Livingston Parish President Candidate Jeff Ard | Listen Up Livingston

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Welcome to Listen Up Livingston the community
arm of local Leaders, in which we

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feature interviews of those making a difference
in our community and in Livingstone Parish.

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And today we have well the trim
and fit jeff Ard sitting across from us

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right here at current parish councilman for
District one District one, District one in

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Livingston Parish. Where what does District
one cover? The District one runs from

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Walker and north north of the railroad
tracks. Yea, all the way to

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Tickfall River and Holden and it's basically
everything above the interstate all the way to

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the Saint Alena Parish line. That's
a big, pretty big big district.

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And uh and you you've been serving
in that capacity for eight years. I'm

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in my eighth year right now.
Yeah, very good. And we're gonna

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kind of get into you know,
all of that. But before we do,

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uh, some people may not be
familiar with, uh, you know,

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who you are outside of politics.
And you've got to family. Yes,

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I'm married to my wife, Tina. We've been married for twenty eight

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years. Mad her and she is
a workhorse, Yes she is. She

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definitely the work behind the madness.
Absolutely she you know that's I tell everybody

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when I wake up, and my
wife and my phone tells me where to

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go every day. You know.
So we have two children. My daughter

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is a critical care nurse. My
son's a process technician. Um, stream,

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We're proud of both of them,
both graduates of college. Awesome,

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great job, have a beautiful,
best of all granddaughter. You know that.

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Uh, definitely rules the house.
Spoiled rot, bald, rotten.

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I hear you. Nothing wrong with
that. And you're a Walker guy,

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Walker guy, been in Walker guy
your whole life, my whole life.

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I actually grew up in Satsuma.
That's where we lived, and we were

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we were right on the line.
Okay, So we went to school in

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Walker. Yeah, um, but
it kind of fits with where I'm at

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in the parish about. I went
to school in Walker and knew all the

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Walker people. But in the summertime, I spent most of my time in

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the Livingston area, okay, because
that was closer to the house, you

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know, playing ball, and even
when my kids started playing ball, that's

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where they wound up playing ones in
the Livingston area. Very good, And

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uh, you mentioned Walker. You
went to Walker High School? Play sports,

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late sports? Um, I was
quarterback. Yeah, you played leadership

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role in sports, you know,
ran track, played baseball. You know,

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it's interesting what playing in sports h
will do for you as in of

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course none of us realize us when
we're in high school, but you get

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out, you get into a career, and that's kind of where those lessons

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start. How to work with people, how to work as a team,

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those sorts of things. Yes,
I refer back to it all the time.

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You know a lot of things that
the coaches were preaching to us and

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we just you know, give him
a death ear and not really pay attention.

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And next thing you know, you're
coaching and you're telling your kids the

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same thing, and you realize maybe
that little guy knew kids talking about Yeah

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that's right. And work ethic,
you know, just getting out there and

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doing something you don't necessarily want to
do, like maybe run laps, but

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you get out there and do it
and it builds work ethic and you take

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it throughout your life. Yeah,
and I mean it definitely shows you how

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important everybody's role is. Yep,
to work together as a team, you

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know, have a common goal.
That's right, And I mean that's the

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biggest thing I got out of sports
and I've used it my whole life,

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of my entire career. Yeah,
yeah, very good. H And you

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played football, guy, did you
play baseball anything? I played baseball,

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but once I got to high school, it was you know, football was

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my passion and I basically ran track
stay in shape for football. Yeah.

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Well you're not a little guy.
Yeah, you're not a run although I'll

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tell you what. I don't know
what workout you're on, but man,

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you are looking slim and trim and
ready for I guess campaign. I've lost

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fifty pounds so far on one trail. So yes, very good, very

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good. Uh, let's get into
leadership for a minute, because we kind

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of talked about that a second ago. Um, A lot of folks may

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not realize you you've been serving the
parish for a long time. As a

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matter of fact, I didn't even
realize, and I've known you a little

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while, that you have been serving
the parish in one form or another forever

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twenty two years. Started out in
two thousand and one. Yes, so

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the town of Livingston actually a direct
district out there. They've passed at tacks

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to build a new ballpark out there. Yep. I had a friend of

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mine that was kind of over it. He reached out to me, asked

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me if I would get involved,
went out there and helped him build the

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ballpark they have now. You know, just after we built it, I

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said, you know, my kids
are gonna play here, so I'm gonna

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be involved. And yeah, you
know, got on a committee for that,

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and uh we started bringing you know, you triplesa to this area and

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tournament ball and really offering more to
these kids than just a little summer league.

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While that's fantastic and really showed it. I guess an early aspect of

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your life that you were doing things
outside of yourself. That's that's very important.

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And you, of course, progressing
up to the past eight years,

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you eventually became a parish councilman for
District one, as we discussed, and

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you have been just an absolute workhorse
when it comes to your committees. Um,

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I'm a list some here for everybody
to hear. But in that time,

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you served on the Master Playing Committee, the Ordinance Committee, the Finance

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Committee. You have chaired the Finance
Committee, you were counseled chair in both

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twenty seventeen and twenty twenty one,
and you were council chairman in both twenty

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eighteen and twenty twenty two. Now
that last one that I just mentioned,

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y'all, that's important because that is
voted on by his peers. Shows me

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you had the respect of your peers
to put you in a leadership role like

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that not once, but twice twice. Yeah, I mean that the first

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time, I'll be honest, I
was nervous. I mean we were all

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new. Yeah, and it was
both both years that I took chairmen were

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very very crucial years. If you
go back to our first term, you

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know, our first year we had
to flood. Yeah, first year of

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our first term, we had to
flood. So it kind of just not

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to add that we were all new, we were trying to learn the job,

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and then we get hit with the
worst disaster that's happened in our parish.

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Yeah, and let's talk about that
for just a second, because you

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know, I and you and all
of us had experienced that. Um,

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we have a unique bond because if
you did not, if you were not

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from this parish and you did not
know what we went through, it would

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absolutely blow your mind. And the
beautiful thing that came out of that was

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people. Yes, I mean,
man we took care of each other,

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and I saw things. Look,
I was on the side of a road

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with three kids and a wife and
nothing but the clothes we had on our

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back. We lost everything like everybody
else did. And and all I saw

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were people saving people and everybody contributing, everybody getting under tents and here eat

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my food, and and all those
sorts of things that felt like you were

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in a movie. But it showed
that we had grit and and man,

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look for me, it changed my
life forever in a positive way. And

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that's a crazy thing to say about
a flood, but it really made me

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look at what I was doing outside
of myself. And uh, you know,

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I get emotional when I think about
it. But here you are,

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and and you and other members of
the council, and you're in a position

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where number one, there was no
returning councilman when you when y'all first had

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your run there those first four years. Um, that's an issue in and

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of itself. Then you have a
tragic event that most people are going to

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pull their keys out in tourn thement
and say I didn't sign up for this.

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Yes, yeah, this is supposed
to be easy. That the whole

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parish is destroyed practically, Um,
how was that? So to add to

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it a little bit, you know, we I had a tornado tore up

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the town of Livingston two months into
my first Jesus and then we had a

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flood happened like four months into hog
Branch and everybody around that holding area flooded.

