LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – St. Charles Parish is in the market for a new director of the departments of public works and wastewater after current director Steven M. Fall handed in his two-weeks notice. “It is with great regret that I feel that I must tender my resignation from St. Charles Parish,” Fall wrote to Parish President Albert Laque on Wednesday. “An opportunity has been offered me to take a position, which will allow me more time with my family, and I have accepted it. My last day will be Aug. 29, 2001. I will make myself available part time after that date in the event that my services are needed to you for any transition meeting that you feel are necessary.” Fall continued, “However, I leave St. Charles Parish with the highest regard for you and your staff and the employees who work for St. Charles Parish.” Laque commented of Fall’s decision, “He found something more to his education as a civil engineer,” and admitted, “He had kind of surprised me.” Fall will take over as director of engineering for the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Commission. Temporarily in charge after Fall leaves will be his two assistants, Palmer “Poochie” Cheramie and Sammy Accardo. Laque said it is very difficult to find a qualified engineer to take the position for the low salary the parish can afford. Fall’s annual salary had been in the mid-$70,000 range. Fall’s departure comes not long after he found himself in hot water over a series of incidents which raised eyebrows and tempers in the parish administration. Most recently he was called on the carpet to explain how identification numbers on his parish-owned Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle were washed off by a brush-style carwash. Fall responded his vehicle is instantly identifiable being the only parish-owned Ford Expedition and it bears a parish seal on the driver’s side. Earlier, on May 5-6, Fall and an employee, along with their respective families, took two parish vehicles along on a vacation to Pensacola, Fla. Fall explained his use of the vehicles by saying when he worked for the City of Slidell, he could use government vehicles in his custody, just so long as he accounted for their use by filing a monthly report. Laque, however, reacted differently. “I was as teed off as I’ve ever been,” the parish president said. Laque stated in Fall’s official reprimand: “Your decision to use your parish vehicle was one of very poor judgement and is unacceptable to my administration. You are also hereby notified that any further misuse of a parish vehicle will result in either forfeiture of the vehicle and/or termination. I trust that this type of incident will NOT re-occur.” Fall justified taking the vehicles as he was on call and would not want to return home, if called, and leave his family without a vehicle. Therefore, besides the parish vehicles taken, the two families also took three personal vehicles. Laque said he “hit the roof” when he learned of the incident, and demanded that Fall pay mileage, based on .345 cents per mile for the 451-mile trip, which came to $155.59. The reimbursement was made on May 24. Laque observed that when he first hired Fall from the City of Slidell, he guessed the engineer was more accustomed to working in a politically charged job as this one. He praised Fall for the “Herculean efforts” made to straighten out the wastewater servitude mess left by the prior administration. “We really had a hell of a situation with the mess we took over here,” Laque said. “We couldn’t think about the future when we were trying to just catch up.” Laque said he would like to find a successor for Fall in the line of Ray Davezac, who worked for Laque in his prior administration. However, Davezac is now co-owner of Hartman Engineers and presumably unavailable. “I wish him (Fall) all the best,” Laque said.