St. Martin Parish. The lake and lake bed are under control of the state through the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Cedars said. St. Martin Parish President brushes off 30-year-old lifeguarding skills during NACo Annual Conference Like any good executive, Parish President Guy Cormier has to delegate to get things done, day in and day out, in St. Martin's Parish, La. The $3.7 million project, now the subject of a barbed lawsuit with St. Martin Parish in federal court, was top secret and never competitively bid. In all likelihood, St. Martin Parish would have gone to court to stop the work, and indeed Cedars has since threatened to sue everyone involved. Some members of the St. Landry Parish School Board say they are in favor of changes to the student dress code. Jimmy "Coach" Durio You can experience nature at its finest and tour the Parishs natural gifts such as Bayou Teche, Lake Martin, and the Atchafalaya Basin. The current modeling of the spoil bank removal project shows that there is no threat of harm to St. Martin Parish.. And experts agree there is good reason to question the scope, in large part because it increased the value of the original contract tenfold. Cedars is accusing Lafayette Consolidated Government of removing spoil banks along the. He says removing the spoil banks makes flooding much more likely for their residents. "Not . St. Martinville, LA 70582 . He can be reached at dwayne.fatherree@daily-iberian.com. The Oscars will air on ABC and can be streamed on ABC.com and the ABC app as well as Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV or FuboTV. Thank you for the well written synopsis of this million dollar project. In conclusion, I welcome all, and I look forward to sharing the very special and unique resources which St. Martin Parish has to offer. Very little of what Rigid charged on the spoil banks project is related to excavation. Over the last 25+ years various government agencies have spent many hundreds of millions of dollars on flooded homes, many of which could have been avoided by simply restoring the spoil banks to its original level, along with spot dredging and maintaining the required natural depth of the river. Even if it tries to maintain that the work was an extension of the existing contract, LCG has so far not produced a single record to suggest that it did anything more than accept what Rigid put in front of it. The St. Martin Parish Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to authorize Parish President Chester Cedars to pursue litigation against Lafayette Consolidated Government for removal of spoil banks along the Vermilion River St. Martin leaders said happened without permission. Both local and state officials have been in support of St. Martin Hospital and its expansion efforts since . Attached to it was Rigids half page invoice. The update, which was posted at about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, says that "as stated in. Corps of Engineers, leaving a third owner out of the transaction, On Feb. 23 Rigid invoiced LCGs Public Works Department $3.7 million for the work. The Daily Iberian 124 E Main St, New Iberia, LA 70560 | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | The DAILY IBERIAN & ACADIANA LIFESTYLE are owned by Wick Communications. STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK This Tuesday (March 7th) is ACT Testing Day on our high school campuses. Other questions:subscriberservices@theadvocate.com. Lafayette Consolidated Government quietly removed the spoil banks from the southern shore of the Vermilion River in St. Martin Parish in February despite previous objections from the St. Martin Parish Government, which was not informed when the work was done. Having already lost two major expropriation suits related to stormwater projects at the district court level, the Guillory administrations speed has potentially sunk tens of millions of dollars into projects that may never be completed. Most of the professionals contacted for this story reviewed documents The Current received from LCG and spoke on the condition of anonymity, so as not to jeopardize ongoing relationships with local government. The operation was done just weeks after Lafayette's City Council voted on Feb. 2 to offer $500,000 as a match to $1.5 million in state funds to get the spoil banks removed. I trust the significant engineering that has gone into this project. 1059 Sonny Dr. Lafayette City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan responded to the new lawsuit Thursday by saying he believes there are inconsistencies in St. Martin Parish's arguments and that LCG will make its response in due time. All Rights Reserved, Opening/Purchasing a Bar/Nigh Club/Lounge, RESTORE Act Multiyear Implementation Plan, RESTORE Act Multiyear Implementation Plan-Amendment #1. In an intense special council meeting attended by more than 100 angry St. Martin Parish residents, Cedars vehemently expressed his dismay toward LCG Mayor-President Josh Guillory. You have permission to edit this article. "Aquaspersions is delighted to be investing in Broussard and with the welcome we have received," Bewsher said. Get it first. The spoil banks removal is the latest in a series of fast-paced measures taken by Mayor-President Josh Guillory's administration to address drainage in Lafayette. After St. Martin Parish government held a special meeting Tuesday, Guillory said its come to his attention that the St. Martin Parish Council has given authorization to take legal action. And its connected to all three stormwater projects mired in lawsuits. D) Rigid CEO Cody Fortier, Rigid itself and Fortiers CF LLC each made $2,500 donations to the mayor-presidents campaign, The contract was awarded for one year, with options to renew for two additional one-year terms, soon after the as-needed contract was awarded in December, one for $9.3 million for the Bayou Vermilion Flood Control project paid via wire transfer to