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Yeah. Then the two thousand and
sixteen flood happened while we're rebuilding beginning

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of the follow the two thousand and
seventeen we had another tornado turn tore up

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the Niger Road area of my district. So I had four major things that

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happened in my first year of serving, as far as disastrous, which you

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know, twenty and sixteen flood by
far being the worst one. Yeah,

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you know. And I spent four
days in a boat just going and getting

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people, you know, get helping
them get out of their homes. And

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uh. I spent one day just
going around with National Guard showing them how

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to navigate around our parish because everything
was flooded. I couldn't just follow a

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GPS because they were running off in
ditches and wow. And I was just

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doing everything I could to help out
and not be somebody just sitting behind a

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desk. I mean I was out
there wading in water and and helping people

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get stuff out of their homes and
love that get them where we could.

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Yeah, And it was everywhere in
the parish. And and I think,

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um, I think it speaks to
who we are as people and who you

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are as a person, because if
there was any time for anybody to be

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selfish and only think about them and
theirs, that it was then but nobody

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did. I mean, it was
it was a sight to see y'all.

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Um. Now you get through that, and you know, he kind of

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started getting some footing in the council
and second term comes around, no hesitation

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at all. You're running for a
second term, yep, I jumped right

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in. Uh. I'd never even
crossed my mind to not run. Yeah.

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Um. But in that second term
is when it kind of started hitting

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me a little bit about you know, who's going to be the next parish

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president. Yeah, you know,
and I just kind of started paying attention

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and and it just seemed, uh, all roads, all errors pointed to

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that direction and that was where I
needed to go. So everything, Yeah,

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I mean, it was straight up
a call it. Yeah. Um,

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And believe me, I've you know
I've got a good job. Yeah,

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I've got a very good job.
You know, I make a good

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living. Yeah. But it just
every turn of the road, it it's

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like, hey, it's right there
in my face, this is this is

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what you need to do, and
you need to you need to listen.

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Somebody's telling you something. Yes,
I love it, and and I believe

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a lot in those you know,
those instincts or whatever people would call it.

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Uh if you meant to be somewhere, you can't really run from it.

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I believe that. And uh so
I guess the first question I would

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have would be, how would you
say those roles I just mentioned, serving

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on all those committees, how would
you say that has prepared you for now

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running for parish president. I mean, every one of them has helped tremendously,

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because you know, my first year
as the council chair was really our

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first year to get back to business
because of the flood. Sure, you

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know, all the disastrous happened our
first year. The second year was all

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about just rebuild. Yeah, you
know, so by the time the third

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year rolls around, we've had all
these projects and things that were put on

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hold because we were rebuilding our parish. Sure, so we got hit well

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a lot of the things real fast, and you didn't have time to learn.

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You just had you had to react
and make it happen, you know.

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And then this last time in twenty
twenty two, you know, we

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just rewrote all of our hardnesses on
development of our parish and it was huge,

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no easy task, no easy task. And then that led into where

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we're at now, which is owning, which is also been pretty tricky for

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us to uh sure get that right
for our people. Yeah, yeah,

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and an important aspect. Yeah.
And I mean so that that's definitely things

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that helped me. You know,
I've been on the finance committee the entire

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time. I've been a counselman,
uh you know, reading the finances and

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watching where we spend our money and
how we spend our money, and uh

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you know, like anybody running for
office, do I see things that I

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could change, Well, I could
change them, but I don't know if

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it will work until I get in
there. Yea. And I always revert

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back to a something that my pastor
told me when I ran the first time.

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You know, before you tear a
fence down, figure out what that

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fence was built for our first,
you know, Um, so that's the

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way I am. Before I just
go in and say yeah, let's move

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this money here and this money here, we got to figure out why are

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we doing it that way now?
Yeah, and and and then we'll make

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our decisions of what new things we
can do that's right. And and of

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course with that position of parish president, you know, you're primarily the administrative

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side of government, So so you're
balancing budgets, you're you know, the

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parish council itself, they're going to
approve these budgets, they're going to pass

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ordinances, abolish ordinances, whatever.
But the parish president manages really the day

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to day operations of the parish and
probably at the cusp of that is the

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budget. And yes, uh,
you know, sadly we don't have a

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trillion dollars to play. Well,
you run a free tight budget here,

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and it's very tight here and a
lot of people think, you know,

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we got ninety six million dollars.
Yeah, But the way it works nowadays,

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if it's collected for something, that's
all you can spend it on.

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Yeah. Yeah, it's here,
marked, and it's got to sit there

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until you can spend it on what
it was collected for because that's how the

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people voted us to collect that money. Yeah, so we might have a

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surplus of money sitting over there and
the road funds and we need some drainage

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work done. Well, yeah,
we can't just go take that road money

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and use it on drainage. That's
right. It was. It was for

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a purpose, and that is to
protect the people and make sure that their

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money is being spent where they wanted
it to be spent. Essentially. The

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problem with that is sometimes you end
up with, say, money in an

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account that you can't you see anywhere
else and maybe maybe you know it was

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slated for this particular thing, and
because that doesn't exist anymore, just kind

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of sits there. Uh. So
very important that we mentioned that tight budget

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because you know, if you and
I could have it our way and we

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just had an unlimited check buck,
of course, you know, drainage problems

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would not exist, infrastructure issues would
not exist. Yes, but all of

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that comes with having a savvy hand
to control growth, is what what I

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would say. Yeah, Um,
growth generates tax dollars. Tax dollars generates

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money for roads and everything else.
You know, animal control, we had

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talked about off camera a little bit
and and very very important subject in this

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parish that people are talking about.
But there's there's many, there's many.

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Yeah. I mean, the infrastructure
is going to be the biggest thing you're

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gonna hear in this campaign yea from
anybody running for Paris president. Yeah,

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um, you know. But the
biggest misconception I think is out there is

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when someone says I'm gonna run for
Paris president and I'm gonna stop development.

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And I'm in my eighth year and
I haven't seen our parish president vote far

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against the first development because he doesn't
have a vote, doesn't do that.

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Does council has that vote? Now
he can veto it, but the council

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can override it. So ultimately,
your power and development is in your council,

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right And I think this council did
a good job last year of tightening

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that up. And and I would
also say that any anybody who would want

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to absolutely halt development is going to
be in a buyd for some money right

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quick, right, Um, you
know that's a good body to kill your

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community. Just my opinion is to
absolutely you know, there's a there's smart

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growth, and there's uh, well
there's just no no growth. And when

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you have no growth or you have
negative growth, uh, you know,

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that could become a problem. Yes. Um. I opened up the Livingston

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Parish News this week and the headline
right there on the front page is housing

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sales down over in Livingston Parish.
And and uh luck, I'll be the

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first to say, and and I
want to talk about this a little bit.

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What got you into actually your first
run for parish council. Well,

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my my story behind that is that
I used to live on Buddy Ellis Road

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and anybody knows that areas over developed, its houses everywheres and you know,

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we, me and my wife,
thought we'd built our forever house there,

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yeah, all the woods in the
world behind it. And next thing you

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know, there's bulldozers back there.
Yeah, they started tearing it all apart.

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They built woodland crossing and we decided
to sail and get out of there.

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Yeah. And once I moved and
relocated, I said, you know,

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I could sit here and complain or
I can get up and do something

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and try to make a difference.
And that's why I ran for counsel.

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And I went in right away screaming, Z ownings owning, z owning,

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that's what we need to protect people
and give them some kind of say so.

