ST. GEORGE -- The St. George Public Works Department is working through a backlog of work orders. The city said it assumed responsibility for more than 1,600 work orders from East Baton Rouge this past November.

"In the month of March, we've entered a total of 182 work orders, we've investigated 130 work orders, and we've completed 262," St. George Public Works Director Landon Tims said. In March alone, we filled 104 potholes, we've jetted 40 culverts, we've had 300 miles of right-of-way mowing, we've picked up 825 bags of trash, and we've excavated 17,829 feet of roadside ditching," Tims added.

Tims said that the department currently has about 20 people, with some of them out in the field, and a lot in the office.

"We also have some sub-contract labor that we use," Tims said.

Tims told WBRZ that the department was able to complete about 600 work orders in the first three months since assuming responsibility for the more than 1600 work orders.

"The parish was gracious enough to give us access to the Q alert system, and so our team was able to go in, and we went category by category for what we were responsible for, whether that be mowing, right-of-way issues, or drainage. We manually entered them from the Q Alert system into our system," Tims said.

With the city having to handle so many work orders in a short amount of time, Tims was asked how the department handles the order of which projects will be done.

"We try to determine work orders based on a few different priorities, whether that be safety, if the roadway or area that we're working is high traffic. " What time of day does this work need to be accomplished?" Tims said.

Two of the highest priorities for the Public Works Department are drainage and erosion control.

"Drainage in St. George has become an issue for lack of maintenance and it's one of the high priorities right now of the department."

An area that has been a main focus of drainage in St. George is the Old Jefferson neighborhood.

Old Jefferson resident Jack Blacklock says that he's started to notice the work the city has been doing for drainage.

"It's a lot better since the drainage crews have been here. It's been terrible. I've been living here for 50 years. There was nothing here; this place was a swamp," Blacklock said.

Blacklock's side of the road will have work done, which includes a tree that he said has caused numerous problems.

"They're going to cut the tree down, dig up the pipes, and replace all the pipes," Blacklock said.

The project has another major project following that.

"Striping is our next major project. We're looking to do around 500,000 linear feet over the next couple of months," Tims said.