| A Few Good Men (and Women) - 9-2-09 |
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A Few Good Men (and Women) - 9/2/09 Four years ago a journey began that has encompassed more turns and twists than anyone could have imagined. As many of the annual events and celebrations took place over the last week, it brought to mind a fact that is often taken for granted. The citizens who work in parish government have made the journey right alongside the rest of the citizens of St. Bernard Parish. It is a reality that the employee base in parish government was largely and is still largely made up of St. Bernard residents. A few employees moved or relocated after their losses of Katrina but still work for parish government and a few are commuter employees, but the majority of our employee base also live in the parish that they serve. This point is sometimes overlooked as the employees of parish government have faced and some continue to face the same challenges, obstacles, and roadblocks that the general population has. The unique situation is that many of our employees are tasked with the challenge of helping and assisting the residents in their struggles everyday as well. It is certainly a test to overcome individual challenges as so many have done but it is also an even more unique challenge to serve in a capacity that requires our employees to be in the midst of the challenges of others each day as well. While we certainly aren’t perfect, our employees strive to greater levels of customer service and greater levels of achievement in assisting the public in the midst of having rebuilt their own lives and homes over the last four years as well. Just like our returned citizens and new neighbors have dealt with the balance of work and rebuilding, our employees are neck deep in the various issues of rebuilding our community everyday and then have had to face it as residents as well. Very few complain and very many feel as though they own a piece of this community- and they do as we all do. These same values hold true for our brother and sister public servants in fire protection, police protection, levee protection, and school board personnel. Perfect customer service is a goal that we continue to strive for and 100% customer satisfaction will be reached. As we get there and correct some of our own deficiencies, the employees of parish government as a whole are an amazing group of public service oriented individuals and I commend them for their dedication and commitment to putting the pieces back together in St. Bernard Parish. After four years of the challenges of fighting fires, fixing streets, cutting grass, issuing permits, processing housing needs, registering voters, fixing vehicles, laying lines, pumping sewerage, marking fields, running wire, cleaning canals, moving buildings, and balancing a few dozen other things at work and the many personal challenges at home, our employees have dedicated themselves to doing whatever it takes to move our recovery forward. The challenges are greater than ever before and as an old football coach once said- “Those who stay will be champions”. I believe that the partnerships that we have forged at the local level will lead us to continued success and I thank our resident employees, our employees who could easily go elsewhere to work, and the citizens who support them- you are champions. God Bless,
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