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And you know, I had three
other guys that was dealing with the

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same issue I was in their areas. Yeah, but we just couldn't get

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that fifth vote at all that first
term, you know, and a couple

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of seats changed. We started getting
some development happening in the areas where people

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didn't really want the development to happen, which allowed us to finally get the

254
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votes to start pushing z owning for
our parish. And I think more people

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are getting more educated on it and
they're realizing that, um, it's a

256
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good thing. Yeah, you know, it definitely can control this and at

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least dictate where certain development happens in
our parish. That's right. And and

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one thing that's you know, anything
in the in the political realm or where

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you're you know, voting in ordinances
regardless of what it is, or you're

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instituting zoning. The great thing is
you have road maps to refer to.

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And what I mean by that is
we're not the first parish to ever zone.

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So you can look at your you
can look at your neighbors in Ascension

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or East bat and reach parish or
wherever it may be, and you can

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say you can see where they made
their mistakes, and you can see where

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they maybe did some good things,
and you can take from those what you

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will. And you're not inventing the
will or reinventing the will. And we

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have municipalities that are z owned in
our parish right now, Livingston Albany.

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You know, they're all zonned.
So we're just really going to expand from

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them and do the rest of the
parish that's right, and that will control

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things like over development and and uh, you know putting uh something that makes

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absolutely no sense in an area that's
totally residential for example. Uh, things

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like that can get worked out.
None of that can get worked out in

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short order. I mean there's a
lot to it, a lot of red

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tape. There's things you learn along
the way. There's things that maybe you

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thought were possible than aren't. Um
and that, and but what that built

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for you that's unique is it gave
you experiences that for the position you're seeking,

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not really nobody's ever had. There's
nobody that's went from a parish council

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seat to a parish presidency. People
might be surprised to hear that. Yeah.

279
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Now, our first parish president you
know, uh, mister Dewey Ratcliffe

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was actually a police jouryman yep,
you know, so that was when we

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were rolling from police jouryman to the
council. Yeah, the Home rule charter

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UM. So that was probably the
closest that we had from an actual police

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jouryman going to our parish president.
But since we've been in the Home rule

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charter system, we have not had
a councilman that's been on the you know,

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that side of it roll over to
administration UM, and it seems like

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it would be you know, a
natural transition. You see a lot of

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our state rips and they'll go to
the Senate. And you know, I

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think it's important, Jeff, because
I think that, uh, you have

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both sides of that job covered.
Don't matter what job you do in life,

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if you start out you don't want
to say bottom because none of that

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is the bottom. But if you
start out in one position and then you

292
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move into another role and you've done
that before, guess what you can relate

293
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to that person and what in that
council and what they're going through. You've

294
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been there and probably have experienced more
with all the you know, the flooding

295
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and all these things. Man,
you'll you know that to me, is

296
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is someone that I want in there
because they are going they've already been through

297
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those stressful, tough times and they're
gonna know what to do and you can

298
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not be shell shocked. You definitely
got to learn how to work as a

299
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team. Yeah, because you can't
do anything by yourself as a council nope,

300
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or anything in life. Trust me, I've tried. Okay, So

301
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I mean you you definitely have to
sell whatever you're trying to do. You

302
00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:45.799
got to pitch it to the other
councilman. You got to you got to

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00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.960
try to get them other four votes
that will go along with you. Yeah,

304
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and I'm so glad you brought that
up, because that is you have

305
00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:57.920
to unify people. Um, when
you have someone what you know, if

306
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you have someone on a council and
and and they they are more or less

307
00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:10.039
someone that maybe uh always goes their
own direction. They don't they don't want

308
00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:11.640
to work with anybody. They you
know, uh, they're they're going to

309
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:15.559
get very little done. I mean, it's just you have to have a

310
00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:19.559
certain amount of votes, you know, majority vote on a council to get

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anything passed. Um. So there's
a little given in and taken there,

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you know from and it's really mirroring
life. Life is that way, um

313
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with a parish that has experienced that
already and knows that process. To me,

314
00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:45.400
it's just very appealing, uh to
have them in a role such as

315
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parish president. Uh. You for
example, What what is also really appealing

316
00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:53.519
about you is is you're not on
one offer. You're you're you plan on

317
00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.480
doing this a little while. I
plan on sticking around as long as the

318
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people have me, you know.
Um. You know. I I'm big

319
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on accountability, you know, and
I believe that, you know, the

320
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I need to go in there and
do the job and make the people want

321
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me back and vote me back in
sure, um you know. And and

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it's an accountability. It's a big
accountability. It's all about accountability, you

323
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:18.799
know. And if if I don't
do a good job, the people can

324
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vote me out. But um,
you know, I definitely think the people

325
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:26.279
should have that say that, hey, you're doing a good job, you

326
00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.720
know. I on the campaign trail. One of the things I've always done

327
00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:33.079
is I've always been a records guy. I want to break every record out

328
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there, you know. I've just
always had that strive in me. Yeah,

329
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:41.119
you know. And I tell him, whoever you think has been the

330
00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:45.880
best parish president we've had, whether
it's Dewey, Mike Layton, whoever,

331
00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:48.160
I want to be better. Yeah. I want to set that standard up

332
00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:52.119
there to where the next guy comes
in behind me. It's not gonna be

333
00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:53.599
easy. He's gonna have to work, Yeah, not to work, just

334
00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:56.599
to keep up with the standard that
I set. Yeah. I love that.

335
00:24:56.839 --> 00:25:00.119
And that's Look, that's really what
you one out of your leaders,

336
00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:04.599
out of your community leaders is is
uh? Is you want someone that always

337
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:08.519
strives to be the best at what
they do. There's nothing wrong with that.

338
00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:12.880
Um what would you say? Your
favorite thing about being on the council

339
00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:18.640
has been being able to help my
perish Yeah, uh you know. I

340
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.759
mean I get more aggravated when someone
calls me and I cannot do anything.

341
00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:29.680
Yeah, you know. And and
then really we need to educate our people

342
00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:33.960
on how our government works a little
bit better, amen, because sometimes you

343
00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.559
still got that old generation that still
thinks what a police jury system? You

344
00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:45.160
know, and and then the newer
people just haven't paid attention enough to understand

345
00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:48.359
how it works. So you every
time you you almost want to ask somebody

346
00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:51.880
how old they are when they call
you on the phone, so you know

347
00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.319
how to explain it to them.
Yeah. Um, but but I mean

348
00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:59.160
really, when when I can actually
do something for somebody, Oh I love

349
00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:00.839
it. Yeah, know, when
I can get on the phone and call

350
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:06.000
HEYK take care of this problem for
them? I mean that That's why I

351
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:08.160
do it right there. You want
to be the problems and that comes with

352
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:11.000
that competitive you know, you want
to make you want to. I mean

353
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.720
we all love to to help and
and just a lot of people don't take

354
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:21.279
it to your level. You know. You you walked the walk and talked

355
00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:25.240
the talk. You know. Um, there's a lot of people out there

356
00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:29.039
that you'll see whether it's on Facebook
or wherever they are, and they know

357
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:30.920
all the right things to do,
but they never do them. They never

358
00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:36.319
throw their hat in that ring.
Right, I ain't doing that, but

359
00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:41.519
they you know, the money moreing
quarterbacking for me as as a citizen,

360
00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:45.279
you know is uh it's really easy
to sit back and and and look at

361
00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:49.039
uh something after it's over and dumb
left and say, well they should have

362
00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:52.200
done that, so they should have
done that. It's another thing to be

363
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:55.480
in the midst of it when you
don't know what that end result is going

364
00:26:55.519 --> 00:27:00.640
to be and you're making the best
decision possible with all the ination you have

365
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.000
available. And don't think that.
We don't think that too on Mondays.

