By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – The much beleaguered drainage system in St. John Parish will receive long overdue repairs thanks to approval of three emergency contracts approved by the St. John council at a recent special meeting.

Culverts, catch basins, canals, ditches and gravity-based sewer lines will all receive a thorough cleaning in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which further compounded existing problems.

“The contracts focus on three specific issues significant and important to the health and safety of parish residents,” said St. John Chief Administrative Officer Pat McTopy. “We are doing what we can to be proactive and correct the problems before they get any worse.”

St. John Public Information Officer Buddy Boe said the contracts are a product of an emergency declaration proposed by Parish President Bill Hubbard just before the hurricanes hit last month. Boe said council approval was not needed to activate the contracts, but he said Hubbard wanted to be sure that the council and the parish residents were staying informed on parish recovery issues.

The first contract deals with cleaning and debris removal from culverts and catch basins all throughout the parish. Boe said officials from Meyers Engineering will survey the damage and an outside emergency recovery group will do the work.

The second contract calls for a complete cleaning of all parish sewer lines. McTopy told the council that the tremendous loss of power in St. John contributed to an increase in sediment buildup throughout the sewer lines. McTopy said crews would first visually inspect all sewer lines and manhole covers in the parish to assess damage levels. He said URS Engineering, who has done work in St. John in the past, would handle the survey.

“Some of these lines are 75 to 100 years old and they have never been cleaned out,” said Boe. “When this is done, older areas of the parish like Reserve, Garyville and old LaPlace will drain much faster.”

The final contract would clean drainage ditches and canals that have accumulated high levels of debris from the storms. McTopy said several canals contain fallen trees that were pushed over by hurricane force winds throughout the area.

Boe said work is already being done in regard to the first contract and bids on the other two contracts should be secured this week.

McTopy said FEMA guaranteed reimbursement of 75 percent of the cost of the repairs, but Governor Bobby Jindal said he is trying to secure 100 percent reimbursement for all hurricane recovery expenses. For the time being, Boe said the St. John local match for the repairs is coming from a 1 percent sales tax that is dedicated to sewage and public works projects.

Hubbard said after the meeting that the parish had an opportunity to do this work in 2006 following Hurricane Katrina, but failed to move on it. He hopes these contracts can put a positive spin on the negative situation the storms produced.