Councilman says he expects unanimous approval
Councilman Shelley Tastet said that he expects the council to unanimously approve the hiring of Sizeler, Thompson, Brown Architects to design a new community center when they meet on April 19.
Last month, councilmembers Dennis Nuss, Marcus Lambert, Tastet, Larry Cochran, Billy Raymond, and Wendy Benedetto all voted against hiring the architectural firm because of questions they had about the selection process.
A panel of five parish employees, which included Chief Operating Officer Rusty Walker, Purchasing Director Bobby Donaldson, Parks and Recreation Director Duane Foret, Grants Officer Holly Fonseca, and a parish engineer, individually reviewed architectural firms that had applied for the job.
The list was eventually whittled down to five firms, and the panel then interviewed them and gave scores based on several different factors, including prior work.
Sizeler, Thompson, Brown received the top mark from the panel.
Several members of the council felt like at least one member should have been on the panel, and the council had a meeting with Parish President V.J. St. Pierre to discuss the issue.
Tastet said that meeting helped clear the air.
“We’re going to approve the architect selection and I think it’s going to be unanimous,” Tastet said. “Without a doubt that meeting helped us understand more about the selection process and should also help the council and administration communicate better as we move forward.”
Nuss agreed.
“I am also hopeful that we will receive more information on how things work earlier in the process for similar projects in the future,” he said.
The community center has been a highly sought after project by St. Pierre and will cost around $4.3 million. Because the building could be constructed to withstand 150 mile per hour winds, and because it can hold 1,000 people, it would also be used as a temporary shelter after storms.
Because of that ability, the parish has already been allocated a $4.8 million community development block grant as part of the Hurricane Gustav/Ike disaster recovery program. The land for the center was donated by the Esperanza Land Co.
Since the parish will use federal money to pay an architect for the project, the administration had to select a firm using a qualifications-based selection process.
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