366
00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:06.920
Yeah, you know, we'll sit
back and say, oh, man,

367
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:08.480
I hope that was the right thing
we did. Yeah, you know,

368
00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:11.960
but right now that was our best
option. That's right, you know,

369
00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:18.160
And and sometimes you just you know, I've always had one rule, follow

370
00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:22.400
the law. Follow follow the law. That's right, can't go wrong,

371
00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:26.319
cannot go wrong, you know.
And if I if I'm following the law,

372
00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:30.359
I feel like I'm right. And
if if it's not working for our

373
00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:33.200
community, then hey, we're the
council. Let's rewrite the law. Yeah,

374
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:38.400
and that's what we did last year. That's right. And I want

375
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:42.839
to talk for a minute about change
and and uh, you know, it's

376
00:27:42.839 --> 00:27:49.359
it's to me it's the most glaring
topic in the upcoming election season, and

377
00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:55.160
not only on the council, which
has got massive change coming. I mean

378
00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:59.920
there's people running for all kinds of
things on that council, but also throughout

379
00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:03.680
the parish. I mean, there's
tons of new faces that will be representing

380
00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:07.839
the parish. Some of these have
governmental experience, some of these don't.

381
00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:14.359
They've never even been in politics.
Uh, so that can be scary to

382
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:17.599
a guy that's been around a little
while. Yeah. Uh, you know,

383
00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:22.960
the nice position that you're in is
as we discussed earlier, it's a

384
00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:29.359
natural transition for you. You you
know, you could slip into that like

385
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:33.400
your favorite slippers. I mean,
just would it would be comfortable to you.

386
00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:38.160
You're in it for the long term, which is important. As we

387
00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:42.920
highlighted earlier. You you number one, you just a competitive guy, and

388
00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.559
you number two you love your parish. And uh number three, you're gonna

389
00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:52.599
answer every four years to somebody,
So you're constantly motivated to do better.

390
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:59.599
I think that is important. And
you announced this candidacy for this position in

391
00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:04.160
jail you worry. Um, You've
met a lot of people throughout this and

392
00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:07.960
and I've been around a few candidates
in my life, and and one thing

393
00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:11.000
they probably love more than anything else
is the fact that they meet all these

394
00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:15.279
people they never would have met outside
of running for office. What or lose?

395
00:29:15.799 --> 00:29:18.960
You know that that's usually their favorite
part. Now, what would you

396
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:26.279
say the top concern you've had as
far as uh something you could answer,

397
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.000
it's infrastructure, Yeah, you know, and drainage is number one infrastructure,

398
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:33.599
the problem that everyone asks about,
you know. And you know two thirds

399
00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:37.960
of our parish is unfunded drainage district. Yeah, you know, which is

400
00:29:38.119 --> 00:29:45.160
the bottom portion of our parish,
mostly where everything drains too. Paul mar

401
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:51.200
Paul port Vincent, you know all
of that French Solomon um and we have

402
00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:56.359
to fix that. Yeah, we
have to one thing that I would love

403
00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:02.599
to propose, something of which me
and four other councilmen have been a part

404
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:06.880
of it. We're still working on
it when quite worked all the details out,

405
00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:10.680
but we think we have something that
people would like. We hope to

406
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:12.400
get that done before we leave.
If not, we're going have to pass

407
00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:15.200
it over to the next council and
let them run with it. Yeah,

408
00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:21.200
but if we could get the rest
of the parish funded, then we could

409
00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:23.559
start working on a parish wide plan. Sure, you know, we could

410
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:29.799
get these districts to start communicating with
each other so that if they start cleaning

411
00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:33.640
a canal out in the Watson area
then runs through Watson down the French Settlement.

412
00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:38.359
They could communicate together and get this
clean from the top to the bottom,

413
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:41.839
right, you know, versus a
section of it getting done this year

414
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:45.559
and then the next section gets done
next year. And they're right now,

415
00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:52.000
there's no communication between our drainage districts. Wow, and we need to fix

416
00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:53.759
that. Yeah, it's not we
need to fix it. We need to

417
00:30:53.799 --> 00:30:57.000
have that communication. Yeah, you
really do. And you just set a

418
00:30:57.079 --> 00:31:03.519
key word there, and that was
planning. Plan. Imagine that you have

419
00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:07.640
a plan, jeff Ard, to
imagine that. Yeah, you know when

420
00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:12.559
you have a plan. Uh,
in you're a forward thinker. I look

421
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:18.119
at you as a forward thinker.
You seem like somebody that really contemplates how

422
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:22.920
can we fix this? You're not
somebody that Look, you're gonna put people

423
00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:26.440
in place, as you said earlier, you know, staff is important,

424
00:31:27.079 --> 00:31:30.799
and and uh, you know,
all of us as people, we have

425
00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:34.200
to humble ourselves and know that we're
not all things to all people, and

426
00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:38.279
and and uh, it takes a
team. It takes a team. And

427
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:42.400
this next administration is gonna have to
come in with a team. Yeah.

428
00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:47.200
You know, there's a lot of
people that you know, rumors they're retiring

429
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:51.720
they're leaving, you know, Um, whatever it may be, they might

430
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:55.039
just not want to work for whoever
the next guy is. Sure, you

431
00:31:55.079 --> 00:32:00.839
know, whoever wins is gonna have
to sit down and have them meetings and

432
00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:02.480
say are you stay in or leaving? Yeah, you know, and then

433
00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:07.599
figure out who am I going to
bring in to take take the void and

434
00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:12.680
fill that spot and help me turn
this around? Absolutely, um, you

435
00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:16.119
know. And I really feel like
my generation, me and your generation,

436
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:23.880
we've waited almost too late to take
over. We've had the same group elderly

437
00:32:24.200 --> 00:32:29.000
elderly group that's kind of ran our
parish forever, and we've just kind of

438
00:32:29.079 --> 00:32:31.680
accepted it. You know. Well, it's time for a new generation to

439
00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:36.480
take over, you know. And
you know we're kind of that bridge between

440
00:32:36.519 --> 00:32:40.720
old school and new school. Um, and we need that administration to happen

441
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:45.079
before new school just takes over.
Yeah, you know. And it's and

442
00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:50.960
and that's the technology group that's coming
behind us, and so they they're all

443
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:53.359
about technology. We're a little bit
of both still, yeah, you know,

444
00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:58.000
And uh, I don't think it
would be good for us to completely

445
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:02.240
skip over without kind of having that
transition that leads us into technology. I

446
00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:06.400
agree one hundred percent. And and
look what we're doing right now, we're

447
00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:09.920
on a podcast. This is this
is something UH, five years ago you

448
00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:14.519
didn't really have. You know,
it was very it was really at its

449
00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:19.200
infancy, UM, and now it
is. It is a platform in which

450
00:33:19.880 --> 00:33:27.480
UH has changed the whole face of
especially the political spectrum, everything from Facebook

451
00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:32.240
Lives to what we're doing right now. UM. So you're absolutely right that

452
00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:38.200
the embracing of this technology is important
it uh, and it's there for the

453
00:33:38.279 --> 00:33:44.559
taking. Uh. It's important that
we have And that's not a slide against

454
00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:47.559
an older generation. It's it's just
time. It's time to kind of pass

455
00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:52.839
up torch and and let some people
that are in it for the long haul

456
00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:55.279
get in there and try to make
a difference. It's it's important to me

457
00:33:55.359 --> 00:34:01.079
that they're perished people, that they
love their parish. And and UH,

458
00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:06.440
I don't I can tell you this. I sure don't get the sense out

459
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:08.480
of you that you're sitting back and
you're twiddling your thumbs and you're saying,

460
00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:13.960
what can I do to mess up
the parish? Yeah, I mean everybody

461
00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:16.519
lives here that you love, right, I mean, and that's what I've

462
00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:20.159
always done it for you know what
I mean. I said, I got

463
00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:22.960
a beautiful granddaughter that you know,
I want her to stay here. Yeah,

464
00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:25.559
you know, I wanted to raise
her family here. Yeah, I

465
00:34:27.159 --> 00:34:29.639
want I don't want my kids leaving. I want it to be better.

