[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Officials celebrate St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Annex grand opening

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Officials celebrate St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Annex
grand opening

 

With the cutting of the ribbon to mark the completion of the St. Bernard
Parish Sheriff's Office Annex in Chalmette, President Craig P. Taffaro, Jr.
said the building represents a permanent home for the administrative
functions of the sheriff's office - the seat of law enforcement.

 

"It is one of the most important pieces of the recovery. It says to the
public we are back and we are no longer in a recovery but in growth,"
Taffaro said of the building that parish government was charged with
constructing.

 

"This is great exciting day," Taffaro said. "This is one of the most
important projects because it was an illustration of a true test of
partnership between FEMA with project evolving from a repair project to a
replacement to an elevation project." Taffaro also thanked the Governor's
Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, which advocated for
the development, and the partnerships of the officials with the Sheriff's
Office officials and parish government as well as the outside partners on
the Annex. 

 

"I am absolutely glad to be back in our home," Chief Deputy Sheriff James
Pohlmann said. "We have plenty of space to conduct operations for the
Sheriff's Office. This should improve services to the public because it
offers a centralized place again for citizens to do business rather than
having offices located in several buildings." He thanked parish government
and the other partners with the project.

 

The three-story, 15,000-square-foot building is made of concrete panels to
compliment that of the 34th Judicial District Courthouse, which is located
south of the Annex.  All administrative services the Sheriff's Department
has to offer will be housed in this building: Civil Sheriff, Criminal
Records, Property and Evidence, Sheriff, Chief Deputy, and Internal Affairs.
The Annex cost $4.4 million to construct and has a multi-layer state of the
art security surveillance and access control system to protect the people
and contents in the building.  It is an elevated structure with integrated
parking and bullet-proof glass. 

 

The public will now be able to come to one centralized location to get
copies of traffic accident reports from the Records Division, commanded by
Col. Pete Tufaro, and from the Civil Division, headed by Civil Sheriff JoAnn
Lane, they can get occupational licenses or pay taxes or fines. 

 

Several St. Bernard Parish Council members were on hand for the event as
well.

 

Councilman Wayne Landry said the project is "another important step in the
recovery of our infrastructure." 

 

District A Councilman Ray Lauga said, "It is a state of the art facility
that will make the Sheriff's Office work more efficiently throughout St.
Bernard." 

 

District C Councilman Kenny Henderson said, "I think it's a beautiful
building that is long past due." 

 

Councilman Fred Everhardt said, "It's great to see the partnerships with
FEMA and the administration. Now we have a building that is going to survive
almost anything that Mother Nature can throw at us, and we have assurances
that our men and women of the Sheriff's Office will be safe from any
disaster."

 

The project was constructed by Devier Design Build. Kyle Associates LLC is
the project manager and project engineer, and Fauntleroy, Latham, Weldon,
Barre' Architects, APC is the design architect.  Stacey Danner is this
project's manager for CDM and Dennis Tauzin has oversight over all
FEMA-funded recovery projects for St. Bernard. President Taffaro thanked all
of the partners as well as the government employees who are assisting with
the project, including Chief Administrative Officer Dave Dysart, St. Bernard
Parish Recovery Director Michael Dorris, Jr. and his staff, and Public Works
Director Kenneth Odinet and his staff, including Rick Stierwald, who is the
project's resident inspector. He also thanked Deputy Chief Harold Hughes and
Col. Pete Tufaro who oversaw the progress of the project for the Sheriff's
Office. 

 

For more information about St. Bernard Parish's growth and recovery, visit
www.sbpg.net.

 

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