[StBernard] Ground breaking held for $5.5 million St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Annex

[Westley Annis]

Ground breaking held for $5.5 million St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Annex 

Parish President Craig Taffaro and Sheriff Jack Stephens took turns on the
pile driving machine pounding some of the initial pilings

 

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro and Sheriff Jack A. Stephens
gathered with a host of federal, state and local officials on Thursday,
April 15, to mark the ground-breaking and the driving of pilings for the new
$5.5 million Sheriff's Office Annex, set for completion in late December and
touted as a major step in the growth and recovery of St. Bernard.

 

President Taffaro and Sheriff Stephens got into the pile-driving machine and
pounded some of the initial pilings into the ground to celebrate this
important project. Its price tag of $5.5 million - funded mostly by FEMA and
a small of amount of insurance proceeds - includes the construction, design
work and demolition of the initial structure. 

 

"It's great to get to this day in our recovery," President Taffaro said. "A
permanent site to house all of the Sheriff's Office administrative functions
is a key signal to our residents that our growth is continuing." Parish
government is responsible for the demolition and construction of the new
building, which will be located behind the St. Bernard Courthouse in
Chalmette.

 

Both Taffaro and Stephens thanked the design team and the project managers,
Rick Stierwald from the parish and Col. Harold Hughes from the Sheriff's
Office, as well as thanking Mike Karl, FEMA's Acting Deputy Director for
Programs from the Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office for FEMA's support,
and state officials.

 

Stephens said, "As I ride through the parish, I see all the signs of
progress and I'm encouraged and optimistic about the future of the parish.''
He added, "There is construction everywhere and I want to thank Craig
(President Taffaro) and the council for their hard work in helping us." 

 

FEMA's Mike Karl praised the local officials for the progress they are
making. "I see this (the re-building of the Sheriff's Annex) as another
milestone in the recovery of the parish,'' Karl said.

 

The project included the initial demolition of the original two-story annex
last spring that is now being rebuilt to house the administrative offices of
the Sheriff. The annex that will have 11,000 square feet will have two
stories of office space elevated 8 feet off of the ground. 

 

The Katrina-damaged building, completed around 1963, housed Police Jury
officials until the late 1970s when the Sheriff's Office functions moved
into the two-story office complex connected to the St. Bernard Courthouse.

 

Currently, the Sheriff's administrative offices operate out of 8301 W. Judge
Perez Drive in Chalmette in the Sidney Torres Plaza/Regions Bank Building.

 

Sheriff Stephens said the new administrative building will be more
convenient for public and law enforcement because it will bring all the
elements of the parish criminal justice system closer together.

 

The sheriff also said the Sheriff's Office is negotiating with FEMA in hopes
of being able to demolish the old jail building next to the annex and
rebuild it as another site to house prisoners, in addition to Parish Prison
on Paris Road at St. Bernard Highway.

 

Devier Construction LLC is the contractor for the Annex. The project has
been designed by Kyle Associates LLC Fauntleroy and Latham Architects, APC.
Clyde Burnett is the project manager for CDM and Dennis Tauzin has oversight
over all FEMA-funded recovery projects for St. Bernard, and Rick Stierwald
of the St. Bernard Parish Department of Public Works is the project manager
and resident inspector. Col. Harold Hughes is the Sheriff's Liaison for FEMA
recovery projects. This project is being overseen and managed by St. Bernard
Parish Recovery Director Michael Dorris, Jr. and his staff.

 

For more information about the Sheriff's Office, visit the website at
www.sbso.org <http://www.sbso.org/> . For more information about Growth and
Recovery in St. Bernard Parish, visit our website at www.sbpg.net
<https://mail.sbpg.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.sbpg.net/> .

 

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