The Evangeline Parish Police Jury heard Monday night from its certified public accountant about the recently conducted audit report.
According to Casey Ardoin, CPA with Kolder Champagne Slaven & Company, the report is for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019. The general fund showed total revenues as $3,166,964, and total expenditures as $2,420,459. With all factors in place, the General Fund showed a beginning balance of $1,608,372 and an end balance of $1,743,520. “All in all, I think it was a good audit. It went well. You guys do a good job here with the board, the staff, and everybody,” said Ardoin.
The Jury then heard from Parish Engineer Ronnie Landreneau who said on Colt Avenue, off Vidrine Road, there is a situation whereby a contractor has been alleged to have damaged the road. Landreneau said he has no direct knowledge of that, but he has worked closed with the project engineer for DOTD which is monitoring the project. That engineer feels the contractor has used that road to bring heavy loads through.
Landreneau said the contractor had brought in some mix to patch up the worst spots “in the name of safety,” but this was only a temporary fix. “That is not an acceptable method to patch and repair that road,” said Landreneau. He said they now have to identify what damage they did and determine if it was caused by their contractor or their subcontractor. “There’s obvious failures on the road, and there are obvious areas that are going to fail,” he said. He suggested getting the state involved since DOTD brought the matter to his attention. Additionally, Landreneau said he has involved a third party contract to identify the damage and quote a price, which he said is significantly less than what the contractor feels, assuming he did the damage.
Parish Attorney Marcus Fontenot said, from a legal standpoint, “We have an obligation to make sure the road is safe. Whether we can get the contractor we think is responsible, or a third party contractor to do it, that’s at the Jury’s discretion, but I think we as a Jury need to make sure the road is fixed. And if we have to, we can send them a bill or litigate them for reimbursement for that expense.”
Secretary Treasurer Donald Bergeron said he received a letter from State Representative Phillip Devillier from District 41 requesting the Police Jury’s consideration of right-sizing La. Highway 1158 and La. Highway 1159 in Evangeline Parish due to the estimated cost of repair. The estimated cost of repair for Highway 1158 is $1,650,000 and Highway 1159 is $1,780,000. These roads are the main roads used as access to the parish dump, are in “very poor” condition, and have not had any major repair in over 50 years, according to Devillier. There was considerable discussion among the jurors on whether or not to use a state program with possible heavy stipulations to aid in repairing the highways. No conclusion was reached during the meeting. The jurors decided to gather more information before making a decision.
Additional coverage of Monday’s meeting will be in Sunday’s edition.
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Nancy Duplechain
Associate Editor