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Plaquemines Port commission approves multiple budget and staffing measures; expenditure threshold cut to $125,000 after debate
Summary
The Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District commission passed several ordinances and resolutions including contracting and staffing changes, bank signatory updates and a reduction in the director’s single-expenditure authority to $125,000 (line-item appropriations). Vote tallies and key motion text are listed below.
The Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District commission voted on multiple ordinances and resolutions during the meeting; commissioners approved surveying and contracting appropriations, staffing structure changes and bank signatory updates, and after debate voted to set the director’s single-expenditure line-item authority at $125,000.
Why it matters: The package moves forward contracts and design work for port projects, adjusts the port’s internal staffing and spending controls, and authorizes representatives to sign bank accounts — actions that shape how quickly the port can execute projects already included in the FY2025 budget.
Votes at a glance (motions and outcomes recorded at the meeting): 1) Ordinance authorizing the executive director to enter into an agreement with T. Baker Smith for surveying services to facilitate rezoning of port properties; amount inserted: $213,600. Outcome: Passed; recorded as 8–1 (one no from Commissioner LaFrance). (Second reading and final passage.)
2) Ordinance establishing expenditure authorization (line-item appropriations) for the director: motion to set single-expenditure authority changed during debate; final ordinance passed 5–4, setting the threshold at $125,000 for specified prior line-item appropriations (not general maintenance/professional-service buckets). Several amendment proposals (including requiring concurrence of the port chair for expenditures between $50,000 and $125,000) were considered and failed; the commission then approved the final language. Outcome: Passed 5–4.
3) Ordinance to unfund the assistant port manager position (manpower structure amendment). Outcome: Passed 9–0 (final passage).
4) Resolution authorizing signatories on the port’s Hancock Whitney Bank accounts. Outcome: Passed 9–0.
5) Resolution authorizing signatories on the port’s Regions Bank accounts. Outcome: Passed 9–0.
6) Ordinance creating and funding the special assistant to the executive director position. Outcome: Passed 9–0.
7) Ordinance to authorize the executive director to enter into an agreement with a firm (T. Baker Smith inserted on the floor) to survey the MSRC dock and adjust property boundaries; funding inserted: $448,800. Outcome: Passed 8–0 with 1 abstention (Mr. Kogovich abstained).
8) Ordinance requesting that the Plaquemines Parish Civil Service Commission relinquish human-resources functions to the port’s HR office (cited in the meeting under Louisiana Revised Statute language). Outcome: Passed 9–0.
Other procedural notes: Several items were deferred (agenda references 6B, 6C, 6J) or withdrawn and reintroduced (7A1). No votes were taken in executive session; the commission recorded that no final binding action occurred during the closed session that cited attorney–client privilege under LRS 42:17(A)(10).
Ending — The commission approved the minutes from its Feb. 13, 2025 regular meeting (9–0) and adjourned at about 5:08 p.m.; the meeting record shows one no vote on adjournment from Reverend Edwards.
