FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2026
Mayor Yates Highlights St. George Progress, Educational Opportunity and Future Investment in State of the City Address
ST. GEORGE, La. — Today, Mayor Dustin Yates outlined progress in municipal services and priorities for infrastructure, education and economic development during the 2026 State of the City address, hosted by the St. George Chamber of Commerce.
The Mayor’s speech emphasized the City’s work to establish responsive government while meeting residents’ everyday needs, alongside long-term efforts to guide growth and expand opportunities for families and businesses.
“We’re building a city while serving a community that was already here,” said Mayor Dustin Yates. “Our residents deserve a government that answers when they call, follows through on its responsibilities and keeps getting better. That’s the standard we’re working toward every day.”
Mayor Yates highlighted Public Works accomplishments from January 1, 2026 through October 1, 2026 including:
- 2,070 completed service requests;
- 1,020 pothole repairs;
- 613 sections of roadway repaired;
- 600 culvert cleanings;
- More than 51 miles of ditch excavation.
The Mayor also discussed the St. George 2050 Comprehensive Plan, which will help guide decisions involving housing, transportation, drainage, recreation and future development. The planning process has included stakeholder dialogues, online surveys and focus groups to gather community input.
“Better government. Local control is what we promised when we created the city of St George. Now, we continue to deliver on those promises by taking Innovative and new approaches to old problems,” said Councilman Murrell. “Listening to our citizens needs and responding is the foundation of the city of St George.”
Infrastructure priorities include SAFE Siegen, a federally supported project covering approximately 1.35 miles of Siegen Lane between Interstate 10 and Airline Highway. Proposed improvements include updated traffic signals, pedestrian crossings, lighting, transit stops and raised medians.
Education remained a central theme of the address. Mayor Yates highlighted that the City is pursuing a potential public charter-school partnership, with an experienced charter organization envisioned as the school’s operator and St. George serving as a community partner. Important steps remain, including identifying an operator, establishing the partnership structure and securing necessary approvals.
Additional priorities highlighted in the address include economic development, support for existing businesses and a homelessness initiative involving The Grove Recovery Center, Chief Morris and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Mayor Yates closed by encouraging residents and business leaders to become ambassadors for the City through investment, mentorship, volunteer service and sharing the community’s story.
“Made in St. George is about the businesses people build here, the families they raise here and the opportunities we create together,” Yates said. “City government has a job to do, but every person in this community has a part in what comes next.”
For City news and updates, visit stgeorgela.gov.
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Mayor Yates’ Remarks:
Good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for being here. Thank you to the St. George Chamber of Commerce for bringing us together, to our sponsors for making this lunch possible, and to the business owners and community leaders who invest in St. George every single day. I also want to recognize our City Council, our city employees, our public safety partners, and the many people who have given their time, talent, and energy to this community. It’s an honor to serve as your mayor.
I want to start today with a little baseball. By a show of hands, who here has played or coached the sport? Did y’all know that in the entire history of Major League Baseball – more than 150 years, hundreds of thousands of games, and some of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen – there have been just 24 perfect games. Think about that… twenty-four! A perfect game means 27 batters come to the plate, and all 27 are retired. Nobody reaches base. No hits, no walks, no eros that allow a runner to reach, nothing.
It’s one of the rarest accomplishments in sports. But here’s what I find interesting: there have been thousands and thousands of great baseball games that weren’t perfect. World Series championships have been won without a perfect game. Hall of Fame careers have been built without one. Some of the greatest teams in history made mistakes. They gave up hits, they committed errors, they had to make adjustments. And they still found a way to win. I think there’s a lesson in that for St. George. You see, we are building a city. We are doing something that very few communities have ever had the opportunity to do.
