Parc Hardy to get new playground equipment

A 15-year-old set of playground equipment at the city’s flagship park, is to be replaced.
At the May 12 council meeting, Mayor Ricky Calais received approval to move forward with preparations to replace the larger of the Parc Hardy’s two sets of equipment. “That equipment has cracked plastic parts and other problems,” he said, “I don’t think it will be worth hiring a contractor to repair it any further at this point.”
Calais added that, with the equipment’s foundation still in good condition, the cost will be lower than if a new foundation had to be added as well.
The Crawfish Festival Association usually helps with funding purchases like this for Parc Hardy, the location for the popular festival. But its ability to do so at this time will be limited by the cancelation of the 2020 festival, scheduled for May 2-3, due to the COVID-19 crisis.
But Calais said Association president Marc Bernard told him the non-profit group will help with the purchase as much as possible now and reimburse the city further after the 2021 festival.

Projects Updated
•Calais reported that a pre-construction meeting is to be held this week in preparation for the Poydras Street water line extension project. Construction should begin in about two weeks.
•Bidding for the Martin Street sidewalk project is set for this week with construction probably starting in July.
•The Baldwin Street drainage project, which has been delayed for years awaiting approval from railroad authorities, has finally received that clearance. Calais expects work to begin in two to three weeks.
•The Berard Street resurfacing/drainage project is now complete. The mayor commended the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for funding the extensive undertaking. The project was initially estimated to cost $500,000 but ballooned to around $1.2 million due to an underestimate of the extent of drainage improvements needed.
Calais thanked the Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development and its regional engineering manager Bill Oliver for funding the city’s 20 percent match needed to secure the MPO grant at no cost to Breaux Bridge taxpayers.
Finally, the city has been unable to find a suitable used dump truck to purchase for the Public Works Dept. That may necessitate the expenditure of $90,000 for a new truck rather than the $50,000 budgeted for a used one. A new excavator has been purchased, Calais said, and has already been put to work clearing drainage ditches.