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. . Chester Cedars has been working as a Parish President at St Martin Parish Government for 21 years. Frustrated with spending excessive time and money buying and installing water filters only for them to get clogged or stop working, he tells KATC he and his neighbors have filed a class-action lawsuit against United Water in a last-ditch effort to get assistance. Its parish seat is St. Martinville, and the largest city is Breaux Bridge. You cant sign a contract or pass an ordinance that allows you to ignore public bid law, says one former LCG official. The contract was awarded for one year, with options to renew for two additional one-year terms. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Our restaurants offer authentic, renowned, and award winning Cajun cuisine. . St. Martin Hospital (SMH), located at 210 Champagne Blvd. The suit aimed to stop LCGs clampdown on panhandling which district and appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have repeatedly found to be protected speech under the First Amendment. St. Martin Parish Government. D. Kaplovitz Louisiana Parish Attorneys Association ("LPAA"): Group Parish Attorneys Association ("LPAA") j. touzet; Cameron P. O. St. Martinville, LA 70582 1.2k. Second, a public investigation on the regulations allegedly violated during the removal, including those ruled by FEMA and the Environmental Protection Agency. St. Martin Parish Federal Programs & Technology Annex 625 Corporate Boulevard, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337.332.3388. "We had requested, and were told, that we would get a chance to review all of LCG's models upon which this proposed project was going to be based. Get it first. Tel: 337.441.0393, District IV 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. St. Martin Parish Government (SMPG) District 6 Councilman Brook Champagne, speaking at the August 3, 2021, SMPG Council meeting, makes the emphatic statement that farmer and constituent Billy Broussard is "violating the zoning ordinance, and there's no doubt about it!" 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. He says removing the spoil banks makes flooding much more likely for their residents. Senator (Class II) U.S. Representative (District 3) 15TH JDC District ATTORNEY; 15th JDC Judge (Div. Cedars did say he had productive conversations with members of one family about their concerns and proposed a possible compromise. TOLL-FREE,24 HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK St. Martin Parish Government officials and community members are now angry, as they say LCG removed the spoil banks without any warning and without permits. Though LCG initially sued St. Martin Parish in Lafayette over the dispute, Wednesday's filing will put the case before 16th Judicial District Court Judge Tony Saleme, of Franklin, unless LCG tries to move the case. 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 . City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan confirmed in a phone interview that work on the St. Martin project started soon after the as-needed contract was awarded in December. "We will review the allegations and respond accordingly," Logan wrote in a message to the Daily Advertiser. 1005 Big Apple Lane Moreover, I believe that under the current circumstances, there is no reason why adults should not take the vaccine except for those with medical issues which prevent them from doing so, said Cedars. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Acadiana Boil Advisories and Water Shutdowns, New Iberia community celebrates life of slain teen, Jury convicts Patterson man of second-degree murder, DeRidder man killed in Vernon Parish crash, Man sentenced after caught with over 3 lbs of meth, Acadiana Kidcasters Apply for your child to do the weather on KLFY-TV, Lafayette woman missing after reportedly driving customer to Texas, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars, Injured Laf. Site Map; Accessibility; Facebook (opens in new window/tab) A combination of state dollars and ARPA funds, Cedars says even with the funding, it will take two to three months to get these consolidation efforts off the ground for three water systems in the parish so far: One in Catahoula, one in St. Martinville, and the St. Martin Parish water system. 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. The high water mark is at Rookery Road, where the levee used to be, Cedars said. All 10th & 11th graders must bring their fully charged Chromebooks to school on Tuesday for testing. In May, Cedars wrote in another memorandum that he prepared and submitted a position paper in response to LCG application for a permit from the Corps of Engineers. All Rights Reserved, Opening/Purchasing a Bar/Nigh Club/Lounge, RESTORE Act Multiyear Implementation Plan, RESTORE Act Multiyear Implementation Plan-Amendment #1. 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. Bayou Vermilion Flood Control alone was allocated $22 million from the states windfall of one-time money. At issue is the removal of half of a 12-feet levee structure left behind from the last time the Vermilion was dredged that has for decades protected St. Martinville from flooding. Rigid played a limited role in the Lake Farm Road detention project that first landed LCG in court over property rights, having been paid $61,000 to clear and burn trees on the Randol family land near Costco in May 2021. If you are a St. Martin Parish resident, take a moment to enjoy our many recreational sites and renew your valued acquaintances. 1844-1852: Principal, Adelphian Academy, North Bridgewater, MA: 1854-1855: Teacher, Dunbarton Academy, Washington, DC: 1855-1859: Principal, Western Academy . 