Here is a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the City and Parish councils. To see the full agendas, check out the links below:
Parish Council
Final Adoption
College Library Cards. Dual ordinances would allow both South Louisiana Community College and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette students to use their student IDs as library cards in the Lafayette Public Library System. With this move, LCG looks to boost library visits by allowing college students easier access to library resources.
LPCC Waterproofing. LCG plans to increase spending on continued waterproofing at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center by $100,000. The waterproofing project made headlines earlier this month, when five employees of LCG contractor Stumpf Waterproofing Co. LLC, hired to perform work at LPCC, were detained by immigration enforcement. According to the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, a routine background check raised suspicions about the workers’ legal status, causing them to contact Homeland Security Investigations, which found the five workers to be lacking “legal documentation.”
Introduction
Opioid Settlement Funds. The parish is set to allocate roughly $700,000 from state opioid abatement funds, payouts from a settlement with major producers and distributors of opioid medications, to the construction of the Acadiana Crime Lab. The crime lab being built in New Iberia will serve eight parishes, including Lafayette, with the joint councils approving an ordinance requesting roughly $1.6 million to help fund the facility in 2023. The lab will replace the existing crime lab and include a gun range and a vehicle inspection station, along with lab spaces. The $26 million facility is set to open in the coming months and has received financial support from several Acadiana’s parishes. There is also a joint ordinance allocating $925,000 to the lab, completing the promise of $1.6 million from Lafayette.
City Council
Final Adoption
No Significant Items
Introduction
Bertrand Drive right-of-way. The next step for the Bertrand Drive revitalization project is to acquire the right-of-way along the corridor. This allows LCG to acquire the pieces of property needed for the project through expropriation of private land if necessary. The land may be needed for pedestrian infrastructure or to move utilities away from the roadway. The right-of-way zone in the ordinance covers Johnston Street slightly on both sides off of Bertrand, as well as Bertrand up until it intersects with North College. This includes the Bertrand/Johnston intersection, expected to include a newly designed pedestrian crossing.
Paratransit ADA buses. Lafayette is expecting over $3 million in Federal Transit Administration funding for new LCG ADA paratransit buses, as well as paying for continued service. The grant will pay for three ADA-compliant buses, as well as partially fund a fourth. The buses do not follow a specific route, but instead offer transport to disabled Lafayette residents, who are picked up by these specialized buses from their homes and care facilities. Lafayette is matching the over $3 million in FTA funds with $2.3 million in city funds…