Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks | Listen up Livingston

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to
another edition of Local Leaders the podcast.

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And you may recognize this guy sitting
across from me. He's been a fixture

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in Livingston Parish for a little while. Three term three term Parish President Layton

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Rix is joining us. First of
all, welcome, Thank you, Sarah.

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Good morning. My goal for this
podcast was basically to get an overview

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of everything you've kind of accomplished and
done for Livingston Parish over these past twelve

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years. Now, one thing you
need to our parish is is it ain't

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always been easy for you. Let's
say that floods uh storm city. You

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know, we've been real lucky if
he's past couple of couple of cycles for

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the hurricane season that but I'd have
the last major one to come through here,

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and of course that's years, right, Yeah, you're dealing with that.

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Yeah, Well, you know,
I've joked Sheriff Hard and I picked

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at one another through the years.
It seems like we've had every disaster to

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own at us that you can have, with the exception of an earthquake,

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and we're scared to talk about that. So it was certainly old that and

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I can't think of a better partner
to have through these disasters than what he

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has been. But we have,
and it's been very it's emotional to the

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point it's just unbelievable. The two
sixteen flood. I don't know that any

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of us will ever completely get past
that Emotionally. Money wise, it's tough

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to get money to do projects.
We were very, very fortunate through the

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efforts of Homeland Career Director Mark Harroll
to get a lot of funding and through

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Governor John Bell Edwards. Actually at
the end of the day, of course,

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I give her state and federal reps
a lot of credit as well,

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markus mcgraves and Senator Kennedy and Cassidy
because they were able to get some funding

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that we were able to utilize and
Livingston Parish to the tune of sixty roughly

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sixty million dollars. And of course
Hurricane Ida comes right on the hills of

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getting all that waterway work done,
all that roadside away clean up her Kane

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Ida comes and here we go again. It was completely stopped up to all

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the waterways. And then FEMA didn't
want to pay for that round yeah,

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because they had just paid. So
again I give credit to Mark. He

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went to work and we were able
to get some fun in through NRCS and

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we were about wrapped up most of
that waterway clean up now absolutely and to

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the tune of another thirty forty million
dollars worth. That's fantastic. So you

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know, there's a lot of money
that's required, a lot of red tape

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you go through to get it,
and you got to know what you're doing

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to get it. And having someone
like him has made a had made a

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big difference for U, not only
for me but obviously for liters to parish.

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Yeah, it really has. And
and people may not realize it's it's

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a fight. The money's available,
but getting it in your hands a whole

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another story. They don't just turn
that those millions and millions of dollars over

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it's well, that's exactly right.
And I just in for instance, there's

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sixty four parishes and when you're talking
to govern its about what you feel like

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your share should be, he's reminding
you of how many other parishes are calling

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him telling him what their share is. Yes. Uh, And so we

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just felt really blessed. Obviously we
felt like we deserved more, but I'm

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sure each parish felt like they deserved
more. But and you never wanted on

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the hills of the disaster, but
we didn't have to get it and we

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did. Uh. So I again, I feel very blessed and uh and

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uh and I'm very thankful that we
were able to get that and do the

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work. It has made a difference. And we're about to start this project

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on the a meat river that I
think everyone has been waiting one. We'll

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probably top fifteen million on that.
That should start this week or next week.

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Yes, some snagging and clearing.
That's going to help a lot of

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people, especially on the west side
of the of the parish because when that

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a meat fills up obviously, you
know, but through the years, nothing's

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really been done today meat. Yeah, that's going to be a huge project,

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I think for the parish. So
I'm I'm looking forward to getting that

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one done, meet it and well
worth it. And you know, we

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even had a disaster mixed in there, an ice storm in the middle.

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You know who would think that in
South Lay Well, I mean exactly.

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And I'm looking around and I'm like, wow, I lost power. Everybody

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lost power and two everywhere and I'm
getting these calls and I'm going I don't

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know I don't know. I don't
know because I didn't know what to do

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about it. Now, what do
you do about the pipes busted and all

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that? So again we just went
to work and worked our way through it.

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Uh. Energy and Demco really stepped
up for the parish. But I've

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learned through these disastrous gym no matter
what you do, it's not fast enough.

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Yeah, but that's human nature.
And I get that. I mean,

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I have family all over this parish, so they're hollering just as well

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as everybody else is come get me, rescue me, you know, please

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take care of me. What's happening
here? Dad? And that kind of

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stuff. So I get the complaints
and uh, and that's just part of

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the job. But but we've done
a lot with the money we've been able

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to get, and so I hope
to leave the waterways at least when we

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go out of office in a lot
better shape than what they have been.

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And again, it was on the
heels of a disaster. And you hate

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that, but but at least we
utilize the fund's right, I agree.

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And you know, people, your
elected officials will come out very publicly when

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when there's disasters and things of that
nature. But behind the scenes with the

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business side of the parish, you
know that you handle a lot of that

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too. And yeah, and my
opinion, done a great job. Well,

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I appreciate that I've been surrounded.
I've been very blessed to be surrounded

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by a great group of employees.
And I've always said this, I worked

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with them, they work with me. They don't work for me. We

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all work for the people in the
parish. I've told this story many years

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ago. But when I first got
elected, channel and well I've been and

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I call this TV station. But
one of the sessions came out and said,

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miss rich what's it like to be
the boss of at that time,

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one hundred thirty thousand people? And
I said, well, I said,

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you got it backwards. I said, I got one hundred and thirty thousand

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bosses. I said, if I
ever started looking at it like what you're

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saying, I'll be a one term
and I'll be in trouble, because you

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got to remember, you're here to
serve the people. They don't serve you.

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But I've been very blessed to be
surrounded by employees that have done I

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think a great job for the people
in the parish. All my directors started

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with me, are still with me, and I've just that is just a

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blessing gym. How about you know
me and I know them, and so

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we've worked very well together. Yeah, and for that length of time,

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you become like family. I mean, do you know I used to I

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used to tell my wife all the
time in my other life when I was

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an outside sales rep for a paint
company. I was there twenty five years,

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and I spend as much time or
more with them than my actual family,

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you know, building a career and
uh, and you really you really

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get to know each other and work
well with each other, hopefully. H

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Jennifer Meyers, she's done great work
for you from the finding it side she

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came in and you know, I've
I've picked and joked about Jennifer through the

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years. She's very strong, very
strong willed, very determined that she knows

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what she's doing, and her work
has proved through the years that she does.

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She took an audit when we walked
in to sixty plus findings down to

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zero all these years, and so
her work has spoke for itself. But

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I've picked through the years because I'm
not a finance person and when somebody tells

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me they need something, I want
to go get it for him. Or

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if someone in the parish tells me
we want they want us to do something,

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I want to go do it.
And I've relied on her, and

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true to form, she has told
me no, just like she'll tell any

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of my directors that come to her
if it's not in the budget, she'll

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tell them. She has no problem
telling them no. And she treats me

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and talks to me just like she
does anybody else out there, just because

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our parish president has never meant anything
to her. And I picked at her

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about that through the years, and
one day we were really going at it

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back and forth in her office to
the point of where people up and down

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the office, the hall, we're
closing the doors because I wanted something done

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and it required a lot of money. Yeah, and she reminded me of

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why I wasn't going to get that
money to do what I had wanted done.

