City council talks sewer problems

Published 8:03 pm Tuesday, July 6, 2021

The New Iberia City Council authorized the mayor to submit an application for the fiscal year 2021 Community Development Block Grant Program after some discussion on the future of the program in New Iberia. 

Councilwoman Deedy Johnson-Reid, who is currently serving her first term in office, said during the meeting that she had reviewed the annual state grant and asked Mayor Freddie DeCourt why the city allocated the funding to sewer maintenance every year. 

“All we’ve ever done is apply for sewer because we have such a need,” DeCourt said. “It can be used for other things but we have always used it for sewer because it’s the only money we had to do sewer rehab.”

The LCDBG program has been the city of New Iberia’s primary source for sewer rehabilitation revenue, and became especially important when the city was under a consent decree from the federal government during Mayor Hilda Curry’s administration. 

City engineer Vince Palumbo said the funding has traditionally gone to sewer since he has hired in the mid-2000s largely because of the consent decree. 

Johnson-Reid also asked whether the proposed infrastructure money coming from the federal government under President Joe Biden could be used for sewer rehabilitation, which could possibly open the door to use LCDBG to fund community housing projects. 

DeCourt said that while the stipulations are still vague on what that infrastructure bill could be used for, there was a possibility it could be used for sewer. 

The mayor said that he had even talked earlier that day about possibly using $1 million of the package the city would receive and match it in another grant for $4 million to go to sewer rehabilitation. 

“It’s amazing how much we have left to spend on sewer,” DeCourt said. “I know the Biden package can be used for sewer, the combination of going after these grants and getting creative and money money, that would help.”

In other business, the City Council voted to: 

• Declare Juneteenth as a city holiday. 

• Approve the millage rates for the new fiscal year (same rates). 

• Approve the  Perdue Pharma Bankruptcy Plan.