Untitled - September 4, 2025

00:00:00 Speaker: Today on fueled, I'm joined by State Representative Ryan Boyack, a sixth generation native of Cameron Parish's Chenier Plain, whose life and leadership are shaped by the storms, industries and people of Louisiana's coast. Ryan entered public service as a planner and grants coordinator before becoming Cameron Parish Administrator in twenty fourteen. In that role, he led initiatives that transformed the parish from fisheries and LNG expansions to courthouse rehabilitation and a parish wide coastal master plan through shoreline protection, marsh creation and drainage. He laid the groundwork for resilience in one of Louisiana's most storm stricken regions. Since his election to the Louisiana Legislature in twenty eighteen, Ryan has carried that local perspective to Baton Rouge as a chair of the House transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee. He has become a leading voice for modernizing how Louisiana delivers infrastructure, championing reforms to streamline the Department of Transportation and Development and tackle a nineteen billion dollars backlog of road and bridge projects. But Ryan's story goes deeper than infrastructure. His leadership is marked by humility, persistence and deep roots that keep him grounded in Cameron Parish, even as he shapes statewide policy. As a sixth generation son of Cameron Parish and a father raising the seventh generation. He leads with the long View, always weighing today's choices against the world his children will inherit. In this conversation, we'll explore the lessons of his journey and what it can teach other leaders about turning local challenges into statewide progress. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Okay, we're off to a good start. I think I'm just gonna shut it down right there. We're done here. The only thing I can do is screw that up. It's only downhill from there. Oh, no. So our interview today is structured around. Our interview today is structured around three parts I'm a throat clearing part number one okay. All right. Our interview today is structured around three parts. We'll talk about concrete. Some of the infrastructure projects you've overseen and are currently seeing underway. Part two your character, the man that you are, the leader that you are. And part three legacy, which you hope to leave behind. So part one concrete building resilience and regional growth. Let's start at the parish level. When you stepped in as Cameron Parish administrator, you led projects like new fisheries infrastructure, LNG expansions, courthouse rehabilitation and a parish wide coastal master plan. Which of those projects do you think most transformed the parish? Well, I think first of all, we have to understand that this area is very diverse. And so although we have a lot of benefits and a lot of good stories, we also have a lot of challenges. And you alluded to the storms, and I think that a lot of the infrastructure projects that we could discuss are critically important. However, I think the most important to me, and the one that I probably was the most proud of, uh, was working through the Cameron Coastal Restoration and Protection Master plan, um, being on the Chenier Plain Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, uh, which included Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion, gave me a regional purview of what our concerns were from a coastal protection perspective in in our area, what we found is that, um, at times we were forgotten about, uh, throughout the state. We were not the population center. You had the southeast portion of the state, which had New Orleans and Houma and even Morgan City to a certain extent. We always kidded in, you know, in public meetings in Abbeville, uh, when we'd have Chenier plain, uh, meetings. Is that the coastal master plan doesn't stop in Morgan City. There is portions of the state west of Morgan City for us to address. So for me to work, uh, with our our local stakeholders from a landowner perspective, uh, drainage boards, uh, elected and appointed officials and to, to, uh, clearly communicate priorities from a local perspective. Uh, I think was probably one of the most important things that that we accomplished, uh, as a parish and, and as a, as a region. So you feel like you really gave a voice to southwest Louisiana. I think we we organized that voice in a manner, uh, that made it very hard for us to ignore. We we basically, uh, took those economic benefits that existed, uh, just for this district, for district forty seven, around three hundred and fifty million dollars in ag and aquaculture, uh, benefits over one fiscal year. And you marry that with industry? Uh, and that includes, uh, you know, hunting and fishing, both from a recreational perspective and a commercial perspective. AG you know, we're here in Pecan Island. And so this is kind of the the focal point of all of those, uh, different, uh, facets of our economy coming, coming together. That's an interesting point. You bring up that a lot of people are paying attention to southeastern portion of Louisiana, with New Orleans being such a hub. and. But Cameron Parish really. The the length of the coastline on Cameron Parish is very long, isn't it? Isn't it? I mean, it's many, many miles of shoreline we have around. We have around seventy miles of shoreline. Um, initially we got caught up in, in, you know, some logistical issues. Uh, in the terminology, uh, we hear a lot of discussion in the past about barrier islands and what we found in the southwest portion of the state throughout Vermilion and Cameron is we have barrier shorelines. So if we don't protect the shoreline, regardless of whether you want to classify it as a barrier island or not, uh, we're still going to suffer those consequences. So we we really had to overcome, uh, basically a lack of understanding of what was happening on our end, projects that were attempted in the southeast and state. You know, state leaders didn't think that we should pursue them on our end, even though our ecosystem was different. And so, even as recent as the twenty seventeen state master plan, we didn't have rock breakwaters as an authorized expenditure. So we had to fight very diligently as a region for all three parishes to come together and explain why, uh, rock breakwaters, although couldn't work in some environments, were critically important to to ours. I've seen some interesting pictures on our end on the database side of having installed a rock breakwater and then actually watching the shoreline absolutely back out. So it's really an interesting project. What we found with, uh, first demo projects and then constructing these projects fully was that when you give Mother Nature a chance, she's going to take care of herself and that sediment, uh, A creed that accretion behind those breakwaters happened naturally and immediately. Uh, so those areas have vegetated and sometimes ninety days, uh, so very satisfied and proud of how those projects fared for our area. Very cool. LNG development has been a defining force in Cameron and southwest Louisiana at large. How did you navigate negotiations surrounding tax exemptions and the pilot agreements, and what lessons does that hold, do you think, for other local leaders managing large scale industrial projects? Well, we had a lot to balance because one could look at the overall investment amount okay, and see tens of billions of dollars of private investment. And that's and that's great. Uh, at the same time, we relied one hundred and ten percent, uh, on local property taxes, ad valorem taxes. There was no local sales tax levied to assist with, you know, impacts during the construction