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. Guillory's administration already faces two lawsuits over a novel type of quick-take land grab used to secure properties to build major detention ponds, one of which was overturned by a local judge and is now on appeal. C) Multi-Parish Races. It is my understanding that the overflow of the Vermilion R to Cypress Island swamp is the natural flow of flooding relief. I trust that my fellow elected officials in St. Martin Parish want for their constituents the same thing that I want for mine, which is to do all we can to protect life and property. St. Martin Parish residents who live near the area where the spoil bank once stood agree this may not benefit them. 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. There was a problem saving your notification. "Not . 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. Fax N/A. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars told News 10, "It just disrupts the ability of the public to feel comfortable utilizing our facilities." Close Thanks for signing up! Andre Redditt, 27, was charged with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice, the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office said in a press release. "We need clean water, that's the very first thing we need because this is not a third-world country, this is America and we shouldn't have third-world water going through our pipes.". 1059 Sonny Dr. Vital . Cedars also mentions questions he frequently receives about the local government imposing crowd limitations or a potential lockdown. Guillory, Nepveaux, Logan, and Fortier, in my view are all heros. Executive Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Lt. Col. Billy Guidry briefed members of the St. Martin Parish Council on projections so far for this years spring water levels in the parish. Wanda B. Guillory, says, however, a permit was not necessary. Russel C. Foti The council also discussed the potential sale of property within the city of St. Martinville that had been adjudicated as being co-owned by the city and the parish. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars says St. Martin Parish is no longer going to be one of them. (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. St. Martin Parish Federal Programs & Technology Annex 625 Corporate Boulevard, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337.332.3388. Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. Dozens of projects have been OKd by the councils with scant scrutiny, even as the administration lost expropriation cases in court. (KLFY) An investigation has begun in the firings of many former employees in St. Landry Parish [] UPDATE, 3/3/2023: Milton-Fontenot said that Bellard gave her job back . LCG did not turn over any construction plans for the project, saying it had no known documents responsive to our request for them. Commenting is reserved for donors. Its unclear how much information the bidders were given about potential projects to come and whether they knew of LCGs plans for St. Martin Parish. Those spoils banks were keeping areas in St. Martin Parish from flooding, parish leaders say. Copyright 1997- In other reports, the council heard from Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Executive Director Lt. Col. Billy Guidry about the projected water flow along the Bayou Teche this coming spring. 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. 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. Im pretty sure all of this was done with her permission or her approval.. St. Martin Parish president expecting appellate ruling on lawsuit soon, Parish suing business owner on Lake Martin over blocking access for public, DWAYNE FATHERREE var year = today.getFullYear() St. Martin Parish Parish President. I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the businesses who have chosen to invest in St. Martin Parish. "We need dirt, and the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) gave us a permit to build a levee on the other side.". Why would you do that to neighbors when you don't have a permit?. All 9th and 12th graders will remain home on Tuesday and participate in their courses virtuallythrough Google Classroom using their Chromebooks. On Feb. 23 Rigid invoiced LCGs Public Works Department $3.7 million for the work, billed as a change order, and was paid five days later out of the city general fund, according to LCGs Open Book, an online financial transparency tool debuted by the Guillory administration in 2020. (KLFY) St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars has signed new guidelines for COVID-19 for parish-owned and operated facilities, effective immediately. On Friday, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars levied the allegations against LCG. This might be a risk-free endeavor for Lafayette Parish, but it is not a risk-free endeavor for St. Martin Parish, Cedars said. Neither Rigids Fortier nor LCG Public Works Director Chad Nepveaux responded to requests for comment. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said Tuesday evening that the administration is looking to fund several ambitious initiatives using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act: Water system consolidation $1 million Broadband expansion $3 million Water infrastructure in Water Works District 5 and along Highway 94 $3.8 million The spoil banks have been a point of contention between LCG and the St. Martin Parish Government for months as the two have debated the drainage merits and risks of removal. [1] At the 2020 census, the population was 51,767. Im not frustrated as much as Im disappointed. The engineering is clear.. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. St. Martin Parish Operations, Maintenance & Transportation 775 West Bridge Street, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 337-909-2990. 2023 www.theadvertiser.com. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. The Parish President is the chief administrative officer of parish government and is assisted by the administrative staff and the parish's operating departments. And its connected to all three stormwater projects mired in lawsuits. Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population.This encompasses all city, county, and special district elections appearing on the ballot within those cities. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars gave a blistering rebuttal to the claims of a local businessman who said a new ordinance was targeting his business, citing more than a year's worth of meetings, correspondence and inspections with the owner as the parish sought to get the owner to comply with its zoning ordinance. 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 Island Swamp spoil banks. 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. You had a 12 feet levee, and youre reducing it to 6 feet. Email Davide Mamone at dmamone@theadvocate.com. Thats our job, Cedars said. Morgan City Mayor; Vermilion Parish. [2] St. Martin Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan area in the region of Acadiana, along . He says it will benefit the entire region. But I did get an email response Sunday night thanking me for the proposal and saying they hope to speak again soon.. LANDRY PARISH, La. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. Call 337-828-4100 ext. Apply for the Job in Project Coordinator at Saint Martinville, LA. Attorneys for St. Martin Parish Government wrote that the spoil banks were removed without a parish permit and asked a local judge for an order requiring LCG "to restore, replace and reconstruct (at [LCG]'s sole expense), the spoil bank Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government illegally removed in St. Martin Parish.". St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said he is excited about the project, which will bring broadband connectivity to the St. Martin Economic Development Authority's SMEDA Industrial Park, which is located on the Lafayette/St. St. Martin Parish. St Martin parish, is the unreasonable neighbor here, not MP Guillory. "We've got to do more to assist if we're gonna keep this structure in place, we've got to do more to assist those rural systems.". document.write(year) He also addressed rumors that some landowners might try to block Rookery Road around the lake. The property around the lake is privately owned. The current modeling of the spoil bank removal project shows that there is no threat of harm to St. Martin Parish.. "Not . Parish Council Meetings held @ 5:00 on the 1st Tuesday of each month. Recognizing the best in local architecture, planning and design, we are pleased to announce 12 winning projects for The Current In Design Awards 2023. Years ago, when there was a tax sale in the city, the property was adjudicated to the city and the parish, Parish Legal Counsel Allan Durand said. It is also is my understanding that the USCOE 50+ years ago, by putting spoils on the St Martin banks of the Vermilion, inadvertently obstructed that natural flow to Cypress island swamp. All rights reserved. Breaux Bridge, LA 70517 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. 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 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. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. Since November, Rigid has been paid a total of $37 million from LCG for various projects, $3.7 million of that coming for the spoil banks project that took less than two days to complete. The spoil banks, left behind from the last time the Vermilion River was dredged decades ago, run along the rivers southern bank around the swamp in St. Martin Parish, just east of the border with Lafayette Parish. You can experience nature at its finest and tour the Parishs natural gifts such as Bayou Teche, Lake Martin, and the Atchafalaya Basin. Removing the spoil banks could help drainage throughout Lafayette by lowering water levels on the Vermilion by almost 8 inches in a 2- to 10-year storm, similar to the one in May 2014, and by a little over 2 inches in a storm similar to the August 2016 floods, according to a study by the University of Louisiana at Lafayettes Watershed Flood Center. St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said it seems to him that "There is a large number of our citizens who are not participating in the mandatory waste program." Lafayette organization. Initially, he said, the landings were built using parish materials and using trusty work crews from the parish jail. The study found removing the spoil banks would have little impact on the overall water level in the swamp during storms, but Cedars has said his engineers determined the removal wasn't without risk for the people who live near Cypress Island. In all, the as-needed contracts value alone has ballooned to approximately $5.2 million in a few short months. 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 " Cedars said he asked. St. Martinville, LA 70582 The Guillory administration did not respond to requests for comment on this timeline. 1005 Judy Street 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. All rights reserved. Both Homewood and the St. Martin spoil banks are part of the Bayou Vermilion Flood Control project, the centerpiece of a $106 million capital program to stop homes and businesses from flooding. One contractor interviewed by The Current defended the pricing in the contract, noting its what he would charge for the work. 