Mega Ramp – Priorities

Last week we reported sewage contamination, including fecal coliform, from the Town of Farmerville flowing into Lake D’Arbonne because the Town has refused to bring the sewage treatment plant into compliance under Mayor John Crow’s administration, despite a clear warning from Riley Engineering in April 2021, three months after Mayor Crow took office. That firm estimated a six-million-dollar renovation cost to bring the dilapidated and leaking system into compliance. Mayor Crow’s refusal to address the issue causes significant damages daily to development property downstream from the plant and continuous pollution of the lake.
In addition to the sewage pollution, the Town water quality standards are not being met, many residents recently receiving notices to that effect. Compounding the Town’s water problem is the continuing threat of Foster Farms to sue the Town over unacceptable quality of water being sold by the Town to that facility which is vitally important to the economic health of this parish.
Instead of responsibly addressing these concerns that pose significant monetary liability to the Town, Mayor Crow’s administration has been laser focused on bringing a Mega Ramp to the lake within the town limits on a specific site at the north shore of Lake D’Arbonne at its intersection with LA 15/33 – the TTR, LLC property mentioned in last week’s article. This indifference to health and pollution is gambling the health and welfare of the town and the lake, which is the most important draw for economic development.
Our readers will no doubt recall the effort led by Union Parish’s favorite son, Glen Post III, and others to bring a much-needed community college to Farmerville. Mr. Post’s relationship with then Governor John Bell Edwards led to the approval and capital outlay for a new college here. Senator Cathey took full credit for not only that but also the approval and capital outlay for the “Mega Ramp” which it seems was the stealth project – specifically designed to ride the “wake” of the college effort, but “trump” the much needed college – and it did when the budget reconciliation committee in February 2024 cut the much needed college but left intact the capital outlay for the Mega Ramp, which seems to be shaping up to be a “mega-mess”. Senator Cathey, although an incumbent, narrowly won re-election by touting these “accomplishments” when challenged by businessman Ned White last fall. Senator Cathey was not there to protect the college funding the following February, but he made sure to keep the Mega Ramp in play.
So, how did the Mega Ramp funding survive to the detriment of the college?
Senator Cathey occupies the senate seat once held by Mike Walsworth, who hand-picked Cathey to succeed him when he termed out in 2020. In 2020 Mayor Crow was elected. Also, in 2020 Walsworth was defeated in his bid to secure another public office, Clerk of Court for Ouachita Parish. Walsworth and Crow were then business partners in C&W Properties of Louisiana, LLC, a company owning a medical lab leased to tenants in Ouachita Parish.
Walsworth failed at acquiring another public office, so Crow hired his business partner as a consultant, for $1,000 per month, for the Town of Farmerville. At the end of this year the Farmerville taxpayers will have paid Walsworth over $48,000 without having issued him any written contract or receiving from him any written report or invoice. Simultaneously, Walsworth is hired out to Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser as a consultant to represent his interests in the area – at what appears to be some $80,000 per year. The Gazette could not find Walsworth listed as a lobbyist which is a requirement under Louisiana law if one seeks to persuade government officials, especially legislators, on behalf of clients. Walsworth and Crow were point on arranging legislative support for the college and Mega Ramp and that legislative person taking credit for re-election purposes was Senator Cathey.
The public records reflect the following as to the Mega Ramp. The site chosen by the Town was owned by TTR, LLC, the members being Caskey Terral 50 per cent, Trey Towns, 25 per cent and Jared Ramsey 25 per cent. TTR was formed in November 2022. Towns and Ramsey paid Terral $1,356,450 for their combined half interest. At Crow’s urging, the town council approved paying for infra-structure to the TTR property. Then in January 2023, Mayor Crow sold a substantial undivided interest in property he personally owned to TFR, LLC, a company owned by Trey Towns, the total sales price being $1,200,000. Although he had been advancing the financial interest of Mr. Towns before this transaction on issues relating to the ramp and college and continued to do so after receiving his part of the $1,200,000 from Mr. Towns company, he nevertheless failed to disclose to the council or the public this apparent “conflict of interest”, although he had an experienced paid consultant, at taxpayer expense, with whom to consult. Meanwhile, Mayor Crow’s administration has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Enviro Services during his term as Mayor. Through only December 2023, under Crow’s administration, Enviro had been paid $286,000.00 according to FOIA responses from the town. Mr. Towns is an owner of Enviro.