phase. But in a way, it helped us be more competitive. So we had to balance what we thought we could accumulate immediately versus the long term benefits of having six figure jobs, uh, to the tune of thousands of new jobs, um, not counting tens of thousands of construction jobs. And so that's something that we as a parish, we had to work with thirty two ancillary taxing districts, along with the school board, the sheriff, the police jury. Uh, just to understand what those needs were from, from each individual perspective. Uh, in fact, whenever I was with the parish, um, I believe we were collecting around thirty million dollars a year total, all taxing entities. I believe those numbers. Now, if you would look and see, uh, even with some of the exemptions, it's around seventy eight million dollars that's being collected, seventy to eighty million dollars a year being collected, which is double where we were when, when I was actually with the parish. And so I think it was important for us, uh, Doctor Lawrence Scott always said sometimes it is just simple math. And if a company has an opportunity to locate, uh, for us in, in in southwest Louisiana, we're competing with southeast Louisiana, of course, but we're also competing with the Houston Ship Channel. We're also competing with Brownsville. We're also competing with Corpus Christi because of our proximity. And so sometimes those numbers did help a company make a decision to locate where, where we wanted the asset to be, uh, because we were maybe a little more forward thinking to say, yes, it would be nice to have that immediate influx of tax revenue to do good things. But if we get our plan together, those tax revenues will still come. We just have to bridge the gap in the interim. So I think the most important thing was communicating immediate needs and balancing those with long term needs. Assuming we could increase the amount of investment, which I think if you take a look and see, uh, what has already been constructed and what is still pending, um, you know, nearly one hundred billion dollars worth of projects. So, um, it's just a it's just a discussion and a really it was a debate that we had, uh, as as a governmental family, uh, to determine the best way to move forward. Sounds like you had to consult a lot of people. And I also wonder, what's it like at that scale, dealing with that many zeros behind a number and having the weight of that decision fall on your shoulders. What's that? What's that feel like? Well, it didn't fall on one pair of shoulders. And I think that's. That was the most impressive thing to me. Um, you know, typically in south Louisiana, we like to, uh, kind of fight amongst ourselves a little bit. Uh, but generally when, when a quote unquote outsider comes into the picture, we will unite. Okay. And present a front that, uh, you know, stands again, united. And so I think that, uh, the potential for that significant investment, uh, led to us really having to have difficult discussions early, um, and making the best decision we can at the time, uh, the available data was the available data. And so, uh, to sit down at a conference room with all parties involved. Um, you get volunteer boards and elected officials, uh, parish wide officials, all to sit at the same table, uh, and, and make determinations to move forward in a manner where votes are forty eight to two on moving forward. Um, I took pride in not that's what the the end result was, but the fact that we communicated that across the spectrum, uh, and came to somewhat of a consensus, a consensus builder, when you think about the regional economy of southwest Louisiana and you've touched on this, the diversity of that economy, LNG, fisheries, agriculture, the coast, how do these industries fit together, and what's the state's role in supporting their growth? Um, I first of all, the, the, the economics of it, just because it's important to say, um, if you look at the portion of my district in Vermilion Parish that's over three hundred million dollars a year in ag agriculture related benefits, that economy is is significant not just to our region, uh, but to this entire country. And when you marry the ag and aquaculture of of Vermilion, uh, with its industrial base, with Cameron's, uh, commercial fisheries and recreational fisheries and the hunting, we're here at Duck Nuts Lodge, and there's a reason this camp is here. Um, we have some of the most prime fertile hunting ground, uh, in the world. And so when you can bring people like Drew Brees and Dick Cheney, uh, and Justice Scalia, uh, to a region to see what is number one, what is going on and all that you have to offer are people. Um, Um, but to also see that we have needs at the same time. Uh, I think that that's one of the best things that we were able to do, uh, as a region was to highlight what our economies were, but utilized the God given resources that we had. We utilized that as a platform to draw them here, to get them to understand what our perspective were. You know, our perspectives were, um, my wife grew up in Paterson, which is close to Morgan City. And, uh, when we moved to Grand Chenier, uh, in twenty ten on family land, um, she was a little shocked, but but what she found when we moved there was individuals who take up for one another, who lean on one another. And, uh, a culture that never turned, never turned one of their own loose. And I was very proud that my daughters got to experience that before Laura. So all of that meshed together. To go back to your original question about, you know, the the economies and how we how we marry all of those together. I think the way we do that is through infrastructure and the fact that it doesn't matter what your economic sector is, it doesn't matter who you rely on for your your take home pay. You're still going to use our roads. You're still going to use our bridges. You're still going to rely on drainage and coastal protection projects that the area has. And so, uh, no matter what good or service we're we're transporting, we need to have reliable access to critical infrastructure to to move goods and services across this state and the country. And, and to a certain extent, uh, what you're seeing with the LNG exports, when you see sixty one percent of the nation's LNG being exported from from Cameron Parish, from right here in southwest Louisiana. Um, and the country as a whole is leading the world in exports, and sixty one percent of that is coming from, you know, one little, one little parish. It's pretty neat. It is pretty neat. And you mentioned the the majesty of nature. And I you know, I live in Lafayette and just driving down here and I actually called Matt on the way and I said, boy, it's a vibe. It's so beautiful. And the birds and the blue herons fly over and the purple martins are flocking and their iridescent wings are flapping. And the flatlands and the the channels on either side of the road. It's it really is something to behold. Well, for for all the the wildlife that you saw on the way down here, you got to thank Fred Hoyt for that, because he allowed us to come here in the first place. So I'm glad that you were able to, you know, maneuver through basically a scenic byway just to make your way from from Lafayette to here. But but to hit on your point, uh, my great grandfather lived till he was ninety seven years old. Uh, he lived in Grand Chenier his entire life. Didn't want to live anywhere else. Uh, even after Rita took his home that had existed for for over a hundred years, uh, he moved back to that same tract of land to raise cattle. And he always said this, and I thought it was very profound. If you if you're not right with the good Lord, you can't live in Grand Chenier because it's too quiet. You're at peace if you want action and hustle and bustle, you can find that. Uh, for any aspect of your life. But to find true beauty and true peace. Um, spend some time out here. Uh, in district forty seven, you'll find it relatively easily. I would be inclined to agree. