DANIEL TYLER GOODEN

VACHERIE – Yet another company in St. James Parish is bowing its head under the burden of high costs. Occidental Chemical Corp in Convent is suspending production Feb. 28 until further notice. That news was given to the St. James Parish Council this week by Parish President Dale Hymel. He said the company cited high electricity and ethylene feedstock costs as the catalyst in the decision to halt production. Oxychem produces chlorine, caustic soda and ethylene dichloride. Hymel informed the parish council Wednesday that production at the plant was too costly to keep operating. There are 150 employees at the plant and none have been laid off, said Mike Fatheree, Occidental human resources manager. The plant produces steam, electricity and raw material under contractual agreement to for CS Metals, and the plant will operate on a limited basis to continue that supply. The employees will continue to run the portions of the plant still in operation, as well as engage in training activities. “We have tremendous training requirements under federal statutes, so those will keep our folks busy and gainfully employed,” said Fatheree. Most of the 80 to 100 contract workers at the plant will be temporarily suspended. “A core group will be kept to handle mechanical and maintenance duties and loading support,” said Fatheree. Prior to the meeting councilmen received a tour of the St. James Parish Welcome Center after numerous requests in the past were made as to the status of the building. The welcome center, being built at the corner of Louisiana Highway 61 and Louisiana Highway 641, will serve to lure tourists from Interstate 10. “You can’t get anyone to buy if you don’t get them in the store,” said Councilman Jimmy Brazan. The center will house the parish economic development offices and help tourists find their way through St. James Parish. The welcome center should be open in about three months, said Hymel. Currently, the exterior is complete as are two of the six main rooms. Parish employees are working on the building non-stop and are pulled off only if really needed for another project, Hymel added. During the meeting the council also passed six resolutions, which are annually passed for the human resources department. The council unanimously passed the signing of contracts for elderly affairs, the Direct Delivery of Services budget, the signing of Head Start agreements, a funding request for housing counseling, the application for a summer feeding program and the terms of contracts for 2001 funds for Social Services. The council also designated the human resources department as an official Community Action Agency for the parish. St. James Parish does not have a CAA, so the human resources department fills in that position. Some grants are only given to CAAs, so officially designating the human resources department as such makes it qualified to receive the funds, said Hymel. It was also announced that Councilmen Timmy Roussel and Elton Aubert were voted as third vice president and councilman-at-large, respectively, on the Louisiana Police Jury Association’s executive board at the association’s 77th convention in Lafayette. Roussel will be serving his seventh term on the board, while Aubert is newly elected. The executive board meets approximately five times a year and makes policy and holds regional meetings for the association. Lincoln Parish Police Juror Walter Savage was elected president of the association. Other members elected were Will Langlinais of Iberia Parish as first vice president and Lamar Tarver of Winn Parish as second vice president.