Alvin J. Benoit
May 11, 2009
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The Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District unanimously approved at Monday night’s meeting state Sen. Reggie Dupre (D-Bourg) as its new executive director effective July 1.
Dupre will replace interim director Windell Curole, who has been simultaneously running the Terrebonne and South Lafourche levee districts since May 2008.
The senator said he will resign his seat on June 30 and take the levee district post the following day. Dupre’s seat will remain vacant until a special election is held.
“I’m looking forward to this new challenge. I think we can get some great things done for the people of Terrebonne Parish and portions of Lafourche,” he said. “I think I’ve been Morganza to the Gulf’s biggest cheerleader since day one, even since my old parish council days in the early ’90s.”
The Pointe-aux-Chenes native was among a dozen applicants for the position and selected as one of three finalists to be interviewed by the full levee board.
Levee board president Tony Alford said Dupre was by far the superior candidate for the job.
“If you ask any state politician, they’ll tell you Reggie is not only the coastal guru for this region – he’s the coastal guru for the state,” Alford said. “He’s gotten us funding; he knows every waterway in this parish and all the governmental department heads. This was a no-brainer.”
Dupre said Curole would still have an important role to play in Terrebonne Parish since 10 miles of Morganza stretches into the South Lafourche Levee District.
“If the (Terrebonne) board needs me, I’ll be around,” Curole said. “I’m the helper guy.”
Dupre said his vision for the post is to coordinate, communicate and prioritize projects to make logistical sense for parish residents.
“The biggest balancing act myself and the board are going to do is to continue welcoming in the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers as our federal partner,” he said, “at the same time making them understand that we have to protect ourselves and start the first phases of hurricane protection.”
Besides Morganza, Dupre said another chief concern is marrying conservation with restoration as has been done at the state level and then incorporating mitigation.
Dupre said over the next few years he envisions the levee district as the implementing authority over large-scale restoration projects.
For his efforts to save coastal Louisiana, America’s WETLANDS will honor Dupre with a lifetime achievement award on May 30. He will be the third inductee following former U.S. Sen. John Breaux and former Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jack Caldwell.
“I’m very honored. I see that these bayou communities are literally dying before our eyes,” he said. “My main goal through my legislative career is the salvation of these coastal communities. We don’t have many years left before we totally lose our tax base and lose everything we’ve been working for.”
STATE SEN. REGGIE DUPRE Named T’bonne Levee Director