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So at the same time that you were working these other angles, you emphasize coastal restoration. So we're talking about shoreline protection, marsh creation and flood control structures. How did you balance the economic development with safeguarding one of the most fragile coastlines in the country? You can't separate them. You can't separate the land from the activity upon the land, from the from the environmentally sensitive areas around it. It's all intertwined. Guess what? At some point, uh, reference my grant management background. At some point, you have to justify a project. And at times in our area, we have no dedicated revenue stream to coastal protection. So we relied one hundred percent on limited local dollars to leverage state and federal dollars. Well guess what? We need rice crops. We need crawfish farm data. We need LNG export data. We need the number of jobs created. Uh, you know, at some of these locations, we need to know how many people traveled to Rockefeller Refuge, uh, to Price Lake Road to go recreate. Okay, if that number is a half a million, then guess what? They need a reliable highway to get there and back home. If they want to come and experience sportsman's Sportsman's Paradise, they need a reliable mode of transportation to get there and to get back home. And so they're all intertwined. We can't separate the the economic investment, uh, from the land and waters in some instances, uh, in which these take place. And so, uh, I'm going to go back to a previous point of drainage projects benefit everyone. Um, but what we do have to balance at times, you can have one tract of land that maybe has cattle grazing, uh, so it may be utilized for hay. It also during a period of of the year, may be utilized to have a little more water on it. Uh, for hunting purposes, uh, it may be managed to have to pick alligator eggs at some point. Um, and you do that in, in coastal Louisiana through managing of water control structures. We have individuals that, uh, understand the land. They understand hydrology. Um, I thought one of the most critical things we did in communicating our priorities was we married, local institution, institutional applied knowledge from people who lived into their nineties who maybe were on volunteer drainage boards, uh, in Lower Vermilion Parish. And we married what they observed and what they lived with, what Modelist, uh, and hydrologists attempted to tell us from Baton Rouge. It's not that one was one hundred percent accurate and one was one hundred percent false. Neither had lived the other's life, and so their perspective was different. So to get them both to sit down at the same table and discuss, okay, at what point in time do we have to worry about salinities when we're trying to pump fields? AG fields. At what time do we need to perhaps drain some excess water off if there's a storm coming, or if there's a rainfall event that we are aware of that is, you know, potentially coming up. What we always can address is satisfying. Everybody okay. So at times there's there are always winners and losers. It's no different than life. Um, but but to be able to uh, again clearly communicate perspectives, uh, and life experiences and building that outcome that is beneficial. A little bit to both. I think that's important. I love thinking about alligator eggs behind my brother's house. He actually has a bayou and a sweet alligator. Just had a hatch of oh wow, a bunch. And it's it's just a precious thing that you don't think about all the time. Alligators. But it's important. Correct? Do you hunt gators? We do. Actually. It's ongoing right now. Uh, and we can talk about, you know, a lot of people discuss duck hunting, but but in recent years, we've seen quite a few, uh, sports hunters come down, uh, for the alligator harvest season. Uh, and when you look at the research that's been put into place, um, in this region, uh, that took place at Rockefeller, and then the number of alligator farms that are in this area, uh, to manage a nearly extinct species. Okay. In the seventies to now, where you just. Your brother probably doesn't live in Kiawah Island. I think he's a little bit north of that. And so, um, we have gators to the point where now we have nuisance gators, uh, nuisance hunters for the nuisance gators, uh, because there's such a plethora of of gators. Because we've done a good job of managing those numbers over time. Uh, almost to the point where we need to look at, uh, possibly, uh, winter or early spring harvest season to kind of knock down some of them numbers. That's so interesting. Okay. I'm crying. I'm not crying. You're crying. Oh my gosh, I love thinking about the gators. I like that spot on the highway where you can go and hold a baby gator. And Jennings is so sweet. And you can actually paint their toenails. They paint their toenails there. I didn't know that. Okay. You've also been involved in coastal protection efforts statewide. So how do you see Louisiana's coastal challenges connecting to our broader infrastructure and economic priorities? And you've touched on this. If you have anything you wanted to add. I think I might indicate that many of these initiatives required coordination between parish, state and federal agencies for mayors and parish presidents listening. What is the key to pulling down state dollars or aligning multiple layers of government around a single project? I think we first need to establish that foundation. We have to understand where do we want to go? We have to get our own house in order. Uh, because what what you can see in, in some localities is, uh, an infrastructure priority. And when you progress that infrastructure priority along to the point where funding perhaps becomes available. A lot of times you're going to have a public hearing on a project. If you haven't communicated the the scope of the project, the impacts of the project, both positive and potentially negative. Uh, if you haven't communicated those clearly to your own constituency, uh, you're setting yourself up for failure. So, number one, you have to engage your clientele, uh, engage your constituents from residential and business perspective. Uh, so we're all singing from the same sheet of music, uh, because, again, you're going to have to rely on that state agency, uh, to hear your story. You have to you have to provide that narrative, uh, and do a great job of storytelling because you're competing against all these other entities, uh, all these other areas want the same money that you want. And so, organizing your thoughts, uh, developing those in a thorough manner, uh, in the form of a plan. A lot of times it's helpful, uh, and I think soft costs that are handled upfront, uh, planning costs, permitting costs, design, some limited design will help you understand those limitations of a project. Uh, and also help you figure out which funding sources you may qualify for. Uh, better you. It will help guide you along your path and probably expedite the manner in which you construct a project. What percentage would you say of projects coming to fruition relies on relationships? Oh, I think, uh, one hundred percent. It's no matter what metric you want to use, the relationship could be, uh, a landowner who has to reach out to a volunteer drainage board member who has to reach out to a local governmental official in the form of