HENDERSON, La. (KLFY)- The town of Henderson received a $250,000 grant from the state of Louisiana to clean up blighted properties in the area.

Henderson Mayor, Sherbin Collette, said the town of Henderson received a letter from Governor Jeff Landry, stating that the $250,000 was given to the town through the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant Program.

“They approved $250,000 coming to the town of Henderson to clean up all the blighted properties that we sent out,” said Collette. “I think it was 36 letters, 28 came back, signed and they agreed with all the stipulations.”‘

Collette said he had been the mayor for over 21 years and is happy to see a project like this come to fruition during his term.

“Every one of the blighted places had an opportunity to get this done,” said Collette. “So that’s 21 years it’s been in my mind, I don’t like it to take that long, but it’s happening today, thank you lord.”

He said the grant is beneficial because of some residents being on low-income.

“Over fifty-percent of the people over here are low-income people, they can’t afford to do this, there’s no way,” said Collette.

He continued to share the homes are a serious concern for the community because of overgrown grass, crumbling buildings, and infestation of snakes and other insects.

“I went out, I’ve killed snakes at people’s houses already, snakes from the blighted places right alongside of them, snakes, rats, everything else, I don’t like that, I wanted to do something about it,” said Collette.

In addition to the blighted properties, he said more projects are expected to be completed in Henderson.

“We have a lot more things in the future that could possibly come that’s going to better this town, that was my goal, my goal was to make the people of Henderson proud of where they come from, and I think this is going to be a big part of it,” said Collette.

Collette said it will take about seven months for these properties to be demolished.

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