Avoyelles Police Jury taking serious look at garbage options

To be prepared for contract renewal

With a solid waste contract coming up for renewal in two years, and tax revenue barely able to meet the current cost of that service, the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury has begun seriously looking at the future of waste collection and disposal for residents.

Police Jury President Charles Jones said the parish cannot afford to sit and do nothing while time marches on and the contract’s renewal date gets closer.

Jurors noted after the last contract renewal, which carried a $250,000 annual increase, that they did not have time to prepare an alternative solution to renewing the contract with Progressive Waste Solutions.

They vowed then not to be put in a weak bargaining position at the next renewal date.

Parish Engineer Ron Bordelon, of Pan American Engineers, told jurors constructing a transfer station at the Parish Barn “would be beneficial.”

He said Phase I would be to construct a concrete road from La. Hwy 29 back to the transfer station site. It would also improve the residential dumping site so individuals could drop their garbage down into a bin rather than having to throw it up into a bin.

That phase would also include a shed to cover waste tires, a gravel parking lot and renovations to the Maintenance Department administration building. Bordelon said Phase I is needed even if the parish chooses not to continue with Phase II of the project.

REPLACE ALL-IN-ONE

Phase II would be constructing the transfer facility itself. With that in place, garbage trucks could dump their loads into large trailers which would then be hauled to a public landfill in another parish.

This system could replace the all-in-one agreement with Progressive with three smaller contracts -- one for residential collection and dumping at the transfer station; one for hauling from the transfer station to the landfill; and one for depositing the garbage in the landfill.

The most important of those three would be the landfill contract. The leading contender for that role is in St. Landry Parish. The collection and hauling contracts would be small enough to attract more competitive bids, which should reduce the cost.

Under the current contract, Progressive controls the landfill and does both the collection and hauling of garbage to the landfill.

“We need to make a decision or we will run out of time,” Jones said. “We can’t keep dancing like we’re dancing. We need to do something. If the decision is to do nothing, then we need to stop wasting Ron’s time.”

Jones pointed out that the 3/4-cent sales tax that funds the parish’s solid waste program just barely covers the cost.

Voters defeated a proposed 8-mill property tax last fall the Police Jury had intended to use to establish the transfer station program and make other improvements to the waste collection/disposal process.

NO MOTORS ON BAYOU

In another matter, jurors heard from both sides of a dispute over the use of outboard motors on Bayou des Glaises.

That discussion occurred at the May 9 agenda-setting meeting. For those who didn’t know, there is a parish ordinance banning outboard motors in the bayou.

Seth Dauzat told jurors at the May 9 committee meetings that he was fishing on the bayou and “someone called the police on me. It was a surprise to me and to the whole community when I was told it was against the law to have an outboard motor on Bayou des Glaises. It is the only bayou in the parish where no motors are allowed.”

David Beard, who also lives along the bayou, said there was initially a no-wake zone to protect the property along the bayou. That was rescinded and replaced with a ban on outboard motors.

Jurors indicated they would review the ordinance to determine if it should be amended to allow motors but set a low speed limit to reduce wakes that might cause erosion or property damage when the bayou is high.

Juror Henry Moreau said he wants to begin the process of amending the ordinance.

“I would prefer it be a ‘no wake’ zone,” he said. A public meeting will be held at 1 p.m. June 8 at the Bordelonville Fire Department substation at Big Bend, next to the museum and Sarto Iron Bridge site.

The issue will be discussed and possibly introduced at the jury’s meeting on June 11.

WARD 2 COURT BUDGET

In other business, the jury approved allocating approximately $97,500 as its portion of the operating costs for the Ward 2/Marksville City Court.

The court’s budget is slightly less than last year -- $195,000, down from $204,000.

The Police Jury and City of Marksville each pay 50 percent of the operating cost budget. Despite that, the Police Jury receives most of the fines collected by the court because those offenses are prosecuted under state statutes and not as violations of city ordinances.

AVOYELLES JOURNAL
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MARKSVILLE WEEKLY

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Marksville, LA 71351
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