New Suit Blocks Pump Bonds

Opponents of a proposed bond-financed pump station in St. Charles Parish have filed a new lawsuit seeking to stop the project.

Original plaintiffs Jara Roux and Councilwoman Carolyn Schexnaydre dropped their suit claiming the $20 million pump station was overpriced after they failed to publish two notices in the parish’s weekly legal newspaper in advance of a hearing in state district court. The notices are required under Louisiana’s Bond Validation Act, under which the suit had been filed.

Councilman Terry Authement and newly elected parish attorney Leon “Sonny” Vial 3d filed a similar suit to block the bond sale after Roux and Schexnaydre missed the deadline for the first notice.

A hearing on the current suit is set for Jan. 16.

The latest complaint contends that design for the pump station specified products that could only be provided by one vendor, which is not allowed under state law.

The estimated price tag for the pump station, planned as part of a hurricane levee in the parish, has gone from $8.5 million in 2004 to nearly $20 million when bids for the pump equipment were opened last month.

The parish had scheduled a $27.4 million revenue bond issue to finance the project in early December, but the sale has been postponed until the legal issues are resolved.

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