Morse will have to wait for town hall

Plans to build a new town hall in Morse have been delayed.

Funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Recovery Fund, the project was recently let out for bids.

Those bids, however, came in higher than the funds available, according to Brett Bayard, engineer.

Acting on Bayard’s recommendation, the Acadia Parish Police Jury, which is administering the funds, rejected all bids at their June meeting.

“We’re working with the village (of Morse) to downsize the plans or see if they can pay for some of the work with alternative funding,” Bayard said.

Bids ranged from a low of $519,000 to a high of $546,000. The budget for the project is $398,000.

The village abandoned the town hall building after the flood in January 2013, according to Peggy Romero, councilwoman.

“That’s when mold took over and the cement started to crack,” she said.

Since then, the village has leased “the old post office” for use as an administrative headquarters.

Council meetings are being held at the fire station because the former post office building is too small.

Romero estimated that the former town hall building is over 70 years old.