Delcambre Council receives bid for sewage plant

By Jeff Nemetz

DELCAMBRE – The Delcambre City Council meeting Monday night included discussions regarding the construction work around a school, the approval of the bid to refurbish the town’s sewer treatment plant and the Council rejected the request to allow golf carts to be driven on the city streets.

The biggest project discussed at the meeting were the bids received for the refurbishing of the town’s sewage plant. The Council received and approved the low bid from M. Matt Durand of St. Martinville of $753,583.20. Todd Vincent, with Sellers and Associates Engineering, said the bid information would now go to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for approval. He estimated that once DEQ gives its approval, construction should start within 30 - 45 days. The project is anticipated to take six months to complete.

Vincent said the money for the project is stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Congress passed and the cap DEQ had set for the job was $785,000. He also said the rehab of the sewer treatment plant is a much needed project as the current system has been in bad shape for a while.

As a refurbishing project, the job will include the rehab of existing rock filter cells, installing a vinyl sheet pile wall around the cell perimeters and labor for the project.

Glenn Lege Construction of Youngsville was the next lowest bidder at $783,686. Of the seven firms bidding, the highest was Trek, Inc. of Bunkie at $1,331,888.

Vincent also reported to the Council that the construction company installing the gas lines throughout town has been notified that they are running behind schedule. The firm is 74 percent through the construction but has used 84 percent of the time allowed for the work. He said he expects the company to be submitting an extension request before the next month’s Council meeting to go beyond the Nov. 30 deadline.

The construction of the gas line system also brought up additional discussion about the safety of school children as they make their way to and from Delcambre Elementary School. Albert Roy, a citizen of Delcambre, addressed the Council on the continuing problem of the construction forcing the children to have to walk in the streets with traffic.

From Roy’s information, the sidewalks were torn out as the construction with the gas line was performed. In the place of sidewalks, Roy said that “huge boulders” have been put in place of the sidewalks. His request to the Council was to go to the Iberia Parish School Board to have them re-route the school buses to their prior route of driving behind the school to load/unload their students.

The Council’s response was to have the attorneys for Delcambre, Vermilion Parish School Board and Iberia Parish School Board meet to address the issue. In the meantime, Mayor Broussard said that he would meet with the construction company to inquire about the possibility of having them replace the sidewalk by the elementary school now and then return back to extending the gas lines.

At last month’s Council meeting, a member of the Louisiana State Police addressed the group in regards to information requested about allowing golf carts to travel on city roads. The state law does not allow golf carts to be registered for use on any public roads, with the exception of a portion of La. 1 in Grand Isle. The Town of Grand Isle petitioned the State legislature to allow for golf carts to be driven within the city limits, and some of the citizens of Delcambre were interested in having golf carts be declared legal within the city limits of their town.

City Attorney Ted Ayo said “as legal council, I advise you to not allow golf carts on the city streets; they are not street legal, and accidents could happen. Even with protective gear, you could still get hurt. If the State wants to make it a State law, then we will abide by the State law, but I would strongly urge you not to adopt an ordinance to allow carts on the roads with automobiles on the highway.” When the Council voted, they chose not to allow golf carts on the streets of Delcambre.

New Iberia Mayor Hilda Curry forwarded a resolution to the Delcambre City Council to ask for its support in petitioning the State and federal legislatures for the funds to construct an overpass at the railroad tracks on Lewis Street in their town. The resolution pointed out the fact that the railroad tracks cut off one side of town from the other when a train comes through, denying access to one of the neighborhood schools and to the hospital and major medical facilities in the area. It was also included that the trains are delaying school bus traffic in the mornings and hindering the education of all the late students.

The Council approved drafting a proposition in support of New Iberia but only with the vote of Mayor Carol Broussard