Tangipahoa Parish - Community Involvement

After the governmental workshop, team members were assigned recovery categories and charged with identifying stakeholders and scheduling meetings to collect information about the parish. Prior to the Louisiana Recovery Planning Day, city teams were organized and requested to be placed on the agendas of all of the municipal and parish governments’ monthly council meetings to introduce themselves and inform all governments of the upcoming scheduled Louisiana Recovery Planning Day. Team members followed up with visits with the chief elected official to further explain the effort and get permission to talk to staff. Team members were dispatched to municipalities and parish government to collect baseline data and projects for the plan.

Involvement from local officials has been valuable to the process. These local stakeholders have bought in to this process and have been most forthcoming with information including audits, budgets, projects, cost estimates and cooperation of time and effort. Over 65 projects have been provided by these stakeholders.

Since there was moderate damage to the communities and no flooding, the overall image of FEMA and recent political infighting seen each night on the news, the local community has been slow to trust any effort or to get engaged in the process.

Louisiana Recovery Planning Day, the open house public meeting, was conducted in the parish seat, Amite, but much of the population is located in the southern portion of the parish. Plans are to bring the draft plan to each council meeting in early March for review and comment by the governmental officials. Future community meetings will be scheduled for Hammond.

Stakeholders:
Tangipahoa Parish

• president, Tangipahoa Parish Council, parish engineer, finance director, assistant to parish president
• Tangipahoa Schools superintendent

City of Amite

• mayor, city clerk, director of administration and city council

City of Hammond

• mayor and city council

City of Ponchatoula

• mayor, assistant to mayor and city council

City of Hammond

• mayor, city council

Town of Independence

• mayor and council
• Independence High School principal

Village of Tangipahoa

• mayor and aldermen

• mayor and town council

City of Ponchatoula

• city council

• mayor and aldermen

• Louisiana Technical College
• Louisiana State University Agricultural Extension
• Tangipahoa Future Network
• USDA Rural Development
• Workforce Center of Tangipahoa
• Amtrak--Hammond Station
• Hammond Regional Airport
• Port Manchac
• Hammond Industrial Development Board
• Tangipahoa Convention and Visitor Bureau
• Tangipahoa Economic Development Foundation
• Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
• Land Trust for Southeast Louisiana
• Nature Conservancy
• Tangipahoa Homebuilders Association
• QUAD, SLU
• Council on Aging, Office of Public Health, Regina Coeli Child Development Center, Tangipahoa Social Services Council, United Way-Tangipahoa
• Tobacco Free Living
• 8th Ward Volunteer Fire Dept
• Gravity Drainage District #1
• Fire Departments—Hammond, Husser, Independence, Kentwood, Loranger, Manchac, Natalbany, Ponchatoula, Roseland, Tangipahoa, Wilber Fire Department
• CATS
• CNR
• Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development

Local Committee / Task Force
LTCR team members meet weekly with stakeholders at the Tangipahoa Parish Administrative Complex and the Small Business Development Center to receive feedback on the plan.

All municipal and parish council meetings were attended by the team. Team members participate in the Tangipahoa Parish Economic Development Authority Board Meeting, Hammond Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club meeting, All Nations Disaster Center meeting, Public Safety LTCR planning meeting, Tangipahoa Future Network meetings, Land Trust for Southeast Louisiana meetings and weekly stakeholder meetings in addition to the one-on-one meetings with individual stakeholders.

Input Events
The Team was not composed for the scoping meeting. Meeting notes indicate identified needs as infrastructure, housing and transportation due to population surge.

Governmental Workshop (December 2005) Twelve individuals, including 5 elected officials, attended to identify issues and priorities for parish recovery. Since there was moderate damage to the parish, it is believed that the buy-in of local elected officials would be difficult as indicated by the showing at the governmental workshop. One-on-one meetings with governmental officials have improved this local buy-in.

Louisiana Recovery Planning Day (January 2006) Several mayors, councilmen and the parish president participated in the Planning Day forum, over 60 individuals turn out to provide input.

Day-to-day interaction with local decision-makers, general public
Parish team members are constantly meeting stakeholders to gain valuable input. These meetings have been outside of the storefront to accommodate local leaders. Parish leaders have facilitated meetings with police and fire chiefs from every district and municipality in Tangipahoa Parish. Team leaders interact with local leaders on a daily basis.

Local leadership of implementation
Each municipal government will be provided with documentation when the storefront closes. All mayors and the parish president will receive this documentation and will be responsible for implementation of the plan.

View the Parish Summary Page from Louisiana Planning Day (PDF)