St. Tammany News

Slidell Mayor Ben Morris measures how a year has gone by how much fighting he has had to do with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“The last three years were rough, last year especially,” Morris said on the last day of 2008. Despite the continuing wrangling with FEMA bureaucracy, Morris said there were some high points for the city in 2008.

“We’ve finally resolved the senior center issue,” he said.

FEMA has finally agreed to pay for the demolition and rebuilding of the Slidell Senior Center that has lain dormant for the past three years. Bids on the construction should go out in about six months, Morris said.

FEMA also reimbursed the city some $1 million for repairs to the town’s sewage system that were done by Slidell after Hurricane Katrina. The city is still waiting for a FEMA decision on reimbursement for all the work done to repair the city’s drainage system. Another major FEMA-related issue that is pending is what to do with the Municipal Auditorium, which was heavily damaged by flooding. Morris would like to see it torn down and rebuilt, while FEMA is proposing renovation and the addition of a 6-foot high floodwall around the auditorium. Negotiations are continuing, Morris said.

“I want to put FEMA behind us,” Morris said.

Despite the downturn in the economy and sales taxes, Morris said the city is prepared for 2009. He said the city has $6 million left over from last year and has taken $3.5 million of that and put it in an account to take care of budgetary shortfalls that may come up in 2009. Morris said once the sales tax figures for December come in, he would have a clearer economic picture for the city government.

For 2009, Morris wants to start getting city workers out of the series of trailers on Bayou Lane and into regular offices. For that, the city will open up bids for construction on Jan. 15 for the new Municipal Administration building on Second Street next door to the City Hall. He hopes to have the building finished in 18 months with the construction of a second municipal building on the same site to begin shortly thereafter. The only sticking point to that is getting a state permit to demolish the old University of New Orleans building on the site. Morris said he is waiting for the state to issue the permit.

McDonald Construction won the bid to repair the Fritchie Gym, and that should begin next week, Morris said. Also, bids for the Slidell Animal Shelter will be opened Jan. 15. The $3 million shelter will be built on the site of the Old Mosquito Abatement District office on Terrace Avenue.

Morris said he hopes the city can buy the Long Stay Motel in 2009, demolish it and use the 15,000 square feet to help Olde Towne. The motel has been an eyesore to Olde Towne residents.

“It’s been a law enforcement nightmare since I was police chief,” Morris said. He doesn’t know what the space would be used for but suggested a much-needed parking lot would be appropriate.

All in all, Morris said 2008 was “not a great year” for the city even though it came out with a surplus of $6 million, which will help to handle expected shortfalls in 2009.

“It wasn’t catastrophic for the city, and we have the measures to handle shortfalls. I do not see a big decline for the city,” Morris said. “We’ll see how it works out.”