Jury questions opening of pontoon bridge

CROWLEY - The Acadia Parish Police Jury has a couple of questions concerning the operation of the pontoon bridge on Louisiana Highway 91 in Estherwood.
First of all, who keeps opening it?
The simple answer is: the state Department of Transportation and Development.
Secondly, why??
That’s where it gets complicated.
Road and Bridge Committee member Chuck Broussard said Tuesday night that he’d been told the bridge was being opened at the request of residents upstream on Bayou Plaquemine Brule “to help with flooding” and high-water situations.
“I was told that DOTD keeps getting calls from citizens — not elected officials — and when they get high enough, the bridge is opened,” Broussard said.
He explained that the opening of the bridge in non-emergency situations puts an undue hardship on citizens in Estherwood, Mermentau, Morse, who are forced to drive either to Jennings or to Crowley to access Interstate 10.
In a carefully drafted letter to William “Bill” Oliver, District 3 engineer administrator with DOTD, David Savoy, jury president, notes that the opening of the bridge has little or no effect on drainage in the bayou.
If the full jury agrees next Tuesday, the parish will request that DOTD “establish technically-based and permanent policies and procedures” to follow before issuing directives to open the bridge.
“We request that your office prepare a position statement that would establish what effect the opening of the bridge has on drainage flow in Bayou Plaquemine Brule during heavy rainfalls that occur in upstream watersheds, would list the warrants for some and would set procedures for issuing such directives.”
In other business during Tuesday night’s committee meetings, the Airport Committee moved to strengthen leases at LeGros Memrial Airport.
Broussard, who chairs that committee, wants all lessees to be invoiced on the first of each month and given until the 15th to pay rent.
If rent is not paid by the 25th of the month, “then its turned over for collection,” he said.
The move comes in the wake of jurors recently learning that one of the tenants at the airport has not paid his lease in years and owes in excess of $175,000.
Brad Andrus, counsel for the jury, cautioned that “the terms of an existing contract cannot be changed simply by majority vote of the jury.”
But Laura Faul, secretary-treasurer, pointed out that most of the tenants at the airport are on month-to-month contracts.
Broussard added that his recommendation is for all new leases at the facility located near Estherwood.
The full jury will consider the recommendation Tuesday.
District Attorney Keith Stutes addressed the jurors concerning its legal representation.
Stressing that he was not present to “disparage” Andrus — “Brad is a friend and does good work for you,” he said — he explained that he had been contacted by several individuals regarding a question about the legal representation of the jury.
In a letter to the jury, Stutes noted that the jury had, on July 21, 2015, decided to continue with the current arrangement with Andrus and Doug Wimberly as counsel.
“Although Brad was appointed as ‘general counsel,’ I take the position that I am general counsel (according to state statutes) and Brad and Doug are actually duly authorized ‘special’ attorney and counsel in the rolls envisioned by their appointments on June 12, 2012, and they continue in their duties until a successor, if any, is appointed,” Stutes said.
The full jury will consider whether to officially register Andrus and Wimberly as “special council” with the attorney general and accept the district attorney as its general counsel — a service Stutes contends is part of his job as D.A.