| The St. Bernard Stimulus Package - 4-14-09 |
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With all the recent discussions about bail outs and economic stimulus plans, the question that keeps being asked by many is "how much are we getting?"
While there is no doubt that our challenge in the current state of the economy is to attempt to maintain our current resources and support our businesses and industry in every way possible, ut to also continue to support business development opportunities in this difficult market. Perhaps this is as good a time as any to hit the road and see what diamonds in the rough may be looking for the right reason to change their venue and solicit them to become part of our community's Recovery and Growth. Despite some individual's focus on what has not been accomplished, the fact is that our local stimulus package has been going on for the last year. Our recent successes with the partnerships developed with new FEMA leadership and our state level partners has resulted in approximately 50 million dollars in newly obligated funding over the last few months for many of our projects. As the cash flow for these projects gets on track, these types of victories come as our team's approach to just keep plugging away with a plan that works and a focus on building partnerships that resolve problems instead of using them as hammers. Keep in mind that the total obligated funds over the last year tops three times the recent victories. Washington D.C. has been doling out money in sometimes irresponsible ways. Our focus is to seek those funds that we may have access to and fight as we can. It seems to be revealing itself that we are more likely to capitalize on these project funds as part of a regional team instead of a stand alone parish. Our success in the midst of this stimulus and buyout era has been rooted in St. Bernard's movement ahead of the game. Col. David Dysart and the Office of Recovery staff and Logan Martin and the Public Works staff have implemented our Recovery and Growth plan very well and with the assistance of the CDM team we are closing in on very few projects left to start and the vast majority underway or completed. The best news of all about all of this Recovery and Growth work is that we continue to close the gap between costs of projects to obligated funding for the projects. The final component of funding will rest in our insurance claims being recognized as our legal team for our insurance settlement is closing in on the justification of additional funds. Keep looking forward St. Bernard. We are getting there. God Bless,
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