Lockport’s new leadership

The Town of Lockport Council welcomes three fresh faces next year after this month’s election results.

Stephen Baudoin, Wayne “Rescue Wayne” Bourgeois Jr. and Bobbie Galjour are Baudoin the three newcomers on the council. They will join incumbents Sharon Guidry and Rodney Galjour Hartman, who both ran unopposed for their seats.

The majority turnover comes as Lockport will have a new mayor, with that race heading to a Dec. 10 run-off. Galjour ran unopposed for the Division C council seat while her fellow freshmen had to fend off challenges for their new positions.

Baudoin ran against Ralph Sapia for the Division A seat in Lockport, vacated by mayoral candidate Craig Rogers. Baudoin, a Republican, earned the seat with 57 percent of the vote. Bourgeois, also a Republican, won the Division E seat with 56 percent of the vote, besting 20-year incumbent Weldon “Chunky” Triche.

Baudoin said he chose to run following his retirement earlier this year after 30 years as a banker.

“I figured since I had some time and since I was active in the community a while back, I figured I’d try to get back into it and figured I’d help make Lockport a little bit better,” Baudoin said.

Baudoin said the town has already started its projects on resurfacing the streets and fixing sewage and drainage issues. He stressed the incoming council needs to steward those projects and make sure the improvements stay on track.

“They set the groundwork and got the ball moving, but we definitely need to not drop that ball. We’ve got to carry it and be sure to get things to the point where we’ve got resurfaced streets, we got our sewage issues done, we got our drainage issues done,” Baudoin said.

Baudoin said he would also like the town to work with landowners to figure out plans for development, whether residential or commercial, of raw land. To keep these projects moving, the town will need to maintain its coffers. With the Bayou Region’s sluggish economy translating into reduced sales tax revenues, finding money for capital projects has become a challenge. Baudoin wants the town to increase its revenue not by increasing taxes, but by bringing in more business, particularly small business, to boost the overall economy and Lockport’s account balances.

“It’s a long range project, something you may not see in one, two, even three years. But if we don’t start now, we’re never going to get any place,” Baudoin said.

Bourgeois also said he’s eyeing new businesses as means to additional projects in the town. He said he ran to bring new ideas with the changing times, particularly in light of the current downturn. For Bourgeois, the first step to keeping the parish moving forward is expanding its tax base and stimulating its economy with new business.

“Lockport at one time was a really thriving part of the parish. Now, it’s dropped down,” Bourgeois said. “A house doesn’t stay for sale in Lockport for that long because of the school district, because of the police department and other things. When it comes down to it, it still needs some repairs and adjustments and road repairs and things like that.” Once Lockport acquires additional funds, Bourgeois wants to see it spend the money more wisely. He said he would like to see self-sustaining funds like the sewage and drainage funds rely only on their revenue rather than having the town’s general fund supplement them. Bourgeois also wants the town’s projects to be paid for with local money rather than through state and federal dollars, noting those dollars could be limited in the near future. He said the town should still seek state money, but use it for projects that have lower priority while using local dollars to accomplish the most important goals first.

“The current council has done a good job of trying to get things done, but a majority of what they got done has been paid for by state dollars. With the state and federal government in the economic downturns they’re in, you can’t depend on them for the money,” Bourgeois said.

Bourgeois is also looking to address some procedural issues. According to Bourgeois, he would like to eventually see both term limits and staggered terms for the town’s elected officials, noting all seven currently go to voters at the same time, presenting an opportunity for total turnover. Bourgeois said the town has a number of blighted properties with Internal Revenue Service liens on them, making them unattractive to potential buyers who could revamp the properties. Bourgeois wants the town to be able to have more teeth in addressing blight and holding property owners accountable to either release the properties or renovate them. He said he would like to see if the town can now use Lafourche Parish’s permitting department instead of the South Central Planning Commission, which would keep money in the area.

“Right now everything we accept, majority of funds go to a entity based in Terrebonne instead of staying in Lafourche,” Bourgeois said. “Now that we have our own permitting department in Lafourche Parish, I think we can use them, make it a lot more convenient, a lot more local and keep the money in the parish.”

Bourgeois

Baudoin

Galjour

With a Census-counted population of 2,624, Lockport, Louisiana, is one of three official towns in Lafourche Parish. Citizens voted on election night to place three new members to Lockport’s council. See next week for another election feature.

COURTESY