LMR JUNE 2021

President’s Message
ADVOCACY FOR ONE IS ADVOCACY FOR ALL
BY MAYOR JIMMY WILLIAMS, TOWN OF SIBLEY
This issue of the Louisiana Municipal
Review is one that should stir
each of us, as municipal leaders, to
action. In 2018, many of us gathered
in Lake Charles for LMA’s 81st Annual Convention.
The LMR editorial board placed a beautiful sunset image
of Lake Charles with a welcome letter from Mayor Hunter
on the July 2018 cover. His warm letter to our membership
painted a vivid picture of “sparkling Lake Charles
next to our beautiful lakefront Promenade, Marina, and
our unique 9-11 Memorial.” We were
enticed to visit the “extraordinary
Millennium Park, built solely by
area volunteers,” and to “travel
a little to the north and stop by
our recently expanded Veterans
Memorial Park, commemorating
all branches of the United States
Armed Services.”
Mayor Hunter’s 2018 welcome
letter prepared us, while in southwest
Louisiana, “to sail, ski, swim,
sunbathe, game, ride in horse
drawn carriages, play golf, tennis
or beach volleyball, crab and fish,
dine on fine foods, and soak in the
friendliness of our people and the
southern hospitality so prevalent in
our area.” Lake Charles welcomed
us with open arms, and we had a
wonderful time. Now, in their time
of need, we can use our voices to
help usher this incredible region and its residents back to
their splendor.
Here we are nearly three years later, and Lake Charles is
on the cover of this publication again; but this time, the
image and message are starkly different. Still reeling
from an onslaught of natural disasters, this picturesque
American city on the lake now seems to be the city that
America forgot.
By the time you read this, it will likely have been over
300 days since Hurricane Laura hit in August 2020, and
there is still no supplemental disaster aid for this region
in sight. It is unthinkable that any American city would
be forsaken for so long – actually, for a record-setting
amount of time. Just recently, $46 million in funding
from FEMA for debris removal reimbursement was announced.
While we are grateful for every step forward,
that only scratches the surface for a storm that caused
an estimated $8 to $12 billion in damage, and which
left Lake Charles with a current housing need of over
$230 million. Considering the four additional federally
declared disasters that hit the region over the past 14
months, and it is not hard to see why federal aid is critical.
We should all be alarmed by this snail’s pace in providing
supplemental disaster aid and by
the lack of urgency from Washington
DC. As a Gulf Coast state
facing increasingly severe weather
events, this could happen to any
of us and we must ask ourselves:
Could my city survive 300 days after
back-to-back major hurricanes,
a winter storm, a 1,000-year flood,
and a global pandemic? Are we
fiscally secure? Do we know how
to get maximum reimbursement
from damage repairs? Do we have
a solid game plan?
We have now crossed into hurricane
season, and the warmer the
Gulf waters become, the less time
we have to get prepared. Be sure
to review and act on Brett Kriger’s
Hurricane Laura – Lesson Learned
or Just Noticed? article on page 12.
Also, make sure that you are taking
all the right steps to secure funding available for municipal
governments under the American Rescue Plan Act
as outlined on page 18. Lastly, it is critically important for
us to remember that our collective voices can extend beyond
the borders of this state. Our colleagues in southwest
Louisiana need us to rally DC for swift action. None
of us can afford to sit idly by while they fight to recover
with finite resources and growing needs.
John and the team at LMA have been working hard,
along with our national partners, to push for supplemental
federal disaster aid. Advocacy is our mission and now
is the time for all of us to take action - not only for the
recovery of Lake Charles and southwest Louisiana, but
for the future needs of our entire state.
Page 4
LMR | JUNE 2021