LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / February 26, 2000

LULING – St. Charles Parish’s sewer improvement program, mandated by thethreat of federal fines, is almost hopelessly snarled in a tangle of projects without valid permits, servitudes and property titles.

Public Works/Wastewater Director Steven Fall inherited the problem and is faced with the day-to-day search for a path out of the quagmire.

In early 1997, then-Parish President Chris Tregre campaigned hard across the parish, addressed town hall meetings, civic associations and business groups, hit local cable television and spread the word about a new 5.1-millproperty tax to pay for $41 million of sewer system improvements.

Now, Fall said, “I personally would not have let any of those contracts let without the servitude agreements signed.”The hard-fought campaign was won May 7, 1997, with a 65-35 percent approval by voters. Part of the campaign was to have two major, centralizedsewage treatment plants operating by the end of December 1999.

Neither are ready. In fact, the Destrehan plant, 88 percent complete, partlysits on land behind Johnson Street on property for which the parish still does not have clear title, Fall told an outraged Parish Council on Feb. 21.The Parish Council will go over the problem at a special meeting Monday at 6 p.m.Fall said the parish may have to ask the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency for its third extension on the projects, the first approved on Jan. 31,1997 and the second approved on Feb. 12, 1999.Of 28 problems on servitude for sewer lines serving the plants, 16 remain to be resolved, most on the west bank and several in the New Sarpy area. Someof those could be tied up in court for months.

No money is budgeted for staffing, chemicals or operations contracts for either the Destrehan or Hahnville treatment plants. The Hahnville plant is dueto start operations in early April.

A force main from Montz to Norco, due to be completed by Feb. 29, is only50 percent complete. A force main from Bayou Gauche to Hahnville, due tobe complete by March 31, is only 10 percent complete. The J.B. Green Roadforce main in Des Allemands, due to be complete by March 31, is 80 percent complete.

The Hahnville effluent force main, due to be completed back in April 1999, is still lacking 1,800 feet of pipeline to be installed but snarled in servitude dispute. The Killona to Hahnville force main, due to be complete April 30, isonly 45 percent complete. The Ama to Luling force main, due to have beencompleted Jan. 31, is only 25 percent complete.Fall has more problems left to him by his predecessor, Richard Wright. Thereare seven locations with possible wetlands violations from the state Department of Natural Resources enforcement division.

As an example, during installation of a sewer line in the Bayou Gauche area a known Indian mound was covered with backfill. Some wetland areas were alsocleared, drained and filled without permits.

Fall has a meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers March 9 to discussthese and similar issues.

What triggered all these enforced sewer improvements were EPA requirements dating back to September 1994, and the parish faced a potential $825,000 of fines per month.

With that facing him, Tregre lobbied every group of people he could find to pass the millage. However, Fall said the work was rushed, and he added,”You’re gambling with damages when you let a project like that.”Besides the government fines from state and federal agencies, various contractors working the jobs will demand moving fees as they have to shift equipment around the servitude problem areas.

“I really couldn’t say why they did it,” Fall said. “It leaves us in a hell of asituation.”And there are more problems in the public works department.

The Paul Maillard Road sidewalk project faces a loss of funding, as the proper grant procedure was not followed. The result of this could mean a loss of$250,000 in funds to the project, which will proceed at parish expense from the Texas-Pacific Railroad crossing in Boutte to the canal near the Luling fire station.

Several in-house drainage projects also lack the proper permits, and there is no major canal-cleaning schedule he can find, nor the general two-year DNR permit required for it.

“I haven’t found any equipment maintenance schedule, which we desperately need,” Fall continued.

He speculated his predecessor perhaps had too many irons in the fire, with $54 million in projects going on.

“It’s definitely too much work for one person to handle,” he said. “We’re justgoing to button down and try to get them resolved.”

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