The Ascension Parish Council has decided to put off tonight’s scheduled vote on a new 30-year deal to finance, build and operate a new $215 million regional sewer system.
Amid growing questions about terms of the deal—a public private partnership between the parish and the privately owned Ascension Sewer LLC, which was created and is largely owned by Baton Rouge-based private equity firm Bernhard Capital Partners—the parish council amended the item on tonight’s meeting agenda calling for action on the proposed contract to one merely allowing for discussion.
Newly elected Ascension Parish President Clint Cointment, who doesn’t take office until January, has called on the outgoing council in recent days to slow down the process and consider renegotiating the terms of the deal to make it more favorable to the parish and its rate payers. He says the decision to postpone tonight’s vote is the right one.
“It allows for more public input and greater transparency,” Cointment says. “This is the single most important contract that Parish Government has ever entered into.”
Accounting firm E&Y, which recently completed a review of the proposed contract between the parish and Ascension Sewer, pointed to several potential trouble spots in the deal in a lengthy, written evaluation.
Councilman Dempsey Lambert, one of just five council members who will be returning to the 11-member body in January, says he also wants to take a closer look at the deal.
“We owe it to the incoming parish president and newly elected council persons to allow them to have input,” he says. “They will inherit this agreement.”
Ascension Parish Director of Infrastructure William Daniel, who has been spearheading the deal, says he believes the proposed contract is in the best interest of the parish, which has an aging, decentralized and inefficient sewer system that poses health hazards to residents. He’s worried if something isn’t done soon, the federal Environmental Protection Agency will order the parish to fix the problem under the terms of a consent decree.
Still, he says he’s not disappointed by the council’s decision to seek more information.
“It’s a complicated project and I want the council to feel completely comfortable with the contract,” he says.