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And it got it got loud,
not ugly, but loud, and

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at some point I stopped and I
said, Jennifer, you know, one

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of these days I'm going to come
across this desk, and she looked up

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at me, without batting an eye
or wasting a second, said, come

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on, I ain't whooping nobody's button
a long time. And I've looked at

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it and I started laughing. At
that point, of course, she started

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laughing, and everybody up and down
the hall started laughing because everybody was hearing

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us. Yeah, but that's Jennifer, and I've picked at her about that

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through the years. I love her
to death. She has absolutely done a

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remarkable job in finances because politics means
nothing to her. YEA, who you

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are means nothing to her. It's
all about the numbers, all about the

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spreadsheets, and all about the right
and wrong. And she understands and knows

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that she worked for the CPA firm
for three years prior to coming out there

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that audited to perish. Yeah,
so she sort of had a leg up

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on what was going on with the
finances and she knew how to handle it.

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And uh, and she has just
done an awesome job, fantastic,

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a really good job. And that's
like Sam in DPW. Yeah. Sam

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was on the police jury system,
he was a former parish councilman, he

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was a builder. He's been in
the development issues, uh through through his

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private life. So he understood how
to talk to people and work with people

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and get things done. He's he's
he's been awesome as well. All my

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directors have. Yeah, they have
done a great job and it's made my

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job a lot easier. And you've
always done a good job of crediting your

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staff. Well, well, they
deserve it, they really, they really

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do. And look, I would
not have been quote successful hadn't had they

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not done the job and the kind
of job they've done. I take the

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blame if they mess up, which
is very rare. Uh, And of

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course I get the credit, but
I give them the credit when they when

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they do good. But the guy
at the top has to kind of you

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know, you're sort of the general
at the at the top of the heap.

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And but I let him do their
job. Yeah, that's the difference.

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I don't micromanage. I'm not an
engineer. I'm not a finance director.

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I'm not an attorney, I'm not
a DPW director. I'm certainly not

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a Homeland security director. So I'll
let them do their jobs. Mark will

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tell you every disaster, I'm with
him twenty four hours a day. I

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don't go home. I stay out
there with him and a lot of times

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he'll remind me, I'm just in
the way. Yeah, please don't stand

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over there, you're in my way
and pick at me about that through the

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years, sir. And but we
work very well together as a team because

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we have we're like family. We've
been together for so long. Absolutely,

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and so you know, and people
are this is elections cycle right now,

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obviously, and I've been asked a
lot of times about what was I going

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to run or not. Of course, obviously I decided not to run,

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And now I'm being asked who to
support. I'm gonna let the people decide

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who they want to support. Either
one of these guys. They're both counselmen.

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I work with them. I will
work with them afterwards if they need

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me to or get out of their
way, if they need me to whatever

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they need me to do. But
I just need people to, uh,

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you know, to give them a
chance to listen to what they're saying and

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to make a decision on who they
want to support. Well, and I'll

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tell you what you've been through.
You've been through a lot in your twelve

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years with these disasters things of that
nature. And I'm sure either one of

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these guys should they be elected,
would lean on you. And I can

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tell you what if I was in
that position the first disaster I had.

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I'm calling you, Sam, what
you know, what'd you do? In

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my st I appreciate that my wife
kicks out all the time. What any

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world are you gonna do? Because
I don't sleep and I'm up in three

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three thirty seven days a week.
I go out to the office at five,

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five thirty six in the morning.
I said, you know, I'm

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gonna just ask one of these guys
if they'll let me keep a key and

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go in. I'll make coffee for
them. I'll get the newspaper spread out,

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I'll open their office door, and
when they get that seven, I'll

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leave and go home, you know, because I'm gonna have to have somewhere

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to go. And she said,
I don't think they're gonna let you do

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that. I said, no,
probably not, but if they need me,

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I'm there. I'm not going to
be one of these that walks out

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and then criticizes or points out what
they're doing wrong and those kind of things.

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Both of them are certainly capable and
uh, and I think we'll surround

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themselves, hopefully with good people and
do a good job for this parish.

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We're gonna leave it in good shape
for them. Yeah. Financially, we've

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built up the road program by getting
that bond renewed or by getting sales tax

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renewed into bond paid off. We're
doing fifteen million dollars a year now roadwork

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and drainage work, which is going
to be great for them coming in.

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We're redoing all the electrical issues that
we had throughout the buildings, that a

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C, the HVAC, all those
things we're getting worked out. Our our

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BINGO sales tax from the state came
through last week, so now that funds

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the animal shelf. Now it's going
to be funded through next year, which

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will allow either one of these guys
which everyone's elected, some time to get

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something done to fully fund the animals
shelter. It's up to the It's really

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up to the council to find funding. Yeah, uh for the annimal shelter.

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But as parish president, you you're
sort of lead the way and people

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assume it's up to you, but
it is up to the council to do

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that. But this gives them some
room in some time, yes, to

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do that, whether it be you
know and people don't want to pay another

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tax. But whatever whatever mechanism they
come up with the fund it, this

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will give them some time to do
that. And so I was very thankful

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for that, and in a concern
you know, one thing I do want

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to ask you well to kind of
a multifold question. This is the first

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election in which in a while that
you haven't you know, at this point

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in in the process, with early
voting coming coming up on the thirtieth,

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I mean, it's right right around
the corner. You it's been a while

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since you haven't been campaigning during this
time. How's how's that been for your

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relief or well, it's strange.
You know, I was kind of getting

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to be honest with you, I
felt like I was kind of getting pulled

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in the middle. Yeah, because
I think I think there were a lot

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of people that was hoping I would
get back in or would get in the

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race and qualify, which kind of
led these two guys to be a little

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bit leary about whether I was going
to do that or not. And so

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I was getting kind of bashed into
the media a little bit about of course,

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the subdivision, the zoning issue,
creating a little bit of a difference

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between us in case I decided to
run again, I guess uh, And

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I kept making it clear I'm not
running, yeah, And then I think

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one of them thought, well,
maybe he's going to help the other guy

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and maybe endorsement or the other one. And so I was getting pulled in

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the middle to the point I told
my wife, God, I should have

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just went on and run. I
feel like I'm in a campaign, but

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I'm not even running when I really
had hoped to just be able to relax

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the last six months of this year, sure and kind of enjoy all the

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things that we've accomplished through the years
and really set the stage for these guys

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which everyone comes in to hit the
around running. Yeah, but it's settled

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down now that that qualifying is over. And obviously I just didn't run.

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And I'm not going to endorse either
one of these candidates because I don't think

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it's fair to the other one.
And I do work with both of these

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guys, and I've said this before. Mister Ard works. You know,

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Jeff's dad works for me. Uh
And and Randy's wife d d works for

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me. She's one of the permit
director and they both you know, they

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both have been there for a long
time, so uh, I didn't want

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to get in the middle of them, right. Uh. And I think

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a lot of people too kind of
kind of kind of felt like maybe they

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could help push me to getting back
in the race. I didn't want to

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do that either. I'm ready to
go home. I don't know what I'm

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gonna do. I don't want to
go home and just sit for twenty four

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hours a day. But at the
same time, twelve years, Uh,

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it's it's really been. Look,
I've been very blessed. We've had a

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lot of disasters, that's true,
but but we've had a lot of good

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things happen through the parish, and
we've had a lot of growth. Cook

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Road extension as one of those that
keeps coming up because it actually won't be

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able to be driven on I don't
think until the spring of twenty twenty five.

253
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But it started back in two thousand
and eight, two thousand eleven,

254
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two thousand and twelve. We hit
the ground running with it when we got

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elected, and it's under construction.
Yes, sometimes that was a big deal.

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I mean, look, there have
not been any bridge work. We

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were on our twenty second bridge that
we're replacing all redoing. Wow and uh.

