it's not just talk, and that's the $14.3 million we've committed to making this consolidation work. 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. The investigation could force changes to the project to blunt its impact on the Black and low-income neighborhoods that will house it. And certainly going from $300,000 or $400,000 to $3 [million] or $4 million would be a material change in the contract. You have to go out and re-bid it, says former Louisiana Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera. Should the Louisiana legislative auditor look into a municipalitys contracting practices, its role would only be to flag potential problems with contracts in an audit report, says Jenifer Schaye, general counsel for the legislative auditors office; violations can lead to restitution or, more rarely, criminal prosecution. 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 Photo by Travis Gauthier In all likelihood, St. Martin Parish would have gone to court to stop the work, and indeed Cedars has since threatened to sue everyone involved. I guess I should have, Guillory reportedly told him. After the shooting, Reddit drove to a Baton Rouge hospital for a stab wound he said he sustained during the incident. (BRPROUD) - St. Martin Parish President Chester R. Cedars wrote a message addressing the community on the "stark reality" of this fourth surge of COVID-19. St. Martin P. O. St Martin Parish Government Location 301 W Port St, Saint Martinville, Louisiana, 70582, United States Description Industry Government I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the businesses who have chosen to invest in St. Martin Parish. Created in 1811, St. Mary Parish was originally part of the Attakapas District and St. Martin Parish. Commenting is reserved for donors. He has been Departments Read More "Let me just say this, St. Martin Parish is not gonna sit on their ass and allow this to go unremediated.". What is clear is that advertising the operation would have put LCGs furtive plans in the public eye, something it had an interest in avoiding. Guillory, says, however, a permit was not necessary. St. Martin Parish School Board Breaux Bridge, LA 2 weeks ago Be among the first 25 applicants See who St. Martin Parish School Board has hired for this role Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 Login & subscribe to unlock. ST. MARTIN PARISH, La. The district attorney can pursue that violation. of our parish leaders are excited about the decision of Ochsner and Trax Development to locate this PPE facility in our parish," said St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars. St. Martin Parish. St. Martin Parish is a parish in Louisiana.The parish population is 51,767, according to the United States Census Bureau. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is investigating LCG's decision to do the St. Martin Parish work without a federal permit, and the Corps has also asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate "flagrant, willful violations" associated with the project.Shortly after being made aware of the levee removal, the Corps told LCG to stop all activity on the project (with the . 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. Im not frustrated as much as Im appalled, Cedars said. Vital "The perception is this is just talk [], it's not just talk," he tells KATC. ST. MARTINVILLE Parish President Chester Cedars said that he expects the parish should be getting an appellate ruling soon on its lawsuit against a business owner on Lake Martin. If you materially change the original scope of the contract, then you cant just amend it like that and be in compliance with the bid law. Box 1280 Cameron, LA 70631 (337) 775-5718 EMAIL www.cameronpj.org. Normal processes for getting the project done would not have made that possible. 337.332.3388, St. Martin Parish Operations,Maintenance &Transportation A public records request for electronic communication between Fortier and LCG officials is pending. The attorney general can pursue that violation. LAFAYETTE, La. Nobody is going to block Rookery Road without a visit to the courthouse, Cedars said. 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. Very little of what Rigid charged on the spoil banks project is related to excavation. Parish President Chester Cedars speaks during a meeting of the St. Martin Parish Council on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Chester Cedars has been working as a Parish President at St Martin Parish Government for 21 years. 314 Elmer St Third, an investigation by the congressional delegation on what happened, in order, Cedars said, that we are not going to let it happen again.. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. As for the spoil banks, theyve stood by the merits of the project and accused St. Martin Parish of trying to obstruct it. Over the past several months, The Current has reviewed hundreds of of pages of court documents and records obtained from LCG related to its immense capital program for drainage. We don't want anyone to be harmed, and therefore we believe that the way to mitigate that is to restore the property to its state before the removal of the spoil banks," he added. 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. 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. Cedars said LCG removed the spoil banks without the appropriate regulatory licenses or permits required by law. 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. Share this page on your favorite Social network. Though LCG initially sued St. Martin Parish in Lafayette over the dispute, Wednesday's filing will put the case before 16th Judicial District Court Judge Tony Saleme, of Franklin, unless LCG tries to move the case. Dwayne Fatherree / The Daily Iberian Buy Now Bruce Emley, division vice president for Waste Connections Bayou LLC, speaks at Tuesday's St. Martin Parish Council meeting. 