FERRIDAY — Ferriday’s town attorney said the town has done everything it can to get the stalled community center project going.

Attorney Derrick Carson addressed the Ferriday Downtown Revitalization Committee Wednesday about the issue.

The project is stalled in part because individuals who are employed by the city seem to not want to see the project go, Carson said.

Carson said he did not feel at liberty to name the individuals.

The mayor’s office is handling communications with the architect, engineers and contractors for the project, and the mayor plans to draft a letter to architect Chris Williams to get him to send the town the engineer’s report, Carson said.

Questions about the structural integrity of the building to be rennovated stalled the project in late November 2006, and a new engineer’s report was needed to address the matter.

The contractor, Arkel Constructors, Inc., is ready to begin as soon as they receive the engineer’s report, Carson said.

“After that, everything is smooth to go,” he said.

Town Council members and Mayor Gene Allen have pointed fingers at Williams for the project’s stalling in recent months, but Williams claims he stopped work on the project because he had not been paid.

The town paid Williams $20,942 in March to get the project back on track for April 1, and Williams said in late April he still considers the town a client.

He also said Arkel had quit the project because they had not been paid.

“We have paid every bill due and done everything we were supposed to,” Allen said.

The town council acted in good faith, advancing its own money to Arkel, Allen said. The project is being funded by grants by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development, and the town will be reimbursed by HUD.

Carson said there had been some misunderstanding with Arkel because they were communicating through third parties.

“As soon as we started talking directly with Arkel things started going smoothly,” he said.

The town wants to settle the matter as amicibly as possible, but it is running out of options, he said.

“The only way to force the issue is to bring the courts into it, and that will really bog it down,” said Ferriday Downtown Revitalization Committee President Anna Ferguson.

It is important to remember the community center is not the only project for the town, Allen said.

“Let’s not get focused on this one project and let us get sidetracked from rebuilding this city,” he said.