Lake Charles voters in District B will vote for either incumbent and council Vice President Luvertha August or Donald Fondel to represent their district on March 29.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Lake Charles Alumnae Chapter held a forum for the candidates running for the District B and C seats on Monday. Each participating candidate answered prepared and community-fielded questions about their plans for their districts.

August was not in attendance. Gisele Hawkins, social action chair, Delta Sigma Theta, confirmed with the American Press that August was invited but declined to respond.

Donald Fondel

In his opening remarks, Fondel said he is motivated by a love of problem-solving and a “passion for helping people.”

When he was a ConocoPhillips employee, he developed his leadership skills while volunteering for the company. After enjoying just a month of retirement, he began working with the Southwest Area Health Association. There, he helps inform the public about hurricane recovery programs and resources.

“The pleasure of helping someone who does not know what to do next, I cannot express.”

At the root of his philosophy is the belief that there is a solution to every problem, but sometimes solutions can only be found with hard work and consistency. The solutions also often lie in resources that are already available. If elected, he is confident in his ability to make progress by connecting his constituents to nonprofit organizations already operating in the city.

His goal is to educate the community about the “wealth of resources” like Project Build a Future — a nonprofit that develops affordable housing.

He believes people without housing deserve pathways that allow them to re-enter society. When asked, he said he would work with nonprofits to reach out to homeless individuals in the community and connect them with programs that would assist.

“Everybody don’t need to be locked up. There are programs that we just don’t use because we don’t know they’re available.”

This philosophy applies to helping the youth, as well. He said the money used to “lock a kid up” could instead be used for rehabilitation and programming that will set young people up for success.

The role of a council member is to represent every individual and to ensure he does this, he would speak for every member of his diverse community, he said.

“I can tell you one thing. I will be present. … When I am seated as the city councilman from District B, they will know that we’re there,” he said in closing.