Iberia Parish at work

Published 10:59 pm Friday, October 13, 2017

Donations to victims of hurricanes, drainage work and intergovernmental agreements are some of the issues Iberia Parish Government has been working on the past few weeks. 

• Iberia Parish President M. Larry Richard said some significant work has been done during cleaning efforts on Peebles Coulee,  located near Jefferson Terrace Boulevard, starting near Foti’s Furniture and going south.

“We got with an engineering company to start doing some analysis by cleaning the channel and changing out culverts to see if we’re creating what’s called a rise,” Richard said. “You can’t do that because people upstream or downstream, they can get them flooded.” 

The Public Works Department is expected to start work next week to clean out silt in the area, and grass has been cut to remove vegetation.

“There was an area really congested with a lot of vegetation near Sidney LeBlanc (Road). We’re actually taking care of all of that right now,” Richard said. “We’re trying to get the water to flow down Jefferson Terrace to the Commercial Canal and relieve some of that water in the city of New Iberia.”

Once completed, the areas around Dale and Weldon streets, along with parts of Jefferson Terrace, should flow better during rain events.

• Iberia Parish Government is wrapping up a donation effort to help those impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

“Iberia Parish residents gave tremendously to this effort and I am so grateful to have the privilege to live in such a community,” Richard said. “Volunteers that gave their time and energy are to be commended.”

Parish government estimated there were 14,297 diapers, 400 individual baby bottles with nipples, 6,793 feminine products, 1,318 containers of baby formula, 45,641 individual baby wipes and 63 pacifiers collected in Iberia Parish.

• Iberia Parish entered into an agreement with CivicSource in order to manage all of the parish’s adjudicated properties.

• After some confusion during the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival and Fair, Richard said the Iberia Parish Courthouse parking lot will be open for the World Championship Gumbo Cookoff.

• Parish Government and the Iberia Parish Council are in the midst of working on the new fiscal year budget. Richard said budget meetings are going well.

Richard met with department supervisors and began the process of meeting with the Parish Council. So far, the administration has met with the council and gone over 24 funds. 

There are a total of 39 funds. Richard said they are meeting at 6 p.m. each Monday in council chambers on the fourth floor of the Iberia Parish Courthouse.  

“I’m hoping the budget is approved in November,” he said.

• Iberia Parish played host to the Region 3 meeting of the Police Jury Association at Rip Van Winkle Gardens. There was a favorable turnout, Richard said, adding that he received word that some members were planning on coming back with family members to take a tour of the parish and gardens.

• The parish president has sent a request to the state Department of Transportation and Development to install an “Iberia Parish Exit Here” sign on the I-10 corridor at its intersection with I-49 in order to increase visibility and economic benefits. Letters were sent to the Louisiana Legislative Delegation and the Iberia Parish Legislative Delegation requesting their support for the sign installation.

• Parish government is seeking qualified applicants for a security manager position to manage the secur ity at the courthouse and other facilities within Iberia Parish.

• Iberia Parish and the city of New Iberia have entered into an intergovernmental agreement to use the Veterans Memorial Building for public meetings and special events. The agreement is similar to the one signed a few months ago that granted the parish use of the city-owned Sliman Theater.