By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. John the Baptist Parish Council on Tuesday named a firm to handle the parish’s redistricting and also announced the completion of various public works projects.

The council voted to go with South Central Planning and Development of Houma to redraw boundaries within the parish. The firm would be paid a not-to-exceed amount of $30,000.

The council was prepared to go with South Central Planning at a previous council meeting two weeks ago, but the owner of a rival firm in the running for the contract came before the council claiming his firm was unfairly treated by the parish’s selection committee.

Cedric Floyd of Data Center told the council at the last meeting that his firm was better qualified to perform the redistricting work. The council voted 5-3 in favor of South Central Planning. Council memebers Jaclyn Hotard, Steve Lee, Darnell Usry, Danny Millet and Charles Julien voted in favor, while councilmen Haston Lewis, Raydel Morris and Ronnie Smith voted against. Councilwoman Cheryl Millet was absent from the meeting.

In other action, the council approved the substantial completion of the Balsam Street drainage improvement project, indicating that the process of cleaning the drains and adding culverts and grates in that area is nearing completion. The total cost of the Balsam Street project was about $72,000.

Once the project is fully complete, water will flow easily into the Haydel Canal and into Lake Maurepas, eliminating the flooding problems in that area.

The parish also announced the installation of three new generators at the Ruddock Nano Filtration Station, as well as at a pair of pump stations. Enclosures were also built above flood level to elevate the generators.

These generators will provide an alternate source of power should the parish need it during a storm. The generators will allow the Nano Filtration System to continue to operate during power outages. This project was funded through the 2009 bond issue at a cost of $359,000.