"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most inevitable of all titles, the character of an honest man." -George Washington
Mandeville Mayor Clay Madden
Welcome to my website! As the current Mayor of Mandeville, Louisiana, I primarily communicate with constituents via social media and the Madden Minute email.
I will be running for a second term as Mayor of Mandeville in March of 2024. My first campaign for Mayor of Mandeville, in 2020, was delayed due to COVID-19. As a result, I had not one but THREE campaign “push cards” done during the 2020 race. I have placed the push cards here on the website to illustrate how ALL of the bullet points on each of the three push cards have either already been accomplished or are in progress. Please re-read the three 2020 push cards, then my explanations below:
Keeping Campaign Promises!
- Due to the updated and enhanced City of Mandeville website, citizens can NOW do the following:
- Submit a work order to the Department of Public Works. Citizens who choose to sign up for a login can receive email and text updates on their project as it moves along.
- Sign up for Mande Alerts-a text alert system to communicate emergencies in real time.
- Report Code Enforcement infractions. Mandeville now has a full time Code Enforcement Officer who PROACTIVELY patrols the streets and neighborhoods for infractions. However, code enforcement relies on reporting, which the website now makes possible.
- In an effort to increase transparency in government, another technology-related improvement completed early on in the term is the streaming LIVE of both city council and planning and zoning commission meetings.
- Traffic Summit meetings have been held annually in 2021, 2022, and 2023 with members from the State DOTD office, the Regional Planning Commission, the offices of U.S. Senator Cassidy, U.S. Senator Kennedy, and U.S. Congressman Scalise, Parish President Mike Cooper’s office, the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission and the offices of District 89 State Representative Richard Nelson and District 11 State Senator Patrick McMath.
- By developing a great working relationships with both landlords and applicants, we have welcomed both new construction and re-developed new businesses in Mandeville over the last four years such as Target, The Backpacker, Chick Fil A, Altitude Trampoline Park, and Loft 18 (to name a few), as well as a host of other small business. We are looking forward to redeveloped properties bringing Mandeville a new bowling alley (Paradise Alley) and Habanero’s Mexican Restaurant in early 2024!
- The following is a list of BEAUTIFICATION projects that have been completed in the last four years:
- Hwy 190 Phase I & II – Phase I was completed August 2021 & Phase II August 2023
- New Signage and gardens at all entrances to the city completed in 2022.
- Monroe Street under North Causeway Approach overpass gardens completed in 2021.
- A Flood Summit was held on November 2, 2021. Numerous projects are currently in progress for drainage improvements. However, in early 2023 after years of being discussed, the City of Mandeville completed its citywide “Resiliency Plan”, which is a citywide drainage and water management plan. We were fortunate to have the Resiliency Plan funded 100% by the state agency Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). Projects coming out of the Resiliency Plan are now underway, including the purchase of property for future stormwater parks.
- Mandeville Efficiency Audit-completed in January 2021.
- Prior to August 2020, the City of Mandeville had no working Emergency Operations Plan. Rather, it had a collection of outdated plans listing people who no longer worked for the city or who had become deceased as contacts. In August of 2021, the updated and enhanced Mandeville Emergency Response Team (MERT) was assembled, complete with an Emergency Operations Plan that calls for an annual update and simulation training for necessary employees.
- In November of 2021 a Salary Survey was completed by SSA Consultants that illustrated the City of Mandeville’s need to pay employees more competitively to fill department shortages. This also filled necessary public works maintenance positions that were not being filled due to lower-than-average market pay that resulted in basics needs such as grass cutting in public areas falling behind. The salary survey and the resulting employee pay raises resulted in key areas such as the police and public works department being able to hire the best talent.
- External funding has been sought for numerous projects over the last term, including both grants and state funding (capital outlay). Highlights include $7 million for the LA-22 Drainage Project in 2022 and $2 million for the design and construction of a new Mandeville Police Department through the State of Louisiana Capital Outlay program (a result of great working relationships between the Mayor and our State Senator Patrick McMath and State Representative Richard Nelson), and a grant from the Louisiana Water Sector Program in the amount of $2.8 million in 2023.
- As of November 2023, the City of Mandeville is in an extremely positive financial position. In the past 12 months, two separate CPA firms have assessed the city’s financial position. One of these firms is the state mandated independent third-party audit firm, and the second firm was hired to perform a financial forecast on the city. Both firms reported that the city’s financial position is strong. The city’s audit firm stated at the March 23, 2023 Mandeville City Council meeting:“Most governments maintain 15 to 20% as a general fund balance (to current expenditures), and here in the city you have at end of August (2022), 63%, so a very conservative, good cushion, that you have in your general funds, that’s a very solid, a very good financial position to be in.”
The city’s financial forecast firm stated at the July 17, 2023 Mandeville City Council meeting:
“The City of Mandeville is in a very good position from a (financial health) perspective.”
AND
“I do some pretty significant audits in the area and I don’t have any that are this healthy, that have 16 months of operating expenses. So kudos to what you are doing. Keep doing that.”
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