Council Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,

This past week again marked a week filled with storm related preparation and response- this time for Hurricane Ike. Our prayers and thoughts are with our Louisiana neighbors still recovering from both Gustav and Ike and our Texas neighbors who begin the struggle to recover from the effects of Hurricane Ike. Although the storm traveled some 200 miles off the coast of Louisiana, St. Bernard endured a significant amount of activity outside the protection system, causing flooding of the eastern end communities to heights of two to six feet. Our parish crews and contractors have begun clearing the debris related to the storm. The debris pick up process that was halted by Hurricane Ike has resumed and is anticipated to be completed this week. The road crews, public works employees, the Office of Emergency Operations are to be commended again for their efforts in the pre-storm and post storm activity, especially in St. Bernard's role in assisting our neighbors in Plaquemines in their flood fighting efforts.

The effects of Hurricane Ike again underscore the importance of keeping the issue of coastal restoration, storm surge protection, and flood control at the forefront of congress. A review of the levee system post storm is being rescheduled as the trip following Gustav was postponed due to Hurricane Ike.

In response to the Governor's office's Food Stamp disaster assistance program, St. Bernard Parish Government has partnered with Reverend Henry Ballard and the State Department of Social Services to host a distribution site at Christian Fellowship Church in Violet. The coordination of the Sheriff's office, the State Police, the Office of Emergency Operations, the National Guard, and our Resident Services department, and the employees of St. Bernard Urban and Regional Transit worked to create a very smooth operation. Unfortunately, there is little control that we have over the internal processing of applications. The hours of operation are scheduled to be 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., excluding Sunday's. Residents should park at the Meraux Winn Dixie site to be shuttled to the processing site. Residents will be returned to the parking area as they complete the processing of their application.

Recovery related projects have remained on track, although there has been an extension of advertising on a few projects that were scheduled to go out for bid during the two weeks of storm related activity. The assessment of damage from Hurricane Ike does not seem to have changed the assessment of damage done from Hurricane Gustav.

FEMA has also been in a transition from the damage done to their building during Hurricane Gustav. FEMA's transition into an alternative building is almost complete. Discussions with FEMA have included a reassurance that our team is not going to be disrupted as FEMA responds to other disaster areas.

Despite the hurricane activity, the recreation was able to complete an abbreviated soccer season and has started the 2008 football season. With an increased amount of participants, the St. Bernard teams will have to travel less this season to complete a full slate of games. We have begun to implement a new emphasis on character building to the skill instruction for the department. Simple examples of this will include an emphasis on sportsmanship activities such as pre-game exchanges between teams, post game joint team gatherings that includes parents, and the playing of the National Anthem before games.

Respectfully submitted,

Craig Taffaro, Jr.
Parish President