Council also decides on capital outlay request list
– St. Martin Parish President Pete Delcambre addressed issues regarding the parish’s Section 8 housing authority at this past Tuesday’s parish council committee meeting, explaining that the parish’s housing plan developed under federal Housing and Urban Development guidelines requires landlords to fill out forms to be included on lists of available properties for Section 8 housing applicants to choose from when applying for housing in the parish.
Darlene Dundas, who owns several rental properties in the parish, had spoken at the previous parish council meeting in September and accused the Parish Housing Authority director of blacklisting her properties.
Delcambre said that he had tried to explain the parish housing policies at the time but was interrupted by Dundas, who was then allowed to speak. Delcambre said that he was not given the opportunity to respond under Robert’s Rules of Order that guide the procedures of public meetings.
Council Chairman Chris Tauzin said that Delcambre was given the opportunity to speak after Dundas had finished but Delcambre said that since she had brought up having a lawyer and the possibility of legal action, he felt it better not to respond immediately.
At Tuesday’s committee meetings, Delcambre said that HUD gives each Public Housing Authority an 11-page document highlighting what it wants to see from each PHA’s housing plan. The St. Martin Section 8 housing department’s plan was certified by HUD for five years on Aug. 21, 2024, Delcambre said.
In Section 8 housing, applicants who meet the income guidelines and are approved for rent help pay a percentage of the rent and utilities for the housing they use, generally 30 percent of their monthly adjusted gross income, with HUD paying the remainder.
Delcambre said that under the St. Martin Parish Section 8 plan, the PHA maintains lists of available housing submitted by owners in all neighborhoods within the housing authority’s jurisdiction.
“The list will be updated monthly,” Delcambre quoted from the St. Martin PHA housing plan. “After a year of non-participation, a landlord must update and complete all new forms and participate in a landlord briefing.”
Delcambre said that Dundas had rented a property in 2022 through the Section 8 program but had not done so since and had not reapplied since then, and that’s why the attempt to rent her property was not approved. She is free to go to the St. Martin Section 8 department and fill out the paperwork to be on the list again, the parish president said.
“To be put on the list, the individual needs to come in, give a W-9 form, give a copy of a picture ID, copy of the social security card, and proof of ownership of the unit and property,” he said. “So if the individual comes in and gives this to our Section 8 unit, they are put into the system.”
Parish Councilwoman Tangie Narcisse suggested the parish Section 8 housing department follow up with landlords whose properties fall off the list to ask them to fill out the applications if they are out of date.
Delcambre said he would suggest to the Section 8 director that the paperwork shows landlords clearly that if their properties have been inactive in the system for a year, the landlord must reapply. He also said that a tickler system could be implemented to remind the Section 8 housing department to contact those landlords after one year of inactivity to remind them to reapply for Section 8 housing availability or to let the PHA know that the landlord is no longer wishing to participate in the program, if that is the case.
Councilwoman Carla JeanBatiste also noted that the letter provided to clients who wish to apply for Section 8 help seems to contradict the PHA policy. That letter says that once the client finds a property they wish to rent, the owner of the property will be required to fill out and sign the request for tenancy and the property would then be inspected by the housing authority.
Jennifer Tyler, head of the parish Seciton 8 housing department, said that documents for landlords/owners and tenants/participants are in two separate packets, and there is no discrepancy between the packets.
Though the information in the two may be similar it is not identical, Tyler said. The landlord/owner packet contains forms and documentation required to be completed or maintained by the property owner/landlord, while the tenant/ participant packet contains forms and documents required to be completed or maintained by the person being assisted through the program.
The information should be reviewed according to the applicable Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program requirements and the responsibilities assigned to the landlord and tenant, Tyler said.
The office accepts applications every Monday thorugh Friday by appointment only from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tyler said, with appointments required in order to ensure that applicants receive appropriate assistance and that applicant privacy and confidentiality and the integrity of the application process are maintained.
The PHA requires landlords to fill out those papers beforehand and to have the property inspected in order to be on the list of available housing, so there doesn’t seem to be a need to fill out the forms and have the property inspected after the client finds the property, since that work has already been done, Delcambre said.
“So this and that doesn’t coincide for the average, general constituent that would be coming in to look for (housing),” she said. “So that may need to be tweaked for it to be the same because it sounded like the individual could have gotten a voucher and identified Miss Dundas (as a property owner to rent from) and then Miss Dundas could have called in to follow up. … At that point she could have reapplied and provided the documents according to the letter that (the PHA) gives the constituent when they’re approved for a voucher of how to go about it with the landlord. So those two things need to be reconciled to coincide with the policy, saying that before you find a home for approval, the landlord needs to come in and get put on our list.
