DANIEL TYLER GOODEN

LUTCHER – Hundreds of St. James Housing Authority residents may be without assistance today as the housing authority staff can no longer be paid. Parish President Dale Hymel informed the St. James Parish Council last Wednesday that the Housing Authority board that evening had passed a resolution to dismiss its employees on Jan. 24, unless they received some assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The eight housing authority staff members were only paid at the first of the month by holding off payment on other bills. The second salary of the month and the utilities bills can’t be paid without HUD support, so the staff may be leaving the premises. The housing authority is $200,000 in arrears and owes the St. James Sheriff’s Department $35,000 from a law enforcement grant. “They’ve been in arrears before and paid off,” said Sheriff Willy Martin. Martin was not concerned, expecting the New Orleans HUD would pay off the $35,000. As far as added civil problems without housing authority staff, “We’ll probably get the same complaints as always” but don’t expect many more problems, said Martin. The residents will probably stay in their homes considering there won’t be anyone to turn them out, said Hymel. One serious problem with continued use of the housing authority but no staff is the maintenance of their sewerage treatment plants. Each development has its own plant that should be maintained and monitored at least once a week. “A mechanical sewerage, when being used, needs to be maintained,” said Richard Parro, sanitation officer. “There is maintenance required, and it should be checked weekly.” That would be my recommendation, added Parro. If pumps break the sewerage will continue to collect in the underground holding tanks until the escape from street covers, drains or bathrooms. If the pumps continue to work but the treatment plant stops, the partially treated sewerage will escape before being cleaned into the local ditches. Parro is scheduled to do his yearly inspection of the plants around the first of February. St. James Parish Interim Director Mae Evelyn Johnson was unavailable for comment.