Campaign announcement: Sam Jones for parish president

I am Sam Jones and have most recently been your state representative for 12 years. In those 12 years, I have represented Morgan City, Berwick, Patterson, Franklin, Baldwin and the Chitimacha Tribal Government as well as the unincorporated portions of our parish such as Amelia, Bayou Vista, Centerville, Four Corners, Cypremort Point and all people living inside of St. Mary Parish. Although Amelia was not in my district, I treated them as though they were. During my time in the legislature I was endorsed by the Oil and Gas Association and also won the highest awards from the Louisiana Business Association (LABE).
Our family settled in Louisiana in 1727 and I have three great-grandfathers who fought and won the Battle of Baton Rouge defeating the British. They were Pierre Charpentier, Joseph Gaudet and Nicolas Verret, who was the commander of the Cajun Brigade in the baffle. This is our home.
I also served as the Mayor of Franklin for 22 years, being elected six times. I left each office I have held in far better shape than it was when I entered the office. When I left the City of Franklin, we had NO debt. Currently, the parish government has nearly $50 million in debt with an operational budget of just over $30 million. Most of our cities are well run with little or no debt. When I left the legislature, we had limited our debt, paid a lot of it down, paid the retirement system shortfalls from previous governments to its lowest levels ever. Additionally, we gave four pay raises to teachers and bus drivers in our schools.
Meanwhile, Sen. Butch Gautreaux, Sen. Bret Allain and I embarked on allocations that totaled over $950 million to our parish. Items included the Bayou Chene Flood Control structure ($80 million), construction of a new Port of Morgan City building, which also rehoused the Coast Guard and the St. Mary Levee District ($11 million), upgraded industrial roads, assisted companies struggling with the Covid catastrophe with low or no interest loans to maintain viability through the crisis. I made certain that the two bridges connecting Morgan City with Berwick, Bayou Vista and Patterson were addressed and upgraded ($50 million). The Grizzaffi Bridge is 50 years old and the Long/Allen bridge is 90 years old and has not been upgraded perhaps since construction of it. These bridges are vital for emergency traffic, for locals during hurricanes and other disasters. We also funded the improvements in Berwick ($4 million in sewer improvements and road overlays for the Old Spanish Trail), Bayou Vista ($3 million) to relocate the drainage pumps across the highway, Patterson with allocations to reconstruct Katherine Street ($2 million) and with water plant issues ($1 million). I have experience with and am able to work with state government to bring funds home for improvements in St. Mary Parish. I will come to office prepared to overlay streets in Amelia.
A year and a half before the Morgan City Hospital needed to sign a new operational contract, I sternly warned the parish president at a parish council meeting about the looming deadline. He said he would conclude the deal within two months. One year later I received several panicked phone calls from concerned citizens and some hospital board members that all options had been withdrawn and they only had four months of operational capital and were facing closure. The idea of there being no hospital in Morgan City and the surrounding area was unthinkable to me and others. I went to their board meeting and listened to their issue. I asked them to give me a few minutes and went and made phone calls and returned to advise them that Ochsner would take the proposal (which included an indemnification guarantee by the state).
During this time, I began to think about the parish council failures and shortcomings more seriously. I realized that St. Mary Parish needs and deserves an experienced, full-time Parish President. It is for this and several other reasons that I, two weeks before qualifying, decided to run for the office of St. Mary Parish President. I will retire at the end of this year and take the job on at full capacity if the citizens of St. Mary Parish elect me.
We have a lot at stake here. This is not only where we live. This is our home.