Maurice looks at ways to spend Rescue Plan funds

MAURICE — Local governments throughout the country are working on plans on how to spend federal funds aimed at easing some of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The village of Maurice is in line to receive $595,092.46 through the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by Congress earlier this year. Of the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, $350 billion is earmarked for state and local governments.
“There are certain stipulations on what it can be used for,” Maurice Mayor Wayne Theriot said. “One of them is infrastructure, water and sewer. Another is broadband, but we don’t have broadband. It does say other governmental services, so there are some questions.”
Maurice is scheduled to receive 50% of the funds this year, with the remainder coming exactly 365 days later.
Tom Carroll of Sellers & Associates said during the Board of Aldermen meeting on July 21 that water and sewer may be an area of focus.
“You may have sewer extensions that you want to incorporate,” Carroll said. “You may have some looping water lines that you want to incorporate. There are several things that could be eligible for the $595,000.
“You really have to look at your system to see what you want to do.”
Theriot said there is a preliminary list of projects.
“We have discussed some things,” Theriot said. “On our water going south, we made an extension into Picard Farms. It’s not a looped line. We are looking at taking this water, past Etienne (Road), where we extended, and go down Beau Road to loop the line. That is one thing it can be used for.”
Theriot said that option is near the top on the list of projects.
“That way we would have a total looped system,” Theriot said. “We would have that for services and fire protection. It would prevent what happened a few months ago, when the line at Etienne broke. It would prevent us from having to shut down the water. We could come around from the other side, and isolate that area. That would help out with the pressure and everything.”
Sewer is another option.
“We have certain areas where we do not provide sewer,” Theriot said. “That’s mainly around (La. Hwy.) 92. I have them looking at going to provide Lois Private Lane and Coyote Trail. There are about a dozen residents that we could service in that area.”
Roads would take precedence, should there be a way to include roadwork as part of the federal funds.
“If we get an approval to do roads,” Theriot said, “that would disregard those (previously mentioned) projects. We have a utility fund that we could eventually use to do those projects. We don’t have anything for roads. If they would approve us for roads, we could overlay all of the roads in town.”
Carroll said there is another water fund available that will require a match.
“They will be looking for a 25% match,” Carroll said. “We have been told that you can take some of the previous money, the $595,000, and use that for your 25% match.
“There are a lot of working parts, to see what you can and can’t do.”
Theriot said there are also discussions on constructing another water tower on the south side of Maurice. He said that could be located near the new sewer plant on Beau Road.
“That would be able to stabilize the pressure in that particular area,” Theriot said, “that way you are not relying on it coming from the north portion. That is something that could be looked at, especially with the matching fund. We would have to loop the line to get it here, and we would have to look at the cost of putting up an aerial tower.
“Looping the line and putting up an aerial tower would probably be most advantageous for us, using the $595,000 and the matching fund.”
Alderman Warren Rost said the plan for a water tower makes sense.
“Once that starts developing behind NuNu’s,” Rost said of the area along U.S. Hwy. 167, “you are looking at another 300 or 400 homes.”
Funds through the American Rescue Plan Act are eligible to cover losses in revenue that occurred due to the pandemic. Theriot said Maurice doesn’t qualify in that regard.
“We did not lose any revenue,” Theriot said. “We actually had a revenue increase. Our revenue increased 80 to 90% of what it was before.”