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Parish, city discuss 10‑foot sewer servitude and storm‑drain responsibilities
Summary
Council members debated an intergovernmental approach to a requested 10‑foot sewer servitude affecting Broussard and Saint Martinville, raising questions about incomplete engineering documents, collapsed culverts and which government entity must buy materials or remove large trees blocking access.
Parish staff and council members discussed a request involving a 10‑foot sewer servitude inside the city of Broussard and neighboring properties that overlap a parish lateral. The item prompted questions about engineering specifications, rights of way and which jurisdiction is responsible for purchasing materials and removing large trees.
Speaker 6, representing the requesting party, said the neighboring property sought a 10‑foot sewer servitude and that the company preferred servitudes to be held by government entities so any future use would go through proper permit channels. Parish staff (Speaker 2) said the parish’s longstanding practice is to provide labor and equipment to install materials if the municipality purchases the materials, but cautioned that the engineering packet submitted was incomplete and on‑site inspection revealed multiple collapsed culverts and additional work beyond initial descriptions.
“You purchase the material, we will then go in and take care of putting in... the material,” Speaker 2 said, describing the conditional intergovernmental approach. Staff said the parish could replace short sections of compromised culvert if the city purchases replacement culverts, but the parish cannot assume long multi‑week projects beyond limited two‑week deployments without additional resources.
Council members asked for a map and recommended an on‑site visit to align the parish, city and engineering firms on scope and costs. Speakers repeatedly emphasized that some drainage features are not state‑mandated laterals (several references to the code number as described in the materials), which affects parish obligations. Council and staff discussed staged work if federal funds are held pending project completion.
Next steps: staff will provide a project map, scope clarification and a proposed split schedule for work (initial short crews with follow‑up) and will re‑engage the city of Saint Martinville about tree removal and material procurement. No formal agreement or vote was recorded.