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And we didn't even know about that
program when we ran in two thousand

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eleven. Yeah, And in two
thousand and twelve, the state told us

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said, look y'all are about to
lose the funding for the state bridge,

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00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:37.399
probably talking about we didn't have a
clue. Uh, And they reminded us

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of some funding that had never been
utilized. Well, we've tapped into it

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every year and so we're on our
twenty second bridge now. Wow and uh.

264
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And people don't I mean a lot
of this stuff. I don't go

265
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out and talk a lot about but
but it's things that we've we've been able

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to get accomplished. And the juven
North Extension is underway. That's going to

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be one of those roads. Now
it's probably going to be another eight to

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ten years before it's done, but
you've got to start the process to start.

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Someone started it, yea. And
our local delegation has helped with funding

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capital outlay. Throughout capital outlay,
we've had a lot of help from all

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across the parish in probably every aspect
of work we've done throughout the parish.

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We've had a lot of volunteers that
have pitched in and disasters. That's helped

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us through those as well as obviously
all the groups that you call in.

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And so we've worked well, I
think with the parish and UH, state

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and federal officials. We've been to
DC several times. I've got a great

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relationship with most of our delegation.
So it's it's important to have that.

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It's important in this position to understand
you're not going to get everything you want,

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and a lot of times that's very
frustrating. Sure. The thing that

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I had to learn that I still
have to have trouble with Jim is that

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in parish government, state, local
government, it takes forever to get something

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done, even when everybody's on board
with it. Well, in parish,

282
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as a parish president, you really
can only do so much. People assume

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you can wave a magic wand make
things happen. Are by the same token

284
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stop things from happening, and it's
just not that simple. You have a

285
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check balance system and that's called the
legislative body, which is the Council UH,

286
00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:27.440
and so you have to go through
all these different processes to get stuff

287
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done. But even when everybody agrees, then you've got funding sources you have

288
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to get approved through all sorts of
red tape to get stuff. Sure,

289
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so it's not simple, it's not
easy. And uh. And and the

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good news for both of these guys
that are running for the people in the

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parish is both of them are aware
of that because they're they're on a council.

292
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Yeah, so they know that it
takes a while to get things done

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and hopefully they'll have the patience to
endure that and work with the council to

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get it done. I've been blessed
with this council. Yes, we work

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very well together by and large.
What different since we've had we've been able

296
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to work through for the most part. My first term was pretty tough with

297
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with things with that council. We
got through a lot of that. U

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uh. These last two terms have
been of course, we didn't have an

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opponent in either election and that was
nice. Yeah, but the council itself

300
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has been great. Yeah, that's
always great. Have been good to work

301
00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:25.160
with and we've gotten a lot of
things done. And I have to give

302
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:29.000
the counsel credit because they have supported
us by and large, and we've only

303
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done two or three different vetos through
the years, and they've not overriddened those

304
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sure, and so we've been very
trying to do everything we can to work

305
00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:41.880
with the council and things that you
know, because here's the difference. A

306
00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:45.200
lot of times the council has a
group of people in front of them that

307
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are pushing and shove it on them
to do something. Yes, and so

308
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they'll get with their counterparts and get
that done. Well. I may or

309
00:19:52.119 --> 00:19:57.119
may not agree necessarily as parish president, sure, but unless it's just really

310
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something that I think is going to
cause an issue you, I'll support it

311
00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:03.799
because I know it's what they want
to do. Yeah, And I know

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00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:07.319
they I know what it's like to
have that group of people in front of

313
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them. The more torm was one
of those issues where I knew. I

314
00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:12.799
knew the first more tourm was going
to cause us a lot of problems from

315
00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:17.440
the legal standpoint. Our attorneys had
already told us that, and so I

316
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knew I was going to have to
veto it, and I didn't like the

317
00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:22.839
length of it. But but the
second go around and mister r came up

318
00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:27.799
with an answer for that. They
dropped it down to the first meeting or

319
00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:33.200
second meeting in January for the new
council and the new parish president to make

320
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a decision or whether they wanted to
move forward, and they put a backdoor

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approach that dealt with whether the federal
end of it to where that we weren't

322
00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:44.599
going to be challenged in court on
it. Yeah, and mister ville Vasso

323
00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:48.960
had some input in that, which
is our expert planner. So while I

324
00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.720
don't personally like more tourms, yeah, in talking to the relators and talking

325
00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:57.640
to builders, talking to some of
the council members, I decided to support

326
00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:02.799
it versus veto and that second more
tour Yeah. So that gives them a

327
00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:06.759
little time to get the zoning issues
resolved and get them in place, hopefully

328
00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:10.279
between now and the end of next
year. Yeah. Absolutely, And uh,

329
00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:15.240
you know, I also was thought
that was a great thing that jeff

330
00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:19.759
Ard came up with. I liked
at the time frame relative to a new

331
00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:23.680
council coming in, a new parish
president coming in. They can always extend

332
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:27.880
that if they choose to, but
I felt like it was a it was

333
00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:33.519
within a reasonable amount of time.
I'm like you a year. Oh oh,

334
00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.680
well, you know, we're parish
and we have a lot of builders,

335
00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:41.240
and we have a lot of our
friends that we go to church with,

336
00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:44.240
that, we go to restaurants with, play ball with our kids,

337
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:48.240
play ball grandkids. These are your
builders, I mean the concrete finishers and

338
00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:52.640
painters, painters, and the roofers
and all the sheet rock finishers, all

339
00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.640
of these people that are living our
parish. We were fixing to basically just

340
00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:02.240
shut them down. Yeah. And
I and again the legal challenges. I

341
00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:06.680
felt like by doing it like like
it's done now, we prevented the taxpayers

342
00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:10.759
from having to spend more money on
lawsuits and fighting lawsuits because we would have

343
00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:14.160
been challenged on that first more to
him, and we would have lost.

344
00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:17.920
There's no doubt about that. Yeah. So while I may not personally like

345
00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:21.119
a more Tom, I do think
what they came up with the second round

346
00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:26.640
was certainly something I could support and
did h and I compliment the council compliments.

347
00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:32.160
Uh, certainly councilment or for coming
up with that compromise because the attorneys

348
00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:33.640
signed off on it. And mister
Villea Vasso, when I spoke to him,

349
00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:37.839
said yeah, I think this is
because they can legally extend it if

350
00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:41.720
they decide to next year. Absolutely, And uh, you know, when

351
00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:45.200
you look back, I'm curious to
know when you look back on when you

352
00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:49.160
first came into office, this was
twenty twelve, twenty twelve, so you

353
00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:53.359
had a brand new counsel for the
most part at that point. Was at

354
00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:59.400
that time you have a new parish
president and you kind of not only did

355
00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:03.160
you have to learn all the ins
and outs of this thing, but you

356
00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:07.480
also have to learn different people,
and you know, you try to work

357
00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:11.640
with them for the betterment of the
parachute sorts of things, and you had

358
00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:14.640
some goals at that time. You
know, one of them. I know

359
00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:18.599
that totally blew my mind when I
heard you say it, so I'm sure

360
00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.519
it blew your mind when you found
it out was the animal shelter. The

361
00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:26.559
expense of thoh, my god,
unbelievable. Well, Jim, you know

362
00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:27.880
it was funny. And when I
and again I didn't know. Now,

363
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:30.960
these two guys that are running,
they've got some insight because they've been on

364
00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.079
the council. But when we ran, we just knew there were two or

365
00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:37.720
three things that we wanted to do. We wanted to get the juven mall

366
00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:40.839
up and running, yep, because
we kept hearing about it, but we

367
00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:44.160
were seeing no action on it.
And so that was a goal. The

368
00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:48.559
Cook Road extension was something that because
I had come from Alvin Fairman's office and

369
00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:51.720
knew about it, I knew how
important it was to the mall. I

370
00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:55.680
knew the connections there. I wanted
to try to make that happen. The

371
00:23:55.799 --> 00:24:00.519
animal control, animal shelter was a
huge thing that I ran on. And

372
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:06.279
then uniting the parish because I'd always
heard about the left and the right and

373
00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:11.759
the east versus the west into the
two parishes. Let's make it one parish.

