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Council approves CDBG award for Fletcher training after debate over infrastructure priorities
Summary
Council approved a CDBG-funded project to support a $15 million Fletcher CDL training program; one council member questioned awarding the money to workforce training rather than local pump-station infrastructure, and Parish President Ozeron said grant rules limit use to projects that benefit low- and moderate-income residents and workforce development.
The Lafourche Parish Council approved a resolution authorizing an agreement with the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System for a Community Development Block Grant (Resilient Communities Infrastructure Program) to fund a Fletcher CDL training project. The agreement was described to the council as roughly a $15,000,000 project to support workforce development through Fletcher.
Councilman Araby questioned the decision, asking why the parish would pursue a $15,000,000 CDBG award for Fletcher when the parish has pressing pump-station infrastructure needs. "Why are we... getting involved or going to CDBG to get money for Fletcher when we got pump stations that need funding, like, $15,000,000?" Araby asked. Parish President Mitchell Ozeron replied that the grant's allowable uses are restricted and could not be used for pump-station infrastructure; instead the administration focused on workforce-development projects that explicitly serve low- and moderate-income residents. "We were told that we couldn't use it for those such infrastructure projects... they had to be used for very specific items, and it had to specifically service low to moderate income folks," Ozeron said. The council voted to approve the resolution by voice vote (recorded as 9 yeas, 0 nays).
