Piazza ending record run as Abbeville Mayor

Mark Piazza has spent the past 32 years, half his life, serving the city of Abbeville.
For the past 20 years, that service has come with the title of mayor. Piazza will wrap up an Abbeville record five terms as mayor when his retirement becomes official later this week. Abbeville will swear in a new administration on Thursday.
Piazza provided a farewell speech during his final city council meeting on June 21.
“Since 1990, for the past 32 years, I’ve had the distinct privilege of serving the City of Abbeville and having a seat at this table,” Piazza said.
That table has included many people as well as different seats. Prior to becoming mayor, Piazza represented District A on the council.
“I’ve served alongside five different chiefs of police and 13 different city councilmen,” Piazza said. “I served as Abbeville City Councilman in District A under Mayor Brady Broussard for 12 of those years. Alongside Mayor Brady and the city council, many great things happened.”
Among the things that happed during Piazza’s first 12 years in politics included:
• the Magdalen Square Gazebo was built
• the Abbeville Christmas Light & Christmas Stroll was started
• the Airport Helipad was built
• the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame Museum began
• the Fruit of the Loom Company was brought to Abbeville
“That is along with several baseball World Series, regional and statewide tournaments, just to name a few,” Piazza added.
In ’02, Piazza ran for and won his first election as mayor.
“The new administration got off to an extremely difficult start by being annihilated by Hurricane Lili after being in office for only three months,” Piazza said.
While not ideal, it helped prepare Piazza for the forces nature would bring during the ensuing two decades.
“Since (Lili), we’ve been involved in one way or another in 17 major hurricanes, 22 tropical storms, and the flood of 2016, the worst in 76 years,” Piazza said.
The past two-plus years brought something else for which a playbook didn’t exist.
“Administrating during a pandemic was a real challenge,” Piazza said of the COVID-19 pandemic that took hold in March of ‘20. “It was real challenge to keep city services going, when everything is shut down. People couldn’t work together and were scared to go outside. People couldn’t be in a vehicle together. Our offices were closed. It was very challenging.
“The past few years, really since ’16, it has been very difficult with a lot of challenging times.”
Like his time of the council, Piazza’s 20 years as mayor have featured plenty of positives.
To name a few on the list:
• the building of a new Police Station and a new Fire Station,
• a State-of-the-Art Airport Terminal, which won Abbeville the LMA State Community Achievement Award for Economic Development
• 3 new city parks
• 2 new electrical substations
• a flood-prevention pond
• 2 museums and a downtown Welcome Center with outdoor public rest rooms
• new sidewalks that are accessible to people with disabilities
• a Skate Park and Splash Pad
• a new Event Center, a Walking Trail, a Fishing Pond and Dog Park, new Tennis Courts
• the elevation of McKinley Scott Park Pavilion
“We have new turf baseball fields as well as a neighborhood community garden,” Piazza said. “Our water and wastewater systems have been improved and upgraded numerous times through millions of dollars in CDBG Grant Funds. Generators have been installed at every public building, including the water plant, sewer plant and numerous sewer lift stations, to go along with these infrastructure improvements.”
In fact, more than $10 million in grants, including many through the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant, have been received by the city during Piazza’s time as mayor.
Electrical rates also have decreased.
“We have lowered the cost of electricity four times,” Piazza said, “through tough negotiations on contracts with different electrical providers. In ’05, our electrical cost to the city was 9.8 cents a kilowatt hour. Today, it is less than 6 cents.”
In all, city finances are in good shape as Piazza prepares to step away.
“The city is probably in better financial shape than it has been in years,” Piazza said. “Some of that has to do with federal funds. At this time, our current cash balance is $7.7 million. In ’02, it was $4 million.”
Sales tax revenues have more than doubled, going from $2.4 million in Piazza’s first year as mayor to $5.98 million last year.
“That does included the half-cent sales tax we passed (in ’19),” Piazza said. “If you take that away, its still around $4 million, almost double.”
Having people visit Abbeville has helped revenues. In the past 20 years, numerous events have formed to help bring countless visitors to the city. That includes the Daylily Festival and Garden Show, the Sicilian Festival, which takes place at the Sam Guarino Blacksmith Shop Museum, Sounds on the Square, the Cake and Ice Cream Festival, the Farmer’s Market and Christmas festivities.
Piazza stressed that all of the accomplishments previously listed are not a result of anything that he did alone.
“It’s an administration,” Piazza said. “I didn’t do it by myself. I had a great council to work with the whole time I was mayor. A lot of these ideas came from them. No matter what it is, it has to come through this office and be budgeted and organized.
“We all worked well together to make all of this happen.”
On Tuesday, the council provided a thank you to Piazza. Councilman Francis Touchet Jr., with whom Piazza has worked during his entire 20 years as mayor, read a proclamation and presented Piazza with a plaque.
“When I came on, Mark and I had some differences about how we felt on different things,” Touchet said. “I will tell you this, we have come to work together over the years. More importantly, I can say I have a friend in Mark.”
Councilwoman and Mayor-elect Roslyn White said she has learned so much working with Piazza.
“You have taught me a lot in my first four years on the council,” White told Piazza. “Thank you for being so supportive of my desire to run. It’s huge shoes to fill, but I plan to work on it.
“Thank you for always being there and guiding us.”
Piazza said he is certain the city is in good hands with the incoming administration.
“I believe it will be a smooth transition,” Piazza said. “We have met several times over the past couple of months. She has asked a lot of questions. We have gone over a lot of issues and she is caught up on all the current projects. She is very familiar with ordinances and the funding process as well as the budget.
“I am confident the transition will be smooth.”
Piazza has spent the past few weeks cleaning out his office to get ready for that official transition. On Wednesday afternoon, as Piazza reflected on his time in the office, some of the few items that remained were certificates recognizing appointments to numerous statewide boards. It is those appointments that are among Piazza’s proudest personal moments. Bobby Jindal originally appointed Piazza to the Governor’s Advisory Board for Coastal Restoration and Protection, a board to which Piazza was re-appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards. Jindal also appointed Piazza to the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL).
“Those are two appointments that I am very, very proud of,” Piazza said.
He has also served on the Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA) board, at one time serving as chairman. For the past eight years, he held a spot on the Louisianan Municipal Association (LMA), an appointment that had to come from eight different mayors in each of those years.
“That has meant a lot coming from my peers,” Piazza said. “That is something else that I am really proud of.”
In the end, Piazza has been proud to serve Abbeville and its citizens.
“I have had a great 20 years,” Piazza said of being mayor. “Serving the public was an honor. Representing our city in all of my travels has truly been an honor.”