Broussard Mayor Ray Bourque – Longtime Public Servant Working for His Hometown

We welcome Broussard Mayor Ray Bourque, a lifelong resident of Broussard who has dedicated his career to public service and business. Before being elected mayor in 2018, he served eight years as a city councilman for District 3 and has co-owned Touche Printing and Signs for more than three decades. He also served as board president of the Broussard Chamber of Commerce. Most importantly, he has supported community projects that enhance quality of life for his city's residents, such as expanded recreational facilities and infrastructure improvements that keep up with Broussard's rapid growth. A Growing City with Deep Roots Mayor Bourque highlighted Broussard’s rapid growth: “Our recent census estimate from LSU in the state puts Broussard at 17,300 people, roughly. And back in the 2020 census, we were 13,400 people. So we are growing rapidly, exponentially.” Despite the growth, the mayor emphasizes community values: “I always say to people in Broussard that we're all neighbors. I've grown up there. I have so many lifelong friends that knew me since I was a child that are in Broussard. But we also have so many new residents because we're a growing community.” The Three Pillars of Leadership When making decisions for the city, Mayor Bourque and the City Council focus on “Public safety, quality of life and economic development. When we're making decisions on a project or an initiative, we try to make sure it checks at least two of those boxes. "Those three things are very relatable, that one cannot wholly exist without the other. If you're doing a quality of life initiative, it is generally good for economic development and vice versa. And public safety is just an umbrella that captures it all. If we don't have a safe community, then all the other things are held back. We can't invite people to move, or to spend time, or to come spend money in our community without providing a safe community. But it starts with a culture of our employees in Broussard, really focusing on hospitality. If you call city government, do you feel like that person is trying to help you on the other end of the phone? Or if you have a question or a problem and we come out and meet with you, sometimes the answer is no, but you can say no in a professional way. The goal is to try to help people, because everyone deserves to be valued, especially by their city government, because we're really serving those people. We have to do intentional work, and that intentional work is to grow our community, to invest in our own economy, to control that economy if we can, because it's the driver to help us fund police departments and fire departments and all the initiatives that we want to do in Broussard. So getting new customers in our city for our businesses to be able to work with is important." Business-Friendly Policies Broussard has long attracted businesses by not levying a city property tax or inventory tax: “It's worked for us. Sales tax is our driver, which means we have to have people working in our city. We have to have commerce in our city. That’s how we drive our tax revenues and can fund police, fire, etc.” He sees the city’s role as being a partner to business owners: “Our job is to cultivate an environment where people can be successful and businesses can be successful. Ultimately we win or lose together.” Infrastructure and Economic Development Preparedness is key: “If a business wants to place a facility in your city...and I have to say no, but in two years I can be ready, they're going somewhere else. We're not waiting on that. We're building it now.” Broussard has master plan underway for water, drainage, and downtown redevelopment. The city recently secured a $3,710,000 grant from  the State of Louisiana, Office of Community Development – Water Sector Commission for water system improvements. The Water Sector Program – Phase 2 grant award will be  used to help fund the city’s water system improve...