775 West Bridge Street, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 St. Martin Parish Operations, Maintenance & Transportation 775 West Bridge Street, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337-909-2990. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said, however, it will not help their region and called it an act of misconduct.. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said he is excited about the project, which will bring broadband connectivity to the St. Martin Economic Development Authority's SMEDA Industrial Park, which is located on the Lafayette/St. Now, they might win it back. (KLFY) An investigation has begun in the firings of many former employees in St. Landry Parish [] UPDATE, 3/3/2023: Milton-Fontenot said that Bellard gave her job back . According to Cedars, LCG had initiated a study for a potential project that entailed the removal of the spoil banks in April 2021. "Aquaspersions is delighted to be investing in Broussard and with the welcome we have received," Bewsher said. LCG letter:Army Corps inspection finds no permit was needed for Lafayette spoil banks removal. [1] At the 2020 census, the population was 51,767. The Daily Iberian 124 E Main St, New Iberia, LA 70560 | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | The DAILY IBERIAN & ACADIANA LIFESTYLE are owned by Wick Communications. 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. The Army Corps of Engineers did not require a permit for this, Guillory told News Ten. District I Anytime we can be good neighbors and we can help out folks and help anybody in the region and defnitely not hurt anybody, were going to do that, Guillory said. St. Martin Sheriff's Office 400 St. Martin Street, St. Martinville (337) 394-2532 Approved by: St. Martin Parish Government Planning & Zoning Coordinator License issued by: St. Martin Sheriff's Office Parish Zoning Ordinance Click below to access the Zoning Ordinance for St. Martin Parish in its entirety. document.write(year) St. Martin Parish President has posted updates about the expected impacts for the parish from Hurricane Ida. The suit aimed to stop LCGs clampdown on panhandling which district and appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have repeatedly found to be protected speech under the First Amendment. 'I guess I should have,' he said to me.. Phone number 337 332 2105. And experts agree there is good reason to question the scope, in large part because it increased the value of the original contract tenfold. district5@intmartinschools.org, District VI Andre Redditt, 27, was charged with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice, the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office said in a press release. LCG removed about 1,200 feet of the dirt levees without St. Martin Parish's knowledge in a bid to reduce flooding in Lafayette. Why would you do that? 2023 www.theadvertiser.com. 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. 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. St. Martin Parish Federal Programs &Technology Annex, St. Martin Parish Operations,Maintenance &Transportation. St. Martin Parish turned the tables on Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory's administration Wednesday with a new lawsuit asking a local judge to order Lafayette to rebuild the Cypress Island Swamp spoil banks. I did see something that it was done in two days, but the equipment that was brought in from as far as Idaho, and a lot of that Rigid had to pre-pay I remember was going on. B) 15th JDC Judge (Div. 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. Something that is now possible thanks to a $14.3 million grant. "We've got to do more to assist if we're gonna keep this structure in place, we've got to do more to assist those rural systems.". Parish Council Meetings held @ 5:00 on the 1st Tuesday of each month. 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. All 9th and 12th graders will remain home on Tuesday and participate in their courses virtuallythrough Google Classroom using their Chromebooks. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. I trust the significant engineering that has gone into this project. Want to see more results ? Cedars would not say exactly what St. Martin Parish's plan is to address LCG's removal of the spoil banks but did say that he plans to give a full report on the situation at the St. Martin Parish Council's next meeting on Tuesday, March 15. It's whether the law was broken (and, I THINK we can all agree, millions more spent than necessary) in doing so. Vice President Lorem ipsum dolor consecteture adiciping. Dwayne Fatherree is the community editor for The Daily Iberian. . He also addressed rumors that some landowners might try to block Rookery Road around the lake. One for the removal of the spoil banks in Lafayette Parish and the other for the spoil banks in St. Martin Parish, according to Cedars' reports. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. 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. LCG officials have said they believe removal of the banks, which risse several feet above the river, will lower river levels in Lafayette Parish. LCG did not turn over any construction plans for the project, saying it had no known documents responsive to our request for them. 1059 Sonny Dr. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Attorneys for St. Martin Parish Government wrote that the spoil banks were removed without a parish permit and asked a local judge for an order requiring LCG "to restore, replace and reconstruct (at [LCG]'s sole expense), the spoil bank Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government illegally removed in St. Martin Parish.". Lafayette, St. Martin parishes are arguing about a strip of dirt by the river, Five years later, Lafayette is still defined by the catastrophic 2016 flood, LCG took their land and razed it in a week. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars listens to a discussion at Tuesday's parish council meeting.

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