We’re creating departments, establishing services, developing policies, planning infrastructure, and making decisions that will affect our community for generations. Are we going to get every single thing right the first time? No. Are there going to be challenges that we didn’t anticipate? Absolutely. But here’s what I believe: WE SHOULD ALWAYS STRIVE FOR PERFECTION. AND IN THAT PURSUIT, WE CAN ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE. We don’t need to throw a perfect game. We need to build an excellent city. A city that listens. A city that responds. A city that learns, adjusts, and keeps getting better. And, most importantly, a city that remembers who we’re doing all this for.
That’s what I want to talk about today… not just what we’ve accomplished, but what those accomplishments mean for the people who call St. George home. Because the state of our city isn’t measured only by what happens in City Hall. No, it’s measured by what happens in our neighborhoods, in our schools, along our roads, and inside the businesses represented in this room. And I believe we have a great story to tell!
Building a City While Serving a City
Most cities have had decades, or even centuries, to develop their government. We’ve had to build ours while keeping up with the needs of our community that was already here. Think about that for a moment… the families were already here, the neighborhoods were already here, the businesses were already here. And the potholes were most definitely already here! But the city departments responsible for addressing many of those needs had to be created. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. Today, St. George has established the core departments needed to serve our community: Public Works, Planning and Zoning, Building Safety, Finance, Engineering, Code Enforcement, Administration.
Now I know a list of governmental departments isn’t what gets everybody excited at a Chamber luncheon… but let me tell you why it matters. If you’re a homeowner with a drainage problem, you need to know whom to call. If you’re a business owner looking to expand, you need to know where to start. If you’re developing a property, you need clear expectations, consistent processes, and servants who can help you navigate them. And when you contact your city government, you deserve an answer. My expectation for each of these departments is pretty straightforward: BE ACCESSIBLE, BE ACCOUNTABLE, AND BE RELIABLE.
If we can solve a problem, let’s solve it. If we need more information, let’s explain what we need. If something’s going to take time, let’s be honest about that. And if a service belongs to another agency, let’s help residents understand where to go. The last point is important because some services – including garbage, recycling, sewer, and animal control – continue to be provided by East Baton Rouge Parish. Building an effective city also means building effective working relationships. We don’t have to provide every service ourselves to take responsibility for helping our residents find answers.
And we absolutely don’t have to do everything the way it’s always been done. I recently heard my friend and our governor Jeff Landry say that the only people who like change are babies in wet diapers. After hearing from enough of you over the years, I know that may not be true here. It’s why we are building a government that is responsive, practical, and focused on results. That’s the standard we’re working toward. And none of it is possible without our dedicated city employees and partners who have helped establish these operations. Much of their work happens behind the scenes, but it forms the foundation for everything else we’re going to accomplish.
Public Works – Results You Can See
Nowhere is this work more visible than in Public Works. People may not follow every City Council meeting. They may not know every department head. But they know when a pothole gets fixed. They know when a ditch gets cleaned. And they definitely know when something hasn’t been addressed. That’s why I want to share a few numbers with you. From January 1 through October 1 of this year, our Public Works team:
- completed 2,070 service requests
- repaired 1,020 potholes
- repaired 613 sections of roadway
- cleaned 600 culverts, totaling more than 31,000 linear feet
- excavated more than 51 miles of ditches.
Fifty one miles… that’s a lot of ditch! While those numbers are impressive, what matters to me is what they mean – a family driving down a safer street; a neighborhood better prepared for the next heavy rain; a business with improved access for customers and deliveries; a resident who reported a problem and saw something happen. This is what local government is supposed to do! But I also want to measure more than how many things we fix… are we responding quickly enough? Are we making repairs that last? Are we identifying recurring problems before they become bigger and more expensive? And are we using what we learn to make better decisions about where our resources go?
You see, excellence isn’t about working hard; it’s about getting better at the work. And that’s the culture I want to have in St. George. A culture where we take pride in results, where we listen to the people we serve, and where we’re always striving for better. Y’all understand that… your customers expect you to deliver. And our residents should expect the same from us.