In February 2024, Mayor Crow ordered the town to pay TTR $250,000 for the ramp site for what is basically a wide drainage area along the highway. The council authorized Mayor Crow to acquire the site, which typically results in a warranty deed, usually with title insurance. Instead, Crow acquired the property under a confusing document which did not warrant title and did not obtain either a title opinion or a title insurance policy. The document is called a “Deed Option and Cooperative Endeavor Agreement” which arguably exposes the town to more liability because of the risk that TTR might now argue it has additional contractual rights the council did not intend be given. Both TTR and the Town were represented by attorneys so, this was not a mere oversight.
More troubling is the fact that the Town, according to FOIA responses, has no studies on feasibility, has no permits which are required under the clean water act, does not know the wetland impact which must be mitigated through the U. S. Army Corps, has not cleared the underlying natural gas pipeline issues as to whether construction can actually occur, does not know the cost of the project and has failed to address the myriad other factors that might prevent use of the site. Typically, all of these factors are resolved before sites are purchased, especially if public funds are involved.
The quarter million dollars paid to TTR came from the town’s sales tax fund – not the much-touted capital outlay from the state. Many citizens question the urgency of Mayor Crow to pay TTR when he could have merely entered into a real estate purchase agreement to purchase the property once all permits had been acquired, as is customary and perhaps legally required with use of public funds. Instead, he paid his friends a quarter million dollars with public funds without any warranty from them and in the process entangled the town in a “cooperative endeavor agreement” not authorized by the town council.
Additional problems on the horizon for this project include the requirement that the Town pay an additional $2,250,000 match, money it does not have unless it uses tax incremental financing, which is a fancy way of saying “borrow it” and repay it from future sales tax income, again money the Town does not have. Tax incremental financing has not faded from recent memory given the Town advanced some $450,000 in recent years under that program to build streets that go nowhere at Folly Beach. Not one penny of sales tax has been generated as a result of that expenditure, yet the taxpayers are burdened with retiring those bonds which benefited only one company, the owner of the land that promised it would bring a convenience store and fast-food franchise to that site. That did not happen.
Many citizens are disappointed at the loss of the college which would have been of much more benefit to the young people of our area than another fishing ramp. Although a local businessman offered to donate a shovel ready site with all infra-structure in place, next to the Union Parish Sheriff’s office, which he also donated the land for, Crow, Walsworth, Cathey and others led the charge to put the college on the TTR property, directly and indirectly persuading, the Delta Community College System to reject the free site in favor of the TTR site at a cost of $1,250,000 for that site plus untold millions in infra-structure cost to be paid by the Town for the benefit of the TTR property. No doubt this was a factor in losing the funding for the college at the state level.
Most residents would prefer the Town resources be dedicated to cleaning up our drinking water and stopping sewage from contaminating the lake, rather than being wasted on another boondoggle that drains public resources and enriches political pals. Keeping the lake clean and healthy is vital to the entire region.
These factors raise legitimate questions about what is motivating Mayor Crow and his consultants and fellow politicos. Cronyism can be costly, especially to the taxpayer. Farmerville already has the highest sales tax rate in the state, thanks to the efforts of Walsworth when he was Senator. Raising the sales tax so much required a special act of the legislature.
Qualifying for the offices of mayor and council are this month and there are many questions the incumbents need to answer to justify re-election. Fresh faces there would be a welcome sight to many overtaxed citizens.
Public records supporting this article may be viewed at fgazette.com.