466
00:34:29.800 --> 00:34:31.920
I want to leave it better for
her. Absolutely. And and that's my

467
00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:36.920
goal is to you know, we
want to continue growing. Yeah, but

468
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:38.840
we want to do it the right
way. You know, I don't want

469
00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:43.480
to just destroy our lands. No, No, that's right. And and

470
00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:45.800
a big appeal to or parish.
And and something's very important to all of

471
00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:52.320
us. Um. You brought up
infrastructure important topic. Um. And you

472
00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:57.480
also brought up the fact that it's
it's important citizens or or educated on how

473
00:34:57.599 --> 00:35:00.719
government works. And look, there's
some things with infa structure that we have

474
00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:06.400
total control over, and there are
some things we have zero control over.

475
00:35:06.519 --> 00:35:10.400
Anything that is stayed owned. Good
luck with d ot D. They move

476
00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:15.679
at snail's pace, sadly. And
uh and you know a lot of times

477
00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:19.840
you're at their mercy if it's a
if it's an off ramp and it runs

478
00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:22.920
off the interstate. Uh. You
know that that the parish can kick and

479
00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:29.639
scream, but they're gonna take care
of neighboring parish is probably quicker. Uh

480
00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:34.480
that are bringing in money to them
and and uh And it's sad because as

481
00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:37.159
a general citizen, a lot of
people don't realize that. They think,

482
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:39.000
well, that's a the Denim Springs
offer ramp. That's that should be,

483
00:35:39.519 --> 00:35:44.119
you know, something we pay for. And I'm like, that's yeah,

484
00:35:44.159 --> 00:35:50.079
that's a state gunning, state gun
And look a lot of our problems with

485
00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:53.960
our traffic is state roads. Um, you know, we all want a

486
00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:58.599
four eight club intersection. Yeah,
you know, we all want four h

487
00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:02.039
Club Road widen from bass Pro to
one ninety. Absolutely, I make it

488
00:36:02.119 --> 00:36:07.239
ten lanes if I could that that
would help all that traffic tremendously. You

489
00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:10.480
know. We need to fix the
Dinam Springs intersection. Yeah, I mean

490
00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:15.760
it's you know, I never would
have thought coming from Walker getting off at

491
00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:21.039
Dentam would be so bad. Yeah, you know. Um, we need

492
00:36:21.079 --> 00:36:24.199
to finish the Jubian widening, yeah, you know, and then move over

493
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:29.960
to Juban Extension. You know,
all of that stuff is state projects that

494
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.960
all we can do is just kind
of keep pushing them. You know,

495
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:37.360
we need this, we need this, we need this that's right. How

496
00:36:37.400 --> 00:36:42.280
long did that take? They were
talking about that when I came in,

497
00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:47.760
so that that was already that that
happened when they started building Juban development over

498
00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:52.440
there. And um, so I
think that was an agreement that the parish

499
00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:55.880
had with the developer that once they
kind of finished the development, that they

500
00:36:55.880 --> 00:37:00.559
would build that road. And you
know, so you're looking at almost twelve

501
00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:05.880
years later, we're finally have the
road being built. Yeah, it's a

502
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:10.159
it's you know, we want it
the next day. We're a society in

503
00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:15.159
general that we have we have absolutely
no patience anymore, thank you TikTok.

504
00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:21.559
Yeah, especially with our younger generations
just ruining their attention span. But these

505
00:37:21.639 --> 00:37:27.719
things on a vast spectrum, you
know, they take time sometimes and and

506
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:31.239
so we want someone in there that
uh is gonna be in there for the

507
00:37:31.320 --> 00:37:37.000
long haul, maybe several terms,
you know, to where uh, when

508
00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:40.360
they start a project they're not leaving
in the middle of it, or if

509
00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:44.079
they're pushing a project, they're going
to be there for a second term to

510
00:37:44.119 --> 00:37:47.679
see it through. That's important.
Yes, And and look you you touched

511
00:37:47.719 --> 00:37:53.039
on this while ago. Um,
we're gonna have a senator to s brand

512
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:57.559
new. Yeah, we're gonna have
four state reps that are all going to

513
00:37:57.639 --> 00:38:01.679
be a brand new yep uh.
Look like the council, I would say

514
00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:05.960
at least four or five seats are
going to be brand new. Yeah.

515
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:08.719
A parish president, it's going to
be brand new. I mean, our

516
00:38:08.840 --> 00:38:14.719
government is changing tremendously with this election. Yeah, you know, and we

517
00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:17.920
have to have people that can work
together. That's right, work together,

518
00:38:19.159 --> 00:38:27.880
and strong leaders h extremely important situations
like this. Um, the obvious,

519
00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:31.400
here's the obvious question for me personally. And and look, regardless of the

520
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:37.000
office you're running for, I always
want to ask a question of why.

521
00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:42.719
You know, my my wife,
if I say I want to run for

522
00:38:42.760 --> 00:38:45.679
this office, the first thing she's
gonna say is you need another thing to

523
00:38:45.719 --> 00:38:49.599
do, like you need a hole
in your head. And then she's gonna

524
00:38:49.639 --> 00:38:52.639
ask me why why? Um?
Why why? Why run for Paris president.

525
00:38:53.079 --> 00:38:57.239
I just feel like it's it's a
calling, you know, I really

526
00:38:57.280 --> 00:39:01.400
feel like I can I can bring
our Paris to that next generation of thinking.

527
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:07.559
You know, we have a lot
of things that we need to fix

528
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:10.639
in our parish. You know that
has just been pushed aside, and it

529
00:39:10.719 --> 00:39:15.039
seems like just leave it over there
in the corner. We'll get to it

530
00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:17.679
later. Yeah, you know,
No, I'm not like that. Let's

531
00:39:17.719 --> 00:39:21.840
get it done, you know,
let's let's figure out how we can fix

532
00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:24.239
it. And you know, and
then when you show me we can't fix

533
00:39:24.280 --> 00:39:27.599
it, I'll go tell the people
this is why we can't do it.

534
00:39:27.800 --> 00:39:30.000
Yeah, you know, I'm not
going to just leave it on the shelf.

