New Westwego City Hall Will Be Constructed by Boasso Construction
Founded as simply a railway town for the Texas and Pacific Railroad in May, 1870, Westwego is actually a conglomeration of several small villages: Salaville, Seven Oaks Plantation, Whitehouse Plantation, and surrounding farmland, which is why the name of the city is a mystery to most residents. The first theory is that it originated from
the name of the location by which the railroad was paid to build the railroad yard and dock on the Mississippi River. The second theory / urban legend is that as travelers departed the station they heard the conductor yell “west we go.” Either way, this one square mile city on the West Bank across from New Orleans, Louisiana, has finally been able to secure a contract to build a new city hall.
The contract was awarded on Thursday, January 17th to a construction company out of St. Bernard Parish in the city of Mereaux called Boasso Construction LLC. Their low bid of approximately $3.52 million was just a mere $1,500 less than the second lowest bidding company. The new Westwego City Hall will be constructed according to the engineered and thoroughly vetted engineering plans of Meyers Engineers, according to the mayor of Westwego – Johnny Shaddinger. The vetting of the city’s plans for the new city hall building went through two rotations – once when the plans came back as too expensive for the city’s $3.8 million budget and the second time when the project was completely halted because the Westwego City Council requested an independent review of the engineered plans. The budget was actually set by a federal arbitration agreement from 2010 which ordered FEMA to cover the cost of building the new city hall.
Mayor Shaddinger persisted, though, and he will now be able to sign the contract for the construction job which should start some time in February. Boasso Construction, LLC will have to provide proof of their corporation status with the state as well as go through the formalities of the paperwork process in order to be approved to finally sign the contract for the new building job. Construction of the new city hall will move the building from its current location at 419 Avenue A to 4th Street and Central Avenue. The current location was aged and prone to flooding.