Business View Civil & Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 8

119 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8 kids an opportunity to swim competitively without having to bear the costs of an expensive country club membership. That’s been very successful and we have over 200 swimmers.” The city is also fortunate to have a large municipal facility, with the capacity of seating about 4000 people. It was built in the 1970s as an entertainment venue, but over the years it was transitioned to a multi-purpose community center that caters to public events such as Mardi Gras celebrations, dance competitions and high school band competitions. Looking to the future, Eschete admits, “I’m only going to be here for another year and five months after serving as Mayor for 11 years and 25 years in city administration before that. But my goal is to make sure our fiscal situation is stable, which it is and has been. And that there is a smooth transition for the next person who comes in and that they understand the needs of the community. Not just from a development standpoint, but we can’t forget about the aging infrastructure and trying to stay a step ahead of that in planning. Nobody wants to see the community try to grow too fast. I’m not a big proponent of annexing developed property. I’ve always stressed that it would be a plus for the city to annex raw property so it can be managed and developed to our standards. My predecessors felt the same way and that’s been a successful method of growth that hopefully will continue.” EQUIPMENT, PARTS, AND SERVICE FOR MUNICIPAL & INDUSTRIAL USE 7868 Florida Blvd. Denham Springs, LA 1-800-349-8000 Visit our website for our full line of equipment. www.covingtonsales.com Where great people deserve great care and friendly reliable service! THI BODAUX , LOUI S I ANA