Monroe Left Out of Hurricane Relief Support from State

Anytime a bad hurricane rips through South Louisiana, Monroe has been one of the cities that always steps up to provide help.

Senator Mike Walsworth said, "The city of Monroe has been a great partner for years, Baton Rouge knows that, New Orleans, everyone knows."

In fact, the city has an agreement with Lafourche, St. John the Baptist and Terrebone parish to provide shelter to evacuees.  But, the problem is the city was some how skipped when it came to hurricane relief funds.  The more than 1 million dollars went straight to West Monroe.

Mayor Jamie Mayo said,  "When they get to Monroe we have community centers, 6 that were left out, there are no showers no restroom facilities."

And that's a problem, because those 6 recreation centers like this one are supposed to accommodate  around four hundred people comfortably.
   
The mayor says the other 6 centers aren't in very good condition.

Mayo said,  "The other issue is generators, the city of Monroe and those 6 rec centers were left out again and that's just not right."

The mayor says those generators went to Sterlington, West Monroe, Ouachita Parish and the Sheriff's Office.  So, how did all of this happen?  Senator Mike Walsworth, Homeland Security Chairman for the Senate says it was an accident.

"It's one of those bureaucratic glitches where there were some projects cuts and it wound up being the city of Monore."

But mayor Mayo says, that's not an excuse he's willing to buy.

Mayo said, "That's not expectable that its an oversight where Monroe is the central hub where people come to I don't see how the city of Monroe got left out."