Q. You have stated that levees are important to alleviate coastal flooding, but they are expensive. Where will you start to find the money and how would you go about getting them built?

A. First, it’s important to understand that the Iberia Parish Levee, Hurricane and Conservation District is a state agency – not a parish agency. They are currently working with engineers to identify where levees should be located along the Iberia Parish coast. The Iberia Parish Government will work with the Levee District to help secure federal, state and Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration funding after it’s determined where and how the levees will be constructed.

Q. TIF districts have been discussed during campaigning. Could existing businesses be negatively impacted by the tax? Why or why not?

A. Economic Development Districts are designed to assist local governments in providing infrastructure like water, drainage, roads and sewerage in areas that have the potential to be developed. I believe economic development will ultimately help new and existing businesses in the district and everyone will prosper. Also, the Iberia Industrial Development Foundation has worked to identify numerous businesses where Enterprise Zone relief has been beneficial. That, in combination with the Economic Development Districts, will benefit the entire parish.

Q. Much money has been spent recently for improvements at the jail.
Sometimes upkeep is a difficult dance between the Sheriff’s Office that
operates it and the parish that owns it. How can
cooperation and communication be improved so that the facility is more
consistently better maintained over the years?

A. Proper maintenance at the jail has been lacking for years, but are in the process of completing a $3.2 million upgrade to the facility at no additional taxpayer cost. To address this issue, we entered into an agreement with Sheriff Ackal in which Iberia Parish Government now employs the maintenance person at the jail. We believe this arrangement will keep us more aware of maintenance issues and allow us to do a better job of preventive maintenance, ultimately reducing costs.