A running dispute between Ascension Parish and regional power utility Demco is holding up progress on at least six road projects under the Move Ascension program, local officials say.
The fight is over who should pay to relocate the Dixie Electric Membership Corporation's utility lines and other infrastructure in the path of road widenings, roundabouts and other work planned under the multi-million-dollar parish road program, Ascension officials say.
Though parish officials did not detail a full list of affected projects, they said a long-awaited safety widening of narrow La. 930 and Henry Road in Prairieville were includedย โ areas where home construction has been heavy in recent years despite public opposition over poor road conditions.
But after weeks of talks with Demco, parish officials say negotiations have broken down; the Parish Council has now authorized its attorneys to "take any actions necessary, including legal actions," to force Demco to move their utilities.
Officials telegraphed that a lawsuit is likely imminent and have indicated the dispute could run into the few millions of dollars for all projects combined.
"I've exhausted negotiations at this point, in my opinion. It's time to take action," parish attorney Jean-Paul Robert told the council Thursday night.
During a debate over whether to use outside attorneys to handle the matter, Councilman Aaron Lawler, the transportation chairman, underscored the significance of the delays already.
"Demco has cost us a tremendous amount of time on this issue. This is both safety and traffic we're delaying. We have one of the most dangerous roads in the parish, Highway 930, which we could be under construction within two months once utilities are moved," said Lawler, whose district includes the highway and who has faced criticism over work on the road.
Officials at Demco, a rural electrical cooperative based in Baton Rouge, said on Friday that they've never been opposed to moving their power lines and other infrastructure under the rules laid out in state law.
"We are willing to relocate the facilities. We have been discussions with them to do that. We want to be compensated the fair cost of doing it," said Tommy Gildersleeve, Demco's outside counsel.
He added that the company is also running into delays in getting materials that could slow things by some months.
This dispute between Demco and parish government sheds light on one of those behind-the-scenes steps for road improvements that โ like sometimes contentious land acquisitionsย โ precede the arrival of crews with shovels and asphalt machines but often can slow progress on achieving the final product.
Underground pipelines, overhead power lines and other infrastructure often run along or under roadways and must be moved to make way for new, wider roads and especially the roundabouts that Ascension is planning. They often need more land than a typical intersection.
Under the state's general rules for this process, companies must pay to move utilities that are in government rights of way, but governments must pay companies to move utilities that are in the companies' land, sometimes known as easements.
Lawler has contended that Demco is trying to have the parish pay to move Demco utilities in the parish's rights of way. But Gildersleeve explained that in Demco's view, it's a little more complicated than that.
In some cases, the parish has argued that Demco should use public rights of way, Gildersleeve said, but the utility's engineers say they are too narrow to relocate Demco's infrastructure or put their lines too close to other utilities.
In other cases, the parish has just asked Demco to pay anyway, Gildersleeve said, and he said the cooperative, which is owned by its members โ the ratepayers โ can't just pass that cost on to them.
"In principle, we're willing to move, but, in practice, there's a number of complicating issues," he said.
After meeting in closed session for a time, the council voted, 8-3, on Thursday to pursue legal action but also identify specialized, outside legal counsel to take over the matter, if necessary.
Councilman Corey Orgeron had asked for outside counsel over the possibility of unspecified conflicts of interest that Robert, an assistant district attorney representing the parish, might have.
Orgeron said later he has been waiting to hear back on more information about possible conflicts; Robert said he didn't know what conflicts Orgeron might be talking about.