police juror or parish councilman, who then is going to rely on staff, parish administrative staff or municipal staff or mayor's office, who is going to then reach out to their legislative delegation, who is then going to reach out to the division of administration to identify any funding sources that are out there. Then you're going to rely on your federal delegation, who is then going to, in turn, engage federal agencies to determine if any funds are available. Um, those are all relationships, uh, at every turn, if there's a fracture, uh, in any of in any of that, you know, that entire, uh, formation from the local level all the way to the funding source, you're not going to succeed. And so it's all about relationships. It's all about relationships from the get go. So you've got to be able to shake some hands. That's exactly right. You got to visit with folks. Okay I like this interview so far. I think it's going well. Melinda. Oh, yeah. You feel good? She has to say that. Is she paid to say that? Absolutely. Oh, my gosh, I have a frog in my throat. Y'all need a water break or anything? Excuse me. I'm good. You good? Okay. This year at the Capitol, you carried that same mindset into a package of bills to restructure the Department of Transportation and Development. What frustrations were you trying to solve? And what should local leaders know about how these reforms will change their experience as they attempt to deliver projects. Well, I think what we as a legislature attempted to do was just hear the public. Um, we were we were able to have a significant amount of leadership and support from the governor, um, and his staff in the form of developing the Boston Consulting Group report, which identified shortcomings of the department. I can tell you that nothing identified in that report was surprising to many of the legislators or even, um, our clientele, the residences and businesses of the state of Louisiana. And so a lot of times, we like to hear that it's just money. If we had more money, it would be fine. if we had more money. It would be fine. But what we identified through that report was that we were delivering on about twenty percent of the projects that we claimed we were going to deliver on our own time frame as a state. And so, number one, you have to tackle that because for for me, as a freshman legislator, if I had an infrastructure project that wasn't in the highway priority program, but clearly was an issue, no one could say it wasn't an issue. It was an evacuation route. It hasn't been touched in forty five years. Uh, it's in deplorable state. Um, and I would appropriate cash to that project. It could take three or four years to get design work started on that, on that, on that stretch of highway. And so all we took as a legislature and I want to say, um, how how grateful I am to the House Transportation Committee and the Senate Transportation Committee. We had monthly meetings after we got out of session in June of twenty four. We met every single month to get updates on where every overlay project was. Every equipment acquisition was throughout the entire state. Um, we used that as a, as a litmus test, uh, and then went back to those same representatives and senators statewide before session started and said, listen, here's what we think we heard. What do you like? What do you not like? Where can we pivot? What do we need to include? And so, um, we had regional meetings, uh, with every member who chose to participate, uh, and then hearings in, in House and Senate committees and the House and Senate floor. And what you'll find in those votes, uh, of the of those packages of bills, They received no nay votes, and I don't think it's because we didn't feel that we were doing too much or that we weren't doing enough. It's that it was a step in the right direction. Uh, I feel that we communicated very well as a body, but also from a constituent level on operations and maintenance issues that, you know, that include grass cutting, that include spraying of ditches, um, routine maintenance issues that maybe, perhaps, uh, we took for granted from time to time. And so to understand how we take those ongoing concerns and issues and now now that they've been identified, how do we address them? So the bills, all they attempted to do was highlight the needs of the people, uh, put, give, provide them their platform, give them their say. Uh, to understand that this is this is when we're going to we're going to take a different look at this and try a new approach and see if we have more improvements. And so, uh, I think what we've seen over the past year, uh, that same, that same infrastructure fund, that Louisiana Transportation infrastructure fund, that two hundred and sixty million dollars from the twenty twenty four regular session. We were updated last month. Ninety four percent of those funds were expended, not just of the projects of every dollar that was appropriated, ninety four percent delivery rate, uh, in that one fiscal year. So I think we are on on the right track. What we need to do is go back to those relationship buildings and understand that the locals know what they need. And so at times, we have to make sure that Baton Rouge will listen to us on a local, on a local level, on a local issue. Interesting. Kind of a deconsolidation of power. Somewhat correct. I think they say that's why. That's why. Um, and you're going to have to edit this out, baby. I'm not going to go there. Never mind. I read a book one time. It said something about Germany in the world war, and that's why they were able to progress so quickly as they did is because they had the deconsolidation of the power. They weren't trying to pass the decision making back up the chain and then back down to the chain. They let the man with the boots on the ground make the decision to be able to hasten things up, which just kind of speaking to your point, but to crunch that out, we won't be talking about Germany in the war. In the war economy. Uh oh, uh oh. I don't know what he said, but it makes me nervous. No, my last name is actually German, so I should know. All right. Some critics speaking to the DoD reform have raised concerns about balancing speed with safety or centralizing too much authority in what they consider they consider centralizing too much authority in the governor's office. How do you respond to those concerns? Well, the governor is the chief executive officer for the entire state. So the governor is charged and tasked with with establishing that vision, um, and and determining which outcomes are most beneficial for, for his platform. Um, he is going to appoint cabinet secretaries who are going to execute on that, on that vision. Uh, based off of, uh, his his leadership and guidance. Um, all I will say is, um, he's elected by the people of this state, just like we are. And so, uh, from a DoD perspective. I believe at the same time that you're going to see us moving to getting creative and innovative with the Office of Highway Construction, which is purely an attempt to identify non-state entity partners, both from a private industry perspective or a local government perspective, to expedite the construction of projects. That's it. We have road transfer projects that have been on the books for years, where local governments literally want to take over the maintenance of a state road. We as a state are holding them back from doing so. I can give you an example. Downtown Abbeville. Okay. We had a road transfer program that was dormant, had set on the books for years and years and years, but for a cash appropriation to have enough money to bring the road back to state standards so it could be turned over to the locality. It still