Karl D. Jeter
[email protected]
After working less than one year in the position of director of Public Works for St. Martin Parish, Martin Poirrier has resigned.
The reasons for his resignation have not been made clear, but he reportedly left on good terms. Poirrier was hired in February to fill the position which had been vacant since the death of Cassie Alexander in October 2014.
Parish President Chester Cedars announced Poirrier’s departure at the Nov. 5 parish council meeting, adding that he had a well-qualified nominee in mind to replace Poirrier and that public works operations “would not miss a beat” due to the resignation.
Cedars said that, like Poirrier, the nominee is an engineer, program manager and a St. Martin Parish native. The name will probably be made public later this week.
In other business, the council will consider whether to weigh in on a state-approved Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP) for the Louisiana Sugar Cane Cooperative (LaSuCa). This would be the second such exemption granted in the parish this year. The first was awarded to Peppers Unlimited.
When reviewing the Peppers Unlimited exemption, Cedars and his administrative staff developed a set of criteria, such as prospective employment increases, uniqueness of the business and other factors, to ensure a non-arbitrary method for evaluating the applications.
The council will vote on the issue at its Dec. 3 meeting.
The council also awarded a $680,000 contract to low bidder M. Matt Durand LLC for the replacement of deteriorated bridges on Four-Mile Bayou Road in Lower St. Martin. The contract must also be ratified by the state Office of Facility Planning and Control.
Repairs to the road were halted two years ago when the weight limit on the three bridges was lowered following a state inspection.
Finally, Cedars reported that the parish will readvertise for bids on the Bayou Estates floodwall after receiving only one bid in the amount of $9.4 million, more than twice the projected budget.