535
00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:34.000
But I mean, it's all about
helping my parish, my people,

536
00:39:34.199 --> 00:39:37.159
my family. You know, my
family's from here. I've lived here my

537
00:39:37.159 --> 00:39:40.960
whole life. I'm going to be
buried here in live Exton Parish. You

538
00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:44.960
know, I'm not going anywheres.
Yeah, you know, I'm I'm I'm

539
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:47.920
planning on staying here. And you
know, I've always been one that I'll

540
00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:51.880
get out in front and I'll fight
with you, love it, you know,

541
00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:53.880
And that's what i want to do. Yeah, and that's all all

542
00:39:53.920 --> 00:39:59.800
people can really ask. Um,
let's talk since you just brought up community

543
00:39:59.800 --> 00:40:04.360
in and things like that, let's
talk your community evolvement now. To me

544
00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:08.960
and probably many others out there,
Uh, that really proves a strong sense

545
00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:14.519
of where someone's heart is, right. Uh, it's the things you do,

546
00:40:14.920 --> 00:40:19.119
you don't have to do that extra
That's what matters, because at the

547
00:40:19.239 --> 00:40:22.239
end of the day, those are
the things that uh, you have no

548
00:40:22.320 --> 00:40:25.280
motivation to do. You're just more
or less doing it because you care.

549
00:40:27.079 --> 00:40:30.440
Um. You are very community involved. I always have been. I've been

550
00:40:31.159 --> 00:40:37.519
coach on UH teams, ball teams
and and most recently though you were a

551
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:43.679
Leadership Livingston graduate. Yep, I
just graduate Leadership Livingston UM. And I

552
00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:46.440
wish I would have done it a
little sooner. Yeah, I really think

553
00:40:46.519 --> 00:40:52.880
the timing was perfect for me,
you know, because it it made me

554
00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:55.280
able where I've been here my whole
life. Yeah, and there was things

555
00:40:55.280 --> 00:41:00.400
that I learned about Livingston Paris that
I didn't even know existed. Probably one

556
00:41:00.440 --> 00:41:05.480
of my favorite programs of any program
I've ever done in my life, and

557
00:41:05.519 --> 00:41:10.480
I've done quite a few as Leadership
Livingston, because I went into that thinking,

558
00:41:12.320 --> 00:41:15.679
um, you know, this is
a leadership program and it's it's uh,

559
00:41:15.719 --> 00:41:20.880
you know, I lived a life
in the sales world where it was

560
00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:23.320
all about being number one and there's
nothing wrong with that, and you and

561
00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:28.239
I are both like that want to
be number one, and uh, I

562
00:41:28.280 --> 00:41:30.920
got into that thinking it was going
to be kind of like that, and

563
00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:34.159
then I realized, wait a minute, we're like, we're building something for

564
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:37.719
somebody, and yes, and we're
finding funding for this and it was all

565
00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:45.079
nonprofit type work and man it changed
man. Yeah, I mean it really

566
00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:52.159
it brings good awareness to some things
in our parish that that we need to

567
00:41:52.840 --> 00:41:55.800
show the rest of the people that
this is out there. Absolutely, just

568
00:41:55.840 --> 00:42:00.079
a wonderful program. I did.
My group, we did a project with

569
00:42:00.199 --> 00:42:05.840
the Pupil Appraisal Assessment for the parish
Fool system and I didn't even know that

570
00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:08.440
existed. Yeah, you know,
and you're in You've rooted here, You've

571
00:42:08.440 --> 00:42:12.559
been here your whole life, my
whole life. And it's just because I

572
00:42:12.679 --> 00:42:16.880
never had to use that system,
would me nor my children? Yeah you

573
00:42:16.920 --> 00:42:20.639
know. Um, so if you
don't use it, you don't know it's

574
00:42:20.679 --> 00:42:22.880
there. Hungarian Settlement. I didn't. I didn't realize it. I mean

575
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:27.000
I'd heard of it, but I
had never visited it. And I was

576
00:42:27.039 --> 00:42:30.719
like, wow, man, this
is in our parish. So many great

577
00:42:30.760 --> 00:42:36.440
things. We've We got a premier
boat dealer here in this parish, Gator

578
00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:38.800
Tracks I believe it is the name
of it. We hadn't visited. Amazing

579
00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:44.239
Uh, operation out there, and
and so so many things that you learned

580
00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:47.519
through that. But guess what,
Um, you know, Jeff didn't get

581
00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:52.360
paid to do that because there was
no paycheck at the end of that.

582
00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:53.800
As a matter of fact, we
had to pay to do it. Yeah,

583
00:42:53.960 --> 00:42:58.159
called us to do it. Yeah, And I mean it was you

584
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:02.639
know, one Tuesday a month we
went, plus our time that we spent

585
00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:07.760
on working on our project and getting
funding and just figuring out how we were

586
00:43:07.800 --> 00:43:12.039
going to help our community. Uh. And I really thought it was a

587
00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:15.320
great program, just like you said. And I mean i'd recommend it to

588
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:21.519
anybody, especially someone looking to do
some type of leadership role in our parish.

589
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:25.559
Yeah. Um, I agree as
well. And they're just doing a

590
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:30.599
great job over there, Chamber of
Commerce, and April keeps them straight and

591
00:43:30.840 --> 00:43:32.480
keeps all of a straight RelA.
She had a rule or she probably hit

592
00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:36.320
us in the back of the hand. It seems like that. Love her

593
00:43:36.360 --> 00:43:40.320
to death. Now. You know, I might ask you maybe a tough

594
00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:45.199
question here, but but something that
needs to needs to be asked because it's

595
00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:49.119
a concern of the citizens. And
we've touched on this throughout this podcast,

596
00:43:49.239 --> 00:43:54.760
the growth issue. Um, what
would you say, you know, from

597
00:43:54.840 --> 00:44:01.480
a parish president standpoint, which is
different than and a parish councilman standpoint,

598
00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:06.440
because the parish president doesn't really have
a whole lot of control over the growth

599
00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:08.480
today. No, I mean,
this is the way I look at.

600
00:44:08.519 --> 00:44:13.159
The parish president's job is to make
sure that when they build a development,

601
00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:16.920
they follow the rules. Yeah,
the rules that the council sets. Yeah.

602
00:44:17.719 --> 00:44:24.519
So whether that be zoning ordinances,
build lines, building permits, whatever

603
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:29.840
it is, the parish president's job
is to make sure they follow those rules.

604
00:44:30.079 --> 00:44:35.920
Yeah, that's pretty much it as
far as development, that's his control,

605
00:44:36.679 --> 00:44:39.280
you know. And now it ain't
like he can't go sit down with

606
00:44:39.360 --> 00:44:43.760
the council and say, hey,
we have a problem here, we need

607
00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:45.480
to look at it. And he
very well could sit down and be a

608
00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:50.199
part of the solution, right you
know. And I fully intend to do

609
00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:53.360
it if they want me to.
But I'm not one that I'm gonna go

610
00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:58.000
in and say, hey, this
is the dictatorship and y'all gonna do what

611
00:44:58.039 --> 00:45:00.960
I want to do. No,
you won't mind input, And you want

612
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.239
me to sit down with you and
help you figure this out, Let's let's

613
00:45:04.280 --> 00:45:07.599
do it well and that's the advantage
to having someone that's been in both roles

614
00:45:07.800 --> 00:45:13.480
is you know, there's nothing wrong
with being an ear to listen to and

615
00:45:13.559 --> 00:45:17.119
offering a help in hand and saying, hey, you know, I've been

616
00:45:17.559 --> 00:45:22.199
down this road and and here's what
worked for me, you know, and

617
00:45:22.159 --> 00:45:30.639
that's important. Um. So infrastructure
obviously is the top priority to you.

618
00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:34.880
What what else out there do you
see relative to Livingstone Parish that you,

619
00:45:35.599 --> 00:45:38.239
uh, personally are going to try
to make a difference in change animal control?

