St. Martin Public Works Committee updated on district projects
– The Teche Vermilion Fresh Water District is planning to replace the Ruth Canal structure in St. Martin Parish that regulates the flow of water between Bayou Teche and the Vermilion near Breaux Bridge, district Executive Director Donald Sagrera told the St. Martin Parish Council’s Public Works Committee this past Tuesday.
The Ruth Canal is one of two ways that water can flow from the Teche to the Vermilion. The other is via Bayou Fuselier at Arnaudville.
“That is the way that the water is controlled as to how much water goes from the Teche to the Vermilion,” Sagrera said. “It is a gated structure. We open and close that gate based on need between the Teche and the Vermilion.
“When there is a serious salt water problem in the Vermilion, we can open this gate a little bit more and send more water down the Vermilion. If there is a need in Bayou Teche, then we can close this gate and send more water down Bayou Teche.”
The structure was built in 1945, and the gates are worn out and need to be changed, Sagrera said.
Normally the district would build a bypass so water could flow down another path and the water levels at the structure could be blocked off and lowered so work could be done.
But the space between the dewatered wall and the gate is not big enough for workers to get to safely.
“So the board decided to go ahead and replace this structure,” Sagrera said.
A bypass structure will reroute water around the gate structure, allowing flow between the two waterways to continue.
The bypass will be a permanent structure in the event that future work needs to be done on the Ruth Canal.
A coffer dam will then be built on each side of the Ruth Canal structure, allowing the structure to be removed and replaced.
“So the whole process is being engineered now and could possibly go out for bid in early spring,” Sagrera said. “And then it would be two to three years, at least, (to build the new structure). But this would be a very big improvement for the infrastructure of Teche-Vermilion.”
Ruth Canal
The Ruth Canal structure is very important to the two waterways. The water level on the Teche side of the canal is about 4 feet higher than on the Vermilion side, and if the structure failed, the Teche would not have enough water to be navigable, and flooding would be an issue along the Vermilion.
“One of the questions is would what we’re doing with this structure affect drainage in St. Martin Parish,” Sagrera said. “The answer is no, because the water does not drain from Vermilion back to Teche. It always flows from Teche to Vermilion.”
Funding for the project comes from district savings, which is now being used to repair and replace aging structures in the district.
“That’s the good thing about it, we have the money to do it and we can control the way it’s spent,” Sagrera said.
The district has hired a consulting firm to do a water quality study in Bayou Amy after the parish council had passed a resolution in the past year asking for additional water to be supplied to Bayou Amy, based on water quality.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is asking for additional background information on the water quality before it will issue a permit to allow more water to flow into Bayou Amy, Sagrera said, which led to the hiring of the consulting firm. Three meters are collecting the water quality information at various locations in Bayou Amy.
The district also recently completed the restoration of the 45-yearold Loreauville Canal lock structure, which prevents water from escaping Bayou Teche into Lake Fausse Pointe.
The district supplements the flow of fresh water in the watershed along the Vermilion and Teche waterways in St. Martin, Iberia, Lafayette and Vermilion parishes when there is not enough rain to keep the freshwater flowing.
If there’s not enough fresh water because of dry weather, the district turns on pumps at Krotz Springs to get more fresh water into the Teche and Vermilion. The pumps have been used about 143 days so far this year, Sagrera said, with the 10 year average being 180 days.
Sagrera said a weir in Bayou Fuselier controls the flow of water there. The district is putting together a project to clear 8-10 trees that have fallen into Bayou Fuselier from the banks of Bayou Teche. The district plans to wench the trees out of the water and leave them on the banks to rot there, as requested by landowners in the area.
Criminal Court fund
Judge Roger P. Hamilton Jr. of the 16th Judicial District talked to the Public Works Committee about a projected surplus in the Criminal Court fund for the first time in 10 years.
Hamilton was accompanied by judges Keith Comeaux, Anthony Thibodeaux, Tony Saleme and Suzanne de Mahy.
Councilwoman Carla JeanBatiste asked if any surplus money left over from the funds sent to the court system could be returned to the parish so it could use them for other projects.
Judge Tony Saleme said that his understanding is that under the law, if there is a surplus, half of it is then divided among the three parishes that comprise the judicial district. St. Martin contributes 26.6 percent of the money in the fund so that would be the parish’s share of money returned to the parish governments.
Public Works
The Public Works committee also considered adoption of a resolution awarding the contract for the 2025 road improvements project to the lowest bidder, Elliott Construction, for $4,569,822.50.
The committee also considered adopting resolutions to execute a contract for the services of Larry Doiron LLC for operating the Bayou Milhomme Bridge in Stephensville, and for an intergovernmental agreement to be signed with Lafayette Parish for the cleaning of the Lateral at Ches Broussard Road.
Administrative/Finance Committee
The Administrative/ Finance Committee considered adoption of a resolution creating a reserve fund for the future jail project using the money it receives from the ad valorem Library tax passed by voters this year.
The parish receives 70 percent of the funds raised and the remaining 30 percent is used for library needs by the library’s Board of Directors.
The committee also considered setting its meeting dates for 2026 with only one change, to the Feb. 16 meeting, which falls on Mardi Gras. The move would likely be to Feb. 24.
The committee also considered adopting a resolution proclaiming January as National Mentoring Month.
Parish President Pete Delcambre discussed several projects the administration is working on currently, including the Petroleum Parkway project, where drainage work is ongoing for six to eight months.
The Joe Daigre Canal project was approved and bids will be opened in December.
The Box Car Road repair project is ongoing with boring completed and plates driven into place and the cap being placed on the bulkhead. Road repairs are underway with work shoring up both sides of the bulkhead to follow.
Quotes are being sought for work on the Ches Courville Bridge, which would provide temporary structure work to allow the bridge to remain open until the state can do a complete bridge repair in the next couple of years.
