By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

CONVENT – The St. James Parish Council received a special visit from Sen. Troy Brown who attended to discuss the possible revival of the Sunshine Bridge tolls.
“The ultimate goal in bringing the tolls back is gonna be of course to help the local parishes around the bridge — that being St. James, Ascension and Assumption parishes, whereas we would be able to utilize a big portion of the revenue and split it equally between the three parishes so that you all could use those revenues for the local roads here at your discretion,” said Brown.
Brown went on to say that that the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development estimated an average daily count of 22,000 vehicles one-way through the potential tolls, which would produce about $11,000 of revenue for the parishes.
Brown said the bridge could also utilize toll tags for cars, which would cost drivers 50 cents to pass through instead of the usual $1. LDOTD is currently putting together estimated costs for the infrastructure phase of the project. Other issues to be determined are whether the parishes and the DOTD would split the revenue from the bridge 50-50, with 50 percent going to the department and the other 50 percent split evenly between the parishes, or 60-40, with 40 percent going to the department and the 60 percent split evenly between the parishes. The senator said he is leaning more toward the 60-40 agreement because the Department is already obligated to provide maintenance, and the funds are more to have them provide lighting for the bridge. Brown mentioned the state’s current fiscal crisis and used the state of Texas as an example of the power of toll bridges.
“LDOTD has a $12 million backlog on road projects. We currently have a $1.3 billion budget deficit in the state with no end in site. We’e been continuing to incur more and more financial hardships. A lot of state officials realize that we have to deal with our local governments to try and implement strategies and initiatives to raise revenue on a local level so that revenue won’t stay on a state level to try to accommodate for local issues,” he said.
Brown also brought up a few other issues in his discussion such as the Westbank Connector project, getting the Louisiana Highway 3127 overlay done before new industries arrive in the area, and an update on the St. James Parish Youth Detention Center. Brown said he is currently filing a bill to put before the Legislature specifying that the structural requirements for the youth center retrofit be waived for a two-year period, at the request of Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack. At the end of the period, Waguespack would have the option to apply for an additional year waiver, but only if at least 50 percent of the updates had been completed by that time.
“I personally think that its outrageous that children and family services are asking any youth facilities to retrofit based on those standards but are not accommodating it financially,” said Brown.
Another hot topic at the meeting was a public hearing on an ordinance allowing the parish to purchase property for a wetlands restoration.
The public hearing began shortly before the actual meeting. St. James Parish and the State of Louisiana had signed an agreement to purchase land for wetland assimilation and wetland habitat restoration earlier this year. The issue was initially discussed at the Feb. 18 meeting, and council members agreed to hold the ordinance for public hearing before a resolution was passed. According to the ordinance, the Louisiana State Capital Outlay Program has set aside $1 million for the parish to purchase approximately 236.2 acres of land for the project. The ordinance passed, but not without some concern.
A citizen, Tracey Beck, said, “Who has access to this property? Being a resident of this parish, I paid taxes all my life. We want to be able to have access to this property. It’s public property.”
In response, Parish President Timmy Roussel said the land in question has a five-year lease and that even after being purchased, most companies would honor that lease until it ends. Beck pointed out that when the state buys land the previous lease ends immediately and said that the same should apply to parish land purchases. Roussel said he would take the matter up with the council’s legal adviser and get back to him with answers.  
The end of the meeting was dedicated mainly to old business. The council also accepted two bids from Cazenave Motor Company for the purchase of two crew-cab trucks for the the Department of Operations’ road and bridge and recreation divisions. The next meeting of the St. James Parish Council will take place on Wednesday, March 20, in Vacherie at 6:30 p.m.