Parish council: New faces, old headaches
By William Johnson     January 15, 2008
wjohnson@dailyworld.com

The new parish council, which was sworn in Monday and holds its first meeting at 6 p.m. today, features many new faces but must deal with mostly the same issues that stumped the previous council.

Top among these issues is roads, with almost every council member naming the parish's out-of-date infrastructure as his of her top priority.

But how to deal with the problem leaves them as divided as their predecessors. Some advocate a parishwide sales tax dedicated to roads. Others call for consolidating the nine existing road special taxing districts to free the money needed for the repairs. Still others call for a special fee assessed on vehicle license plates within the parish.

Unlike the last council, which was made up primarily of former police jurors, most of the members of this council are new to politics.

New council members include Jerry L. Red Jr., District 1; Leon E. Robinson, District 2; Fekisha Miller, District 3; Kenneth D. Vidrine, District 4; "Pam" Gautreaux, District 8; "Glenn" Stout, District 9; Claude "Jay" Guidry, District 11; and Jimmie E. Edwards, District 12.

Of those eight, only Robinson has held public office before. He served two terms as a police juror in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

Joining them are returning council members Ronald Buschel, District 5; Hurlin Dupre, District 6; Albert Hollier, District 7; Dexter Brown, District 10; and Gary Courville, District 13.

But even among these returning council members there is not a great depth of experience. As with parish President Don Menard, this will be the second term for most of them.

The exceptions are Buschel and Courville, who both were elected to a fifth, four-year term.

New council members include:

• District 1- Jerry L. Red Jr., Democrat, 42, works in metering department with SLEMCO. While this is his first time to serve on the council, it wasn't his first run for the job. "I lost in the runoff eight years ago," Red said. Despite that defeat, he said he never gave up his dream to serve the people. "Winners never quit and quitters never win. I was running for the people," Red said.

  Red, who says "without team work we can't get the dream to work," said he believes the council needs to work together for the betterment of the parish as a whole. He argues the parish is on the edge of potentially great things, but this critical time could pass the parish by without unity.

   

• District 2 -Leon E. Robinson, Democrat, 68, is on sick leave from his job as principal of the parish's Alternative School. Unlike most of his fellow council members, Robinson is an old hand at parish politics, having served two terms as a police juror in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

  "People asked me to run again," Robinson said. "Certain things I was seeing (the former council do) didn't feel right to me."

  He said he believes the new council form of government has the ability to achieve a great deal if managed properly. "It is amazing how much we do have now. I'm ready to get to work," Robinson said.

   

• District 3- Fekisha Miller, Democrat, 24, is a physical therapist. While a new office holder, she said she is not new to the job. "I grew up with this. It has been a part of my whole life," said Miller, the daughter of longtime District 3 Councilman Pat Miller.

  Her father suffered a stroke last year. "He helped a lot of people out. I had always planned to follow in his footsteps, just not this soon," Miller said. "I love the people of District 3. I want to make sure they are taken care of."

  While the people of District 3 are her top concern, she said the parish must address its problems, particularly roads, as a whole. "We need to come together. I don't just drive on the roads in District 3," Miller said.

   

• District 4- Kenneth D. Vidrine, no party, 57, is a fixed asset inventory clerk for St. Landry Parish School Board. He said his primary goal is getting everyone on the council to work together for the betterment of the parish.

  "The president has some ideas, we have some ideas. We have to get everyone to sit down and have some give and take," said Vidrine, a retired enforcement officer with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. He said he believes it is time the council realizes that under the parish's new Home Rule Charter form of government, it is just that - a council.

  "The previous council had a hard time getting away from the old police jury way of doing business. It was tough for them," Vidrine said.

   

• District 8- "Pam" Gautreaux, Democrat, 46, is a small business owner who makes and sells her own olive oil-based soaps. She said it was frustration with the old council that motivated her to get involved in politics for the first time. She was very involved with the debate last year about regulating shooting ranges in the parish.

  "I came to the council for one reason but I left with a new appreciation for why so many things are not being done," Gautreau said. "It is very frustrating. They should be working together. The ultimate goal should be working for the good of the entire parish. The people are being let down."

   

• District 9 - "Glenn" Stout, Democrat, 55, is owner-operator of Stout Air Conditioning. While this is his first time to hold public office, Stout said it was something he had considered for years. "We need fresh leadership," Stout said.

  Because of his job, Stout is very familiar with the residential building boom the parish is experiencing. He fears many of the new subdivisions are being built without adequate regulation, meaning increased flooding of neighboring areas. He also fears that if new standards aren't put in place now, the parish may be inheriting badly built roads and other infrastructure problems that will come back to haunt the parish in the years to come.

   

• District 11 - Claude "Jay" Guidry, Democrat, is a self-employed contractor, working primarily in area of sewer and water systems. While this is his first elected office, he said he has followed politics for years. "It is time for younger people to set up to the plate. Everybody in this parish is ready for change," Guidry said.

  While he agrees roads have to be a top priority, he said the parish must first address its drainage issues. "You have to start with drainage or you are just going to be wasting your money on roads that will flood and wash out," Guidry said.

   

• District 12- Jimmie E. Edwards, Democrat, 63, is a school bus driver and reserve law enforcement officer. He said he ran for the parish council as a way give back to the community.

  "I've been a resident of District 12 for 45 years but I've been all over the region. A lot of stuff needs to be done for our parish," Edwards said.

  He said his work as a bus driver has impressed on him the parish's desperate need to address its more than 800 miles of failing roads. But while roads are important, he said the council has to come together as a team to address many other issues as well. "We need to not just consolidate those taxing districts," Edwards said.