St. Martinville City Council discusses Willis Canal cleaning project

St. Martinville – The St. Martinville City Council authorized Mayor Jason Willis to enter into an intergovernmental agreement to clean Willis Canal, a parish-owned canal just behind some apartments on Willis Drive, contingent on approval of the agreement by City Attorney Allan Durand.

Willis said the parish is willing to do the work but requires the intergovernmental agreement to deal with liability issues related to structural damage that may occur or injuries to third parties related to the work.

Trees and branches are clogging the flow of water through the drainage canal. The parish does not want to be held liable for damage or injuries to third parties.

Durand tried to contact a representative of the city's liability insurer to be certain that the work is covered by city insurance.

"I've seen in marine cases where liability insurance companies will grant you a waiver from the exclusion," Durand said. "That's called contractual liability, when you don't have any responsibility for somebody else's employees, but by contract you accept the liability. You agree to hold them harmless and indemnify them. That's called contractual liability."

If there's a chance there won't be any liability at all, he said, insurance companies will sometimes grant a waiver to exclusions to the policy where liability is not normally covered.

"What I'd recommend to the council is that you grant Mayor Willis the authority to do it if our insurance company will waive the contractual liability exclusion for this particular contract only," Durand said. "That way we can't possibly have a problem. If we have a problem, our insurance will cover it."

Water still flows in the canal, but is restricted by the trees, the mayor said, so the parish doesn't feel obligated to clean it, and will only do so if liability is covered by the city.

If the parish won't do the work, the city will have to hire a contractor to clear the canal, which would be costly for the city. A similar issue with Durand Canal cost the city $200,000 to get the trees cut down, but that was covered by a grant, Willis said.

Delcambre told Willis that the parish has had similar intergovernmental agreements with Breaux Bridge and Henderson to clear canals near those cities.

Canal

An email sent to the city from the insurance company said the policy does have an exclusion, but there is an exception for liability for an insured contract.

Durand said he planned to look at the email and talk to the Travelers insurance executive who sent the email to clarify what the policy would cover and if an exception would be granted.

The council — members Mike Fuselier and Carol Frederick were absent from the meeting — passed a motion to give the mayor the authority to sign the intergovernmental agreement, based on Durand's recommendation after speaking to the insurance company representative.

The council also discussed paying to replace a collapsed valve at the Evangeline substation during a look at the city's financial statement.

Councilman Jonas Fontenette asked about the sewer budget being over the budgeted amount, and the mayor said that was because the city is having to pay half of the $128,000 cost for replacing a valve at the Evangeline Pump Station.

The St. Martin Parish government agreed to pay the other half, after talks between the mayor and Parish President Pete Delcambre.

The city felt that trash in the pipes that had originated in parish drainage ditches led to the problem so asked the parish to help cover the costs.

"We had several meetings with the parish president," Willis said. "He had several questions. We had to provide pictures. We had to provide receipts of the work, of the scope of work."

Eventually Delcambre offered to pay for half of the cost, because the valve that collapsed was 53 years old and that led to the collapse of the valve and not trash in the pipes, the mayor said.

"I couldn't argue that point," Willis said. "There's no way to determine if the trash did or not (lead to the problem)."

In other business

The mayor said that basketball camp registration has begun. Camp starts June 6 with games every Saturday until July 25. Cost is $20 for each player, which covers expenses such as uniforms and paying referees.

Cultural camp begins June 15 and ends July 31. Cost is $30 per week and includes lunch. Registration is open now.

A Main Street Pop Up is scheduled Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Evangeline Boulevard.

Lifeguard certification begins this weekend from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Summer swimming lesson registration is open for the city pool. The pool opens the first weekend in June.

The splash pad opens Memorial Day weekend.

Registration for any of the summer programs or swim lessons can be done by contacting the city's Culture, Recreation and Tourism office on South New Market Street.

The mayor praised city public works crews for their work on a break in the main sewer line on Sieber Road over the weekend, working from Friday afternoon through Sunday without sleep. The problem led to a collapse of Sieber Road that was repaired after the pipe problem was fixed.

Willis said that if the city had paid a contractor for the work it would have cost at lest $30,000 to fix.