374
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.039
Yeah. Well, I of course
got elected, and uh, and

375
00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:19.079
I learned real quick. We had
a meeting of all I think they were

376
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:23.839
like eight or nine parish presidents a
few months after getting elected in two thousand

377
00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:29.720
and twelve, and we were at
lunch and they all were laughing at me

378
00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:33.880
because we were talking about some of
our goals. They were all re elected

379
00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:38.279
and I was newly elected. Yeah, and we were talking about to animal

380
00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:42.200
sheltern and and every one of them
across the board said, if you could

381
00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:47.920
run from that issue, if we
could give you any advice, run from

382
00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:51.519
it. You can't, but if
you could, we would tell you'd run

383
00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:53.400
from it. And I said,
why, because you're gonna need anywhere from

384
00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:57.400
one point two million to one point
seven million. This is in two thousand

385
00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:00.359
and twelve. Wow, to operate. I said, no, No,

386
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:03.839
I said, we already got I
said, they said, check your state

387
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:08.359
laws on it. Well I learned. I found out what they were talking

388
00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:14.640
about. To have a fully funded
animal controls center, animal shelter, you've

389
00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:18.480
got to do what state law requires. You've got to have property, you've

390
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.200
got to have a building. You've
got to be able to take more than

391
00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:23.359
dogs and cats. If somebody calls
you about a mule, look horse,

392
00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:27.400
a giraffe, or goat, whatever
it may be, you got to be

393
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.880
able to handle it. You got
to take care of it. Well,

394
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.839
I had no clue about that.
Yeah, And I thought, people all

395
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:36.200
over the place, we're going to
support this. So the first thing I

396
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:40.920
did was put a committee together,
and I put a couple of good friends

397
00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:45.480
of mine on there that were just
that loved animals inside out. You know,

398
00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.680
I won't call their names, of
course, I'm sure most people probably

399
00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:52.519
remember. And she got heavily involved
in it. And then I put someone

400
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.000
on the other end of the spectrum
on there that had been involved with past

401
00:25:56.039 --> 00:26:03.200
administration with animal shelter out there,
and we learned fifty percent of the people

402
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:07.039
don't want it. Fifty percent of
the people say you gotta have it,

403
00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:11.119
and fifty percent of that fifty percent
said, but we got a bullet that

404
00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:14.599
will take care of it. Yeah, And I said, oh my god,

405
00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:17.039
what are we looking at here?
Well, what I learned was nobody

406
00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:21.559
wants to pay for an extra sales
tax, extra millage to support animal shelter,

407
00:26:22.279 --> 00:26:25.480
drainage and roads, no matter what
pole you take. And we all

408
00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.000
know animals, animals as a problem
and lives to parish and probably everywhere else,

409
00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:32.880
but we know how huge it is. But every pole you ever take,

410
00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:37.200
it comes down to drainage and roads, roads and drainage burst and second

411
00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:42.119
always and so how do you do
this? Well, we to make a

412
00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:45.039
long story short. I got my
behind handed to me. Yeah, because

413
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:48.640
we found out people aren't going to
pass it. Well, here we are

414
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.200
now in two twenty three, twelve
years in office, and people still feel

415
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:56.240
the same way. Because I'm all
over the parish and I talk to people.

416
00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:00.759
We have to do something, yes, And so we have found a

417
00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:04.039
way through the years to limp along
to keep maintaining what we have been doing,

418
00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:08.039
and we've made some improvements, a
lot of improvements to the animal shelter,

419
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:14.920
but we're nowhere near fully funding an
animal shelter, animal control. It's

420
00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:18.799
going to take a millage, a
fee of some sort through the legislative body.

421
00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:22.160
You're gonna have to we learned.
We thought, well, okay,

422
00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:29.240
maybe we can impose fees on maybe
on dog food and cat food. That's

423
00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:30.799
only a portion of what you need. And then you've got to ever hunting

424
00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:36.079
group out here that did not want
that because they're the ones with large packs

425
00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:37.799
of dogs because you know they're hunting
all these kind of a lot of big

426
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:41.720
hunter, a lot of big hunters. And so everywhere we turned, we

427
00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:45.759
were running into a roadblock. So
then we just started finding a way to

428
00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:49.400
try to keep going like we were
going and hopefully do the best we could.

429
00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:53.160
And these two guys were talking about
different things too, and I wish

430
00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:56.000
them luck and hope that they can
do it. That's why I was so

431
00:27:56.039 --> 00:28:00.039
excited when the state finally came through
with this other tax was tax revenue,

432
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:06.279
because that will at least give them
twelve months to try to find some way

433
00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:08.400
to get something done. And uh, and right now, both are saying

434
00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:11.519
they've got an answer, So I
hope. I hope they do, and

435
00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:15.519
I really do hope they do,
because something does have to be done,

436
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:19.119
and I know it does. It's
not that we didn't care. My administrative

437
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:22.000
assistant, miss Mary, she is
the kind of person that will pick a

438
00:28:22.119 --> 00:28:26.240
a squite up and take it outside
versus killing it. So don't think I

439
00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.720
haven't had pressure on me just about
every day to do something. And we

440
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:33.839
have done some things, but but
nothing like what needs to be done.

441
00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:40.039
But I did run on that,
and uh and obviously that still needs to

442
00:28:40.039 --> 00:28:44.039
be done. The roadwork, getting
the sales tax renew we were able to

443
00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:47.319
do that. Another thing that I
had run on that I was hoping to

444
00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:52.720
be able to do was move DPW
out from under the road program. Yes,

445
00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:56.920
previous administration had set that up.
Well I now know why they had

446
00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:00.440
set it up like that. There
was no other funding source to have the

447
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:03.960
kind of DPW department that you really
need for potholes and all these other things.

448
00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:11.759
Uh and uh and we've got roughly
sixty uh DPW workers jen we need

449
00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:15.920
one hundred and twenty. Yeah.
Uh, So there's been some talk and

450
00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:21.319
I and I did some talk to
about possibly privatizing some of it, bringing

451
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:26.599
some you know, moving in that
direction. I decided against that because I

452
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:30.319
just felt like we could use those
dollars more on drainage. And that was

453
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:34.759
another thing that came up on how
to maybe take some dollars away from something

454
00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:40.000
else to move towards animal shelter.
I'm not willing to take it away from

455
00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:44.839
drainage and roads. I'm just I
just was never willing to do that because

456
00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:47.880
I think we need every dollar.
Again, every poll shows that that's primarily

457
00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:49.640
what people are concerned about. Not
that the other is not important. It

458
00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:55.240
is, but that's primary. And
uh, and that's an everyday battle.

459
00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:57.720
And I've said this before. I
had one hundred plus million that we've been

460
00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:03.400
able to secure to do drainage work
and road work, probably roughly one hundred

461
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:07.920
and twenty million. If I've not
done anything in front of your house,

462
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:11.400
or if i haven't solved the drainage
behind your house, as far as you're

463
00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:15.680
concerned, I've done nothing with that
money, right, And that's human nature.

