Business View Civil and Municipal | March 2021

84 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MARCH 2021 I f you want to run a successful city, you first have to take care of its residents. That’s the mantra for Broussard, Louisiana Mayor Ray Bourque, who shares, “We want to make sure we are supportive of our residents, and supportive of our businesses that are here, because they are what is important for our city if we are going to look at growth in the future. We have to be a healthy place for people to work and live.” And he believes the best way to accomplish that is through infrastructure. “Infrastructure in my opinion is key,” says Bourque. “Because for healthy growth you have to keep the pace up and having a well thought out plan for the city is something we work on constantly. We take the time to plan projects and where we want to go. We want to continue efforts for quality of life in our city.” Located in the Lafayette parish of Louisiana, the city of approximately 12,000 residents, as estimated by the US Census, has undergone many infrastructure improvements in recent years. Following major flooding that hit Southern Louisiana in 2016, Broussard made a big commitment to improve drainage infrastructure and that has continued ever since. They have also been upgrading and expanding capabilities for clean drinking water, the city’s ability to handle and process wastewater, as well as road improvements. Bourque emphasizes, “If our city is going to be able to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves for economic growth and quality of life improvements, we have to have the most stable base that we can and those infrastructure improvements AT A GLANCE BROUSSARD, LOUISIANA WHAT: A growing city of 12,000 WHERE: Located in the Lafayette parish of Louisiana along highway I-90 WEBSITE: www.cityofbroussard.com RD, Where Infrastructure is Key