Hanagriff: Parish needs to be frugal, attract more housing

St. Mary Parish President-elect David Hanagriff said Monday that he intends to focus on controlling costs within parish government while pushing to bring more housing options to the parish when he takes office in January.
Hanagriff was the guest speaker at Monday’s St. Mary Industrial Group monthly luncheon meeting.
Hanagriff currently serves as District 3 parish councilman. Hanagriff defeated Gary Duhon in the Oct. 24 election for St. Mary Parish President. He takes office Jan. 13.
“My message never changed,” Hanagriff said of his campaign for parish president. “I will run St. Mary Parish in a business-like manner.”
Hanagriff explained what running parish government “in a business-like manner” means. Hanagriff understands businesses and governments cannot be run the same way, he said.
However, he plans to apply several business principles to parish government including controlling costs, consolidating government where possible and holding people accountable, Hanagriff said.
“The state of our parish economy is not good. We all know this through declining sales taxes and through job losses through this tough time,” Hanagriff said. “However, we need to plan and prepare for the future.”
Hanagriff referenced Friday’s column in The Daily Review about a 1982 article written by Larry Wall.
“I was 13 years old in 1982,” Hanagriff said. “I find it interesting that we’re still talking about the same problems 33 years later.”
The article stated that much of St. Mary Parish’s workforce didn’t live in the parish due to crime and both quantity and quality of housing, Hanagriff said.
“We are finally taking steps to fix some of these problems,” Hanagriff said.
The development of Renwick Subdivision in Berwick began the process of providing adequate housing to the parish, he said.
Levee improvements, which are in the works in Morgan City, will help area leaders make a development similar to Renwick a possibility in Morgan City, Hanagriff said.
Hanagriff wants to focus on residential development on the west end of the parish as well, he said.
“We’re losing too many people to New Iberia and Lafayette parishes. People that work in the community should stay here and build here,” Hanagriff said.
With the surrounding areas of Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Houma, New Orleans, the Atchafalaya Basin and Gulf of Mexico, St. Mary Parish “is in the middle of everything,” Hanagriff said.
“This is where people need to come to live. This is what we need to promote. If we build it, they will come,” he said.
Hanagriff is in the process of collecting data and putting together ideas for what his administration hopes to accomplish in his first year as parish president, he said. Hanagriff will meet with Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange next week to begin the transition process.
Hanagriff ran on a platform of change, “and change is what you will get,” he said. Change is never easy, and he will need the support of the community along the way, he said.
He plans to assemble a coalition of community leaders to help him in his transition process. People in the transition team will include members of SMIG, St. Mary One, the Chamber of Commerce and rotary club among others, he said.
Hanagriff hopes the coalition will bring different ideas to the table to strengthen the existing economy while bringing new industries to the parish, he said.