LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / January 26, 2000

HAHNVILLE – Two more department heads were added to St. Charles ParishPresident Albert Laque’s cabinet Monday.

Larry Matson, formerly of WWL radio and television in New Orleans, was picked in a 6-3 vote to become the new recreation director by the St. Charles Parish Council. He will earn $60,000 a year. and Steven M. Fall,engineering director for the City of Slidell, is the new public works director, earning $75,000 a year.

Matson’s opposition came from councilmen G. “Ram” Ramchandran, BarryMinnich and Clayton Faucheux.

Minnich’s concern came from Matson’s lack of experience in running a recreation program. Ramchandran was concerned about his lack of fiscalmanagement experience, and Faucheux was likewise unsatisfied with Matson’s qualifications to run a $3.5 million department.Matson said he was not sought out for the position, and added he was “thrilled to death to find out about it.” He cited his experience as assistantmanager of the New Orleans Zephyrs and his love for children as his top qualifications.

With three children of his own, ages 17, 15 and 6, Matson said he missed out on a lot of his elder children’s youth and wanted “to be around” for his youngest child.

Matson, who has an aerospace engineering degree from Auburn University, played baseball there, which spun into a 20-year broadcasting career, including five years as play-by-play announcer for the New Orleans Saints.

While Fall was voted to his new job by a unanimous vote of the council, the main concern of the council about his appointment was how quickly he could relocate from River Ridge to St. Charles Parish. Fall said it would takeperhaps the remainder of the year, giving himself time to find a new Catholic school for his children.

Other department heads appointed or re-appointed by Laque include Robert Raymond for the Department of Legal Services, Corey Faucheux for the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Roland Becnel for the Department of Finance and Tab Troxler for the Department of Emergency Preparedness. Bob Lambert is the interim Director of Planning and Zoning,and Robbie Brou is the interim Director of Waterworks.

The council also quizzed Laque as to whether the Department of Public Works and Wastewater would ever be split into two separate departments.

Laque responded, “No question about it.”The Department of Public Works was established in 1980 with the new home- rule government. The Department of Sewerage was established in 1986 and,in April of that year, Ray Davezac became director of both departments, under then-President Laque, according to council records.

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