Sixth Judicial Court settles Tensas Parish gas issues
A hearing was held at 1:30 p.m. May 5 at the Tensas Parish Courthouse, during which a preliminary injunction in favor of the Town of Newellton was issued.
Representing the Town of Newellton were Mayor Timothy Turner and District Attorney James Paxton. Mayor Edward Brown of St. Joseph was not present at the hearing, but the Town was represented by its attorney, Karl Koch of Baton Rouge.
The injunction is in the form of a restraining order, which “prevents the valve on the joint line in St. Joseph from being opened, until such time as the Town of St. Joseph secures gas service from a provider.” It also “prohibits the Town of St. Joseph from entering into any contracts on behalf of the Town of Newellton, and restrains the Town of St. Joseph from expending any funds belonging to the Town of Newellton as of April 30, unless otherwise specified by the Court.”
Also requested was that a “duly licensed certified public accountant be authorized to perform a full accounting of all banking accounts, deposits of money and expenditures of the Joint Line over the previous five years,” that the “Town of St. Joseph reimburse the Town of Newellton of any funds that the Town of St. Joseph is found to have misappropriated over the previous five years,” and that the Joint Line checking account be dissolved and the Town of Newellton’s share of any funds be returned to the town’s possession.
These requests were not granted, and are to be revisited at a later date. Judge Michael Lancaster stated that “these matters will be addressed outside of my presence,” and that “something reasonable can be figured out. ... We are dealing with intelligent people and there is no reason why this should happen.”
Karl Koch requested to make a motion to dissolve the restraining order. Koch claimed that the order was wrongfully issued, as a notice had not been given to St. Joseph in writing that gas service would be interrupted. He stated that it was not an accident, and was done intentionally. He claimed to have received a notice by email on May 1, after the order had been signed the previous day. It was claimed that Koch’s fax machine was not working Thursday afternoon because the phone lines were down due to a storm in Baton Rouge. Judge Lancaster stated that the court would go forward with the preliminary injunction.
D.A. Paxton called Mayor Turner to the stand to give his testimony. Turner stated that he was aware that the Town of St. Joseph had sent a letter to Locust Ridge, and that there was no other way of getting gas provided to Newellton.
The Newellton Town Council had negotiated terms of a new contract with William McDonald, owner of Locust Ridge Gas Company. Prior to entering a new contract, Mayor Turner sent a letter to Mayor Edward Brown of St. Joseph, asking for a reply by noon on April 30. No communications were received in response. At the time, he had no knowledge of St. Joseph entering a new contract. He stated that in the new contract Newellton is responsible for the gas coming from Locust Ridge, and that the valve to St. Joseph being closed was not a requirement. The contract was presented in court to Mayor Turner for review. He affirmed that it was the same contract he had signed, along with William McDonald.
Attorney Koch questioned Mayor Turner about whether the new agreement was more favorable than the old one for the Town of Newellton. Koch asked about the different costs, including transport to those receiving gas outside of the two towns. He stated that the gas line is co-owned by the two towns, which makes it public property.
“The only reason for the restraining order was being pressed by Locust Ridge,” said Koch. In a letter from Locust Ridge, several amended items were required. These included that the Town of Newellton seek and obtain a court order to interrupt gas service to the Town of St. Joseph, and that service remains shut off until a new contract is entered. Tim Turner replied that he was acting purely in the interest of the Town of Newellton, and that no outside entity was seeking an order. He was asked if he had responded to all of Mayor Brown’s emails, to which he replied that he had in regard to the joint bank account. He said that he was not ignoring Mayor Brown. James Paxton added that the Town of Newellton had “no problem opening the valve with the signing of a new contract”.
William McDonald, who owns Locust Ridge with his wife, stated that when he gave notice in January that the Joint Gas Line contract would end, Mayor Tim Turner informed him that the Town of Newellton wanted their own contract. McDonald consulted his attorney, Doug Wheeler, and decided that he did not want to open an account until a Temporary Restraining Order was in place to keep the St. Joseph valve closed.
McDonald said that he gave 90 days notice that the contract was expiring on May 1 at 7 a.m. The only person who called him was Alderman Evelyn Guy.
Karl Koch asked Wiliam McDonald if he would extend the contract for 30 days, which McDonald said was “unacceptable”. He claimed to have sent the new contract to Mr. Koch via email. Provisions of the new contract included a $35,000 deposit , service would be interrupted for any payments greater than 10 days past due and past due bills must be paid. McDonald said if the restraining order is terminated, no towns would have gas.
Locust Ridge provided both towns gas without a contract from November 2013 to October 2014. He believed that a contract was in place, but Mayor Edward Brown had never signed it. He stated that payments were made late every month since January 2014. McDonald stated that his reason for being firm with keeping the contract and provisions as laid out is negative prior dealings with Mayor Brown and the Town of St. Joseph. The duration of the contract would be three years, McDonald stating that he didn’t “want to renegotiate every six months or even every 30 days”.
James Paxton concluded by remarking, “It’s unfortunate and we don’t relish being here. There are residents without gas. The Mayor took steps to ensure that Newellton keeps gas service. We will ask the Court to remove the restraining order once the contract is signed.” Karl Koch’s reply was that they were “serving the interests of Locust Ridge gas”.
Judge Michael Lancaster ended the hearing stating, “This is a no-win situation, and is very distasteful to the Court. There are a number of citizens without gas who can’t cook. We are fortunate that it is not cold. I was reluctant to sign the Temporary Restraining Order, but was convinced that the contract had been unilaterally terminated. If a new contract was entered into, Locust Ridge would terminate service to Newellton as well. I permitted the valve to be turned off. There was a means to measure the gas [used by each town], and did not prohibit [St. Joseph] from finding gas with a new provider. If not signed, Locust Ridge would terminate gas service. Newellton would be irreparably damaged. If and when St. Joe gets gas service, Newellton will lift the injunction.”
On Thursday, a new contract had been agreed upon for St. Joseph, and service was restored.
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