Planning for the St. George that Our Children Will Inherit
Of course, maintaining what we have is only part of the job. We also have to prepare for what comes next. That’s why the St. George 2050 Comprehensive Plan is so important. It’s easy to get caught up on the issues in front of us: a road that needs improvement, a development proposal, a drainage concern, a new business looking for a location. But those decisions don’t happen in a vacuum. Growth affects traffic. Traffic affects infrastructure. Infrastructure affects neighborhoods. And all those things affect quality of life.
We have to see the bigger picture. And our plan does that! Our comprehensive planning process has included four stakeholder dialogues, three online surveys, and focus groups designed to hear from people throughout our community. I want to thank everyone who has participated. Because this can’t be a plan written by consultants and placed on a shelf to collect dust. It has to reflect people who actually live here, work here, worship here, raise families here, and operate businesses here. We need to think carefully about where growth makes sense. How we protect the character of established neighborhoods. How we plan for housing, parks, transportation, drainage, and future development. And how the decisions we make today don’t create problems for the people who come tomorrow.
I want a St. George to be a place where our children have opportunities that we can’t even imagine. But those opportunities don’t happen by accident. They happen because people are willing to plan, invest, and make thoughtful decisions before the need becomes urgent. This comprehensive plan is one of the ways we will do just that. And its real value won’t be measured by the amount of pages it contains, but by how much we accomplish because of it.
Economic Development – City Open for Opportunity
Now, I want to talk directly to the business community… you are essential to the future of St. George. Government doesn’t create a thriving economy by itself; people like you do! Entrepreneurs who take a risk. Business owners who decide to expand. Employers who create jobs. Families who chose to shop local. And investors who see potential in a community and decide to be a part of its future. St. George already has an extraordinary foundation of businesses, industries, professional services, restaurants, retailers, and entrepreneurs.
Our responsibility is to create an environment where that foundation can grow. One important step is our work toward Economic Development District No. 1. This effort is about giving St. George additional tools to encourage responsible investment and support improvements that benefit our community. But I want to be clear… economic development isn’t simply about attracting the next big name or celebrating a groundbreaking. It’s also about taking care of the businesses already here. If you’ve built your business here, we want you to stay. If you’re ready to expand, we want you to do it here. If you’re thinking about something new, we want to be on your list… and we want to understand what’s in your way.
That’s where our partnership with this Chamber becomes so important. You know what it’s like to make payroll. You know what it costs to expand. You know the challenges of finding employees, serving customers, and making investment in uncertain economies. We need that perspective. Because I don’t want City Hall making economic development decisions alone. I want us listening to the people who are actually doing business here. And I want to be disciplined about the investments we make. What’s the public benefit? What will it cost? How will we measure success?
Those aren’t just good business questions. They’re good government questions. ST. GEORGE SHOULD BE A PLACE WHERE DOING BUSINESS MAKES SENSE AND WHERE DOING BUSINESS WITH CITY HALL MAKES SENSE, TOO! That’s what we’re working to build.
Honoring Our Founders by Investing in Education
As we talk about the future of St. George, I want to spend a moment remembering how we got here. This week, we recognized Founders Day. And I hope we never allow that day to become just another day on the calendar… because St. George didn’t happen overnight. It happened because people believed in something better. And for years, they volunteered their time, sacrificed evenings and weekends, attended meetings, knocked on doors, refused to give up on the idea that St. George could have a future of its own.
These people weren’t looking for recognition. They weren’t looking for a position or a title. They were thinking about their children and grandchildren. They believed their community deserved a stronger voice in its future. And one of the driving forces behind that effort was education. For roughly 15 years, people worked toward the goal of establishing a St. George school district. That was never just about drawing a new line on a map… It was about opportunity, it was about families, it was about believing that our children deserved the very best we could give them.
Now, as everyone knows, the path toward a separate school district didn’t go as originally planned. And when that happened, we had a decision to make: do we walk away from something that mattered so deeply to the people who helped create this city or do we find another way to pursue the goal? We honor the people who built St. George not by preserving every plan they made, but by preserving the purpose behind those plans. That’s why we’re pursuing a new approach to educational opportunity through a potential charter-school partnership.
