LaMATS 2Q Board Meeting Highlights Brownfield Program Wins

In Baton Rouge for Municipal Day, the LaMATS Board of Directors assembled early on the 15th for their second quarterly meeting of 2024.

LaMATS sixteen member board of Louisiana mayors, councilpersons and clerks welcomed new LMA Executive Director Barney Arceneaux, along with recently named Directors, Mayor O'landis Millican of Arcadia, Mayor Gail Wilking of Ball and Councilwoman Lisa Aymond of Woodworth. 

Members received updates on various LaMATS programs, including its work in assisting municipal procurement, annual collection of insurance premium taxes, and a brownfields remediation partnership with LDEQ now working in several municipalities to return formerly blighted properties back into commercial use.

"LaMATS has been essential in getting Louisiana municipalities the Federal and state funding they need to fight blight," said board member Mayor Darnell Waites of Baker, who with LaMATS assistance recently received $500,000 in grant funding to initiate brownfields assessment, a crucial first step in property remediation. "It's a long, complicated process, but LaMATS helped us every step of the way."

In this year's round of funding requests, Baker joined Bogalusa in receipt of assessment funds, while the City of Alexandria received nearly $1.3M for remediation of a former dry cleaning facility.  

"We encourage all LMA members to contact LaMATS and get this ball rolling in their communities," advised Mayor Waites.