DENHAM SPRINGS — Longtime Denham Springs Mayor Gerard Landry plans to fulfill the remainder of his term, but announced Monday he will not seek reelection to a fourth term in November.

"After much prayer and reflection, I have decided that this current term will be my last. It is simply time to pass the torch and turn my full attention to life's greatest personal blessings—my wonderful wife, our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren," Landry said. "As I transition to life as a private citizen, my prayer for Denham Springs is that our next mayor will continue to fiercely protect the interests of all citizens."

Landry led the city through one of the most difficult times in its history, the 2016 floods, where 90% of the city's homes and businesses flooded.

"There was nothing to this magnitude, of course. How in the world can you manage 31 inches of rain in 24 hours? 'We were at the water's edge, trying to help people get out of their boats. We had cars on Range Avenue where the water was over the roofs of these vehicles," Landry said.

Citizens say he was a big help through efforts to rebuild following the flood, doing so through Denham Strong, the city's plan to rebuild following the floods.

"It was following the FEMA guidelines on the National Disaster Recovery Framework," Landry said.

He says he wanted the citizens to have a say in what the recovery effort should look like.

'We had three separate meetings for our citizens to show up, and we kind of had a framework set up about what they wanted to see or what they needed to talk about," Landry said.

Several residents told WBRZ that it was Landry's leadership through and following the flood that won him much support from the community.

"He did an awesome job. Matter of fact, once I got to meet him on a personal basis, it was during the floods; we tried to help the community out. He did a great job of spearheading it. I don't think you could've done a better job than what he did," John Bridgers said.

In 2018, he was reelected with 83% of the vote. In 2022, he ran unopposed, getting a third term.

Throughout his time as mayor, one of the things he's most proud of is several infrastructure projects.

"We're now working on what's going to be a conference center and a five-story Hilton Garden Hotel," Landry said.

Another is rehabbing Springs Park, and the spring inside of it, which the city gets its name from.

"The Springs used to be flowing. The people would travel over here and stay here. So they would have access to our water and drink from our water," Landry said.

For the rest of his time as mayor, Landry hopes to continue addressing traffic problems in the city.

"One of the reasons that we were flooded was because of the wall that was on the interstate. Just literally a month or so ago, we received 21 and a half million dollars in a settlement, and that money was given to DOTD to make those corrections on I-12 from roughly Millerville to just past Walker, which is where the bulk of the water backed up," Landry said.

He talked about his hope for the next mayor, in which candidates can begin qualifying for tomorrow.

"I just want to make sure that the next mayor cares for our citizens, cares for what they think, and is willing to do the work to make sure that their wishes are carried through," Landry said.

The city's mayoral elections will be held on Nov. 3. Qualifying for this election runs from Aug. 5 to Aug. 7.