Incoming parish president opens applications for department heads

By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – St. John Parish President-Elect Bill Hubbard announced Tuesday he has assembled the team that will assist him in appointing his new administrative cabinet.

Transition coordinator Buddy Boe said Hubbard has accepted about 130 resumes for 11 director positions in the parish since early December when Hubbard advertised the openings in newspapers from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Boe said the team will sift through the resumes, which have been coming in at around 15 per day, and make their recommendations based on initial interviews.

“Bill ran on the businessman platform,” said Boe. “And we are going to do this the business way.”

Boe said the team consists of about 30 individuals who hold leadership positions in the public and private sector. It includes representatives from Garyville, Reserve, Edgard, and all other parts of St. John Parish. The team also has a few of Hubbard’s political opponents.

“We were committed to formulating a group that would give us a good snapshot of the parish,” said Boe. “We have all races and genders represented.”

Boe said the team is broken up into seven subgroups, with about five or six members per group. Each subgroup has two chairmen that were selected based on their expertise in the parish. The subgroups will handle resumes for their respective director position, and select the top three candidates from that pool. At that point Hubbard will interview the top three, and make his appointments. Hubbard will need a two-thirds majority approval from the Parish Council before the appointments can take office.

Boe stressed that the advertisements were not meant as an opportunity for Hubbard to completely clean house. He said Hubbard has made it clear he is open to keeping current office holders around if they are the right people for the job. Boe said all but two present directors have submitted resumes for reconsideration.

The team is broken up into the following groups:

Finance/Purchasing, led by St. John School System Employee Peter Montz and former Parish Chief Financial Officer Kent Broussard, a member of Parish President Nickie Monica’s Transition Team.

Recreation, headed up by District 6 Councilman Ronnie Smith and local youth athletic organization volunteer Kevin Klibert.

Human Resources chaired by local attorney Kerry Brown and private school teacher Michelle Montz.

Economic Development, led by St. John Economic Development Committee member Judy Songy and Assistant Director of the Port of South Louisiana Henry Sullivan.

Planning and Zoning, headed by former Planning and Zoning Board member Farrel Weber, who worked in the administrations of past Parish Presidents Arnold Labat and Lester Millet Jr., and business owner Penny Freeman.

Public works, chaired by Mike Patorno, an engineer with URS, a firm that has done work for the parish, and local business owner Ricky Brock.

Public Safety, led by westbank community leader Clifford Bailey and restaurant owner Gary Boe Sr.

Boe said the last resumes were accepted Wednesday, and the entire transition team met for the first time Thursday to get acquainted and organized. He said the subgroups would meet again early next week and begin the interview process.

Boe said the transition team hopes to have all the interviews done by Christmas, so that applicants can be notified early whether they are being considered or not. Hubbard has not set an official deadline to have his cabinet completed, but is aiming for January 14, when he is sworn into office.