Water Board District One in action
As new board members learn the ropes, meetings at Water District #1 are lengthy, yet full of information.
At the most recent meeting board member Norman Duhon stressed the need for certification for the staff working at the District 1 water district.
Plant engineers are required to have certification to work in the treatment plant and the board is offering incentives for employees to increase their grade levels. Duhon’s motion for an additional $100 month bonus for employes certifying at the next level up passed with the board’s vote.
The board also confirmed two appointments to their staff: Tricia Belaire was promoted to Administrative Supervisor and Kent Broussard was promoted to Operations Supervisor. His complete job description is still to be written. The board is also re-working the employee handbook The motion was made to continue discussing wages and salaries at the next board meeting.
The board members will also be included in payroll checks to be handed out each month. The Vermilion Parish Police Jury approved the payment to the water board members, following the state guidelines for those serving on boards. Each board member will be paid $60 per meeting with a maximum of 24 regular meetings and 12 special meetings per year. Board President Hubert Faulk and board member T. J. Prejean will not be paid because the same state law says that no member of the Police Jury can be paid until they have been off the jury for a period of two years.
Plant Supervisor Jeff Soulier commented on the number of hours the water system has been working with the need of extra water for the summer-time.
“The plant ran for 21 hours on Sunday, June 8. Everybody has been watering their lawns and filling their swimming pools. Normal run time for our plant is 10 hours or so a day and we’ve been averaging between 16-28 hours a day lately. Running that much doesn’t hurt the system; it just causes normal wear and tear on the equipment. We have three storage tanks as backup for the North Vermilion plant and they have their own equipment to know when to begin replenishing themselves,” said Soulier.
In other action, the board authorized the sale of a 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup truck for sale to Charles Hebert of Fuselier Rd. His bid of $1,502.31 was approved. They also approved a meter request on a vacant property owned by Lee Marceaux for his allowing the water board access to the easement along Highway 35. Without Marceaux’s easement, the water line being run would have to have been run in the bottom of a drainage ditch with harder access and higher maintenance costs as well.
Also passed was a Natural Disaster Adjustment Policy. This allows for severe damage to the customer’s water line and cannot be controlled by simply turning off the customer’s water line valve. Disasters defined include hurricane, tornado, fire, and flood. The bill for these events will be based on an average monthly usage.
The beginning of construction for the new plant in the Kaplan area serving the Western end of Vermilion Parish is getting closer with the board’s acceptance of the drilling for their test well. Griner Drilling Service, Inc. of Rayne had a low bid of $45,500.00
The board will continue to address the pay scale and job descriptions at their next meeting scheduled for July 8 at the new time of 5:30 p.m.
Water for the month of May at the North Vermilion plant included 30,084,000 gallons produced which is an increase of 625,000 gallons over April. There were 3,989 active customers in May using an average of 6,758 gallons or an increase of 842 gallons per connection. The Esther plant produced 5,600,000 gallons of water but had a broken meter to obtain an exact number of gallons of water delivered to their clients. For the Esther plant, 797 active customers used an average of 5,382 gallons, or an increase of 254 gallons per connection during May.
Requested disconnects for Water #1 totaled 23 for May, with 16 disconnected for non-payment.