464
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:18.480
Now, I'm not point to blame
or fault at anybody, and we

465
00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.200
haven't done it for everybody. We've
done everything we could for as many as

466
00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:26.079
we could, but that's a battle
that will be ongoing in Liveston Parish because

467
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.799
of how our landscape is set from
now till doomsday. That will never ever

468
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:36.640
go away. But I think it's
important too to look at people you're electing

469
00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:41.599
across the board, across the state
as representatives, as governor on down,

470
00:30:42.279 --> 00:30:47.720
to hopefully help keep funding sources coming
for Liveston Parish. As you know,

471
00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:52.880
I stepped out and endorsed Jeff Landry
for I did that based on several conversations.

472
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:56.160
I know he will continue to work
hard for the people in Liveston Parish.

473
00:30:56.599 --> 00:30:59.920
I know he's tough on crime.
I don't want to see crime come

474
00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:03.359
into our parish because that that hurts
us in all kind of different ways.

475
00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:07.400
And so I think he's the best
man for that job. Yeah, and

476
00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:11.640
then there's a lot of other important
elections, but I think Jeff will make

477
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.640
sure that lives in parish can get
every dollar it needs. And that's important

478
00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:17.680
to me, even though I'm going
out of office, is going to be

479
00:31:17.720 --> 00:31:22.240
important for the people in the parish
because again, while I might not have

480
00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:26.880
philosophically agreed with Governor Edwards on all
of his decisions as far as him being

481
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:32.759
a Democrat me being a Republican.
I'm very thankful and very blessed that we

482
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:36.960
had the personal relationship we had,
that he funded us out here to the

483
00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:40.400
degree that he did because he didn't
have to. Remember, and a lot

484
00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:42.680
of people don't understand this. They
hear a lot of your congressmen and senators

485
00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:47.480
talking about funding and money they're getting
from Washington, DC to the state of

486
00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:51.559
Louisiana. But in most cases,
the governor gets to decide at the end

487
00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:53.640
of the day where that money goes, in what direction, and how it's

488
00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:59.440
split. So I'm very, very
thankful for the relationship that I had with

489
00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:02.359
him to him running and uh,
and that we just built on since he's

490
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:07.440
been absolutely And it's important that you
know, the public may not realize you

491
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:13.400
can philosophically disagree with someone or maybe
they're on a different like you say,

492
00:32:13.480 --> 00:32:19.400
spectrum of politics and or core beliefs
or whatever. But if you don't have

493
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:24.960
some sort of operating relationship with them
in a in a mutual respect, uh,

494
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.319
you know, it can it can
spell disaster for you as far as

495
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:34.519
a parish and in your case,
you got to get along with with people

496
00:32:34.599 --> 00:32:38.000
maybe even if you don't agree with
them necessarily philosophically. Absolutely, And look,

497
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:43.720
you have to in this position.
And it's tough sometimes because we're all

498
00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:46.160
human, sure, and uh,
you know we we we talked before about

499
00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:50.680
social media and I know I made
some references to social media before. But

500
00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:53.880
it's tough when you see or read
or hear things that first of all,

501
00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:58.480
you know aren't true. Yeah,
and secondly you understand and know that your

502
00:32:58.680 --> 00:33:02.519
your kids and your grandkids it's see
this and read this, and although they

503
00:33:02.599 --> 00:33:07.920
know it's not true, it's still
it can't help but hurt you and affect

504
00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:09.839
you. So when you're in this
position, you've got to learn to kind

505
00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:16.160
of set that aside because you still
have to work with these people and at

506
00:33:16.200 --> 00:33:20.240
the end of the day, you're
still working for those people. Yeah.

507
00:33:20.279 --> 00:33:24.400
I never lost sight of that.
I truly didn't. I get aggravated just

508
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:29.119
like everybody else. And sometimes I
have to take a deep breath and I

509
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:31.960
rely on my faith a lot,
because sometimes I've made the copy and I've

510
00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:35.720
told Miss Mary several times, I
don't know whether the bell off the top

511
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:38.400
of this blue roof upside down or
not. And I said and unfortunately,

512
00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:40.839
I got some people out here that
would love to see me bell off this

513
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:45.039
thing upside down. But but but
thankfully I got a large group that support

514
00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:49.319
us, you know, And so
you got to weigh all those things out.

515
00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:52.599
I know a very very few people
that I can't sit down with and

516
00:33:52.680 --> 00:33:58.079
talk to and we may disagree at
the end of the day. My wife

517
00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:00.680
and I have talked about this several
times too. The years, Jim,

518
00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:04.240
we learned and you heard this old
saying, through the years, you learned

519
00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:07.480
who your friends are. Uh,
And we learned Uh. Initially when we

520
00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:12.000
started running, people that we thought
we would be on our side would be

521
00:34:12.039 --> 00:34:15.920
our friends for whatever reason. Worked. But but at the same time,

522
00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:17.519
we made a lot of new friends. Sure, uh. And then a

523
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:21.920
lot of those people have come back
around and become great friends and uh.

524
00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:28.119
And we've made good friends who who
with people who were absolutely against us in

525
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:31.440
two thousand and eleven. Yeah,
but it was the difference in the politics,

526
00:34:31.719 --> 00:34:36.000
not me personally, and certainly not
them personally. A lot of people

527
00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:40.480
never knew this, although I talked
about it some. Uh. Mike Grimmer

528
00:34:40.519 --> 00:34:45.920
and I were never enemies prior to
me running. Uh. In two thousand

529
00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:49.960
and eleven. Yeah, we were
acquaintances, We knew one another, we

530
00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:53.119
set together at different political functions.
We weren't social friends, but we were

531
00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:59.079
not enemies at all. And uh
so it I had hoped, you know,

532
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:01.480
that that we would be able to
maintain that. I was not able

533
00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:07.199
to contact him because of how things
finally got through the election. And that's

534
00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:09.519
why I go back to what I
said earlier. If either one of these

535
00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:14.480
guys, whichever one of the guys
win, I want to contact mayor want

536
00:35:14.519 --> 00:35:16.320
me to help in any way,
I'll be there for him. If they

537
00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:20.320
need me to just stay out of
their way, I'll be happy to do

538
00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:22.639
that as well. Yeah, because
that's the last thing they'll need is for

539
00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:27.079
me to be on their heels,
you know, talking about them. And

540
00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:30.159
I'm not going to do that because
I know what it's like to walk in

541
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:31.840
that door. People used to ask
me, how did you know how to

542
00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:35.840
become a parish president, and I
said, well, the only thing I

543
00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:37.360
can tell, and I've told it
many times before, is when I walked

544
00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:43.280
in that back door and started up
those steps, I signed two checks and

545
00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:45.920
I signed three pieces of paper,
and I asked Miss Mary, who was

546
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:50.239
walking with me, Please find out
what I just signed, because I had

547
00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:53.320
no clue. And I said,
that was my first hour on the job.

548
00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:57.159
Yeah, And I was actually on
my way up the stairs to my

549
00:35:57.239 --> 00:36:00.559
office to meet my mom and dad
who were coming up to elevator just to

550
00:36:00.599 --> 00:36:05.159
show of my office. And that's
how my career as as a parish president

551
00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:07.239
started. That's when I first figured
it out. Story. And so she

552
00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:09.760
did. She went and found out
what we signed, and we made sure

553
00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:14.519
and verified everything. Just so people
don't think I just signed something didn't know.

