VIDALIA — Concordia Parish officials are still pursuing funding to replace an abandoned sewage system in the Washington Heights subdivision in Ferriday.

The current system had been abandoned when its previous owner declared bankruptcy in the early 1990s, leaving residents there with untreated sewage in a system that has endured decades of neglect, said Sandi Burley, Concordia Parish Police Jury secretary and treasurer.

The jury secured a little more than $400,000 from a Louisiana Community Development Block Grant in April 2018 to replace the system, and has since received multiple bids on the project.

However, none of the bids met the $404,000 cap on the grant even after revising the scope of the project, Burley said.

The lowest bid, which was opened last week, was $429,071.80 while other bids on the project were in excess of $500,000, said Jury President, Jimmy Wilkinson during a regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening.

Burley said the board would continue to seek grants from other sources to finish the project. Once started, the sewage system would be completed in six months or less, she said.

In other matters during Monday’s meeting of the Concordia Parish Police Jury, the board:

• Unanimously approved the reappointment of Jim Graves and Fred Marsalis to the Riverland Medical Center Hospital Board and Don Linder to the Concordia Parish Waterworks Board. The board also unanimously approved the appointment of Melvin Ferrington to the Concordia Parish Sewer Board.
• Unanimously approved invoices from Black River Services LLC in the amount of $13,207.50 for vegetation control in the Vidalia, Ridgecrest and Bigland canals.
• Unanimously approved a motion to advertise a public hearing for the creation of a speed limit of 25 mph on Terry Circle Drive.
• Unanimously approved occupational licenses for Mack’s Dog Supplies at 411 DA Biglane in Vidalia and My Touch hair salon at 382 Calhoun Road in Ferriday.