Our vision is for St. George to serve as a significant community partner in creating a new public charter school, with an experienced charter organization responsible for operating the school. It’s a different approach from the traditional school district model. And it’s an opportunity to explore something that could be truly innovative for Louisiana. We’re working toward a potential August 2028 opening, recognizing that important steps remain, including identifying an operator, establishing the appropriate partnership structure, and obtaining the necessary approvals.
We’re not announcing a finished school today. But we are committing ourselves to continuing the work. And as someone who taught and coached in public schools before entering the fire service, this is personal to me. I’ve seen what happens when a child has a teacher who believes in them. I’ve seen what happens when a coach pushes a student to recognize potential they didn’t know they had. And I’ve seen how one opportunity can change the direction of a young person’s life. That’s what this effort is about… High expectations, quality education, accountability, and more opportunities for families.
We also recognize that educational success is bigger than any one school or any one city. If we can create another excellent educational opportunity that benefits families throughout our region, that’s something worth pursuing. And this is an area where our business community can make a tremendous difference. Through mentoring, internships, career exposure, and partnerships with educators, you can help students connect what they’re learning today with the possibilities waiting for them tomorrow.
Not every student will take the same path. Some will attend college. Some will learn a trade. Some will enter public service. Some will start businesses of their own… and all of those paths matter. Our job is to help prepare them. I want the people who spent so many years working to make St. George a reality to know something: we haven’t forgotten why you started… and we haven’t stopped working toward the future you believed was possible.
Airline Highway Park – Building Community Through Recreation
Another part of building a great city is creating places where people can come together. And one of the opportunities that I’m excited about is the future of Airline Highway Park. As a former coach, I can tell you that some of life’s most important lessons are learned on a playing field. You learn to work with people who are different from you. You learn that preparation matters. You learn that sometimes you’re going to lose. And you learn that when you do, you get back up, go to practice, and try again.
Those lessons stay with young people long after the final whistle. But sports and recreation do something else… they build community. Think about how many friendships begin on the sidelines of a youth sporting event. How many parents get to know one another because their kids play on the same team. How many volunteers give up their Saturdays to coach, organize, or support an activity. Those experiences help turn a collection of neighborhoods into a community. And that’s what I want us to think about as Airline Highway Park moves forward.
Yes, we want quality recreation. Yes, we want facilities that serve our families. But we also want places where people make memories, develop relationships, and feel connected to the city they call home. And there’s an economic benefit to getting this right. Recreation can bring visitors into our community. Those visitors eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores, and discover businesses they might not otherwise have visited. Done well, recreation supports families, quality of life, and economic opportunity.
It will take thoughtful planning and continued partnership with BREC and our community to make that happen. And I believe it’s an opportunity worth pursuing.
SAFE Siegen – Investing in Roads that Connect Us
Of course, a growing city also needs infrastructure that supports that growth. And one of our most significant recent milestones is the SAFE Siegen project. This summer, St. George secured a nineteen million dollar federal BUILD grant to support major improvements along Siegen Lane between Interstate 10 and Airline Highway. This project covers approximately 1.35 miles of one of our community’s busiest commercial corridors. And anyone who has spent time driving Siegen Lane knows why this matters.
The proposed improvements include updated traffic signals, pedestrian crossings, side paths, lighting, improved transit stops, and raised medians. But this project is about more than moving cars. It’s about making a major commercial corridor safer and more functional for everyone who uses it: the employee driving to work, the customer turning into a business, the delivery truck serving a retailer, the person walking or using public transportation. All of them matter. And while securing the grant is a major accomplishment, it is also the beginning of the next phase of work.
There are federal requirements, engineering and design steps, approvals, and construction planning still ahead. I want to thank the federal, state, regional, and local partners who helped make this funding opportunity possible. Projects like this demonstrate what can happen when people work together around a shared goal. And they demonstrate something else: St. George is ready to pursue significant opportunities and take on meaningful infrastructure challenges. We’re not going to solve every traffic concern overnight. But we’re going to keep identifying priorities, pursuing resources, and doing the work necessary to improve our community.
