§4064.4. Powers of commission
A. The commission shall have the power to expropriate property
pursuant to R.S. 19:2, et seq., whenever necessary or convenient for its
purposes. Title to the property shall be in the name of the commission. The
commission shall have the authority to acquire or dispose of such parcels,
servitudes, or rights-of-way necessary in the conduct of its business. The
commission shall be authorized, subject to the approval of the governing
authority of St. Tammany Parish, to use any public street, road, servitude, or
right-of-way in the conduct of its business at no cost to the commission.
B.(1) The commission shall be authorized to inspect any individual,
public, profit, nonprofit, or not-for-profit sewerage or water system located in
the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish, and direct the correction,
addition, installation, removal, relocation, adjustment, or upgrading of any
such system in accordance with provisions of the state Sanitary Code, other
applicable parish ordinances, and state and local regulations.
(2) Only with regard to sewerage or water systems located in that
portion of the unincorporated areas of St. Tammany Parish defined by
ordinance of the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury as the "Growth Management
Area" as amended from time to time, if no or insufficient action is taken after
proper notice of such direction, the commission, upon expiration of the time
prescribed in the notice to accomplish the work directed shall complete the
work directed and assess the operator or operators of such system, the owner
or owners of such system, or the ancestors in title to the property on which the
system is located, or any corporate office, or any or all of them, hereinafter
individually or collectively known as "the responsible person", whose action
or inaction has been determined to be the cause for the issuance of said notice
of direction, for the reasonable cost of such work and, in addition thereto, may
impose a penalty not to exceed one hundred dollars per day for each day the
deficiency existed from date of said notice of such direction, not to exceed ten
thousand dollars. Should the responsible person fail to pay such costs and/or
penalties, the commission shall be authorized to file an affidavit of lien on the
system and/or any property found or within St. Tammany Parish which is
owned by the responsible person, and shall include any property owned by a
corporate officer or an ancestor of title to the property on which such system
is located, specifically identifying the property or system affected and the
amount of the costs and/or penalties to date of filing and that may be accruing.
Subject to proper notice, any such lien filed on real property may be added to
the annual ad valorem tax bill of such owner or owners on such property.
(3) Any responsible person who has been assessed a penalty may
appeal the imposition of the penalty in writing to the board of the commission
which shall hear the appeal in an open and public session. Any subsequent and
final appeal shall be to the 22nd Judicial District Court.
(4) If upon the inspection of any sewerage or water system, it is found
not to be in accordance with the provisions of the state Sanitary Code, other
applicable parish ordinances, or state or local regulations, in lieu of completing
the work as provided and authorized in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, the
commission or its duly authorized representative shall notify the responsible
person of the deficient condition and direct said responsible person within a
specified period of time to remedy the deficient condition and to conform with
the provisions of the aforesaid code, ordinances, or regulations. If upon
reinspection, the deficient condition is found to nevertheless exist, then, in
addition to all other remedies provided by law, the commission is authorized
to file suit to restrain and enjoin the responsible person from continuing the
nonconforming activity, and/or compel the responsible person to remedy the
deficient condition.
(5) The commission shall notify a responsible person of any notice of
direction issued pursuant to a provision of this Subsection by certified mail or
by serving a copy of said notice of direction on the responsible person by a
person qualified to make such service.
(6) In carrying out any of the powers provided in this Subsection, the
commission or its duly authorized representative is authorized to enter private
and public properties.
(7) Nothing contained in this Subsection shall authorize the
commission to demand, necessitate, or otherwise require any remedial action
by the responsible person of a sewerage or water system when said action is
duplicative or preemptive of, or in conflict with any action imposed by an
appropriate state authority.
C. The commission shall be authorized to adopt rules and regulations
relative to the impact upon, and the construction, modification, perpetuation,
sustenance, operation, maintenance, connection, and inspection of sewerage
and water systems and the provision and/or supervision of environmental
services, all within the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish,
including rules and regulations to prevent abandonment or obstruction of,
interference with, or damage to such systems and, with regard to the provisions
of R.S. 33:4169.1 et seq., to define, supervise, and license such environmental
services upon the direction and consent of the governing authority of St.
Tammany Parish. To enforce the provisions of any such rules or regulations,
the commission may avail itself of the relevant penalty provisions specified in
Subsection B and, in addition thereto, may terminate or require the termination
of any utility service. Such rules and regulations shall be adopted in
accordance with the procedural rules of the commission, including publication
in complete or summary form in the official journal of St. Tammany Parish.
