Water Sector Commission approves multiple grant adjustments, asks Saint Bernard Parish to rework demolition plan

The Water Sector Commission on an unspecified date approved time extensions and additional funding adjustments for several water-system projects and asked Saint Bernard Parish to return with more value engineering before the commission will consider its large funding request.

The commission approved two two-month extensions for Delcom and Generate to provide match-fund documentation for loans through the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) revolving fund. Will Bartlett of DEQ told the commission, “We believe they'll be able to move forward. Yes,” after confirming the projects have submitted environmental plans and are progressing through the program.

The commission also approved an administrative correction to AME City’s local-match calculation after staff said $35,000,000 previously listed as local match was capital outlay and not used in the match calculation; staff said AME City did not request additional funds and the correction reduces its reported match percentage.

Several award adjustments and supplemental requests were approved with no recorded roll-call votes. The commission approved an additional funding request for Greenbrier Prairie water system after the applicant reported it secured a $249,000 USDA loan to preserve its original match percentage; Heath McGuffey, representing Greenbrier, said the extra USDA loan helped the system “maintain our previous match percentage.”

Point Blue Chetanion Water System was granted an additional $1,075,768 after the applicant said an earlier presentation to the commission misstated the amount requested; Ronnie Lanterano of Lancherneau and Associates said the earlier…