wouldn't have happened. But now what we are going to see is the local government is going to maintain that downtown city center. Okay. To their own spec. So if they want to provide a two inch overlay, uh, the Magdalene Square and the courthouse square area. Now it's. And if it's when they're in their budget, we don't have to go to Baton Rouge to DotD headquarters to try and fight for four inches of of overlay for the area when the project has to be fully developed and you have to worry about the spacing between the gutters and the asphalt and the stairs to the sidewalk and, and the asphalt and so forth and so on. Now it's a local standard. Okay, that could be met. Not that it's unsafe. Um, in fact, it's going to probably be, you know, improved more frequently. Okay. Uh, so at the same time that we're trying to get creative and innovative, we're also for the second year in a row, providing each district office, supplemental funding to go and buy equipment that they need. If it's a mini excavator to assist with digging, if it's a culvert cleaner to blow out culverts and driveways across the region. Um, we're still reinvesting at the same time, uh, that we can look at these innovative processes. Okay. Uh, we're still reinvesting in those, uh, basically the standard operating procedure that the department has has moved forward with for, for decades. And so we're trying to shore up what's there today and also say we have to get creative. We can't wait forever. It's nineteen billion dollars in the backlog if it hasn't grown since then. So let's try to do something different. At the same time, we're shoring up what we're already doing. It sounds simple when you talk about it. It sounds common sense. I hope it is. Is there anything infrastructure wise that I didn't ask you and we didn't talk about that you're excited about and you wanted to talk about and touch on? I think I think we're good there. I think we're good. Okay. So moving on to part two character humility, negotiation and staying grounded. Cameron Parish is one hundred percent unincorporated. No mayors, just volunteer police jurors. How did that unique structure shape the way that you learned to lead and negotiate? Well, at times when you increase the number of elected officials, let's say from a municipal perspective, and then the parish perspective. Okay. Um, there's another um, I don't want to say, um. Layer of, uh. And then my mind went blank. I'm going to say layer of encumbrances. I was thinking you were going to say. So when you when you move from, um, a local municipal office, okay, to, let's just say a parish district. Okay. Um, that is another buffer. Okay. That's another I another set of eyes, another set of ears that's going to look at a problem and probably have some say in how it's how it's resolved. Um, when you're in a parish with no municipalities, no incorporated areas, uh, the buck starts and stops with the police jury. And so to have those thirty some odd ancillary districts who are all appointed by those, uh, seven or eight elected officials, um, and you're there, you're there, administrative, uh, arm. You have to learn to communicate very quickly. Um, you can't waste a minute. You have to try, uh, to, uh, again, understand what their concerns are. But. But to me, the only way you can do that is being face to face and being present. Um, and so, uh, it being forced, uh, you know, to, to somewhat engage, uh, I want to believe really helped me understand communication better. Uh, and going back to a previous point, I think it only illustrates the point of upfront and early on, if you can identify some hurdles or causes for concern, all it's going to do is, is remove those boundaries further down the line. When you're when you're ready to receive grant funding and when you're ready to construct a project, uh, all that work upfront, all those discussions, all those debates. Sometimes fights, uh, end up typically improving the the final product. You've been described as a master negotiator, but also deeply humble, someone who makes extraordinary accomplishments seem ordinary. How do you balance persistence with humility in leadership? I don't know who told you that. Uh, so you may have to check the tape on that one. Um, but from a negotiating perspective, I think everyone has a voice. And, uh, you know, the good Lord gave us two ears and one mouth. And even though I do a lot of talking, I think what most folks would be surprised to know is I do a lot of listening. Um, and I think that's critically important. I don't know what I don't know. And until I actually take a deep breath and allow someone to get through a thought process or to voice concerns without getting into my predisposition opinion. Um, I'm only shortchanging both of us. I'm only wasting both of our times. Um, I'm not so sure how that led to, uh, humility and and, you know, or even if some of my close people, uh, family and friends would agree with that, uh, being tagged to me. But but I will say this, um. There are a ton of people who deserve credit for wherever we are right now. And from a personal perspective, um, I spent a lot of time growing up with my grandparents and great grandparents. I spent a lot of time with the Ladies Altar Society. I spent a lot of time in bingo halls and the American Legion. Um, all those people had a vested interest in me succeeding, regardless of what that meant, whether that was in academics or athletics or livestock shows or in raising a family or professionally. Um. I'm blessed that for whatever reason, um, a wide range of people gave a damn about me, and I will never let myself take that for granted. Um, one of one of the biggest impacts I had in my entire life, um, was my third grade teacher, Mary Lou Grevenburg. Um, I had a very good fifth grade teacher in Wendy Wickey, who still holds my feet to the fire to this day. But Miss Grosvenor was the first person who challenged me with every ounce of her being. Um, whenever I started college, she would write me and remind me of how many people helped me get to where I was and to not screw it up and to know that people care. And also to be intimidated by the fact that they probably call me out on it if I squandered what they helped. You know, what they helped build? Um, she gave me a book, Golden Treasure of the familiar, which was a bunch of, uh, a bunch of quotes and a bunch of speeches from, uh, philosophers, uh, down to presidents And and in the letter in that book, she told me that she had searched for that book for quite some time and knew that's what she wanted to give me for my college graduation. And when she found it, uh, she spoke in that letter about how fond she was of me and that she was my. You know, that I was her favorite. Um, unfortunately, she passed. And, uh, you know, it probably is almost a decade now, and, uh, and I spoke at her funeral in Kaplan. And whenever I got there, I was not going to speak. Uh, number one, she'd had been correcting my grammar as I spoke, and so I didn't want to cause any problems for her. Um, but I watched a family member upon family member upon family member go up and talk about how impressive she was and how, uh, you know, she was adopted and she was raised by by nuns, and she was raised in private Catholic school. And so that helped me understand her structure, you know. Um, but they all claimed that they were her favorite. But I was the only one that went up to the mic with a letter and read in her own words that I was the favorite, which everyone just was ecstatic. I mean, they they ate it up. All that to say, um, I'm a very fortunate man. And I hope, um, with everything that I've been blessed with, I hope I can pass that on to my three daughters. Um, I