D. The commission shall have authority over all construction necessary
or incidental to the provision of sewage disposal and water in the
unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish. Plans and specifications for
sewerage and water systems to be constructed in said portion of St. Tammany
Parish shall be submitted to and approved by the commission prior to initiating
such construction, and the conduct of such construction shall be subject to
inspection by the commission. Copies of any amendments to plans and
specifications for such systems shall also be submitted to the commission, and
the commission shall approve such amendments prior to operation of such
systems.
E. The commission may perform such tasks relative to sewerage and
water systems as it may be authorized to perform by the Louisiana Department
of Health, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of
Transportation and Development, the Department of Public Service, and the
Department of Natural Resources. The aforesaid departments shall be
authorized to assist the commission in the enforcement of its promulgated rules
and regulations, to notify and advise the commission of any condition, hazard,
or other factor which may affect public health, and to make such
recommendations to the commission which may affect the correction of said
condition, hazard, or factor. Each aforesaid department shall be authorized to
execute with the commission a letter of understanding and/or agreement, the
intent of which shall be to assure no parallel, preemptive, and/or converse
enforcement or regulatory action by either entity.
F. The commission is authorized to award contracts for construction or
operation of sewerage and water systems within the unincorporated portion of
St. Tammany Parish. The commission may also establish rules for awarding
contracts in the event of emergency and extreme emergency.
G. The commission shall, upon authorization by the governing
authority of St. Tammany Parish, establish a plumbing code for the
unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish and monitor licensed plumbing
contractors operating within said portion of that parish. The commission may
amend the plumbing code as necessary.
H.(1) The commission shall have the authority to plan, finance,
acquire, construct, purchase, own, let, lease, maintain, operate, and improve,
or otherwise extend sewerage and water systems within the unincorporated
portion of St. Tammany Parish. To the extent that drainage improvements are
a necessary adjunct or otherwise essential to the improvement, conservation,
or recovery of any sewerage or water system, the commission shall have the
authority to construct and maintain new drainage works at its expense,
provided that such drainage construction or maintenance work is in accordance
with the master plan and other rules and regulations for drainage by the
governing authority of St. Tammany Parish.
(2)(a) Except as provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph, in lieu
of the commission effecting the construction, improvement, or extension of a
sewerage or water system, the commission shall permit an available public or
private provider of sewerage or water service to effect the construction,
improvement, or extension upon the written request of the provider.
(b) The provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, shall have no
effect when such construction, improvement, or extension of a sewerage or
water system is:
(i) Subject to the provisions of R.S. 33:4064.5(H).
(ii) For the use by a governmental entity or by a customer or
beneficiary of a defunct or abandoned sewerage or water system, shared or
jointly owned or operated or leased sewerage or water system, or of a sewerage
or water system which is donated or sold to, or otherwise acquired by the
commission.
(iii) An element of, or is a commission owned, operated, or leased
wide-area, regional sewage collection or treatment facility or water source,
treatment, storage, or distribution facility, or any element thereof.
(c) The commission shall be authorized to adopt rules and regulations
relative to the enforcement of the provisions of this Paragraph.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Subpart to the contrary,
any system acquired or operated by the commission shall not be expanded by
the commission beyond the existing infrastructure when a private facility exists
in the area and is capable of, and chooses to provide such expanded service.
I. The commission may, subject to approval by the governing authority
of St. Tammany Parish, exercise any and all authority granted by this Subpart
within any municipality located within St. Tammany Parish upon approval by
the governing authority of that municipality as provided in a contract between
the commission and said municipal authority.
J. In exercising its authority under this Subpart, the commission shall
be subject to the authority of the Department of Health and Human Resources,
the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Department of Natural
Resources.
K. The commission shall be authorized to acquire ownership of
property, both movable and immovable, corporeal and incorporeal, by gift,
grant, purchase, condemnation proceedings, or any other means, to lease such
property as lessee; and to hold and use any such property as it is necessary or
desirable for carrying out the objects and purposes of the commission. The
commission shall also be authorized to sell, lease as lessor, exchange, transfer,
and dispose of any property or interest therein at any time acquired by it
whenever the commission shall determine that such property is not necessary
for its purposes.
L. Notwithstanding any provision of this Subpart to the contrary,
enforcement employees of the commission shall be vested with the same
authority and powers with respect to issuing civil citations for violations of
state littering laws and regulations and parish littering ordinances as are
conferred upon regular law enforcement officers of this state. Such employees
may exercise such authority and powers throughout St. Tammany Parish.
Acts 1986, No. 934, §1; Acts 1992, No. 1051, §1, eff. July 13, 1992;
Acts 1993, No. 833, §1, eff. June 22, 1993; Acts 1999, No. 149, §1.