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Over the last 25+ years various government agencies have spent many hundreds of millions of dollars on flooded homes, many of which could have been avoided by simply restoring the spoil banks to its original level, along with spot dredging and maintaining the required natural depth of the river. Rigids quote for the St. Martin work also tacked on $1.2 million for Barges/Temporary Barges, Cranes, and Rigging, $30,000 for patrol boats and $117,000 to have a mechanic on standby for the 24-hour job. Guillory, Nepveaux, Logan, and Fortier, in my view are all heros. Initially, he said, the landings were built using parish materials and using trusty work crews from the parish jail. Attached to it was Rigids half page invoice. . Copyright Parish President I am personally pleased that you have devoted time to view this website. 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. 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. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said, however, it will not help their region and called it an act of misconduct.. You have to go out and re-bid it, says former Louisiana Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera. No records of such documentation have been produced in our records requests, besides the half-page bid table pricing the rush-ordered work. This document is available in PDF format. 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. Not only could the millions spent digging ponds and removing spoil banks be money down the drain, but the city and/or parish could be on the hook for property owners legal fees and millions in penalties to restore lands to their original conditions. City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan confirmed in a phone interview that work on the St. Martin project started soon after the as-needed contract was awarded in December. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. Well, guess what? Normal processes for getting the project done would not have made that possible. As for rural communities dealing with water issues in the rest of the parish, there is no word from the parish government yet as to when improvement efforts will be underway. 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. All 9th and 12th graders will remain home on Tuesday and participate in their courses virtuallythrough Google Classroom using their Chromebooks. All rights reserved. Site Map; Accessibility; Facebook (opens in new window/tab) Theres a process to this, and the process was definitely not followed, resident Chad Boyer said. St Martin Parish Government is part of the Government industry, and located in Louisiana, United States. 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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. Over the summer, LCG requested a permit from the U.S. 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. 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. St. Martin Parish to sue, investigate removal of spoil banks by Lafayette Consolidated Government. Corps of Engineers, LCG quietly purchased an undivided interest in a 41-acre tract from both the Guilliot family and Blanchet Land Company for $42,000 each (leaving a third owner out of the transaction), and it had to be only hours before Rigid was working the site (the sale was not recorded with the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court until March 9). C) Multi-Parish Races. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the businesses who have chosen to invest in St. Martin Parish. Executed and paid for in days, the spoil banks operation is emblematic of the quick pace of government the Guillory administration has bragged about but has nonetheless landed it in legal trouble. Corps of Engineers to remove the spoil banks along the Vermilion River in St. Martinville, but that request was ultimately withdrawn, according to Cedars. 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. 'I guess I should have,' he said to me.. Otherwise, St. Martin Parish will most assuredly oppose any attempt to remove the spoil banks.. 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. He has been Departments Read More [2] St. Martin Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan area in the region of Acadiana, along . Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. Check out our map of Lafayette drainage projects here. Box 9 St. Martinville, LA 70582 (337) 394-2200 EMAIL . He says removing the spoil banks makes flooding much more likely for their residents. He also said that there could be a legal argument made that the states area of control extends to the lakes high water mark which could be construed as Rookery Road. 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. 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 is a parish in Louisiana.The parish population is 51,767, according to the United States Census Bureau. The high water mark is at Rookery Road, where the levee used to be, Cedars said. This might be a risk-free endeavor for Lafayette Parish, but it is not a risk-free endeavor for St. Martin Parish, Cedars said. Local experts say they are, however, typically for more focused projects, like ditch cleaning, small drainage projects, water line maintenance, asphalt overlays those with set costs and typically make changes in the thousands of dollars, not millions. The latest lawsuit, filed by SMPG Wednesday in St. Martin Parish, comes a day after a federal judge removed a March lawsuit by LCG against St. Martin Parish from federal court, freeing the two to resume their fight in front of a local judge instead. You can experience nature at its finest and tour the Parishs natural gifts such as Bayou Teche, Lake Martin, and the Atchafalaya Basin. Share this page on your favorite Social network. And if LCG intended the arrangement to avoid bid law, thats a problem, experts say. Now, they might win it back. Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 Our restaurants offer authentic, renowned, and award winning Cajun cuisine. That's your idea of heroes? 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. Follow Andrew Capps on Twitter or send an email to acapps@theadvertiser.com. One contractor interviewed by The Current defended the pricing in the contract, noting its what he would charge for the work. Public Works Committee @ 4:30 on the 3rd Tuesday; Administrative Committee Meeting follows Parish President. Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. Fax N/A. St. Martin Hospital (SMH), located at 210 Champagne Blvd. So it sounds to me like theyre in violation of the bid law.. St. Martinville, LA 70582 The landings are privately owned. LAFAYETTE, La. Log In / Sign Up. Site Map; Accessibility; Facebook (opens in new window/tab) His statement reads, In order to successfully sue for damages in a plaintiffs case, you must show that there was harm created. After the shooting, Reddit drove to a Baton Rouge hospital for a stab wound he said he sustained during the incident. LCG did not turn over any construction plans for the project, saying it had no known documents responsive to our request for them. His reasoning for writing to the community about his concerns for the parish during this COVID surge sparked after reading a local newspaper article online describing the pressure local hospitals are feeling at this time. The property around the lake is privately owned. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. 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. Lafayette Consolidated Government quietly removed the spoil banks from the southern shore of the Vermilion River in St. Martin Parish in February despite previous objections from the St. Martin Parish Government, which was not informed when the work was done. District II Wanda B. Angelle was elected at the age of twenty-five to the St. Martin Parish Police Jury, the local governing body known as the county commission in most other states. Although there are concerns from high water that has moved south from Cairo, Illinois, and through Jackson, Mississippi, Guidry said it is expected most of those floodwaters will remain north instead of cycling through the Teche. 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.". Records from LCG and Open Book reveal that Rigids invoices are typically paid within days, with one for $9.3 million for the Bayou Vermilion Flood Control project paid via wire transfer to Rigid on May 9, one working day after it was submitted. 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. "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.". "Let me just say this, St. Martin Parish is not gonna sit on their ass and allow this to go unremediated.". 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. The spoil banks as they appear now, after LCG moved dirt from the St. Martin side of the river to the Lafayette side (above) in February during a 24-hour secret operation that landed it in federal court and facing potential public bid law violations. The contract was awarded for one year, with options to renew for two additional one-year terms. Dwayne Fatherree is the community editor for The Daily Iberian. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. Receive the digital, interactive PDF of the newspaper in your inbox. 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. The update, which was posted at about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, says that "as stated in. 0:36. Cameron P. O. You cant sign a contract or pass an ordinance that allows you to ignore public bid law, says one former LCG official. Cormier: "Starting in, I guess, 1990, the parish Police Jury had tried in three attempts to at least bring it to a study. St. Martin P. O. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. 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. LCG did not turn over any evidence that the costs were negotiated within the percentages allowed by the contract, that a 5 percent retainage was withheld or that a new performance bond was posted by Rigid. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. It's uncalled for and unwarranted," Cedars said Thursday. In conclusion, I welcome all, and I look forward to sharing the very special and unique resources which St. Martin Parish has to offer. ONLY10th&11th graders will report to their respective high schools on Tuesdayto take their required ACT exam. Contact her at (337) 207-4312 or [emailprotected]. . Morgan City Mayor; Vermilion Parish. "We tried to be civil, we did, we tried to go over there and ask them good questions to try to get the solutions rolling voluntarily, but they didn't listen, so what's the next step?". 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. St. Martin Parish Operations, Maintenance & Transportation 775 West Bridge Street, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337-909-2990. Nobody is going to block Rookery Road without a visit to the courthouse, Cedars said. document.write(year) Cedars said he continued with a second question: 'Why didnt you tell me?' The contract also requires LCG to give written instructions to the contractor increasing the quantity of work and/or change orders. 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. St. Martin Parish School Board. The engineering is clear.. St. Martin Parish Chairman Tauzin's statement to Baudin on or about September 4, 2021 demonstrates the fact that a Restraining Order was filed against Petitioner based upon the false portrayal that Defendant Fatherree published in The Daily Iberian on Wednesday, August 4, 2021. "We will review the allegations and respond accordingly," Logan wrote in a message to the Daily Advertiser. After St. Martin Parish government held a special meeting Tuesday, Guillory said its come to his attention that the St. Martin Parish Council has given authorization to take legal action. Copy and paste this code into your website. . Neither Rigids Fortier nor LCG Public Works Director Chad Nepveaux responded to requests for comment. And why are Lafayette and St. Martin Parish fighting over them? St. Martin Parish Federal Programs & Technology Annex 625 Corporate Boulevard, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337.332.3388. I trust the significant engineering that has gone into this project. There are about two dozen of these properties, and they are causing an expense to the city because they have to keep them up.. Tel: 337.342.2993 St. Martin Parish president expecting appellate ruling on lawsuit soon, Parish suing business owner on Lake Martin over blocking access for public, DWAYNE FATHERREE Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. DENHAM SPRINGS, La. 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. Payment records show at least three other projects were billed to the as-needed contract, including excavation work for detention ponds on Coulee Ile Des Cannes. The wire transfer to Rigid came five days after LCG lost the Homewood ruling and is for work on that project. As the spoil banks are already gone, Cedars says theyre trying to fix this. 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. St. Martin Parish Federal Programs & Technology Annex 625 Corporate Boulevard, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337.332.3388. