Parish and municipal governments above a certain population have been required to use an electronic bidding system for a number of years.
Last year, the legislature lowered the population boundary, bringing Webster under the requirement.
The intention behind the system was to allow vendor bids from other geographical areas to increase competition and lower costs. However, in practice it doesn't appear to be working.
"The large municipalities have had the experience that nobody participates in the system," Assistant District Attorney Patrick Jackson said.
Shipping costs of distant vendors have thrown a wrench into the works as well.
"Of the two electronic bids (Bossier) had," Jackson said, "they were for toilet paper and some other products from Minnesota. Ultimately they could not deliver and so they had to cancel those contracts."
The system allows a maximum distance to a vendor's location to be set.
According to WPPJ Secretary/Treasurer Ronda Carnahan, this means the bids still come from the same people as before implementation of the system.
Also, the vendors must submit both electronic and paper bids and WPPJ has to pay expensive fees for access to the electronic bidding system.
One solution has been for smaller parishes to "piggy-back" off larger parishes' bids. However, there are some items that are unique to Webster and must be bid out separately.
A standard yearly resolution from the Town of Sibley requesting culverts was also approved, however a culvert inside Minden was more complicated.
According to WPPJ President Charles Walker, each municipality is budgeted by WPPJ for culvert work. As with Sibley, requests for culvert work are submitted each year.
The culvert at issue is near a Masonic lodge just off Industrial Drive. It is part of Minden's system and has come before the jury before. The question is what purpose the culvert serves.
According to Jackson, if the culvert retains natural drainage paths or benefits the public at large, WPPJ can legally work on the culvert without charging whoever actually owns the land.
If the culvert does neither of these things, then it must be paid for by whoever owns the land.
WPPJ will investigate the status of the culvert in question and revisit it again once determined.
A bridge replacement was also approved; one that won't cost the parish.
"We received correspondence from DOTD (Department of Transportation and Development) that the parish is once again eligible for the off-system bridge replacement fund program," Parish Engineer Brad Graff said.
"Off-system" refers to bridges that are not federally or state maintained, according to Graff.
The parish has $519,000 to work with, and DOTD provided a list of 14 eligible bridges. All but six were either repaired or more expensive than money available.
Braly Creek Bridge on Smithsville Road just south of Springhill Airport was selected at an estimated $354,000 cost.
"Some of our reasoning for recommending this bridge," Graff said. "There's no utility relocation issues which is one of the requirements for placing a bridge on our priority list, and no right of way issues which is another criteria that's required. This bridge has a high ADT (average daily travel) and serves a lot of people."
According to Graff, it will take two to three years before DOTD approval for bid requests, which will likely increase the expense due to increasing construction costs in the intervening years.
Other business
Additional agenda items and comments from road committee and police jury meetings follow:
Approved repair of base failures on Main Street Heflin. The municipality will pay for the work.
Approved permission to cut a dead tree on private land encroaching onto Evergreen Road parish right-of-way.
Approved pavement markers on both sides of Goodwill Road at Bellvue Road and Caney Lake Road at Louisville Road.
Council on Aging was allotted $600 for van tires and $500 for a dishwasher in Springhill.
Union Grove Water System received $1,000 for water lines.
The Town of Sarepta received $2,500 for a digital sign.
A resolution and service agreement for compliance with 2011 Louisiana Community Development Block Grant for the Jenkins Water System.
Approved computer upgrade of financials of WPPJ.
Approved travel expenses for Annual Police Jury Convention in Houma from February 23-25.
