The Iberville Parish Council will consider the allocation of $48 million in Hurricane Gustav recovery funds at its meeting in November instead of next week, Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso Jr. said Monday.

Ourso said he postponed the item at the request of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) to give Westside Physicians LLC adequate time to come up with an estimate of the costs of repairing storm damages to the hospital, which was closed last spring.

“We're waiting on their report, and we'll go over it...and see if we can help them some kind of way,” the parish president said. “The council has to look at the whole list. We don't want to give them something two days before [they have to consider it].”

The Westside Physicians, a group of local doctors who bought the hospital property, approached the parish last month about funds for    repairing hurricane damage. Their consultant expected the repairs would cost between $3 million and $5 million, but said engineers were developing a specific proposal.

“It put a damper on us moving forward, but it's an important request,” Ourso said. He has said he has had many calls, especially from older residents, about the need for the hospital. “People are a little emotional about this.”

The parish received $48 million in federal funds for recovery projects. The Parish Council is responsible for allocating the money for specific projects, subject to LRA approval, but must share the money with Iberville’s six municipalities.

Municipal officials have submitted their requests for funding, the parish president said.

The parish's top priority is to replace undersized water lines in Water District No. 3 at a cost of between $10 million and $12 million, Ourso said.

“We've straightened up the water quality,” he said, and now wants to improve the quantity, particularly for fire protection in the western and southern portions of the parish served by Water District 3.

The undersized lines are a “deterrent to growth,” he said.

Ourso said his office also was looking at an alternative supply of water for the district, which has a water treatment plant that draws surface water from the Intracoastal Waterway for its supplies. Hurricane Gustav stirred up debris from the bottom of the waterway that led to a post-hurricane fish kill and problems for the district’s supply.

“The Mississippi River would be better,” Ourso said.

Given a choice between the water district projects and helping the hospital reopen, the parish president said he “would have to recommend the hospital. That's a no-brainer.”