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said, however, it will not help their region and called it "an act of misconduct." "I do not need Lafayette Parish Government telling St. Martin . Get it first. Contact information. "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.". Bid law trumps.. The operation was done just weeks after Lafayette's City Council voted on Feb. 2 to offer $500,000 as a match to $1.5 million in state funds to get the spoil banks removed. Employee Application for Summer Learning 2021, St. Martin Parish Head Start Academy Program, St. Martin Parish Early Head Start & Head Start Academy Program, St Martin Parish Type III Child Care Centers, School Based-Health Centers and School Nurse Program, St Martin Parish Virtual Learning Program, Virtual Learning Family Technology Survey, Cameras in SPED Self-Contained Classrooms - St. Martin Adopted Policy, SMPSB 2022-23 Ready to Achieve: School Reopening Plan, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Behavioral Health Services for Students (Act 696), Parental Access to Instructional Materials (Revised Statue 17:355). Drainage:LCG took their land and razed it in a week. Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 (KLFY) St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars has signed new guidelines for COVID-19 for parish-owned and operated facilities, effective immediately. 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.. Cedars cites the latest COVID hospitalization data in the Acadiana Region 4 and positivity rates within the parish. Waiting for a judge to be assigned to the suit, according to public records at last check on Friday. "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. district5@intmartinschools.org, District VI 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. Commenting is reserved for donors. The removal will allow the river to flow into the swamp during storms. 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. "They didn't listen and unfortunately unless you take someone's money out of their pocket, they won't listen," Boudreaux says. "Our interest is to ensure that the citizens of St. Martin Parish are protected from enhanced flooding risks that we believe the removal of the spoil banks creates," he told the Daily Advertiser. Vital . 1059 Sonny Dr. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Acadiana Boil Advisories and Water Shutdowns, New Iberia community celebrates life of slain teen, Jury convicts Patterson man of second-degree murder, DeRidder man killed in Vernon Parish crash, Man sentenced after caught with over 3 lbs of meth, Acadiana Kidcasters Apply for your child to do the weather on KLFY-TV, Lafayette woman missing after reportedly driving customer to Texas, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars, Injured Laf. 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. Lafayette-based Rigid Constructors has been paid handsomely for its role in the blitz of detention projects. Invalid password or account does not exist. 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. 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. Chester Cedars, the St. Martin Parish President, speaks at a Parish Council meeting, at which the council voted to pursue litigation against Lafayette Parish for the removal of a spoil bank along the Vermilion River in St. Martin Parish. The current modeling of the spoil bank removal project shows that there is no threat of harm to St. Martin Parish.. ST. MARTINVILLE The St. Martin Parish government is seeking a new solid waste collection provider after a tumultuous experience over the last two years with Pelican Waste, the current It is likely a court would find, based on the facts specific to this project, how it was bid, and the quick resulting change order which appears to have changed the scope of work that LCG did not comply with Louisianas public bid law, says David Vicknair, an experienced public bid law attorney with the firm Scott Vicknair LLC in New Orleans. 337.332.2105, St. Martin Parish Federal Programs &Technology Annex Lafayette Consolidated Government beat St. Martin Parish to the punch Wednesday by suing over the removal of the Vermilion River spoil banks at the center of the two parishes' recent feud . Whether the amended contract was awarded illegally hinges on if the work on the spoil banks falls within the scope of the original contract. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. For more information, or to schedule an appointment, contact the Council on Aging at 337-332-3063. Lawsuit:Despite judges ruling, LCG uses identical quick take to seize land for detention pond. On October 14, 2021, I met with Mayor-President Guillory and several members of his staff. A combination of state dollars and ARPA funds, Cedars says even with the funding, it will take two to three months to get these consolidation efforts off the ground for three water systems in the parish so far: One in Catahoula, one in St. Martinville, and the St. Martin Parish water system. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This story has been edited to include Fortier's $10,000 in donations to Mayor-President Josh Guillory's campaign and to note that the original as-needed contract was limited to work "throughout the Lafayette City-Parish." 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. 337.332.3388, St. Martin Parish Operations,Maintenance &Transportation STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK The district attorney can pursue that violation. Executive Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Lt. Col. Billy Guidry briefed members of the St. Martin Parish Council on projections so far for this years spring water levels in the parish. Cedars is accusing Lafayette Consolidated Government of removing spoil banks along the. four other contractors sent bids that ranged from $568,000 to $1.1 million. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Acadiana Advocate, The Daily Advertiser, Baton Rouge Business Report, Louisiana Illuminator and Gambit. I know it took a month, and equipment came from all over the country. The losses could substantially burden both city and parish finances. St. Martinville, LA 70582 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. And experts agree there is good reason to question the scope, in large part because it increased the value of the original contract tenfold. 600 Corporate Blvd Louisiana, 70517 Breaux Bridge - USA. Now, they might win it back, Despite judges ruling, LCG uses identical quick take to seize land for detention pond, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars told News 10, "It just disrupts the ability of the public to feel comfortable utilizing our facilities." Close Thanks for signing up! Recognizing the best in local architecture, planning and design, we are pleased to announce 12 winning projects for The Current In Design Awards 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. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. 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.