Jindal visits Montpelier, awards grants to parish

• By BOB ANDERSON
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Sep 16, 2009 - Page: 5B

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MONTPELIER — St. Helena Parish residents gathered at the Montpelier Town Hall for a chance to shake hands with Gov. Bobby Jindal and watch him award $4 million in federal grants to the parish.

Parish officials hope to use part of the money to build community centers that can double as hurricane shelters near Montpelier and Pine Grove, Police Juror Frank Johnson said after the governor’s visit.

Brian Dykes, who has been mayor of Montpelier for 34 years, said his father was elected to three terms as mayor before him and that Jindal’s appearance Tuesday was the first time in his memory that a governor had visited Montpelier Town Hall.

Edwin Edwards did have a meeting at a Montpelier steakhouse with area officials during his first term as governor, Dykes said.

The village of Montpelier, in the southeastern part of St. Helena Parish,  has about 300 residents. More than 60 people attended Tuesday’s hastily planned meeting publicized only by word of mouth.

Many in the crowd took advantage of the opportunity to have their pictures or their children’s pictures taken with Jindal, who flew in by helicopter.

Jindal told the gathering that be believes the people of St. Helena know better than the state how to spend hurricane protection money in their area.

For that reason, the federal money is being distributed to local governments rather than put in a big program at the state level, he said.

The money will help St. Helena be better prepared for the next hurricane or any other catastrophe that might strike the area, the governor said.

Every $1 spent in preparation for a hurricane is worth $4 in preventing damage, Jindal said.

The grants included a $3.4 million Community Development Block Grant to aid recovery efforts from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development based damage levels for each parish on Federal Emergency Management Agency damage assessments, according to the Governor’s Office.

The rest of the money came through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which is administered by FEMA.