My priorities for Grand Coteau.

Good news first: this is the most fixable thing on the list, and clearing it unlocks everything else. The town's audits have fallen behind, which placed Grand Coteau on the state's non-compliance list and is holding up funding we're owed. Get current, and that money starts flowing again.

The work, in order:

• Bring in a qualified municipal-audit CPA, approved by the Legislative Auditor, to complete the overdue audits.
• Work down every finding with a written corrective-action plan, starting with the ones that keep repeating year after year.
• Restore monthly budget-to-actual reporting to the Board of Aldermen, so the town's finances are never a mystery again.
• Get Grand Coteau formally removed from the non-compliance list, releasing the funding that's frozen today.

This is the standard any real operation holds its own books to. Grand Coteau's books deserve the same — and getting there is step one for all of us.

Here's the good news up front: Grand Coteau has already secured a $3.7 million state Water Sector grant to rebuild its water treatment plant. After the boil advisories and shut-offs families have put up with, that money is the turning point. The job now is to manage it well, finish strong, and keep clean water flowing dependably for good.

The work, in order:

• See the $3.7 million plant rebuild through — on schedule, on budget, and accounted for to the dollar.
• Hold the town's crews and St. Landry Water District #2 to a standard where outages are rare and short.
• Put the water and sewer funds back on sound footing, so rates are fair and the system stops losing money.
• Tell residents the moment there's a problem — straight from Town Hall, not from a rumor.

Reliable water isn't a luxury. It's the most basic thing a town owes the people who live in it.

The minute the town is back in good standing, real money opens up. We've competed for grants and won them, so this isn't theory. Here's where Grand Coteau's share is sitting:

• Water, sewer, and drainage: Louisiana Community Development Block Grants and USDA Rural Development funding, built for exactly these systems.
• Roads and infrastructure: parish and state DOTD partnerships, and the state's Local Government Assistance Program.
• Blight and community development: state and federal programs the town simply hasn't been positioned to apply for.
• The discipline behind it: show up where the decisions are made, meet every requirement, file on time, and account for every dollar — exactly how we handled the $25,000 film grant and the Louisiana Project Grant.

We've won grants before. We'll go after Grand Coteau's share the same way — together.

Grand Coteau sits right on the I-49 corridor between Lafayette and Opelousas, with our own door to it at Exit 11. Thousands of cars pass that exit every day, and right now most of that spending stays on the interstate or goes to the other side of the exit. That's our share to compete for — and developed the right way, the exit funds the town without raising a dime on the people who live here.

The work, in order:

• Make the land ready: get the property around the interchange zoned and site-ready so a developer can build fuel, food, and convenience that capture sales tax from passing traffic.
• Bring in lodging: even a small hotel or RV stop near the exit brings occupancy tax that visitors pay, not residents.
• Partner up: work with Louisiana Economic Development and St. Landry Parish to make the site shovel-ready and recruit an anchor business.
• Make it a gateway: clear signage that pulls travelers off I-49 and into historic Grand Coteau — its shops, restaurants, and festivals, handled as a welcome and never as a speed trap.

An interstate exit is the rarest asset a small town can have. We stop letting ours pass us by.

Grand Coteau already draws visitors, and we already throw events the whole region shows up for — Creole Culture Day and the Sweet Dough Pie Festival, both held at the Town Park behind Town Hall. That park should be a place people pay to host weddings, reunions, markets, and festivals all year, not a couple of weekends a year. The goal is a town where small business thrives and our arts and tourism flourish — and pay their own way.

The work, in order:

• Develop the Town Park into a real event venue: power, shade, restrooms, staging, and a simple booking system, so it earns rental income year-round instead of sitting empty.
• Stand up the permitting we don't have: special-event and special-event-liquor permits, so the town can legally host, serve, and collect the fees and taxes we lose today.
• Make room for small business: storefronts, makers, food, and lodging that capture the visitors our history and festivals already bring in.
• Promote the heritage: work with state tourism and the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area to put the Academy, the Shrine, and our festivals on the map for visitors across the region.

We already know how to draw a crowd. Now we build the place that turns a crowd into a thriving local economy.