By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Improvements to the St. John water system continue as the parish takes steps to restore and rehabilitate various water tanks and towers in the area.

At a meeting of the Finance Committee Tuesday, the St. John Council authorized the execution of a contract with Principal Engineering, Inc., to draw up what needs to be done as far as repairs to the parish’s water storage containers in a move that St. John Public Information Officer Buddy Boe called “preventative maintenance of important components of the parish water system.”

Boe said the firm was hired during the administration of former Parish President Nickie Monica to inspect and grade the parish’s eight water tanks and eight water towers based on the level of disrepair. He said the towers were ranked in three categories of condition, and decisions on which towers to tackle first will be based on these rankings.

“Obviously the ones in greatest disrepair will get attention first,” said Boe. “There are a few that require immediate work.”

Boe said the contract is part of a $9.5 million bond issue that was approved in 2004. He said there is no specific timetable for the design process. The Council voted 7-0 in favor of execution, with Councilmen Dale Wolfe and Ronnie Smith absent from the meeting.

In addition to repairs of existing tanks and towers, St. John is also very close to starting construction on an additional 250,000-gallon water tower along Woodland Drive, near interstate 10. Parish Legal Council Jeff Perilloux said the administration is still determining a specific location of the tower, due to legal issues surrounding placement.

“It will be somewhere along Woodland Drive,” Perilloux said. “The administration is set on that area because it is a part of the parish that is not currently served by a tower, and it is also very close to an existing water facility.