554
00:36:14.599 --> 00:36:17.320
We did find out what it was
and uh, and I and look,

555
00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:22.079
I still learned. And you talk
about working with people, it's it's

556
00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:25.840
an art of compromise. And I've
heard people make comments about, uh,

557
00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:30.599
you know, they sell out,
the politicians sell out and they get money

558
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:32.800
and all that that. For the
most part, none of that's true.

559
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:38.159
What is true is that it is
an art of compromise. You're not going

560
00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:43.440
to get everything you want. We're
not dictators out here. Yeah, we

561
00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:46.840
have a check balance system. Uh. We're set up in designed for the

562
00:36:46.920 --> 00:36:51.760
right reasons to be like that.
Sure, I don't get everything I want.

563
00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:54.559
I don't get to dictate to the
council everything I want. I get

564
00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:58.760
to talk to them, they talk
to me. I try to go along

565
00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:00.480
with them, they try to work
with me. We've had a great working

566
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:06.000
relationship, but there's not It's not
one hundred percent across the board from either

567
00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:08.960
side. And so you have to
learn to work with people for the for

568
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:14.320
the betterment of everybody in the parish. So you have to give up sometimes

569
00:37:14.360 --> 00:37:17.719
in order to get the big prize. Uh. You and you you you.

570
00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:22.199
You have to learn to do that
without taking it and looking. It's

571
00:37:22.199 --> 00:37:23.480
hard for me, just like it
is anybody else. But you have to

572
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:28.559
learn to do that without taking it
so personal sometimes. And uh and again,

573
00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:31.280
if I'm being perfectly honest, I
wear my feelings on my shoulders a

574
00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:36.880
lot of times. I'm like my
mom, I'm sorry, that's how I

575
00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:38.960
am. I got it from her. She was the same way, and

576
00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:43.840
I'm like that. I worry.
I'm a natural warrior. I worry about

577
00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:47.079
things people think sometimes because you don't
do something real quick. You don't care.

578
00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:52.559
Everybody that I know of, including
the council members, whether I agree

579
00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:54.559
with them or I don't agree with
them, care. Yes, they're out

580
00:37:54.559 --> 00:37:58.119
there to do a good job for
the people in their district, for the

581
00:37:58.119 --> 00:38:01.360
people overall in the parish and UH. And sometimes I think that gets lost

582
00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:07.199
in some of the ugliness of politics. But I I think everybody out there

583
00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:12.719
has done a really a good job. Yeah, I realize, I would

584
00:38:12.760 --> 00:38:19.280
agree. You know, it's people
don't realize or some people may not realize

585
00:38:19.360 --> 00:38:23.719
that the way that our system of
government here is set up. UH,

586
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:30.559
you administrate what the council exactly approves. Yes, you do have a veto

587
00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:32.719
power, but then they've got a
veto power on top of that to override

588
00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:37.599
your vitail if they get enough vote. So it's it's really when you know,

589
00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:43.239
even when a moratorium is set,
it's set by the council, and

590
00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:46.639
then even if you veto that they
can come back and override that veto.

591
00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:53.960
The power really relies or lies in
the in the legislative side of the council.

592
00:38:54.519 --> 00:39:00.360
It does, Jim, and people
really look, I'll admit I lost

593
00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:04.840
a couple of friends through this Deer
Run subdivision issue, but that all I've

594
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:07.519
done has done what my attorneys have
advised me to do. UH. And

595
00:39:07.559 --> 00:39:10.440
the council has done the best it
could and they passed that on to the

596
00:39:10.440 --> 00:39:14.920
Planning Commission, which approved it.
And the only thing I've ever said about

597
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.440
Deer Run is, look, I
don't like big subdivisions anybody any more than

598
00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:23.760
anybody else does. But if they
meet the ordnance and their rules and they've

599
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:27.440
followed all the law, then they
need they need to be able to move

600
00:39:27.480 --> 00:39:30.880
forward. If that's not the case, they should have been denied. But

601
00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:32.880
they weren't denied. They were approved
not only by the Council but by the

602
00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:37.920
Planning But I've had some friends of
mine that, you know, they're upset

603
00:39:37.960 --> 00:39:39.840
because they felt like I could have
stopped it. No, I couldn't.

604
00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:44.159
But I had some people on the
other end that felt like I could have

605
00:39:44.199 --> 00:39:45.800
pushed it through and it would be
built by now. I can't do that

606
00:39:45.880 --> 00:39:51.119
either, So I kind of got
caught up in the middle of that because

607
00:39:51.159 --> 00:39:55.159
I made some comments, like I
just said that my position is based on

608
00:39:55.239 --> 00:40:00.639
my attorney, is if they've met
it, they should move forward. And

609
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:06.360
I've tried to do that across the
board with everything the Council has done.

610
00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:08.400
If if and I do feel like
they've done a good job, sure,

611
00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:12.280
and it's not easy when you've got
a group of people in front of you,

612
00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:15.400
right, because, as you know, most of the time, the

613
00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:19.719
people who are against something are loud, bold and strong, and the ones

614
00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:22.400
that are fart are just assuming they're
at home, assuming you're going to do

615
00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:24.880
the right thing and do what you're
supposed to do. It makes it very

616
00:40:24.920 --> 00:40:30.400
difficult on a council member. That's
exactly council my role is to support them

617
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:35.360
as most I think for the most
part, we have as best I can,

618
00:40:35.800 --> 00:40:38.280
unless I have to use the veto
for some reason. Yeah, and

619
00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:40.679
then you've got to talk to them
to make sure they don't override it,

620
00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:45.079
or hopefully that they don't override it, because that is their option to override.

621
00:40:45.159 --> 00:40:50.800
Sure. So I you know,
I think by and large, if

622
00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:53.559
people really stopped and looked at what
the council has been through the last two

623
00:40:53.639 --> 00:41:00.519
or three years on ordinances and subdivisions, subdivision restrictions now with zoning, they've

624
00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:06.239
taken on a lot. I do
think zoning needs to be rescinded the way

625
00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:10.119
it was originally done. I know
mister Villavasso feels that way. I don't

626
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:13.559
know that they're going to do it
that again, it's a council decision,

627
00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:15.400
sure, but I do think they
need to do that so that it can't

628
00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:21.239
be challenged in court. Let mister
Villavasso get it in place, working with

629
00:41:21.320 --> 00:41:24.559
planning. He's in the process of
doing that now. I've asked him to

630
00:41:24.599 --> 00:41:29.559
do what he knows he needs to
do to make this as bulletproof as he

631
00:41:29.639 --> 00:41:31.920
possibly can. Ye, don't do
it my way, don't do it her

632
00:41:32.039 --> 00:41:35.800
way, don't do it his way, do it the way you know it's

633
00:41:35.800 --> 00:41:38.360
supposed to be done. And he
has basically assured me he would do it

634
00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:43.639
no other way than that or he
won't be here. So and I appreciate

635
00:41:43.679 --> 00:41:46.960
that about him. I've gained a
lot of respect. I didn't know him,

636
00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:52.519
they suggested him, we hired him, but I am quite impressed with

637
00:41:52.599 --> 00:41:54.920
his knowledge. He teaches it,
he understands it, he knows what it's

638
00:41:54.960 --> 00:41:59.960
going to take to get it done. Unfortunately, it may bleed over.

