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VIDALIA, La. — What seems a little problem has been a cause of grief for many months for the Concordia Paris Police Jury — an overgrowth of lily pads totally covering and causing drainage issues in Ferriday water at the beginning of Cocodrie Bayou.

District 1B Police Juror Maurice Bachus Sr., who has long been seeking answers to the parish’s lily pad problem, thinks he might finally have the answer. 

The police jury approved the engagement of Pond Doctor LLC based in Port Barre for the work of cleaning the bayou and ridding it of the lily pads by a vote of 5-0 at Monday’s regular meeting. Members Wilbert Washington, Kenny Simpson, Genesia Allen, and Collin Edwards were absent during Monday’s meeting.

Though the water is too high to do anything about it now, Bachus said the Pond Doctor could clear the lily pads for $2,400 per 8-hour day of work plus $100 for travel. It may take one day or two to clean the bayou based on the severity of the lily pad problem, officials said. Because the cost of the service is less than $5,000, it doesn’t require the police jury to seek bids.

“Once he pulls them up, he’ll never have to come back,” as long as the police jury continues to spray to stop the lily pads from growing back, Bachus said.

The police jury have been discussing the lily pad issue since Bachus took office in 2020. 

They are so widespread that they are too far out into the water to be reached with parish equipment and — even during winter months when they are brown — cover the surface of the water. 

“If you didn’t know it was there, you’d think it was part of the ground,” Bachus said.

The company uses a track hoe on a boat that can scoop the pads out or push them closer to the bank to be cleaned out.

“It’s like a bulldozer on water basically with a big rake that scoops them up,” said the parish superintendent Tony Guillory.

In other matters during Monday’s meeting, the police jury discussed seeking an emergency contractor to remove a fallen oak tree from a parish ditch near 265 Rabb Road. 

The tree poses a hazard but is so large that “there is nothing we can do” with parish equipment, Guillory said. “It’s humongous.”

Police Jury president Cornell Lewis also asked the Superintendent to look at removing a beaver dam that is stopping up the Vidalia Canal and fixing a sinking culvert on Leo Ivy Road.

The police jury also approved Natchez Heating and Cooling to install a commercial HVAC unit for the courthouse for $11,271.

No additional action was taken during Monday’s meeting.