Opelousas council backs recommendation to hire third party to manage, train water and sewer staff

Opelousas City Council members voted to forward a recommendation from the city engineer to the full council asking the city to seek a third party to manage day-to-day operations and provide training at its three utilities facilities. The motion, made during a council meeting, passed by voice vote with no opposition and was placed on the full council agenda for Sept. 9, 2025.

Council members and staff told the council the immediate problems at the water and sewer plants include aging equipment, gaps in operator certification and a lack of an established maintenance reserve. City staff and outside consultants said the city should set aside a maintenance ("appreciation") account so the municipality can replace failed equipment without waiting months or years for loan funds to arrive.

The city engineer described the limits of LDH loans and the need to prepare for equipment life cycles: "life of the equipment is probably gonna be, let's say, 20 years, but the warranty of the equipment gonna be 5 years," the engineer told the council. Council members and staff cited examples in which equipment has reached 20-plus years of service and noted that major replacement costs can be six figures; one participant said a needed replacement could cost about $120,000.

Staff and consultants urged a combined short- and long-term approach: hire an experienced management contractor now to stabilize operations and provide on-site daily direction, while simultaneously building apprenticeship and school-to-work pipelines that would grow the pool of certified operators over time. The Louisiana Rural Water Association (LRWA/BRWA) was identified as a potential local training partner; the city also discussed institutional knowledge losses when long-tenured operators leave and the value of revitalizing an O&M (operations and maintenance) manual and logs.

Council members asked staff to obtain cost estimates from potential vendors and to bring back details for the Sept. 9 meeting. Alderman Gilbo, who made the motion, said the council should "start looking ASAP for a third party to come in" to manage operations and train staff. The motion was seconded by Alderman Warren and carried by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

Background and context: participants repeatedly noted that LDH loans and bonds typically pay for capital projects and may not be available for emergency equipment replacement, making a city-maintained maintenance fund important for resilience. Staff also described ongoing steps taken immediately, including reassigning personnel, bringing a former operator (identified as Israel) back on site and assigning internal accountability roles for daily logs and trend review.

The council did not approve a contract at the meeting; it approved a recommendation to bring a formal proposal and cost estimates before the full council for further action. The council directed staff to pursue vendor contacts and return with pricing and specifics at the next full-council meeting.