Rigid on May 9, with LCG paying via wire transfer only 11 times out of 35,000 payments, Rigid-half-page-quote-for-spoil-banks-removal.pdf, On Feb. 18 LCG filed with the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Amendment #1, before obtaining permits from either St. Martin Parish or the U.S. Im pretty sure all of this was done with her permission or her approval.. Created in 1811, St. Mary Parish was originally part of the Attakapas District and St. Martin Parish. Of course, I fully recognize that my remarks will ignite a flurry of criticism and comments. var year = today.getFullYear() Records from LCG and Open Book reveal that Rigids invoices are typically paid within days, with one for $9.3 million for the Bayou Vermilion Flood Control project paid via wire transfer to Rigid on May 9, one working day after it was submitted. and last updated 8:09 PM, Feb 27, 2023. It was paid only $1.6 million in all of the previous fiscal year, according to online records. One contractor interviewed by The Current defended the pricing in the contract, noting its what he would charge for the work. I did see something that it was done in two days, but the equipment that was brought in from as far as Idaho, and a lot of that Rigid had to pre-pay I remember was going on. His reasoning for writing to the community about his concerns for the parish during this COVID surge sparked after reading a local newspaper article online describing the pressure local hospitals are feeling at this time. The problem a challenging bidder is going to have in a damages claim, which LCG may have assumed when they structured the contract this way, is that theres a lot of case law from various appellate courts and the Louisiana Supreme Court requiring a losing bidder in a damages claim to show good cause on why they did not seek injunctive relief to stop the work before making a claim for damages, Vicknair continues, so the question really is could they have known within the very short period of time from when that change order was publicly recorded until the work was performed to file for injunctive relief?. According to St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars October 19, 2021, President's report, Josh Guillory was no longer pursuing the spoil bank removal project. 337.332.3388, St. Martin Parish Operations,Maintenance &Transportation "We tried to be civil, we did, we tried to go over there and ask them good questions to try to get the solutions rolling voluntarily, but they didn't listen, so what's the next step?". Vicknair also notes the original December bidders could go to court to enjoin the remainder of the as-needed contract, which has options to be extended another two years, if any of that work is out of scope of the original bid work. In the midst of French culture, exploration, and settlement during the late eighteenth century, St. Mary bears the distinction of being a primarily Anglo-Protestant settlement in the midst of French-Catholic Acadiana. "I have memories growing up, we'd drink out of the hose outside, could never do that anymore, and neither can our kids," 52-year-old Boudreaux says. But I did get an email response Sunday night thanking me for the proposal and saying they hope to speak again soon.. When asked if the project would harm residents of St. Martin Parish, Guillory said, We surely wouldnt bless off on a project that would hurt anybody, but the science is clear. The three measures were approved by all nine council members. That would mean the public would have a right to access the lake even with the typical shoreline under private ownership. Their clandestine removal has led to a firestorm of accusations between Lafayette and St. Martin parishes. In our last feature, we exposed the fact that St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars barely let the ink get dry from him going on a 19-minute masterful performance to convince the St. Martin Parish Council (SMPC) to approve an ordinance to ban the importing of vegetative debris from other parishes into St. Martin Parish before he sued . Photo by Travis Gauthier In all likelihood, St. Martin Parish would have gone to court to stop the work, and indeed Cedars has since threatened to sue everyone involved. 'I guess I should have,' he said to me.. . His response was, 'Yes I did,' Cedars said. The St. Martin Parish Council is the legislative and policy making body of the Parish. And certainly going from $300,000 or $400,000 to $3 [million] or $4 million would be a material change in the contract. var today = new Date() Logan and Guillory have defended the approach and use of quick take expropriation, characterizing the suits as negotiating tactics on the part of landowners looking for a better price in the case of Homewood and Lake Farm. Executed and paid for in days, the spoil banks operation is emblematic of the quick pace of government the Guillory administration has bragged about but has nonetheless landed it in legal trouble. LWDB #40 is one of 15 local workforce development boards in the State of Louisiana and services . Tel: 337.342.2993 Commenting is reserved for donors. As for rural communities dealing with water issues in the rest of the parish, there is no word from the parish government yet as to when improvement efforts will be underway. It was a very short call, Cedars said. " Cedars said he asked. