As several longstanding New Iberia City Council members begin to say their goodbyes, Mayor Freddie DeCourt decided to recognize the accomplishments of the council over the past seven years at Tuesday’s council meeting.

The City Council chambers desk was refitted with pictures of projects the City of New Iberia has accomplished since DeCourt took office in 2017, from the creation of the New Iberia Police Department to businesses like Chick-Fil-A and Rouse’s and the takeover of the Louisiana PepperPlex that all happened with the support of the City Council that works with the mayor on a daily basis.

“None of us accomplished this by ourselves,” DeCourt said. “I have previous members of the council I invited here, people who served one term and others who served seven years. I thought we would review all the projects because these were all made with a group decision, we acted as a team.”

Former council members Dustin Suire, Sherry Guidry and Natalie Lopez, who all formerly served on the council, were present as well to hear the recap of the more than 70 projects accomplished by the city since DeCourt’s arrival.

The bottom row of the list of projects was also left blank as a symbol of the next four years that DeCourt will be sharing with a new council. The mayor said he hopes the work previously done will continue, because there was a lot of work still left to do.

“My job is to work with whoever the voters send me because our voters are always right,” DeCourt said.

“The ones who served seven or eight years, they are the sh–, well they’re wonderful, I don’t know what I’m going to do without them. Tonight was a way to thank our first council, our second council, show off our accomplishments and begin the transition to a new journey.”