Bias will head back to council

Ron Bias was re-elected as a Morgan City council member Tuesday with 60 percent of the District 3 vote.

Bias got 475 votes Tuesday, according to complete but unofficial returns. Joshua Loupe had 315 votes, or 40 percent.

District 3 includes areas south of Railroad Avenue to Avoca Road and Myrtle Street, south of U.S. 90 from Greenwood Street to Seventh Street, Duke Street to Railroad Avenue, and sections of Pine, Egle, and Terrebonne streets.

The district also extends across La. 182 with Cottonwood, Bernice, and Marguerite streets and Veterans Boulevard as a boundary.

This campaign experience was different than times in the past for Bias.

“In this campaign, I realized that there’s some things that have changed for the worse and some for the good,” Bias said.

“Some of the things that I’ve experienced, saw and heard in this campaign was different from the one in 2004 and 2012, maybe because culture has changed, maybe because the economy has changed. I don’t know.

“I just see … that we need to build a better coalition.”

Bias said the focus needs to move from an individual view of things to a collective approach with people coming together to make the city a better place. He also sees a disconnect among the community.

“I think we can do better if we would just do some things together,” Bias said. “Even if we don’t agree on things on let’s try to meet each other half way and see what it takes to actually make Morgan City a place that we all want to live in. We just need to build a bridge.”

Bias experienced some surprises this time on the campaign trail.

“Yes, there were some disappointments and at the same time there was a lot of encouragement,” Bias said. “It made me do a lot of soul searching. It made me do a lot of objective evaluations of myself.”

Considering himself to be a hands-on-person, Bias stated many had varying views, positive and negative about his approach.

But his hope is that he and those who have differing opinions or views can come to some sort of consensus about the issues.

“Let’s get together and talk about these things,” Bias said. “And let’s see if we could resolve these things.”

All in all, it’s given him new things to consider and goals to strive toward address the disconnect and building better relationships within the district and city.

“I want to thank all of the people that voted for me because it shows that there are 60 percent of the people who had to have confidence in Ron Bias,” Bias said. “So that means, there is 40 percent that Ron Bias has to worked on.

“So that will be the goal, keeping the 60 percent favorable and trying to win the 40 percent non-favorable.”

Loupe said all of the support he received on the campaign trail, especially from his wife, Amy, and his brother, Nick Loupe.

“I met a lot of great people that living in District 3 that I will continue to stay in touch with,” Loupe said. “I am still here if anyone needs a helping hand.”