By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. John the Baptist Parish Council on Tuesday approved a resolution allowing the parish to borrow up to $5 million from a state revolving loan fund for construction and installation of an under-the-river water line to link its water treatment plants in Reserve and Edgard, while also helping pay for continued enhancements to the Reserve plant so it can economically produce 5 million gallons of water per day.

The $1.6 million pipeline, which will allow Reserve’s Lions treatment plant to send water to the Edgard treatment plant and vice versa, is seen as the best long-term solution for providing an alternate water source for the west bank. It also enables the Edgard plant to act as a back up for Reserve in the event of a malfunction. The Edgard treatment plant has the capacity to produce 800,000 gallons of water per day, which is more than twice as much as what is normally consumed on the west bank.

The Lions plant currently has the capacity to produce 5 million gallons per day, but certain portions of the plant are inefficient and do not include a monitoring system required by the state.

Any additional funds received from the loan, offered through the state Department of Health and Hospitals, will go toward other smaller improvements to the water system.

In other action, the council awarded a $180,250 contract to HHP Construction Group of LaPlace for removal and replacement of concrete sidewalks, driveways and damaged street sections throughout the parish. St. John Chief Financial Officer Randy Vincent said the concrete repairs are part of an annual contract.

The council also approved a $262,300 contract with Byron E. Talbot contractors of Thibodaux for improvements to Greenwood Drive in LaPlace in front of LaPlace Elementary School. The project calls for replacement of slabs and a new bridge over the Greenwood Drive Canal. The repairs are expected to be completed before school resumes in August.

There was also a move by the council to waive the parish government’s 2.25 percent sales tax on hurricane supplies this weekend, but the initiative failed because it was not proposed in time.

Councilwoman Cheryl Millet offered a motion to waive the parish’s tax in addition to the 4 percent state sales tax being waived on assorted hurricane supplies, but the effort fell flat because of rules requiring an ordinance to remove the tax.

Parish President Natalie Robottom told Millet that the council would have had to introduce an ordinance to waive the taxes because they were previously set by ordinance. She said a legal opinion on the matter did not come back until Monday.

“I appreciate that and I’m really sorry that it took this long to get the answer, but please let’s put this on the agenda for next year so that we are timely in our request,” Millet said.

쇓