Mayor wants to hear from voters on roads

Published 2:15 am Tuesday, November 22, 2022

After a bid to establish a road program for New Iberia was barely turned down by the voters on Nov. 8, Mayor Freddie DeCourt is coming up with a unique way to hear out his constituents.

DeCourt said he is dragging his desk out to the front of New Iberia City Hall to hear from the voters of New Iberia on how to solve the city’s road problems.

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The open invitation will be extended to three days, Nov. 29, 30 and Dec. 1 from 9 a.m. to noon each day.

In a video published by DeCourt and his team, the mayor said that the failure of the recent tax reallocation to road maintenance lost by a mere 133 votes.

“That gives me the message half the voters want the improvement and I think the other half does too because we drive these roads everyday,” DeCourt says in the video. “But it’s on me, the message wasn’t clear enough.”

The mayor said Friday morning that he hopes the three-day event will be a way to talk to the voters who chose not to sign onto his idea of a permanent funding source for roads.

“Half the town voted for it, my phone is always buzzing with people upset that it didn’t pass,” DeCourt said.

The state of New Iberia roads has been one of the most major issues for New Iberia government. DeCourt and the New Iberia City Council supported a unique way to provide a stable source of funding earlier this year by rededicating a millage assigned to sewer debt and instead using it for road work.

If the proposition had passed, the city would have been able to use $750,000 for 20 years total. DeCourt said voter confusion about the wording of the proposition could have played into the negative votes, but his planned event is to hear straight from the constituents on how to make city roads better.

The city is also in the midst of a road program that is being conducted thanks to a bond floated by the City of New Iberia. Although that program is taking on some of the worst roads in the city, DeCourt has said constantly that it will not be enough to fix all of the city’s roads, which will still require work.

As for future proposals, the mayor said he has been mulling over several options but wants to hear from those who live in New Iberia first. DeCourt said he is committed to not increasing taxes for a road program.

“Whatever I do, it’s going to be with the taxes we have,” DeCouret said. “I thought this would be a fun way to get some input.”