[StBernard] St. Bernard's trailer deal stalls

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard's trailer deal stalls
The price went up, FEMA tells parish 
Thursday, February 23, 2006
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau 

Nearly a month ago, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency
agreed to buy 6,000 trailers that St. Bernard Parish President Henry
"Junior" Rodriguez ordered in the frantic days after Hurricane Katrina. 

Now the agency is reconsidering, interviews with a FEMA official and the
owner of the trailer company show. 

In the meantime, St. Bernard Parish officials and residents continue
clamoring for trailers. As of last week, St. Bernard Parish Councilman Craig
Taffaro said, the parish had about 8,600 requests for trailers with only
about 2,200 trailers placed in the parish. 

Stephen DeBlasio, FEMA's housing officer for Louisiana, said the holdup on
buying the trailers Rodriguez ordered stems from a change in their price. He
said the agency, when it agreed to buy those trailers, expected to pay
$13,500 per unit, with an additional transport fee of $1.25 per mile. But,
he said, FEMA has since been told the company selling the trailers wants
$16,500 per trailer. 

The Sept. 14 invoice from the company, provided by St. Bernard Parish
government, shows the $13,500 price with the per-mile cost. 

But Jim McGuire of Century Investment Group of Waterbury, Conn., the company
from which the parish agreed to purchase the trailers, said the price has
never changed. He said the parish verbally agreed to accept a flat delivery
rate of $3,000 per trailer. Century Investments was procuring the trailers
from several sources in many states. 

However, DeBlasio said he needs more documentation before FEMA will agree to
add $3,000 per trailer. DeBlasio said procurement officials also want VIN
numbers for the trailers, as well as documentation on where the dealer is
obtaining them, in order to fulfill federal purchasing guidelines. 

DeBlasio has said FEMA is spending $17,000 to $19,000 for trailers from
other sources. But he also said the average cost is coming down, and that
the agency spent an average of $15,000 on the latest FEMA purchase of 4,000
trailers from local dealers. Those trailers -- destined for homeless
residents in the entire metropolitan area -- all will be delivered by next
week, DeBlasio said. 

McGuire, meanwhile, said he has sent all the necessary paperwork, including
the VIN numbers and where the trailers came from, to FEMA officials in
Washington, D.C. McGuire said he has 3,000 trailers waiting to be delivered,
including 275 lined up on Paris Road in Chalmette, but cannot turn them
loose until they are paid for. 

The holdup is only the latest involving trailers in hard-hit St. Bernard
Parish. 

In the days after Hurricane Katrina swamped just about every structure in
the parish, Rodriguez ordered his top aides to find trailers for homeless
residents. Saying that he had been told by FEMA officials that the agency
would not be able to find enough trailers to meet the need across south
Louisiana, Rodriguez pulled the trigger on an order for 6,500, even though
the parish would never have been able to cover the nearly $100 million cost.


DeBlasio said he has no problems buying the trailers, but that FEMA's legal
department must be assured that the purchase follows correct procedures. 

"The intent is to bail St. Bernard out of a jam that they made when they
agreed to buy 6,000 travel trailers," DeBlasio said. "To say it is a
struggle would be a vast understatement," he added. 

. . . . . . . 


Karen Turni Bazile can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or
504-352-2539.