St. Tammany Parish

Check out our new show "Inside St. Tammany" as we take you behind the scenes with all of our departments to show how your tax dollars are spent to improve our communities. In our first episode, Public Works Director Jay Watson explains how new equipment, technologies and deploying crews throughout our neighborhoods helps to enhance our drainage systems and infrastructure: https://lnkd.in/gUhbDypP

Congratulations to our Department of Technology for winning a prestigious special achievement in GIS from ESRI! The recognition places St. Tammany Parish Government among an elite group of over 200 organizations including NATO, NBC and the National Park Service. St. Tammany received the award for our efforts to organize and update our geographic informational data.

Our Department of Environmental Services welcomed the next generation of leaders from LEAP (Louisiana Environmental Ambassadors Program) during their tour of our parish! Our expert Environmental Specialist Tim Smith explained St. Tammany Parish's initiatives and programs that keep our parish trash free and beautiful. LEAP is the inaugural program from the state's Department of Environmental Quality that helps students obtain hands on knowledge and explore career paths.

The Louisiana CPRA has contributed $1 million to the St. Tammany Living Shorelines project in Lacombe. “St. Tammany is a coastal parish and we will make decisions with that in mind,” said President Mike Cooper. Living Shorelines will protect the Goose Point area by constructing a “living barrier” that will also improve habitats for fish and wildlife along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year. Living Shorelines is one of 16 coastal protection projects advanced under the Cooper administration, from the Madisonville Lighthouse to Slidell and up the Pearl River!

Congratulations to Covington native Savanah Babb for being selected as a top student at the Young Entrepreneurs Academy's National Finals! President Cooper & Councilman Corbin honored Savanah at the July Council Meeting with a special recognition for her entrepreneurial spirit as the CEO & Founder of Cowboy Corner, a mobile horse tack business she founded as a part of the YEA's Northshore chapter. We look forward to seeing your career and business flourish Savanah, keep up the hard work!

❗ MAJOR ROAD PROJECTS MOVING FORWARD ❗ $2.2 million in Council District road improvements will begin soon in Covington, Mandeville and Western St. Tammany from Council Districts 1, 4, 5 and 10. Councilmembers Rick Smith, Kathy Seiden, Pat Phillips, Maureen "MO" O'Brien and Parish Staff have worked around the clock to help advance these important projects for our communities.

📢 Here is your weekly Parish Update from STPG-TV! • St. Tammany Fishing Pier Repair Funded • $2.2 Million Funded for District Road Improvements • Louisiana CPRA Funds $1 Million to St. Tammany Living Shorelines • Department of Technology Wins Prestigious GIS Award

We celebrated our award winning, dedicated Team Tammany employees with a special appreciation lunch for being named a Top Workplace by The Times Picayune for a second year in a row! A huge thanks to GIS Engineering LLC, Principal Engineering, Digital Engineering, Wingate Engineers, and volunteers from Pentecostals of Mandeville for cooking and serving our delicious meal!

A section of the Tammany Trace from Lonesome Rd. to Destin St. in Mandeville will be temporarily closed for maintenance until 3 p.m. today, July 19. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

President Mike Cooper and the Parish Council announced the St. Tammany Fishing Pier in Slidell has received final approval and funding from FEMA. The long-awaited $2.4 million project will now advance through the final design phase before moving to construction. “FEMA’s final approval of funding for the Fishing Pier represents an opportunity to rebuild a beloved fishing spot, and also heal from one of the final reminders of Hurricane Ida,” said President Cooper. “Building resilient, sustainable infrastructure has been a focus of my administration since the beginning, and will continue with the improved Fishing Pier in Slidell. I would like to thank our Parish Council and legislative partners at both the state and federal levels for continuing to advocate on behalf of this project. I eagerly await completion, so we can provide our citizens with another recreational opportunity to make memories.” The approval comes after President Cooper’s administration and members of the Parish Council held weekly meetings with FEMA to ensure the Pier is rebuilt stronger and able to withstand future storms. The hardening of the Pier includes a more resilient entry, a rock jetty to protect the pier and coastline, and parking lot repairs. “Our residents have looked forward to this moment for years,” said District 13 Councilman Jeff Corbin. “The opportunity to build a resilient, stronger pier will ensure we no longer repeat the cycle of rebuilding after every storm. The Fishing Pier will once again be a place to catch fish and create new memories with our loved ones.” “Since the destruction of the Fishing Pier caused by Hurricane Ida, the Parish Council and the administration have been working diligently to secure funding and create plans on how to rebuild and improve the pier,” said District 12 Councilman Jerry Binder. “Today marks the culmination of almost three years of hard work and patience. I look forward to officially opening the Pier, providing much-anticipated access to Lake Pontchartrain for years to come.” More details regarding the timeline will be forthcoming.