Lafourche council OKs $3.5M settlement for bladder problem

The Lafourche Parish Council approved offering a $3.5 million settlement to U.S. Flood Control for the use of its inflatable levees, which the parish used to prevent flooding in

September 2005 during Hurricane Rita.

The council also talked about pursuing a partnership with Terrebonne Parish for the potential construction of a multi-purpose agricultural facility.

Lafourche Parish District Attorney Cam Morvant adamantly advised the council to agree to offer the $3.5 million settlement to U.S. Flood Control at last week’s meeting.

Morvant acts as the council’s legal advisor.

U.S. Flood Control had been demanding a little over $5 million for the rental of an undetermined number of tubes.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency granted the parish $5 million for the levee rental; however, fears FEMA would withdraw the funds if an audit were conducted and the rental cost found unreasonably still abound.

The parish put together an invoice detailing the cost of the tube rentals. The $3.5 million breaks down to the daily rental of $350 per day for 358 tubes. According to the parish, the tubes were in place for 28 days.

Morvant advised the council to approve the settlement offer so a worst-case scenario for the parish could be avoided.

“It galls me to have to come to do this tonight, but that is the best thing to do for the people of this parish; is to settle this case,” he said.

The district attorney said the federal government would not help with the parish’s litigation costs if it goes to court with U.S. Flood Control.

The worst-case scenario, he explained, would be if the federal government was to withdraw funding from the parish and U.S. Flood Control was to take the parish to court and win.

Morvant fears a suit by U.S. Flood Control would trigger the federal government to withdraw its $5 million in funds from the parish.

Such a move could potentially cost the parish taxpayers $7 million with the added costs of interest and attorney fees.

Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph, who used her emergency powers to rent the levees, said she would do it again in a heartbeat to protect property and lives.

She also commended the council’s challenging of U.S. Food Control’s $5 million bill.

“To your credit, you’re saving people money,” said Randolph. “But I don’t ever want it to be lost in any of this discussion that the purpose of putting these inflatable levees out was to save property and save the people of Lafourche Parish and I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Lafourche Parish Council Member Mark Atzenhoffer asked whether or not ownership of the tubes could be negotiated with the settlement.

The possibility of negotiating ownership after the settlement has not been looked into yet and Morvant deferred it to the parish administration.

The resolution to offer the settlement passed six to two with Vice-Chair Daniel Lorraine and Chairman Tommy Lasseigne voting against it.

Even though the council voted to offer the settlement, there is no guarantee U.S. Flood Control will accept it. And there is no guarantee FEMA will approve of the $3.5 million cost of the settlement – $1.5 million less than the $5 million it gave Lafourche Parish for the original billed rental cost.

In other business last Tuesday night, Louisiana State University Ag Center Associate Professor Dr. Matthew Fannin gave a report on the analysis project for a proposed multi-purpose agricultural facility.

In all, such a facility could potentially retain $5.11 million in money that would otherwise have been spent outside the parish.

Lafourche Parish Council Member Mark Atzenhoffer was curious as to whether such a building would be self-sustaining.

Fannin said the self-sustainability of such a complex would depend upon the type of building and whether or not the parish wishes to use it for its own residents or to attract people from outside Lafourche.

Atzenhoffer estimated such a facility would require about $100,000 a month to be self-sustaining.

If the facility is similar in design to the Lamar-Dixon Expo near Gonzales, it could be self-sustaining, according to Fannin. He said the expo generated a little over $21 million

in new sales last year in Ascension Parish.

But the success of such a facility depends upon how well operators recruit and conduct events. “There are a lot of them that lose money, there are some that make money. The winners typically are very aggressive and they find out where their strengths are,” said

Fannin. “Those that also have done well have been strategic up front in planning their facility to make sure that it meets those niches that they feel like they have strategic assets for, if their focus is to attract the events and activities from outside their parish.”

Randolph suggested expanding the project to possibly include Terrebonne through a partnership, making it a regional facility.

Terrebonne Parish President Don Schwab said no one from Lafourche has spoken to him about the project.

“We would really have to take a hard look at it,” he said.