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Now, they might win it back, Despite judges ruling, LCG uses identical quick take to seize land for detention pond, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars has vowed to sue everyone involved in the clandestine removal of spoil banks in his parish. Contact her at (337) 207-4312 or [emailprotected]. St. Martin Parish president expecting appellate ruling on lawsuit soon, Parish suing business owner on Lake Martin over blocking access for public, DWAYNE FATHERREE St. Martin Parish Government. This is a great day for our region, Guillory added. Census facilitator Tomika Scott gave council members a briefing on plans for the 2020 Census in St. Martin Parish and went into depth on the importance of getting an accurate count of the parishs population. St. Martin Parish School Board. "Our interest is to ensure that the citizens of St. Martin Parish are protected from enhanced flooding risks that we believe the removal of the spoil banks creates," he told the Daily Advertiser. LCG has been in a tiff with the St. Martin Parish Government for months over removing the spoil banks, which LCG believes will lower water levels on the Vermilion River during storms. Those spoils banks were keeping areas in St. Martin Parish from flooding, parish leaders say. But rather than bid the markedly different contract, LCG accepted a single quote from Rigid valued at $3.7 million, the sole documentation for which appears to be a half-sheet of letter-sized paper with seven line items Rigid refers to as Bid Item(s) with an eighth line it calls Total Base Bid. To be clear, there was no advertised bid. ST. MARTINVILLE Parish President Chester Cedars said that he expects the parish should be getting an appellate ruling soon on its lawsuit against a business owner on Lake Martin. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars says St. Martin Parish is no longer going to be one of them. You have permission to edit this article. Lafayettes spoil banks project in St. Martin Parish avoided public bid law and netted a contractor millions. of our parish leaders are excited about the decision of Ochsner and Trax Development to locate this PPE facility in our parish," said St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars. St. Martin Parish turned the tables on Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory 's administration Wednesday with a new lawsuit asking a local judge to order Lafayette to rebuild the Cypress. Box 9 St. Martinville, LA 70582 (337) 394-2200 EMAIL . Parish Council Meetings held @ 5:00 on the 1st Tuesday of each month. The attorney general can pursue that violation. Tel: 337.441.0393, District IV 0:36. Vice President: Kevin Martin. var year = today.getFullYear() Receive the digital, interactive PDF of the newspaper in your inbox. P.O. St. Martinville, LA 70582 The parish has no jurisdiction. LCGs drainage projects are already costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in city-parish legal fees, plus millions in re-mobilization costs. Select from these options: Breaking News, Evening News Headlines, Latest COVID-19 Headlines, Morning News Headlines, Special Offers. Drainage:LCG took their land and razed it in a week. ST. MARTINVILLE The St. Martin Parish government is seeking a new solid waste collection provider after a tumultuous experience over the last two years with Pelican Waste, the current He has been Departments Read More Follow Andrew Capps on Twitter or send an email to acapps@theadvertiser.com. Im not frustrated as much as Im disappointed. The contract was awarded for one year, with options to renew for two additional one-year terms. St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission | Louisiana Travel St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission Lake Martin at sunset Location 110 N. Main Street Breaux Bridge LA 70517 Get Directions Where Cajun Began..Breaux Bridge, Crawfish Capital of the World; Henderson, the Gateway to the Atchafalaya Basin; St. Martinville, Home of Evangeline. One former public official is willing to give LCG the benefit of the doubt on the contract amendment. Over the past several months, The Current has reviewed hundreds of of pages of court documents and records obtained from LCG related to its immense capital program for drainage. Why would you do that to neighbors when you don't have a permit?. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said, however, it will not help their region and called it an act of misconduct.. St. Martin Parish to sue, investigate removal of spoil banks by Lafayette Consolidated Government. Steve Fuselier In all, the as-needed contracts value alone has ballooned to approximately $5.2 million in a few short months. Parish President I am personally pleased that you have devoted time to view this website. St. Martin Parish's objection the spoil bank removal could cause legal trouble for LCG, as Lafayette's local government did not get a necessary permit to remove the spoil banks from St. Martin Parish, according to Cedars. District II Wanda B. ST. MARTIN PARISH, La. Over in Arnaudville, Paul Boudreaux shares his issues with United Water System, a service he's been a customer of since 2019 when he moved back home. Why? ST. MARTINVILLE, La. Lafayette, St. Martin parishes are arguing about a strip of dirt by the river, Five years later, Lafayette is still defined by the catastrophic 2016 flood, LCG took their land and razed it in a week. But the contract terms require Rigid to document and justify those overages, Cedars said he asked Guillory when the two spoke after the operation was completed, Cedars has since threatened to sue everyone involved. "This is the most incredible, unprofessional thing that I think one governmental jurisdiction can do to the other. Fifteenth Judicial District Judge Valerie Gotch-Garrett is presiding over the case and St. Martin Parish's request to have it dismissed on the grounds that it should have been filed in the 16th Judicial District, which covers . There were some models that were given to us, and we looked at it and weren't satisfied with the conclusions of those 'models,'" Cedars said Thursday. {0} important information hidden . St. Martin Parish has made a commitment to develop and maintain this medium so that the residents of our great parish can have full, open, and up-to-date access to the affairs of Parish Government. (BRPROUD) - St. Martin Parish President Chester R. Cedars wrote a message addressing the community on the "stark reality" of this fourth surge of COVID-19.