“Ditches and Culverts and Fee’s Oh my!”
The Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury recently adopted a new cost cutting measure of putting an end to driveway installations by Parish crews. In 2004 the jury reported completing 150 such installations.
A plan for the Jury to charge a $200.00 fee for the service was rejected by a 7-5 vote. In a separate motion it voted to stop driveway installations altogether by a 7-4 vote with one juror abstaining from the vote. They did however approve a $50.00 permit fee and inspection fee.
There we have! The last of the service to individuals, for the betterment of all. A service now redefined as an “extra frill” and “buddy, buddy installations. One juror was quoted as saying “The installation fee of $200.00, still would not cover the jury’s cost for materials and labor”. This has been a service provided to rural landowners for many years. In the old days it was a service because landowners didn’t have access to their property and the Parish helped them to get access. Access was the key word. Access to their home, the road, the mailbox and the school bus. Now it’s considered an “extra frill”.
What’s involved? Twenty years ago the landowner had to purchase and deliver culverts of an approved size from someone who sells culverts to the site where they are to be installed. You couldn’t get them from the Parish. A Parish road crew of a couple guys would show up with a track hoe and cleans the ditch out where the culverts would go and then would tie onto culverts , sometimes with a chain, and sometimes they could roll them into place. Once the first one is in place they push a reusable grader blade on the end to prevent the culverts from sliding. They roll the next one in place and push the culvert with the track hoe bucket until each culvert is joined to the other. They repeat this process and place another old grader blade on the end. A parish truck shows up with dirt dug out from a ditch somewhere and dumps it onto the culverts until it is the approximate grade as the road. The track hoe operator packed down the dirt and mud the best he could. The grader blades could be removed but were often left in because they were more trouble than they are worth. I have seen these done in an hour. The landowner would have to smooth out the driveway and add gravel on his own.
The concern for labor costs is understandable but what is this material cost? The culverts must be purchased by the landowner. The dirt comes out of ditches that have to be cleaned anyway so all that is left are the reusable grader blades that are temporarily pushed in to hold the culverts in place. Have they gotten away from the old way of doing things and began supplying top soil, culverts and gravel? Are they putting in 2 driveways so that landowners can have a horseshoe driveway? Is it possible they attempted to appease everyone and it turned into an expensive monster? If so, address that issue without eliminating the service.
If the police jury turns this task over to local contractors how long will it be before the public has to use a “police jury approved” contractor? Is this “buddy buddy system” just being handed over to another “buddy”?
There are families just starting out, that need access to their property. It may not seem like much but when your just starting out any kind of help you can get is welcomed. When you can get help from your police juror it helps you breath a sigh of relief. Your glad you voted for him. Those who are generating revenue from the land they are trying to access should have to pay for it, and the police jury’s recent decision fits the application. It’s a legitimate business expense and the Parish should not be involved too deeply. There is no doubt that the task needs to be refined to prevent abuse by the public, to reduce costs but this is a helpful task that we can look to for assistance from our police jurymen. What’s next? Will they discontinue cleaning out ditches in front of your house?
I would hope the police jury would reconsider their decision and look for an alternative solution that is less “anti-helpful”. If you turn this over to contractors the taxpayers of this community are sure to get clipped! We will have to pay for the culverts, pay for the permit, the dirt, the gravel and the installation and the next thing you know were coughing up $500.00 - $1000.00 for a lousy driveway. For kids just starting out with a family that’s a lot of money. It appears at first glance that only 4 police jurors recognized that this was a valuable public service. I don’t vote for a juror who’s ability is limited to being able to cast a vote. You can elect anybody to cast a vote at a meeting. I vote for a juror who can do things for individuals, who can influence actions if I call on him for assistance. If you eliminate the things you can do for individuals then what are you going to use for the reason to get you elected?