The Tallulah City Council voted by a 3-2 margin at a special meeting on Thursday night to go into a joint state receivership for water operations.
The State of Louisiana will appoint someone to oversee water operations. The amount of time the city would be under a receivership has not been determined. District 1 Council Member Joe Scott, District 2 Council Member Lisa Houston and District 4 Council Member Marjorie Day supported the receivership. District 3 Council Member Carla Turner-Harris and District 5 Council Member Toriano Wells opposed.
The vote on Thursday came after more than an hour and a half of discussion from Tallulah officials and public comments from the audience.
Tallulah officials' decision to go into a receivership came after bids to rehab the water plant were for more money than the city had available. The city had close to $15 million available, but the only bids to rehab the water plant came from Womack and Sons Construction Group, LLC, based in Harrisonburg. The bid was for $18,388,340 the first time and $19,895,729 the second time.
On Thursday, the council also voted against allowing Sustainability Partners out of Baton Rouge to build a new water plant without a state joint receivership by a 3-2 margin. Scott, Houston and Day opposed, while Turner-Harris and Wells supported the measure.
Previous discussions took place about the City of Tallulah tying its water service in with the Walnut Bayou Water Association. There was not an item on the agenda on Thursday providing that option, but citizens did voice their concerns about it during the time public comments were made.
