City Manager Goes For Housing Hands On

PASCAGOULA, MS - Pascagoula City Manager Kay Kell is a little concerned. She runs the public works, the police and firefighters and the city finances of the town at the mouth of the river. And starting Monday, Kell will volunteer to build houses as part of the Habitat for Humanity Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

But for all the things she can do, she said, construction just ain't one of them. "I'm an accountant and used to managing a city," she said while filling out her volunteer form online. Perusing the boxes noting expertise, she said her family let her paint a closet once, but she doesn't think she can learn plumbing or electrical. Now, landscaping? That she thinks she can do.

After Katrina, the flat and low-lying city of Pascagoula was 95 percent submerged, she said, expect for the area around Singing River Hospital. Nearly three years out from the storm, the town still tips the scales with 300 FEMA trailers, down from a Coast high of 6,000. Affordable housing is issue No. 1.

"It's almost nonexistent, affordable housing," she said. Efforts to rebuild Pascagoula's Chipley area, between Washington and Ingalls Avenues, were stymied by $700-a-month insurance premiums on top of house notes. The $700 was "what people hoped their house payment would be," she said.

And despite her lack of experience, and a work load that would make some cry, she said, it is worth it to take time out of her week to physically help rebuild her town. "It's my city and I'm going to be a part of it," she said.