Contested emergency response contract approved; Proponents stress time crunch over D.A. review concerns

Published 12:14 am Saturday, July 29, 2017

LAPLACE — Overcoming the dissents of Lennix Madere Jr. and Larry Sorapuru Jr., the St. John the Baptist Parish Council adopted a contingency plan that will allow Emergency Restoration Inc. of New Orleans to immediately begin work on parish buildings damaged in a hurricane or some other natural disaster.

The contract is on a contingency basis and would be enacted only in severe circumstances.

Lennix Madere Jr.

Parish Purchasing and Procurement Director Jean Stewart said the contract provides for mold remediation, tearing down demolished buildings and hauling away debris.

Larry Sorapuru Jr.

A sticking point expressed by Madere and Sorapuru during this week’s Council meeting was the Parish’s legal counsel had not had an opportunity to review the contract. Although language was written into the motion that the contract could not be signed without the approval of the district attorney’s office, Madere and Sorapuru refused to budge, even when Parish President Natalie Robottom and several other Council members stressed the time sensitivity of Council approval.

A similar contract, already in place, expires Aug. 24, and a two-week delay as urged by Madere and Sorapuru, could potentially expose St. John without a contingency plan in the middle of hurricane season.

“I would not put it off for two more weeks,” Stewart said. “Something could pop up.”

Madere expressed concern as to why the district attorney’s office was not presented the contract in a timely fashion. Administration admitted to a miscommunication that accounted for the delay, but other Council members were more focused on the potential ramifications of going into the most active period of the hurricane season unprotected in the event of a catastrophe.

“Two weeks is a lot of time in hurricane season,” Councilwoman Julia Remondet said. “To me, this is something important and it is to safeguard ourselves.”

— By Richard Meek