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“So that may make this whole process a lot better and eliminate some of that other stuff that transpired.”
Delcambre said that inconsistencies need to be brought to the attention of the housing department, and Jean-Batiste said that’s what she was doing, and that she knows that some clients are told they can go find a home without being told the PHA maintains a list of available housing in the parish.
Capital outlay
The council discussed what items that council members wish to include in capital outlay requests to state legislators.
Councilman Hoyt Louviere asked that a helipad project on 4 Mile Bayou Road in Lower St. Martin Parish be included with land donated for the project.
Louviere said he wanted the project included last year after a young child nearly drowned a couple of years ago. The child was saved by nearby workers who had first aid and life support training. Louviere noted that the remote location and unpaved road meant a delay in getting an ambulance to the area, which is a concern for residents.
The landowner is willing to donate the property for use as a helipad. Tauzin said that a special meeting could be called to vote to accept the land and then approved at the regular council meeting. The land must be surveyed and an agreement signed committing the land, with the owner allowed to refuse to donate if the funding isn’t approved at the state level. Louviere also wants to include funding for extending the asphalt on 4 Mile Bayou Road, which is a gravel road, to the helipad property.
Councilman Vincent Alexander asked for funding for providing water service to additional homes along Ches Broussard Road.
A 2015-16 project had extended water service from the Cecilia Water Company to seven roads including Ches Broussard. All the other sections were completed but the work on Ches Broussard stopped before it reached Box Car Road, Alexander said, even though the project was certified as complete by the contractor and the then-parish president. Funding for that project was from a Louisiana Community Block Grant.
Tauzin said that he understood that the work was scheduled to be done in increments and the money ran out before that section was to be done.
The parish would have to enter into an agreement with the Cecilia Water Company, as it had before, but would also have to find out of the water company would be able to provide water if the project went through. If the Cecilia water supply would not be enough, an additional well might have to be drilled which could cost up to $10 million.
Alexander said he has had constituents bring the matter up to him during his entire tenure of eight years and he wants to get potable water to those residents.
“The people need to live a comfortable life, not worry about I can’t drink the water, when I take a shower I’m itching,” he said.
Bayou Chene structure
The council opted to send a new agreement to the St. Mary Levee District agreeing to a 10-year deal in which St. Martin Parish Government pays $75,000 annually to the levee district for its participation in an intergovernmental agreement regarding the Bayou Chene Flood Protection Structure.
The council had initially sent an agreement to the levee district stating it would pay $75,000 per year as its share of the upkeep for the structure that protects several parishes from flooding, including lower St. Martin Parish, but without agreeing to a 10-year commitment.
The new agreement would include a 10-year term of annual payments, without a commitment to an “openended” payment in the event that the structure requires replacement or substantial repairs.
Council Chairman Chris Tauzin expressed concerns that the deal still doesn’t address what the threshold is for closing the structure. The guidelines state that when the water level reaches the 7-foot flood mark near Morgan City, the structure is closed. By that point, Stephensville would already be flooded, Tauzin said.
(Chris Landry) But council members pointed out that any participating parish’s president can declare a state of emergency before the water reaches that level, which would trigger the levee district board to vote to close the structure.
Tauzin asked if it could be put in writing that the structure must be closed if a state of emergency was declared before the 7-foot trigger point was reached. Parish legal counsel Lee Durio said a declaration of emergency would be persuasive evidence for the board to take a vote. But nobody could guarantee the way a vote goes, he said.
The only difference between the proposed new agreement and the previous one would be a 10-year contractual term, with the parish able to back out of the agreement at any point if it feels the levee board is not doing all it can to protect Lower St. Martin. The council agreed to that amendment.
In other business
The council heard additional work to be done on the new Parks Library to add a 950-square-foot meeting room.
The project construction costs are currently $998,744, which is well below the $2.184 million bid for the project and the additional work would cost another $190,000 plus $13,983 for architectural fees, still leaving the cost at well below the budgeted money.
Because the project is below cost the council did not need to take action and the work will go forward.
The council also was given an annual LSU AgCenter report by County Extension Agent Stuart Gauthier and Ashley Istre, a 4-H agent.
Michelle Luquette, outreach liaison for the South Louisiana Community College, talked to the council about available resources and programs for the college, including its St. Martinville campus.
