It was a year of firsts for the town of Baldwin, a year of growth and a time when its residents came together on more than one occasion to trumpet its pride and celebrate the community.

"It was a very good year," Mayor Wayne Breaux said in summing up 2001.

"We had a lot of events that shows that Baldwin is a town that continues to grow and prosper and shows a lot of community spirit and pride through the success of the different programs," the mayor said.

First on the list of progress was the early year expansion of the town limits to the Charenton drainage canal to the east and to Bayou Choupique to the west, Breaux said.

The annexation took in the Cleco plant and is expected to expand the town’s tax base by about $40,000 a year.

The town also won bragging rights this year of the state Cleanest City title. That distinction marks Baldwin’s fourth time it has taken in the top prize under the sponsorship of the Baldwin Beautification Club and the Franklin Garden Club.

"Red, White and Baldwin" was another program initiated by the Beautification Club this year in an effort to show appreciation for the nation’s veterans, the mayor noted. The club sold flags, which will be flown from utility poles along Main Street, Martin Luther King Street and Charenton Road during patriotic holidays. Flags were bought by the public in the names of veterans and others in recognition of their service to the nation. The first 88 flags sold were flown for Veteran’s Day this year and were presented in a special ceremony on Nov. 9. Since then, the mayor said, another 62 flags have been sold and are on order to bring the total to 150.

In other firsts this year, Breaux said the town had its inaugural Mardi Gras and Christmas parades.

The Mardi Gras parade, sponsored by the town’s Police Reserves and the Baldwin Mardi Gras Association, was deemed "a great success," by Breaux whom along wife his wife, Countice, served as the king and queen of the parade. The 2002 parade on Saturday, Feb. 9, promises to be even better, he added.

Sager-Brown UMCOR sponsored the Christmas parade with Santa riding through town on a sleigh. The organization has plans to make the celebration an annual event.

Other areas of progress noted by Breaux included:

—Completion of subsurface drainage projects on Jolivette, West Railroad and T.J. Hatcherson streets and the beginning of plans on Rosebud Street. Breaux said the projects are being mostly funded with the $400,000 issued earlier in the year by the parish council as part of a parishwide bond package.

—Beginning of the construction of a new water treatment plant that is expected to provide expanded service into the Raintree Village housing development as well as meet the town’s needs for the next 20 years. The $1.25 million project is being funded through a low-interest revolving loan from the state Department of Health and Hospitals. Construction began in October and is projected to be complete sometime in June, Breaux said.

—The signing of an intergovernmental bond agreement with the Chitimacha Tribe and the St. Mary Parish Council to provide funds for the infrastructure at Raintree. Breaux said the total package is $2.5 million with a $750,000 annual contribution by the tribe. The first draw down on the bonds for the first phase was $1 million. To date, he added, the laying of water and sewer lines is almost complete and work on streets is about to begin. "We’re looking forward to the building of the first (33) homes sometime in the first quarter of the upcoming year," Breaux said.

—The start of the town’s fifth housing rehab project in the target areas of Rod Lane and Collins Street on a $356,500 La. Community Development Block Grant. Actual construction is expected to begin in early 2002. Breaux added that the town will be applying for another LCDBG in the amount of $600,000 to build a community service center. The application will be submitted next year for state funds from the 2003 fiscal year.

"I’d like to wish every citizen in the town of Baldwin a happy and prosperous New Year," the mayor concluded.