Steve Bandy /Crowley Post-Signal
After heaping praise on the efforts of Mosquito Control Services and its consultant, Glenn Stokes, in the wake of Hurricane Laura, the Acadia Parish Police Jury voted 6-2 Tuesday to advertise for a new contract.
“This is not about the storm,” said Juror Steve Comeaux. “I’m happy with Mosquito Control and Mr. Stokes, but no one in my district is happy.”
“This has nothing to do with the storm. This all started before the storm,” added Jury President Chance Henry. “This has been in the works since probably April.”
In fact, it was at the May 5 meeting that jurors voted 5-1 to seek proposals for a new mosquito control contract. The parish has three years remaining on its current mosquito control contract.
At that meeting, Henry explained that, if the parish did not seek RFPs (requests for proposals), and “we have an emergency, we won’t get any reimbursement from FEMA.”
And that was the reason the parish called in Brett Bayard of Mader Engineering to consult on the contract after Hurricane Laura.
“I’m not a mosquito expert and never claimed to be,” Bayard said. “But we (Mader Engineering) have a lot of experience with FEMA.”
Bayard said the current contract with MCS does not include competitive bids for aerial spraying. It was based on “cost-plus” — 82 cents per acre plus cost of chemicals.
“FEMA wants a ‘total’ bid,” Bayard said.
In all, 421,000 acres — all of Acadia Parish — received aerial application over the Labor Day weekend. According to Bayard, the parish “could” be reimbursed by FEMA for 156,100 of those acres.
Bayard explained the requests for proposals, saying that the contract was being split into two — one for ground spraying and one for aerial application. Each three-year pact would include a 90-day notice of termination by either party at their discretion.
“We’re shooting to bring this back to the (Mosquito Control) committee in November,” he said.
Bayard said he hopes to open bids Oct. 22 or 29.
But not everyone was on board with the action.
“I want to know exactly how much (Mader Engineering) has charged the parish since this whole thing started,” said Juror A.J. “Jay” Credeur.
Stokes also took issue with the jury action.
“I question the qualifications of Maer Engineering in dealing with this,” he said. “I don’t think there is a need for an engineer.”
A medical entomologist, Stokes is the former owner of Mosquito Control Contractors, Inc., and had the contract for mosquito control in Acadia Parish for about 16 years.
MCCI was purchased by MCS.
“We have done everything asked of us,” Stokes continued. “We performed beyond our requirements after Laura.”
He explained that Acadia Parish is the first parish in the state to be completely sprayed since the hurricane.
“This company has done nothing wrong,” Stokes continued. “We have 29 contracts in the southeast and are in nine parishes in Louisiana.
“I consider this a slap in the face for you to go out for RFPs.”
When ultimately put to a vote, only Pat Daigle joined Credeur in voting against seeking RFPs.
Credeur said he was voting no because “we have a contract and all of this (FEMA compliance) could have been handled with a contract amendment.”
Voting in favor of seeking RFPs were Henry, Comeaux, Walter Andrus, Jeffery Morgan, Gordon Morgan and Jimmie Pellerin.
In explaining the post-hurricane activities of MCS, Stokes noted that a West Nile Virus-positive mosquito had been discovered in the parish.
“We found it in the southeast quadrant of the parish, in Mr. (Gordon) Morgan’s district,” he said. “We went to full West Nile protocol, spraying the area three times, getting rid of mosquito pools, spraying larvacide in the ditches, etc.”
He said subsequent testing has not found any trace of West Nile.