hope they never take for granted the amount of people who want to see them succeed, but who also are going to be there to help when you fail to pick you back up. And so I think, um, it is not my credit to take. It is, um, a whole host of people from the time I was born until now, from a personal relationship to a professional relationship to a legislative perspective, to legislative staff. Miss Melinda. I mean, you it it it's all of us. It's it's it's, um, it's not one set of shoulders that's that's carrying the burden. And it's not one set of shoulders that's lifting everything up. It reminded me of a quote, uh, to whom much is given, much is expected. Correct. Seem like you're living that, correct? I hope so. And I'll just go ahead and add my name to the list of people that would tag you with the word humble. Are. People close to you say that you've stayed grounded, still active in your Lions Club church and your kids school activities, even as you've taken on bigger responsibilities in Baton Rouge. Tell me how you stay connected to your roots while serving at the state level. Well, I have to, um. I was brought up to be involved. I was brought up to be engaged, and and and the credit of that goes to my parents and grandparents and great grandparents who demanded it. Um. You helped. You showed up, you helped, uh, and you contributed. And so, uh, I was fortunate to be raised in a household where, you know, both parents worked, but but both parents also were involved in Four-h. They coached, uh, rec league. Um, they were involved, uh, in civic organizations from the caseys to to my my mom's. She's a lector at the church. She leads the rosary. Uh, she plays the music. She's not a musician, Matt. But she. She plays music for mass. Um. That's a high standard to meet. Um. And she never forced that on me or my kids, but it's almost intrinsic. And so, uh, we come this way, but once. And so if you can help folks, plenty of people help me. Getting student worker jobs, uh, getting getting scholarships to get through school, uh, getting professional opportunities. And so if you're not engaged in the community and understanding what kids are trying to go where and trying to help them get where they need to go, then you completely failed. And so, uh, I just think from day one, uh, it was ingrained in me that you are going to participate in spite of the fact that when you participate, you open yourself up for more criticism than you ever thought, even for volunteer festival boards. I mean, how can you turn music and food and and liquor and dancing into something negative? Well, it's easy because it's human nature. Okay. But you got to get past that and realize that there's people that showed up to this festival, even though, as you know, much time and effort you put in probably somewhat thankless. Um, look at all those families that are having a good time, and grandma's dancing with the grandson. And, you know, uh, memories are being made, uh, at those functions. And that is our culture. And so if you don't participate and try to help keep that going, then you're part of the problem. Sure. He said it. Do you need water or anything? Good. Okay. Oh my gosh, I'd love to take my son out to, uh vermillionville. On Sundays, they still put on a show. One to four. And that's a toe tap in. Good times. That's right, that's right. It's so much fun. I think there's nothing puts a smile on my face quite like dancing. That's it. It's so fun. I agree. The quickest way to just cut loose, laugh and smile and spin around. It's so much fun. I hope we don't lose that ever. That's right. For local leaders, listening mayors, parish presidents, police, jurors. What's your best advice on how to build credibility and relationships with legislators in order to get things done? We just have to visit. We just have to, uh, take the time, put something on the calendar, um, and then visit, uh, whether it's coffee or some other form of brown water which I don't mind partaking of from time to time, um, visiting with one another. Um, it cannot be overstated what you can accomplish when you have those discussions, um, when you make yourself available. Um, I hope if I've, you know, if I could accomplish anything, if I could have the best, uh, critique, uh, and the best compliment, uh, in my time as a legislator, if folks can say that, uh, I was approachable, that I listened and and that I tried to participate. The rest I know I'm going to screw up, but if I. If you could say those three things about me, uh, I would take that as a w. You've worked across divides, agriculture, coastal protection, industry and transportation. And you've touched on this. Maybe you have something to add. How do you find common ground among groups that don't always see their interests as aligned? That's a loaded question. Um, sometimes I don't even know if we. I don't even know if we can get to that alignment. Um, but I think at some point you have to acknowledge what your perspective is and, and maybe accept that it's going to be different from someone else's. Um, I was raised different than folks who were born and reared in New Orleans. Um, my my attitude about, uh, living in the Chenier plain may seem like one of isolation. Uh, and, um, I guess too traditional. Uh, maybe to other folks could even say backwater. And, uh, I have to completely disagree with that. Uh, I mentioned my grandpa Charlie a couple times. He he had Whole Foods before I knew what Whole Foods was. He had his own cattle. He had his own pigs. He had his own chickens. He had his own, uh, vegetable garden. And he lived to ninety seven. And so when you have fruit trees and and you live off the land and, you know, there's no Walmart around here. Uh, when you learn to, you know, take care of yourself and understand that you're you're going to starve only if you're too lazy to eat. Um. Then I think it's okay to be different. And so if we're raised different and we have different life perspectives, um, And our interests maybe are different, then of course we're going to disagree. But at some point, we have to come to a point where we can acknowledge that we are just of differing opinions. It's not that one of us is evil, and it's not that one of us is completely wrong. It's just that my opinion is different than yours. And that's it. Um. Uh, I think that, um, you know, I referenced my parents a couple times. Um, some, some folks may view my voting record as, uh, you know, somewhat hard on government assistance from time to time. But I think folks that, um. That have that extended family to help. Okay. To understand why it's important for you to stick together even when you really don't want to. My family to a fault. We get together all the time, And it's not always peaceful. Okay. But we come back because it's the right thing to do. Because we should lean on one another. Uh, it's no different in the legislature. It's it's it's folks with different backgrounds coming and trying to mesh policy, uh, for the benefit of this state. And, and I do believe that right now, when you look at the gains in education to the to the top thirties, uh, in education, and you look at seventy billion dollars worth of private investment coming to the state. Um, I think for the first time in a long time, you'll have people moving back to Louisiana. Um, and yet, at the same time, we can hear the residents and business owners who are telling us our insurance is still too high and our roads are still deplorable and our bridges still are closed too often for our liking. Um, if we can acknowledge the good and still try to improve on the bad at the same time, I don't think those are exclusive of one another. I think that's what we should do. So I just