Daphne recovery top priority for LeJeune

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DAPHNE – When Daphne’s new mayor takes office Nov. 2, continuing the cleanup from Hurricane Sally will be a top priority, Robin LeJeune said.

LeJeune, who has been on the City Council for eight years, defeated Steve Carey in a runoff election for mayor on Oct. 6. He will replace Mayor Dane Haygood, who did not run for re-election.

LeJeune said continuing the work to recover from the Sept. 16 hurricane will one of his primary efforts.

“The number one goal, of course, is the cleanup of the city,” LeJeune said. “I know Dane has been working on that with our staff and our FEMA debris cleanup, but still, it’s not just about the debris pickup. It’s the parks, Central Park is going to need some work. Our parks and our facilities and things like that is taking an assessment after we get the debris picked up from our citizens, taking an assessment of what we have to do get it back to what it was before the hurricane and even better. So that’s really the number one goal is the cleanup of the aftermath of Hurricane Sally, to make sure we get the city back to where it looks good, our parks are back to normal and looking good and just the debris pickup is the big concern of our citizens right now.”

LeJeune said other leading priorities include replacing the city’s recycling center destroyed in a fire in December 2019. “The recycling center is top priority with the cleanup,” LeJeune said. “That is a huge priority for me right away to get that done working with the council to get that done.”

The mayor-elect said he also wants to improve communication with the public, volunteer groups and city employees.

“We want to communicate better with our citizens, with our employees internally,” LeJeune said. “So, that’s key and that kind of envelopes everything and every aspect of the city not just for hurricanes and emergencies, but just in general what we’re doing as a city, what we’re doing and that communication, having that free flow communication and, of course, working with the council and the staff, internal communication, to work on that.”

Other goals include a pier extension and a possible amphitheater at Bayfront Park as well as underground utilities. Recreational facilities should continue to be expanded, including a tennis center and splash pad, he said.

“We definitely want to make sure our senior citizens are getting resources,” LeJeune said. “The animal shelter is definitely a big one that we’re going to start moving on and working with the council on to get that done.”

A long-range plan for the city was an issue during the campaign. LeJeune said the city has a plan, but it needs to be updated. He said that procedure has already started.

“The goal is to get that started. There is some information that we have to wait on. There’s census data and things like that, so it’s not a snap your fingers and here we go. We’ve got a 20-year plan. It is a process, ,” LeJeune said.

“We need to get that started, because the growth is here. The growth is coming. We need to go ahead and get that out there,” he said.

While lodging tax revenue fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, Daphne’s overall revenue did well.

“The city is very good,” LeJeune said. “Our bond rating is one of the highest you can get for a city our size. We are very financially well. We’ve got a lot of money in our reserves. So, we’re in a fiscally great place to be for the city of Daphne.”

LeJeune won the runoff with more than 63 percent of the vote. He said he was grateful for the support he received from around Daphne and the unity shown by residents.

“We live in a great place where everybody gets along. We don’t have those same issues of division that a lot of these other cities that are going on in the nation right now,” LeJeune said.

“We’re growing, but we’re still that small town that everybody knows and everybody enjoys and the reason people want to come here is because we are a town of friends and family. It’s not a town that is divided or wants to be divided,” he said.