639
00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:02.920
We're into next year before it's done. So I hope the new parish president

640
00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:07.320
and new council will allow him to
move forward and continue to get it done,

641
00:42:07.440 --> 00:42:09.679
because once you get that in place, I think that's going to address

642
00:42:09.880 --> 00:42:15.199
most of the issues that the council
has not been able to do through the

643
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:19.199
ordinance. They've done a lot through
their ordinance. Yeah, they really have.

644
00:42:19.559 --> 00:42:22.599
I don't think they're getting enough credit
for the hard work that they've gone

645
00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:24.599
through to get their ordinance as tight
as they have. I personally think it's

646
00:42:24.599 --> 00:42:30.159
a little too tight. But yeah, they got a strong dance. It's

647
00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:35.679
a strong ordinance, uh, And
I give them credit for working through it,

648
00:42:35.840 --> 00:42:39.360
compromising and coming up with an ordinance
that I think addresses a lot of

649
00:42:39.440 --> 00:42:44.280
issues. For growth, well,
you have to grow. Yeah, look,

650
00:42:44.320 --> 00:42:46.679
you don't have to grow at a
rapid rate. But it's like any

651
00:42:46.679 --> 00:42:50.239
business. And I've talked to a
lot of builders, I've talked to a

652
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:52.280
lot of business owners. I've talked
to a lot of members of the Chamber

653
00:42:53.199 --> 00:42:58.559
and got their input on a lot
of this stuff, and and for the

654
00:42:58.599 --> 00:43:01.119
most part have agreed. I mean, it's like any business. You either

655
00:43:01.159 --> 00:43:06.400
stagnate and die or you continue to
grow. But like anybody, if you

656
00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:09.639
run into roadblocks, you've got to
back up and punt and regroup and go

657
00:43:09.719 --> 00:43:14.239
again. But you don't just shut
it down. You don't just stop.

658
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:17.039
You find a way to do it
and do it responsible. And I think

659
00:43:17.079 --> 00:43:21.519
that's what the Council is in the
process and has done with their ordinance,

660
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:23.119
and I think they're in the process
of getting it done with zoning now,

661
00:43:23.679 --> 00:43:29.480
so I'm happy about that. Again, personally, I've made to comment before,

662
00:43:30.199 --> 00:43:35.840
coming from Kentwood, being in Dinner
Springs all these years, I wish

663
00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:37.920
people could just do what they want
to with their property. Sure, but

664
00:43:38.039 --> 00:43:43.880
unfortunately, with the rate that the
parish has grown, that's no longer possible,

665
00:43:44.320 --> 00:43:45.760
So there has to be some restrictions. Then there has to be some

666
00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:51.159
zoning put in place. It protects
our people first and foremost, but it

667
00:43:51.239 --> 00:43:54.559
also protects those who do want to
make an investment and lives to parish.

668
00:43:54.559 --> 00:43:58.920
So I think by and large it's
going to get done. He'll get a

669
00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:00.320
lot of it done before they of
the year, he's assured me, but

670
00:44:00.360 --> 00:44:05.119
it's most likely going to run into
next year. Board's completed very good.

671
00:44:05.239 --> 00:44:09.440
And you had some maps that you
had shown me prior to the podcast here,

672
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:13.599
and they were of the clean up
that's gonna be taking place on the

673
00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:16.599
Oh my god, yes, they're
gonna go gonna pop those up. Incidentally,

674
00:44:16.760 --> 00:44:21.000
Yeah, and look when when you
look at that map and see the

675
00:44:21.039 --> 00:44:25.880
amount of work that we've been able
to do. It's impressive. Yeah,

676
00:44:27.039 --> 00:44:30.800
And I'm not bragging on me.
I'm bragging again on all those who've done

677
00:44:30.840 --> 00:44:36.119
the work. Again, I have
to give Homeless Security Director Grant Director Mark

678
00:44:36.199 --> 00:44:38.639
Harrold most of the credit for working
with all these different agencies to make sure

679
00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:44.159
this gets done. He knew I
wanted this done before we left office.

680
00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:46.519
He knew about the complaints I get. I go to him every time somebody

681
00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:51.960
calls me, and he gets it. He understands because when somebody calls me

682
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:54.440
with a problem, I'm calling whoever
I need to come. Sure you know.

683
00:44:54.519 --> 00:44:58.599
And and again, like I said, if if you're still getting water,

684
00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:00.719
you're not worried about the a million
I spent over here with somebody else,

685
00:45:00.760 --> 00:45:05.760
you're still calling and you want something
done. But this new, this

686
00:45:05.920 --> 00:45:09.280
this latest project that's starting now is
one we've been working on and hoping to

687
00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:14.960
get approved, and Army corp of
Engineers finally gave him the permits. It's

688
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:17.519
the cleared and Snagging. It'll start
down in Port Vincent, go all the

689
00:45:17.519 --> 00:45:21.480
way up to the Saint Alena Line. Wow uh. And it's going to

690
00:45:21.559 --> 00:45:24.000
be parts of the Old River,
the petted A Meat, parts of the

691
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:28.519
Blind River, and uh, you
know it's going to be done by the

692
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:34.239
Qubic yard. We we we we're
estimating somewhere around fifteen million. We think

693
00:45:34.280 --> 00:45:37.639
it's going to probably top that by
the time they get through because there's just

694
00:45:37.800 --> 00:45:42.159
basically been no work done on the
A Meat. This is gonna be again,

695
00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:45.760
as I said earlier, Jim,
I think huge deal. You know

696
00:45:45.519 --> 00:45:52.079
the time you do the co meat
and they do the cleanouts under the interstate

697
00:45:52.159 --> 00:45:57.360
that we were able to get the
governor to fund for us, uh and

698
00:45:57.159 --> 00:46:00.320
you and you and you do this
down on the A Meat. Even if

699
00:46:00.360 --> 00:46:04.599
you reduce the flooding by six inches, do you know how many people's homes

700
00:46:04.639 --> 00:46:08.679
got water an inch, three inches, four or five inches. Where six

701
00:46:08.679 --> 00:46:13.320
inches don't sound like a lot,
three inches don't sound like a lot,

702
00:46:13.719 --> 00:46:16.599
it's huge for a lot of people. Sure, we all know our flood

703
00:46:16.639 --> 00:46:21.320
insurance rates are going up. We
can't get them to back down off of

704
00:46:21.360 --> 00:46:28.480
that yet. So every dollar we
can save people uh by having to repair

705
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:31.639
their homes and all these other things, I think is well spent. So

706
00:46:31.719 --> 00:46:35.800
this, this I think is a
huge project for the parish. Yeah,

707
00:46:35.920 --> 00:46:38.800
I agree, and and uh,
you know it'll it'll take a little while

708
00:46:39.079 --> 00:46:44.400
get all that cleaned out and everything. But like you say, virtually no

709
00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:49.079
work has been been done on that
end. And and uh, something that

710
00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:52.280
you know, a heck of a
thing to start as you're as you're going

711
00:46:52.320 --> 00:46:58.199
out. It's kind of a crescendo
to you know, so many things.

712
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:00.880
Well, we've got a lot going
on in a lot of it will not

713
00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:05.559
be completed, uh before I get
out of office. But that's okay.

714
00:47:05.679 --> 00:47:08.199
We know we've gotten it going and
gotten it started and uh, and it's

715
00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:12.480
all for the people anyway. Yeah, so uh, but but what it

716
00:47:12.519 --> 00:47:15.960
will do is help the new guy
coming in to hit the ground running and

717
00:47:15.079 --> 00:47:19.960
uh and hopefully be very successful.
And I've always said this, you know,

718
00:47:20.039 --> 00:47:22.800
you want to leave it better than
you found it. We're doing that.