think it's all about, uh, our perspective on, um, where we've come and where we want to go. And at times, maybe we just won't agree, and that's okay. I'm okay with that. I live in a house with four women. Very seldom do I build consensus in that house. Very seldom. It's a good place to try, though. It's a good, uh. It's a good case study. It's a good case study. I love hearing you talk about your grandfather and his land. And I'm been so enamored with a lot of healthful ideas lately that talk about returning to source. Returning to the root and nature. How? laying in the grass under a tree and looking up through the branches at the sky can rewire the brain. And you know, you talk about whole foods and having a garden. I live in a condo. I don't have an outdoor spot, but I've been trying like hell to grow my green thumb and bring plants inside. And I really feel like my son kind of brought the world to life for me in a new way. He's almost two and a half, and it's like. It's like I never saw the birds before. It's like I never saw plants before. I never saw it before. And now I'm calling it out and telling everything. Hello? When we walk outside. And it just makes the world so much more beautiful. But always whenever I'm down on the coast. Always. It's just so striking. The beauty. It's. It's unmatched. That's it. It's worth fighting for. It is. I agree. And I like that you say about pulling people down here to see it for themselves, because you just you can't bottle it up and bring it somewhere else. It has to be felt. So part three legacy. Generations. Land. Long view leadership. Your family's roots in Cameron Parish now spans seven generations, with your daughters carrying that legacy forward. How does that history shape the way that you think about long term leadership and decision making? And you've touched on that. Maybe you have something to add. I just think it's critically important that we marry the institutional knowledge of the generations before us and document what they what their understanding is of the world around them. Okay. Um, and you mesh that with new technologies, new ideas, new way of thinking, um, new industries. Um, I think that. if we don't at some point document what those who came before us observed, learned and how they adapted, we're going to we're doomed to fail. We're going to repeat the same issues. Over and over and over again. I, I would venture to say that out of the one thousand bills that were filed in the legislature this year, and I think Senator Hoyt would probably agree with this if we looked hard enough. Probably probably fifty to seventy five percent of them have all been filed before. Uh, it it's it's a guess. Okay. But someone has thought of this prior. Okay. There may be some social and cultural issues that we haven't lived through yet, But from a policy perspective, I would imagine a lot of this has been tried. Okay. If you read the Cameron pilot, one of the things that I enjoyed, which is our local newspaper, um, you know, I think they still mail it to like, Boston, Massachusetts or something, but, uh, the Cameron pilot has a history section. And if you go in and read the police jury minutes and the summaries of meetings from the fifties and Sixties and seventies, and then compare it to the same meetings that we're having today, eighty percent of it is the same issues. Now it's different players. You know, it's different circumstances. And, uh, the specificity is a little nuanced, but generally it's the same issue. It's the same issue. So the legacy should be that we need to understand what has come before us and respect it. Respect it. Did. Um, because those life lessons will prevent you from making a gross mistake. Okay. Um, so I think the legacy would be understanding what has happened before us and why some things are the way they are. Uh, sometimes you have to ask why or why have we always done it this way? Um, that's that's within a family. That's, you know, we have gumbo every year for Christmas. Okay. Never thought twice about it. We have we have, uh, shrimp and okra gumbo. And we have hand fillet gumbo every Christmas. Never, never thought twice. I marry a Sicilian, and we go have Christmas with her family in Morgan City. And everything is an Italian feast at the dinner table with name tags. And you sit down all at one time. Completely different. Okay. Completely new to me. Doesn't mean that I didn't appreciate it. It doesn't mean that I didn't understand the tradition from their perspective, coming straight from Sicily over to the Americas and their continuing that tradition. I think that's where we start there. There are traditions, uh, and there are aspects of our culture that we that we must preserve and continue. Okay. There's others that can be adapted. But to me, that's the most important legacy we possibly can. If we can't teach our kids, uh. How to cook, um, how to dance, how to enjoy life, I, uh, I don't know what my life would be like if I didn't wake up some Saturday mornings, and. And my eight year old had already made me breakfast and was just so excited to come and grab me to. For me to sit down, just she and I and my coffee was ready and my plates fixed. And how do you put a price tag on that? I don't I don't think you can, but she's observed it. And I think in a way she knows that it matters to me when I'm whenever I'm with my parents or grandparents, she knows that it matters to me and how much I enjoy that interaction of us preparing a meal. And oh, by the way, they get to run outside and cut their own onion tops to put in the meal too. Even something as simple as that. It does make a difference. It makes a big difference. Many of the projects that you started as parish administrator water system consolidation, shoreline stabilization, marsh creation are still being implemented today. What does it mean to you to leave that kind of legacy behind? You know, um. When Rita hit in two thousand and five, it it didn't seem that we would have a lot of prospects to repopulate the parish. Um, we had regional impacts from Rita. What was important, um, was to give folks that option. And the only way you give folks that option. And I'm about to be a hypocrite. Okay. Which is something that I really don't like, but that's what's getting ready to happen. Um, move back to make sure that good things could happen. Number one. Number two, that we were able to tell our story because we mattered. And we're not going to allow people to forget about us. Okay. You're going to acknowledge that we exist. You're going to acknowledge that we're still here, that we have a role, and you should help us. Baton Rouge DC. Okay. Um. And then you see Laura hit. And if you drove twenty miles west of where we are right now. You're going to see demo churches that were there for decades that are no longer there. You're going to see, um, electricity being generated on generator power. No. Sure. Power. Um, you're going to see insurance that's unaffordable or useless at times. Um, in the middle of all that prosperity, in the middle of all that economics that we talked about. So at the end of the day, I guess I'm going to be a little hypocritical in the fact that we've attempted to make great things happen, and in some instances they are. But just like we can acknowledge that there's good things happening, we still have people suffering. We still have people trying to get it together. Okay. Um, and we have to acknowledge that, and we have to take a little bit of the blame for that. It's not only, you know, roses every single day, you know, um, sometimes it's a harder day, you know, than a good day. Um, would they say victory has many fathers, defeat has none. Well, uh, I could see how