Councilman Larry Warino asked for the moratorium after the council briefly discussed Blackwater’s proposal to get permission for an open-ended expansion of its facility. Representatives from the company were slated to speak to the council, but they had to reschedule because of a family emergency with CEO Mike Suder. Last month, Francis Marrocco, the company’s chief commercial officer, told the council that Blackwater would like to build a dozen new tanks at its site in the next three years.

Warino said that given Blackwater’s public bashing of Westwego, its poor safety record and the company’s failure to honor promises it made in 2010 when officials first sought to expand, the city shouldn’t be concerned with helping Blackwater. He added that Blackwater needs to prove it’s a good corporate citizen before Westwego allows any expansions that could cause more problems for city residents.

“I just think that they need to do a lot of revamping,” Warino said.

Blackwater’s proposal last month came under fire because company officials were vague about what would be stored in the tanks and when they would be constructed. City officials informed Marrocco that the city does not issue open-ended permits any longer, and each tank expansion would require its own blueprints and approval.

Although the issue was discussed only briefly on Monday, at the core of the city’s issues with Blackwater are the comments by Suder to a newspaper where he called Westwego the “stupidest place on Earth” after the city refused to let Blackwater move forward with a deal to expand its facility and store diesel fuel.

That deal was vehemently opposed by residents because of safety concerns and would have required a variance to city zoning ordinances. After the deal, which would have resulted in millions in revenue for Blackwater, collapsed despite the company’s decision to offer financial incentives to the city, Suder was understandably livid, said Marrocco. He said that in that haze of hurt feelings, Suder lashed out at the city and made a mistake.

“Mike shouldn’t have said that, and he knows he shouldn’t have said that,” Marrocco said.

Now, Blackwater wants to move forward and believes that if the city considers its proposal on its merits, it will find that the new tanks meet all applicable codes. Marrocco said he heard about the moratorium and admitted it wasn’t exactly surprising considering the frigid relationship between the city and company. But he said Blackwater is happy to let the council take its time to consider the company’s proposal and has no deal imminent.

“Certainly (the moratorium) may add a little time to the timetable, but we’re going to continue to work with the city,” Marrocco said.

He acknowledged that Suder does plan to apologize to officials personally at a meeting, and he really doesn’t believe that the relationship between Blackwater and Westwego has become so toxic that it can’t be salvaged.

“We’re here to work with them, we’re not here to work against them,” he said.