Serving People in Need of Second Chances
There’s another effort underway that reflects the kind of community I want St. George to be. We’re working with The Grove Recovery Center, Chief Morris, and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office on an initiative addressing homelessness in our community. This is an issue that affects businesses, neighborhoods, public spaces, and, most importantly, people. And it deserves more than a temporary fix or a response that simply moves a problem from one location to another. We have to take public safety seriously. We have to listen to residents and businesses. And we also have to remember that homeless people are human beings who deserve dignity and an opportunity to move toward a better situation.
That requires partnerships. It requires people with experience in recovery, public safety, outreach, and support services. And it requires a willingness to look beyond the immediate problem toward a lasting solution. We’re learning from this work, and we’re committed to continuing it. I look forward to sharing more about how the initiative began, the people involved, and the progress we’re seeing. But for now, I’ll simply say this: I believe a great city should be measured not only by how well it serves people who are doing well, but also by how it responds to people who need help getting back on their feet.
That’s the kind of city I want us to build.
Closing
When you look at everything we’ve discussed today, it’s a lot… We’re establishing a government. We’re responding to thousands of service requests. We’re planning for future growth. We’re pursuing economic development. We’re exploring new educational opportunities. We’re investing in recreation and transportation. And we’re building partnerships to address challenges that no single organization can solve alone. There are days when the list of things still to be done feels longer than the list of things we’ve accomplished. But then I look around this community.
I see the business owners who have invested their savings, their time, and their reputations here. I see the families who have chosen to raise their children here. I see the volunteers who spent years working toward the creation of this city. I see our **Council Members**, city employees, and community partners working to turn an idea into a functioning city government. And I see tremendous opportunity. I also want to recognize the important role our professional partners have played in getting us to this point.
IBTS, DDG, and The Delta Resource Group have brought experience and expertise to the work of establishing and supporting our city operations. Their contributions, along with the dedication of our city employees and leadership, have helped us move forward while continuing to serve the public. We value those partnerships. And we understand that, ultimately, the responsibility rests with us. We set the priorities. We answer to our residents. And we’re accountable for the results. I said at the beginning that we don’t need to throw a perfect game. And we don’t.
But we do need to show up every day ready to play our best. We need to learn from our mistakes. We need to celebrate progress without becoming satisfied. And we need to remember that the decisions we’re making today will shape this community long after our time in office is over. The founders of St. George gave us an extraordinary opportunity. They worked to make St. George a city. Our responsibility is to make them proud of the city we’re building. And I believe the next chapter will require something that has always been one of St. George’s greatest strengths: the willingness of ordinary people to do extraordinary things together.
Before I finish, I want to speak directly to the business owners, community leaders, and residents in this room… you are not simply an audience watching the City of St. George develop; you are part of the work. Every business you open, every person you employ, every young person you mentor, every investment you make, and every hour you volunteer helps shape the future of this community. City government has an important responsibility. But the City of St. George is so much bigger than its government.
It’s the people. It’s the businesses. It’s the families. It’s the schools, churches, neighborhoods, and organizations that give this place its character. And I want people throughout our region to understand what’s happening here. I want them to understand that St. George is moving forward. That we’re serious about serving our residents. That we’re serious about creating opportunities. And that we’re serious about building a community that our children and grandchildren will be proud to call home.
So I’m going to ask you to do something for me: become an ambassador for your city. When you go back to work today, tell your employees what you heard. Tell your customers. Tell your neighbors. When somebody asks what’s happening in St. George, don’t let somebody else tell our story for us. Tell them we’re helping people who need a second chance. Tell them we’re creating new opportunities for our children. Tell them we’re building partnerships. Tell them businesses are investing here and people are creating things here.
Because St. George isn’t something that’s going to be made someday… It’s being made right now. By all of us. Made in St. George. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the City of St. George.