Republican Mayor Defends FEMA in Accepting Disaster Leadership Award
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BATON ROUGE, La. - LouisEagle -- A leader who once fought Washington for long-delayed aid Tuesday defended the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as he accepted a national award honoring elected officials who lead their communities well through a major disaster.
"There's a lot of really good people that work at FEMA. I don't know where the city of Lake Charles would be without FEMA's help," said Mayor Nic Hunter as he was recognized for his leadership overseeing the recovery from three major hurricanes, an historic flood and a disastrous winter storm over a one-year period from 2020 to 2021. "Yeah, it takes too long. Yeah, we got to go back to the table and figure out how to get money where it needs to get quicker and faster. My hope moving forward is that we don't throw out the baby with the bathwater."
The Weather Channel dubbed Lake Charles, Louisiana "America's Most Weather-Battered City." It has gone through more federally declared disasters in a one-year period than any other city in U.S. history.

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"My hope is we can take some of the politics out of disaster recovery," the two-term Republican told the audience of city leaders. "Because whether you live in Lake Charles, Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, Palisades, California or Maui, you're an American citizen. And you should be treated the same from a disaster recovery perspective."
The Tommy Longo Disaster Leadership Award was created by LeadersLink, a nonprofit that harnesses and shares elected officials' disaster lessons learned to help other communities better prepare for and recover from major crises.
Nominations for the award came from around the country. The three-judge panel praised Hunter, saying, "Not only did Mayor Hunter guide Lake Charles through a nightmare of a year that included four federally declared disasters, but he guided the recovery efforts and implemented innovative infrastructure improvements that will mitigate future weather disasters while expanding the economic horizon for Lake Charles."

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LeadersLink Founder and Executive Director Kathleen Koch explained that Hunter was also deserving because he hosted a Resiliency Summit in Lake Charles in August to pass on what his city had learned from the multiple disaster recoveries.
"He really epitomizes the spirit of this award - caring and sharing what he's learned with other communities."
The award is named after the late mayor of Waveland, Mississippi, John "Tommy" Longo. He led the city's successful recovery from Hurricane Katrina and volunteered to serve as one of LeadersLink's first mentors, sharing his experiences with other mayors whose towns had been damaged by hurricanes.
Koch presented the award at the Louisiana Municipal Association's Mid-Winter Conference in Baton Rouge.
Mayor Longo's sister, brothers, daughter and son-in-law joined in the award presentation.
https://leaderslink.org/