folks would believe that. Um, it's hard to acknowledge when you come up short and when you see it. and it's your own people, it's worse. So I think we just have to keep fighting. That's all we can do. That's all we can do is just acknowledge we still have issues and we got to keep we're not going to change the goal. We're not going to change the eventual preferred outcome. We just may have to adapt and change how we get there. We may have to have more iterations. We may have to have more patience than what we really want. But that doesn't mean we quit trying. It makes you emotional to think about your people in pain, correct? And to know that you could have done more. You said before that disaster recovery isn't designed to be fast to that point. It requires persistence, patience, equity. How do you keep that long game perspective in a political culture that often demands short term wins? Can't focus on the short term lens. That's what leadership is. You. You have to acknowledge, um. How long it takes sometimes to accomplish a goal. We had of a million chamber leadership breakfasts, uh, in August, and I rambled through a list of state road projects that were ongoing. Well, guess what? Those road projects started decades ago with Bob Henskens as a rep and Jonathan Perry as a senator and a rep, and Nick Gautreaux as a senator, and Fred Hoyt as a senator and Mickey Fritz as a rep. Those projects started long before me. What's difficult is to be able to Know what needs to come and to implement the steps to cause that to happen and to execute on those eventual improvements, because you know, it's the right damn thing to do, not because you're going to get the credit for it. So if if we could, it's hard. You want that instant gratification. You want to win now. Okay. You don't want to build a program. You don't want to take three years to develop a program and to develop your players and your staff. You want to win today? Sometimes that's just not possible. And so as as an elected official, you have to change your perspective. Uh, and almost have to be the opposite of humble. You have to have enough confidence in yourself to know that you may not get where you want to get. Period. In, no matter how short or long your term is, you may not get where you want to be even though you work your tail off to get there. You still may not get there as long as you lay your head on that pillow that night and know that you tried. That has to be the W. The W has to be. The effort that was put forth is valid, and the effort that was put forth was genuine. That's the win. Maybe not the project, but you have to you have to be more introspective than maybe you would care to be. Looking ahead ten, twenty years, what do you hope Louisiana will look like in terms of transportation, infrastructure, coastal protection, regional economics? How do you see those threads tying together and your role in getting us there? I hope our shoreline has structural protection. The whole of it, not just segments of it, are a hope. Our bridges are somewhat passable. Um. I think a lot of the changes that we're putting into place on, uh, routine in general maintenance for roads and bridges, we're going to see improvement. We're going to see improvement. And hopefully in short order, uh, in ten years or twenty years, I hope people look back and, uh, acknowledge what you said earlier. Some of this is common sense and hopefully we didn't, you know, we're not PhD individuals who do all this research and are, you know, policy wonks. I mean, sometimes you look around and you observe and say, okay, here's the problem. What are all the alternatives to fix that problem? How many of these are unfeasible? We'll throw them out to the side. Okay, now we're left with two. Which one can we accomplish in short order? Maybe not. Short order under budget. Maybe, you know, in a timely manner. Um, so I, I hope folks in ten and twenty years can look back on the work that we have put forward and say, you know, maybe that didn't work out the way they anticipated it to work out or the way they hoped it to work out, but it made sense to try, you know. So let's pivot. Let's move. Let's let's try something different. Well they tried didn't work. We're going to approach it in a different manner. And we're going to come out at a different angle. Um, I think that, uh, a lot of the decisions we make now, though, um, that we make today, um, could potentially set us up to have more infrastructure improvements planned out in a manner where we could establish budgets, you know, a couple of years out, which would allow for economies of scale on construction contracts. When you have let's just take a road project, for instance, if we bid out one project, one road project at a time, a contractor is going to rev up staff, okay, they're going to increase, um, they're going to increase staff to, to manage this project. But if there's no project following then they're going to go ahead and, you know, remove a lot of those individuals and just scale back down to maybe where they their bargaining position was. Now what happens if we bundle fifteen roads at a time, and put fifteen bridges in one bid and allow folks to rev up because they know they have fifteen bridges, not one this year. Then wait three years and do another one, and then wait two more years and then do another one, all on the same stretch of highway. So hopefully in twenty years, folks will look back and say that some of the policy decisions that we that we try to implement made sense at the time, and hopefully they were impactful. Hopefully it allowed for more adequate planning and more forethought to to constructing projects. And time will tell. Time will tell. If you could give one piece of advice to every mayor and parish president in Louisiana about how to move their weight and make things happen, what would it be? You know. I think we all take ourselves too seriously sometimes. Um, and sometimes we hold ourselves to a standard. Right or wrong. That is just false. It doesn't. It's impossible to meet that standard even within yourself. Um. You got to laugh things off when you misstep. You you got to be able to get past that. Um. To be able to. Compartmentalize all of the chaos around you and still remain focused on the fact that you're trying. It's very hard to do, um, especially in a world where social media is what it is. The first year I was elected, I got off of all social media. So that was twenty nineteen. I've had nothing. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Snapchat, no Facebook even nothing. Zero. I gotta tell you, I don't miss it. Um, and I think that the way we run our office, um, Melinda and I probably put more value in visiting with folks directly. Um, so don't rely solely on social media, uh, to get your messaging out, um, or to develop, uh, your message or to develop your plan. Just visit with folks. I think I think you you visit with people, you'll understand what their concerns are. Things will start happening quicker. I have one more question. Yes, ma'am. Closing question that we ask all of our guests in the spirit of fueled, our podcast name. What fuels you? I don't want to let my people down. I don't want to let families and friends down. Um, like I said, I've been very fortunate in, uh, in my forty two years on Earth, I have seen quite a bit. I will never take that for granted. Um, and all those people who challenged me at a young age like Miss Rosenberg. Um, I want to make sure that they're satisfied with my attempts and that they're satisfied with the with the effort. And I guess that's about it. Well, what a pleasure to meet you. What a pleasure to be with you. That brings it, brings it home. Perfect.