Mayor’s Message

Good afternoon Citizens,

 

These past couple days have been both challenging and rewarding.

 

First, we are happy to report that as of 6:00pm this evening we are nearing 100% completion restoring power in the City.

 

It has been a hard and long fought battle, but with the help of our state, parish, and local leadership, we’ve been able to restore power to nearly all of our citizens. As of now, we do know there are some that are still out, but the final lists should be completed by the end of the day tomorrow. Some of these areas have dangerous downed lines and other wrapped in trees that are awaiting cut and push. Please never approach a line and assume it is not live. If you have a downed line, call 1-800-ENTERGY to report it. Service lines (those that connect to your home) may also be low or touching your roof line or other parts of your home or structures. Again, these lines can be dangerous, so do not touch them and contact Entergy to alert them.

 

Today, we distributed another 800 boxes of ice and non perishable food items to those in need. This project was sponsored by McDonalds and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. We also want to thank our volunteers who assisted, especially Cynthia Buggage from the Louisiana State Legislature.

 

Debris pickup has begun. There are boom trucks traveling the City to pick up trees and debris. They will not pick up bags with leaves and garbage. This means that you will need to separate these items. We are working on a plan to address this. Also, we have had some serious dialogue with Republic Waste regarding normal garbage collection. Soon after the storm, the routes were impacted by downed lines and trees and then they suffered staff shortages impacting our collection schedule. They have assured us they will get back on track. While we understand the storm has impacted their staff, we have clearly communicated our stern directive moving forward.

 

We have learned a lot about our community during this event. The most reassuring lesson was how generous and kind all of you have been while either volunteering to help your neighbors or staying patient as we continue to travel through the recovery phase, and clearly this is far from over. We have suffered some long-term damage that we are assessing and developing solutions to provide a firm strategy moving forward to prepare should we ever experience another even of this size. We anticipate that this will be a small group of experts and community volunteers who can work together to find solutions to experienced challenges and those we have not yet seen. We will publish these dates as soon as we get past the recovery phase.

 

We will continue to meet with our utility companies to ensure we are back on track and find improved services for the future. You will also be hearing from us soon regarding the FEMA assistance center that will be coming to Donaldsonville to assist you in applying for assistance. In the meantime, please see our website at DONALDSONVILLE-LA.GOV for assistance for individuals and small businesses.

 

May God’s Grace Shine On You All! I pray for continued blessings upon you, your family, and friends.

 

Making Progress Together,

Mayor Leroy J. Sullivan, Sr.

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