MEETING WITH CORPS OF ENGINEERS SLATED FOR NEXT WEEK

Parish President Paul Naquin informed the St. Mary Parish Council last night, he will meet with the U.S. Corps of Engineers next week, to “fast track” a hurricane flood protection plan at the Franklin Canal.

Last September, the lack of flood gate over the Franklin Canal to keep away rising tides from the Gulf of Mexico caused more than 1,000 homes in St. Mary Parish to take in water from Hurricane Ike’s surge along the St. Mary Parish coast. The impacted area stretched east to Garden City. A similar situation occurred after Hurricane Rita in 2005.

Naquin said he along with Franklin Mayor Raymond Harris, Parish Engineer Glenn Miller, and St. Mary Parish Levee District Commissioner Bill Hidalgo will meet with U.S. Corps Project Engineer Mark Wingate on March 4 at the Parish Courthouse in Franklin at 10:30 a.m. “We’re going to get this project on a fast track so that we can hopefully avoid a lot of red tape involving the permit process with the corps,” Naquin said.

Last Tuesday, the Franklin City Council wasted no time surrendering $640,000 in capital outlay funds to the St. Mary Parish Levee District for a flood protection plan that once completed, is expected to protect parts of the city from hurricane storm surge.

At that meeting, Parish Engineer Glenn Miller said the plan calls for a gate across the Franklin Canal along with a 12-foot sheet pile levee from the canal northward to the Yokley levee. The gate structure would be located south of U.S. 90 and the Fairfax Bailey Boat Landing, and will include a navigation opening between 20 and 30 feet, that could be closed before a hurricane approaches the St. Mary Parish coast.

Miller said he could not commit to a target date, but indicated the project would take about three to five months to be completed.

The project would be paid for with $640,000 in state capital outlay funds the City of Franklin received last year. Franklin Mayor Raymond Harris said State Rep. Sam Jones has also secured an additional $1.1 million commitment from the state.

In other business during last night’s St. Mary Parish Council meeting, the council passed a resolution supporting a project by the St. Mary Parish 911 Board to seek an 85 cent fee from prepaid wireless calling cards.

St. Mary Parish 911 Director Marie Anderson said the parish’s 911 system is funded through land line and cellular telephone fees. However, the parish does not recoup any fees from prepaid wireless calling cards.

She said the parish receives 85 cents per cellular phone, $1.47 per business land line and 54 centers per residential phone.
She would like to also receive 85 cents per prepaid calling card.

Anderson said she and her staff are garnering support from neighboring parishes, in an attempt to get the idea passed through the state legislature this upcoming spring. She said State Rep. Joe Harrison (R-Napoleonville) will author the bill.