620
00:45:38.440 --> 00:45:43.480
Yeah, I mean we've we've overlooked
it for a long time. Yeah.

621
00:45:43.679 --> 00:45:46.440
Um, and and I have some
ways that I think we can have

622
00:45:46.559 --> 00:45:51.519
it fund itself. Yeah, without
having to ask the taxpayers to pay more

623
00:45:51.559 --> 00:45:53.400
money. Hey, that's a that's
a good thing. Yeah, you know,

624
00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:59.000
And anytime we can do something where
it's not asking for more tax money,

625
00:45:59.159 --> 00:46:01.400
yeah, you know, I I'll
try to push that as much as

626
00:46:01.400 --> 00:46:05.239
I can. Yeah, you know. I mean a matter of fact,

627
00:46:05.320 --> 00:46:09.639
we just had a peak tax exemption
that happened at the Paris Council. You

628
00:46:09.679 --> 00:46:14.960
know, we had some that didn't
want to do it because it was taking

629
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.840
some money out of the road road
fund. Well, if sometimes that filets

630
00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:22.840
a month. There's a difference in
putting food on the table or paying an

631
00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:25.920
electric bill. You know, sometimes
some things are just a little more important.

632
00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:30.239
And if I can give my people
a break on taxes, I'm gonna

633
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:34.239
do it. Yeah. Yeah,
love that, Love that. And uh,

634
00:46:34.719 --> 00:46:38.920
you have a slogan that I absolutely
think it's great. I don't know

635
00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:43.000
who came up with. That's a
shout out to your campaign manager maybe or

636
00:46:43.199 --> 00:46:49.320
whoever did, but standing strong for
Livingston Parish and to me, Livingston Parish

637
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.800
needs strong leaders. It's been it's
been a topic we've talked about throughout this

638
00:46:52.880 --> 00:47:00.679
conversation. You know, we don't
need politicians who are making a living but

639
00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:02.920
not making a difference. And I
coined that phrase, by the way.

640
00:47:04.079 --> 00:47:07.760
Yeah, don't anybody try to take
that one. That's mine. But how

641
00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:13.159
passionate are you about making a difference? Oh? Big time? Because like

642
00:47:13.239 --> 00:47:15.840
I said, I'm I'm I'm walking
away from a great career. Yeah you

643
00:47:15.880 --> 00:47:19.719
know, I mean I could stay
right where I'm at. You know,

644
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:24.719
Money's no difference, you know,
benefits are no different. Um, you

645
00:47:24.760 --> 00:47:29.519
know, probably the only major difference
is this parish president. I am the

646
00:47:29.679 --> 00:47:32.679
boss. Yeah, you know where
in my work world. Now I still

647
00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:37.719
do have some bosses. Um,
but I mean that's how much. You

648
00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:40.559
know, everybody asked me all the
time, why are you walking away from

649
00:47:40.599 --> 00:47:45.760
such a good career. Yeah,
it's a colleague, Yeah, you know.

650
00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:50.079
I mean, I'm I'm being called
to do this, and you know,

651
00:47:50.320 --> 00:47:52.800
and I just I can't walk away
from it. You know. I

652
00:47:52.880 --> 00:48:00.440
feel like that I can bring what
I've learned in my world to the parish

653
00:48:00.440 --> 00:48:07.360
and and bring this way to work
with technology and accountability and really make a

654
00:48:07.360 --> 00:48:12.280
difference in our parish. I believe
that. And and uh, I believe

655
00:48:12.320 --> 00:48:15.960
that's where your heart is. And
one of the things I love about doing,

656
00:48:16.159 --> 00:48:24.360
especially these Listen Up Livingstone episodes in
particular, is the people can see

657
00:48:24.360 --> 00:48:28.719
it. You know. Not everybody
can make these events, you know,

658
00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:31.440
people, I say this all the
time, but the majority of people,

659
00:48:31.599 --> 00:48:37.079
I mean, you know, especially
the say thirty five to fifty crowd.

660
00:48:37.199 --> 00:48:40.800
They're getting home from work, they
got kids, they're bringing the ball games

661
00:48:42.960 --> 00:48:49.079
that they are about as interested in
in taking time out most of them to

662
00:48:49.960 --> 00:48:52.239
add something else to the plate,
as as the Man on the moon.

663
00:48:52.840 --> 00:48:57.840
But if you can bring something to
them that they can listen to in traffic

664
00:48:57.880 --> 00:49:00.280
on the way to work or whatever, watch it at home while they're doing

665
00:49:00.320 --> 00:49:04.920
something. Uh, it makes it
convenient for him. It really gets the

666
00:49:05.039 --> 00:49:09.719
message out and it lets people know
who you are just outside of a name.

667
00:49:09.960 --> 00:49:14.360
And and I'm going to ask you
this question, and the reason I'm

668
00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:19.360
going to ask this and bring this
up is it's it's a question that a

669
00:49:19.360 --> 00:49:22.639
lot of people have on their mind. Um, and that is we just

670
00:49:22.719 --> 00:49:29.880
said a name. And sometimes people
hear a name and when they hear the

671
00:49:29.960 --> 00:49:34.119
name Ard and they think, well, his brother's a sheriff and and he's

672
00:49:34.199 --> 00:49:39.559
running for parish president and uh,
that's putting too much power in the hands

673
00:49:39.599 --> 00:49:44.559
of of of family or what do
you say to that? Well, what

674
00:49:44.719 --> 00:49:47.519
I say that they answer that.
You know, first off, our parish

675
00:49:47.800 --> 00:49:52.400
has been built on families that have
stood up for this parish. A man

676
00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:59.960
Max Hughes, Taylors. You know, Um, there's we can make live,

677
00:50:00.440 --> 00:50:05.039
Sibley's staffords. You know that they've
all done their part. You know,

678
00:50:05.199 --> 00:50:07.360
that's the families that are from here. You know, we want to

679
00:50:07.360 --> 00:50:12.400
fight for our parish. Yeah.
You know, Uh, me and my

680
00:50:12.519 --> 00:50:17.800
brother are in two different departments.
They don't work together. Yeah. As

681
00:50:17.840 --> 00:50:22.639
a matter of fact, right now, I could probably do more for him

682
00:50:22.679 --> 00:50:27.199
as a councilman. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, if he needed a law

683
00:50:27.320 --> 00:50:30.760
change something like that done, he
could come to me and I could get

684
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:34.039
the other four votes and I can
make it happen. Yeah, you know,

685
00:50:34.360 --> 00:50:37.280
uh, parish president. As far
as it's just a title, you

686
00:50:37.320 --> 00:50:43.159
know, he's just he's the he's
the president of the government that he's over.

687
00:50:43.639 --> 00:50:45.159
A lot of people think, well, you're gonna be your boss,

688
00:50:45.239 --> 00:50:49.760
your brother's boss. No, they
are two different departments. They have nothing

689
00:50:49.760 --> 00:50:52.599
to do with each other. We
have a jail that we work together.

