The Cameron Parish Police Jury recently hired a PR firm and a lobbying firm. Who are they, and how much are they going to cost?

Cameron Parish Administrator Ryan Bourriaque said the Police Jury hired the Lake Charles-based O’Carroll Group to do public relations, develop and maintain a Facebook page, and to video panel meetings.

O’Carroll bills the Police Jury on an hourly basis, with the annual cost of the agreement not to exceed $19,500, Bourriaque said.

The Police Jury and the West Cameron Port Board have split the costs for a state lobbyist since April 2012, he said.

“In June of 2015, the parish added a federal lobbying component to the current contract for services with The Picard Group at a rate of $132,000 a year,” Bourriaque wrote in an email.

“This federal assistance was essential in addressing issues with FEMA, EPA, the Corps of Engineers, and coastal restoration issues for the parish.”

According to the Port Board’s latest financial report, released in July, the port in 2015 paid the parish $37,500 “for professional fees related to legislative, governmental and public relations services.”

www.parishofcameron.net; www.lla.la.gov.

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Extension project submitted to feds

The last article on connecting Nelson Road with West Sallier Street was done on Sept. 22, 2013. Do you have any update to report on that connection?

Deidra Druilhet, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation and Development, said DOTD recently submitted a draft environmental assessment report to the Federal Highway Administration and the Coast Guard.

Once the state receives comments from the federal agencies, DOTD will hold a public hearing on the project, which will comprise the extension of Nelson to West Sallier via a bridge over Contraband Bayou; the relocation of the Port of Lake Charles’ rail spur along West Sallier; and the city’s widening of West Sallier.

“After the public hearing, we’re estimating two years to complete design work and let the bridge project,” Druilhet wrote in an email.

“Please keep in mind that the relocation of the rail spur is required before we can construct the bridge. Also, the widening of West Sallier Street is independent of the bridge and rail spur relocation projects.”

The article the reader refers to was an Informer column that included maps of the various project ideas. The maps can be seen at www.scribd.com/doc/169948398/Connecting-Nelson-Road-to-West-Sallier-Street.

The descriptions that accompany the maps:

Alternate 1: “This proposal extends Nelson Road across Contraband Bayou and connects to W. Sallier Street with a curved alignment. A relocation of the Port of Lake Charles railroad is proposed here.”

Alternate 2: “ This proposal also extends Nelson Road across Contraband Bayou and connects to W. Sallier Street with a curved alignment. There is also a relocation of the railroad. The difference is that this proposal includes a connection to the Port of Lake Charles with a roundabout intersection.”

Alternate 3: “Alternate 3 proposes to extend the Contraband Bayou Bridge over the existing Port of Lake Charles railroad and connect directly to a relocated W. Sallier Street. A relocation of the Port of Lake Charles railroad is not proposed here.”