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. St. Martin Parish School Board. And experts agree there is good reason to question the scope, in large part because it increased the value of the original contract tenfold. in Breaux Bridge, will host a groundbreaking ceremony today, Tuesday, July 30 at 11:00 a.m. to celebrate the start of an $11.2 million expansion and renovation project. Edna M. Johnson Redditt, who was first hired by the St. Attached to it was Rigids half page invoice. St. Martin Parish Chairman Tauzin's statement to Baudin on or about September 4, 2021 demonstrates the fact that a Restraining Order was filed against Petitioner based upon the false portrayal that Defendant Fatherree published in The Daily Iberian on Wednesday, August 4, 2021. It is likely a court would find, based on the facts specific to this project, how it was bid, and the quick resulting change order which appears to have changed the scope of work that LCG did not comply with Louisianas public bid law, says David Vicknair, an experienced public bid law attorney with the firm Scott Vicknair LLC in New Orleans. ST. MARTINVILLE St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars said that efforts to negotiate a deal with landowners to allow public access to a. St. Martin Parish to sue, investigate removal of spoil banks by Lafayette Consolidated Government. St. Martinville, LA 70582 . Guy Cormier is the president of St. Martin Parish, and was a Police Juror back in 1999 when the change was adopted for good. Mayor-President Josh Guillory and I also last conferred on April 13, 2021, at which time he assured me that there would be no formal action relative to this proposal until and unless St. Martin Parish can fully and completely vet the proposition and conclude that it presents no threat to our Parish, Cedars wrote. Anytime we can be good neighbors and we can help out folks and help anybody in the region and defnitely not hurt anybody, were going to do that, Guillory said. Cedars said LCG removed the spoil banks without the appropriate regulatory licenses or permits required by law. The maximum price of the projects first phase was negotiated at $30.6 million, but grew to $38 million when Rigid was forced to mobilize to another drainage project during litigation with the landowners. The Corps of Engineers in New Orleans said through a spokesperson that it opened an investigation into the spoil banks' removal. four other contractors sent bids that ranged from $568,000 to $1.1 million. To reach the newsroom or report a typo/correction, click HERE. Cedars said studies have differed on the impact and risks of removing the makeshift levees and that he found out about LCG's quiet removal of the spoil banks Tuesday afternoon, weeks after the work had been done. DENHAM SPRINGS, La. We don't want anyone to be harmed, and therefore we believe that the way to mitigate that is to restore the property to its state before the removal of the spoil banks," he added. Dwayne Fatherree is the community editor for The Daily Iberian. With multiple boil advisories in the recent past, Cedars says it's no secret the parish and others with outdated equipment and infrastructure like it have issues with the systems, especially in rural areas. St. Martinville, LA 70582 "The perception is this is just talk [], it's not just talk," he tells KATC. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Workday sued on suspicion of discriminatory hiring, 86-year-old woman honored for years of community, Attic Trash and Treasure organization hosts three-day, Scary video: North Carolina kids nearly hit at bus, Southern University experiences power outage across, No. You have permission to edit this article. Parish President Chester Cedars speaks during a meeting of the St. Martin Parish Council on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. While it may get around the bid law, it shouldnt get around the court of public opinion, he says. Although there are concerns from high water that has moved south from Cairo, Illinois, and through Jackson, Mississippi, Guidry said it is expected most of those floodwaters will remain north instead of cycling through the Teche. Im not frustrated as much as Im appalled, Cedars said. Created in 1811, St. Mary Parish was originally part of the Attakapas District and St. Martin Parish. Chester Cedars, the St. Martin Parish President, speaks at a Parish Council meeting, at which the council voted to pursue litigation against Lafayette Parish for the removal of a spoil bank along the Vermilion River in St. Martin Parish. This Tuesday (March 7th) is ACT Testing Day on our high school campuses. It was a very short call, Cedars said. 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. Interim St. Martin Parish Chester Cedars won the president seat with 73 percent of the vote tonight. . "We believe that we need to proceed as quickly as possible to protect the citizens from being harmed. Share this page on your favorite Social network. Employee Application for Summer Learning 2021, St. Martin Parish Head Start Academy Program, St. Martin Parish Early Head Start & Head Start Academy Program, St Martin Parish Type III Child Care Centers, School Based-Health Centers and School Nurse Program, St Martin Parish Virtual Learning Program, Virtual Learning Family Technology Survey, Cameras in SPED Self-Contained Classrooms - St. Martin Adopted Policy, SMPSB 2022-23 Ready to Achieve: School Reopening Plan, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Behavioral Health Services for Students (Act 696), Parental Access to Instructional Materials (Revised Statue 17:355).