—SENATOR, MAYOR ACT TO SAVE NEIGHBORHOOD: As Hurricane Francine bore down on Morgan City Wednesday night, Sen. Robert Allain got a call from Mayor Lee Dragna. As Allain explains, a water pump serving Dragna’s neighborhood failed, putting hundreds of homes at risk. Dragna loaded pumps from his own boat yard and asked Allain to meet him with several extra hands. Allain said he picked up seven Morgan City police officers and brought them in his truck through more than 2 feet of standing water to the failed pump, where the group hooked up two auxiliary pumps. “The vast majority of that neighborhood was saved, because the mayor had all of his stuff in order and ready to go,” Allain said. 

—NEXT STEPS FOR NEWEST CITY: Voters in what is now the city of St. George in East Baton Rouge Parish will be asked to vote in December to replace the 2 cent parish sales tax that the city will no longer receive, and will likely vote in March on a new charter, interim Mayor Dustin Yates told the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday. He anticipates St. George using a council-manager form of government and contracting out most services. The city would have five districts council members would represent; Yates said there may be at-large representation as well, and the mayor may have a council vote. 

—LLA ON GOHSEP: The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness received $936 million in Public Assistance reimbursement requests during the first half of this year, and auditors found issues with more than a quarter ($256.7 million), the Louisiana Legislative Auditor reports. During the same period, auditors found $3.9 million in exceptions out of $29.19 million in Hazard Mitigation reimbursement requests. Issues include lack of supporting documentation, out-of-scope expenses, errors and ineligible expenses. GOHSEP is working to resolve the problems before issuing final payments, officials said. 

—BOARDS AND COMMISSION INFLATION: Lawmakers added 10 new boards during the last fiscal year and removed two, for a net gain of eight and a total of 491, the LLA reports. The boards budgeted a total of about $6.7 million in per diems, salaries and travel expenses. The LLA reports 13 boards didn’t respond to requests for data, 18 are inactive and 34 have no record of meeting since 2020.  

—CASSIDY PLANS ‘ENERGY SECURITY SUMMIT’: U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy announced he will be holding a “Louisiana Energy Security Summit” at the Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge on Oct. 16. The summit “will bring together leaders from the federal, state, and local government, industry, research community, and more,” according to Cassidy’s office. Speakers and the agenda will be announced in the coming weeks.

—FEMA FRUSTRATION: Former Sen. Norby Chabert, now a consultant, talks about the frustration folks in bayou country feel toward FEMA, and some ideas to make the agency more user-friendly, in an exclusive column for tomorrow’s edition of Beltway Beat.