690
00:50:53.119 --> 00:50:59.079
The administration, parish president's administrations over
pay them for all the bills. We

691
00:50:59.199 --> 00:51:06.760
pay for antilities, lending, toothbrushes, food, everything, medical, the

692
00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:12.920
sheriff's old security. That's why the
sheriff pretty much runs the day to day

693
00:51:12.960 --> 00:51:17.119
operation there because he's responsible for the
security, sure, you know, but

694
00:51:17.320 --> 00:51:22.480
aside from that, when a disaster
comes in, they kind of work together,

695
00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:25.440
but they have different roles. Well
you want them to work together,

696
00:51:25.519 --> 00:51:30.320
Well, the sheriff's job is to
go secure everything, yeah, you know,

697
00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:35.000
and then it's the parish president's job
to clean it up. That's right,

698
00:51:35.239 --> 00:51:37.119
you know, and go get the
funding and hire the people to come

699
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:40.920
in here and pick everything up.
And you know, so they're they're working

700
00:51:40.960 --> 00:51:45.960
together as a team. And the
best way I could explain it to people,

701
00:51:45.199 --> 00:51:50.840
you got to look at Livingston Parish
as you're building a house and you

702
00:51:50.960 --> 00:51:53.800
hired a guide to do the framing
of your house that did an exceptional job.

703
00:51:54.639 --> 00:51:58.400
And he's got a brother, this
electrician. Yeah, would you not

704
00:51:58.519 --> 00:52:02.320
take a chance on it? Yeah, that's a that's a great uh way

705
00:52:02.320 --> 00:52:08.360
to put that. And uh,
you know, look, you're in a

706
00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:12.360
situation like a disaster. We have
our share, you know, we've got

707
00:52:12.440 --> 00:52:16.360
hurricanes come through here, uh,
floods we did at all. Um,

708
00:52:17.320 --> 00:52:20.559
you know, I don't I don't. I don't have any problem with someone

709
00:52:20.679 --> 00:52:23.960
being able to communicate with someone and
have an open line of communication where you're

710
00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:29.119
working together to get things done.
It just so happens as Shalla brothers.

711
00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:36.920
Yeah, um, you both community
servants and and UH and elected officials and

712
00:52:37.159 --> 00:52:39.639
UH in my view, have done
a great job in your independent roles.

713
00:52:40.239 --> 00:52:45.519
And I'm not you know a lot
of people look at us as y'all been

714
00:52:45.559 --> 00:52:49.400
here forever. Yeah, but we
only been doing politics for a very short

715
00:52:49.480 --> 00:52:52.480
period of time. You know,
my brothers in his twelfth year as a

716
00:52:52.519 --> 00:52:54.920
shriff. I'm in my eighth year
as a councilman. Yeah, it's not

717
00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.760
like we've been doing this since the
nineties. That's right. Me helping him

718
00:52:59.800 --> 00:53:05.639
with this campaign is what showed me
I can sit around and complain or I

719
00:53:05.639 --> 00:53:07.840
can get up and do something about
it. Yeah, and that's when I

720
00:53:07.960 --> 00:53:12.079
decided to run. Well, the
Apple don't volve already, trigu in that

721
00:53:12.159 --> 00:53:16.920
case, and you're both leaders and
uh and so uh you know, last

722
00:53:17.000 --> 00:53:22.599
question, last question today because we're
going fifty four minutes. Um, you

723
00:53:22.719 --> 00:53:27.719
love your parish. I love my
parish. Yeah. I could not imagine

724
00:53:27.760 --> 00:53:30.639
living anywhere's else. Yeah yeah,
I mean even when I go on vacation,

725
00:53:30.760 --> 00:53:34.400
you know, you get to that
point where I just want to be

726
00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:37.719
home. Yeah. Yeah, I
think that's a great place to leave at.

727
00:53:37.760 --> 00:53:42.360
Jeff Ford, I wish you the
absolute best of luck. And before

728
00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:44.840
we get out of here, I
do want to say, uh, you

729
00:53:44.960 --> 00:53:46.599
may maybe you have an event coming
up, people can meet you. They're

730
00:53:46.599 --> 00:53:49.880
gonna see you on this thing,
So I want to shake that guy's hand

731
00:53:49.960 --> 00:53:52.800
or yeah, I actually have one
you know coming up tonight. I mean,

732
00:53:52.840 --> 00:53:55.639
I don't think you'll get this out
that quick. Well, probably not

733
00:53:55.760 --> 00:54:00.119
that quick. Yeah, but we've
we've been we have them. Just go

734
00:54:00.280 --> 00:54:06.079
to Facebook, Facebook and check it
out. And we posted on everything we

735
00:54:06.199 --> 00:54:09.320
can um and we trying to We're
trying to move around the parish as much

736
00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:14.400
as we can and and hit every
corner of the parish with meet meet and

737
00:54:14.440 --> 00:54:17.079
greets, and uh, just every
time we hear of an event, we're

738
00:54:17.119 --> 00:54:21.559
there. You know. We just
did the fourth did July with Walker and

739
00:54:21.719 --> 00:54:24.840
fourth did July with the Town of
Livingston. Had a great turnout of great

740
00:54:24.880 --> 00:54:29.119
turnouts and let me tell you the
fish I don't know who's in charge of

741
00:54:29.159 --> 00:54:31.559
that, but that was good.
I did that. Oh man, you

742
00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:36.440
can cook some fish. Anytime you
have a fish fry, I'm available,

743
00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:38.719
Yeah, because I'm gonna tell you. And look, my wife's peaking on

744
00:54:38.760 --> 00:54:43.280
fish and she would love it.
You'd have thought she was eating pipe eyes

745
00:54:43.360 --> 00:54:46.360
chicken or something. So fast.
Well, we we we we'll be doing

746
00:54:46.440 --> 00:54:50.920
quite a few of them events coming
up. You know, you know we're

747
00:54:51.079 --> 00:54:55.000
right now, we're right at the
three month mark to the election elections October

748
00:54:55.239 --> 00:55:00.519
fourteenth and early Burton starts I think
September thirty. Yeah, um, you

749
00:55:00.599 --> 00:55:04.840
know, and I mean I hope
the people will see that. You know,

750
00:55:05.199 --> 00:55:07.280
I'm a guy for the job and
my heart's in the right place.

751
00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:14.119
Yeah, and I'll do the job
very good. I won't be sitting at

752
00:55:14.159 --> 00:55:16.360
home. I'll be at work very
good, very good. So I hope

753
00:55:16.440 --> 00:55:21.400
y'all got something out of that.
Look, vote, vote, vote.

754
00:55:21.880 --> 00:55:25.199
I cannot tell you how important it
is, especially this election cycle, that

755
00:55:25.280 --> 00:55:30.480
you get out there let your voice
be heard. Uh, regardless of of

756
00:55:30.480 --> 00:55:37.119
of what offices you're voting for whatever, get out there and vote and uh

757
00:55:37.519 --> 00:55:45.159
and hopefully if anything else this podcast
open your eyes to who uh Jeff is

758
00:55:45.239 --> 00:55:51.320
by, you know, behind outside
of the the parish council chambers and uh

759
00:55:51.639 --> 00:55:57.039
and will help you make an informed
decision. Uh. And look for as

760
00:55:57.079 --> 00:56:00.280
he said, his you know meet
and great events that he loves to meet

761
00:56:00.320 --> 00:56:05.320
the people. And if you got
any questions that I didn't ask, ask

762
00:56:05.400 --> 00:56:07.880
them, ask him. You'll be
glad to answer anything you got. So

763
00:56:08.440 --> 00:56:12.280
thank you for coming on. I
appreciate it. Thank you for having yes,

764
00:56:12.360 --> 00:56:15.880
sir, And until next time,
I'm Jim Chapman reminding you to love

765
00:56:15.960 --> 00:56:23.440
your community, support local business and
vote people and keep leading. Thank you

766
00:56:23.559 --> 00:56:24.079
very much.