Covington Mayor Candace Watkins, criticized by some council members last week because she did not keep them informed during the Hurricane Gustav emergency, said Friday she was not hiding out from anyone.

In fact, she said City Council members knew where to find her, and she was in contact with three of them during the storm event.

The criticism was levied during a City Council meeting held Thursday morning to update everyone on the hurricane emergency.

Watkins

Watkins, responding to criticism for the lack of communication between the mayor and council during the storm, said damage from the storm was no more than would happen in a severe thunderstorm in Covington. She said the main issues during the storm were the lift stations and lack of electricity.

Some City Council members felt the main issue in Covington during Gustav was in the area of communication.

Watkins said her cell phone was not working properly.

She said she could receive calls but had difficulty in calling out. She said she spoke to three City Council members during the emergency, including City Council President Matt Faust, Lee Alexius and Frances Dunn, but had no calls from the other council members.

A mandatory evacuation order was given for the Old Landing area, and some of the residents were in a panic. The projected crest level of the Bogue Falaya River was lower than for other recent rain events, and the need for a mandatory evacuation of the area was questioned during Thursday’s meeting.

Watkins said she had been in contact with Alexius, but could not find him to talk to him about the river rising.

She said she was proud of how the Covington police and fire departments handled the evacuation order for the Old Landing area.

At the meeting on Thursday she said she was glad people were still alive to criticize her.

Watkins also said the council had decided at an earlier meeting on Sunday morning, Aug. 31, that they would again meet on Thursday, Sept. 4, and no one suggested meeting or contacting each other during the time in between.

She said, “I was in contact with Frances (Dunn) because she was staying at the Greater Covington Center.” She said she spoke to Faust and was in contact with Alexius.

She added she had no information to give the council anyway.

“CLECO gave me no information. I understand that people called council members to see if they had electricity, but you can’t necessarily drive to everybody’s house and check on that,” said Watkins.

Watkins said she saw Councilman Mark Sacco during meals at least three times, and he did not talk to her or ask her any questions.

The meals were served at Greater Covington Center for city workers. Sacco planned to reimburse the city for the meals he and his family ate.

Councilman Trey Blackall said he did, in fact, try to contact the mayor and never could get in touch with her. He received questions from constituents, including his elderly neighbors, and at the meeting on Thursday was told they could get the answers online or from WWL radio.

“My point is that a lot of people don’t want to rely on computers. When constituents call their councilman, they want to be able to get an answer. Neighbors should not have to rely on a computer to get an answer,” said Blackall.

Faust said he called the mayor once to get a generator to a lift station near Caroline Court. He said she did answer, and the generator was sent the next morning.

However, Faust feels there is a need for scheduled, planned communication with the council members, either a council liaison that is briefed or a conference call.

“I’m going to suggest we do this to have better communication in the future,” said Faust.