719
00:47:22.920 --> 00:47:25.000
I'm convinced of that. And I
hope the next one that comes in

720
00:47:25.039 --> 00:47:29.920
will leave it better than than he's
found it when when he steps out of

721
00:47:29.920 --> 00:47:32.719
office. Yeah, don't mess it
all up. Well, I don't want

722
00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:36.480
to say it like that, but
but yeah, I mean taking run with

723
00:47:36.559 --> 00:47:38.719
it and do even more than what
we've done. And look, there comes

724
00:47:38.719 --> 00:47:43.360
a point in time I'm tired.
I mean, you know my health is

725
00:47:43.400 --> 00:47:45.079
still good. And all people ask
all the time, you know, has

726
00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:49.440
a cancer come back? No,
I'm healthy. I feel good. But

727
00:47:49.480 --> 00:47:52.039
I did just turn sixty nine,
and I want to spend time with my

728
00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:57.719
wife and grandkids without having to leave
and and uh and and in course the

729
00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:01.159
day in and day out, uh
stress of worrying about the parish all day

730
00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:06.079
every day. And that's again some
people have the ability not to worry.

731
00:48:06.119 --> 00:48:08.199
I'm a natural worry as I said
earlier, So I do worry about it.

732
00:48:08.800 --> 00:48:12.320
There may be a few people that
would disagree with me on that,

733
00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:15.960
but I do believe it or not. And I'm always concerned. I mean,

734
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.000
anytime you get a phone call of
a problem or an issue, it

735
00:48:19.400 --> 00:48:22.079
worries me, and it concerns me, and so we try to make sure

736
00:48:22.079 --> 00:48:24.920
we take care of all of that
the best we can. Yeah. And

737
00:48:25.199 --> 00:48:30.119
so to not have that on me, it's going to be nice. Yeah.

738
00:48:30.199 --> 00:48:32.599
Yeah, Well, I personally feel
like you've done a great job.

739
00:48:32.719 --> 00:48:36.880
You all have had things thrown at
you since you've been in the office that

740
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:42.519
thank god, we had people in
positions that we had them in at that

741
00:48:42.599 --> 00:48:45.800
point in time in this parish that
could handle that. And I mean that

742
00:48:45.800 --> 00:48:51.360
that you know that that flood was
no joke. No, it wasn't.

743
00:48:52.760 --> 00:48:55.320
Put Folks, if you lived through
that and you were here during that time,

744
00:48:55.440 --> 00:49:00.519
it was it was like nothing you've
ever seen in your life. Look,

745
00:49:00.639 --> 00:49:02.440
Jim, I, Mark and I
have talked about this, and we'll

746
00:49:02.440 --> 00:49:06.079
both break down talking about it when
we talk about it with each other.

747
00:49:07.280 --> 00:49:09.760
I saw this get to mark where
I've seen all these other things not but

748
00:49:09.840 --> 00:49:14.920
after several days, it was tearing
us up. Yeah, because it was

749
00:49:14.960 --> 00:49:16.400
just so much. It was so
much of it, and we were having

750
00:49:16.400 --> 00:49:19.840
to move so many people. But
I tell you what I did see,

751
00:49:19.880 --> 00:49:23.480
and I half picking and half joking, but very serious at the same time.

752
00:49:24.159 --> 00:49:31.199
I saw people in neighborhoods and subdivisions
of all different backgrounds, some who

753
00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:37.000
and I certainly won't call names,
but some who I knew didn't like one

754
00:49:37.039 --> 00:49:43.280
another come together and work together to
put this parish back together, to help

755
00:49:43.320 --> 00:49:47.920
their neighbors rebuild, get back together, work very hard for one another,

756
00:49:49.239 --> 00:49:52.599
these different volunteers, these different groups
that all came together. And I've talked

757
00:49:52.599 --> 00:49:57.400
about this a little bit through the
years. When you watching the EOC,

758
00:49:57.599 --> 00:50:02.360
what goes on in a disaster.
What really is frustrating and is aggravating.

759
00:50:02.599 --> 00:50:07.039
And I understand it's human nature.
When you're hurting and you've lost, and

760
00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:12.519
you're sitting out here not knowing what
people are doing to help you, you

761
00:50:12.639 --> 00:50:15.639
just wonder what what are they doing? But when you're in the EOC and

762
00:50:15.679 --> 00:50:22.159
you're watching how people operate, all
the different agencies, the Sheriff's Department,

763
00:50:22.239 --> 00:50:27.400
the National Guard, the Red Cross, the different church volunteers, our our

764
00:50:27.840 --> 00:50:31.800
employees around the clock, my wife
with me around the clock out there answering

765
00:50:31.800 --> 00:50:35.920
the phones. And I can I
can remember to this day some of the

766
00:50:35.960 --> 00:50:37.480
employees saying why are you out here? I mean you you? And she

767
00:50:37.559 --> 00:50:43.480
said, because I'm out here with
my husband helping man, And uh yeah,

768
00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:49.719
it's amazing. It's amazing to watch
how things get done and to watch

769
00:50:50.559 --> 00:50:57.840
uh Mark operate directing and then to
see and I had I had phone calls

770
00:50:57.880 --> 00:51:02.079
from people who were dead said against
me in two thousand and eleven with their

771
00:51:02.079 --> 00:51:06.320
grandkids in the attic. Can can
you come get us? Yeah? Well

772
00:51:06.440 --> 00:51:10.920
yeah, but but will you what? Yes? Yeah? And who now

773
00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:15.760
our friends? Uh that thought maybe
the politics would prevent us from reacting.

774
00:51:16.639 --> 00:51:23.079
You put all that aside in these
disasters. Yeah, and you that's when

775
00:51:23.079 --> 00:51:27.519
you see the good in people.
That's when you know that we're all in

776
00:51:27.519 --> 00:51:30.639
this together. And uh. And
God works in mysterious ways. Does he

777
00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:35.880
cause these things to make those kind
of good things happen? I don't know,

778
00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:38.400
but I do know this. You
see the good in people when when

779
00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:44.480
tragedy hits and disasters come. And
I've been very blessed. Yeah, yeah,

780
00:51:45.920 --> 00:51:49.599
uh, And I say it all
the time. Uh, you know

781
00:51:49.679 --> 00:51:53.599
when it uh, when people ask
me about that and that experience, I

782
00:51:53.599 --> 00:51:58.719
always tell him it was the worst
thing I've ever seen in the most beautiful

783
00:51:58.760 --> 00:52:00.559
thing I've ever seen all the same. That sums it up. That's it

784
00:52:00.679 --> 00:52:07.000
really does. Thank you for all
pleasures. Thanks for having me this morning.

785
00:52:08.119 --> 00:52:12.280
Well I appreciate that. Thank you. And again I give credit to

786
00:52:12.280 --> 00:52:15.000
all my employees. They've been they
have been wonderful to work with all these

787
00:52:15.079 --> 00:52:20.440
years. I think we're going out
on a high note, gym uh and

788
00:52:21.079 --> 00:52:22.679
better than we found it. And
that was that's been our goal. That's

789
00:52:22.719 --> 00:52:27.000
all we can ask for. I
appreciate you. You're a friend to me

790
00:52:27.639 --> 00:52:31.800
and and we will see you next
time. On local leaders of podcast.

791
00:52:31.960 --> 00:52:36.840
Remember to love your community, support
local business, and keep leaving. Thank

792
00:52:36.840 --> 00:52:37.599
you, thank you, sorry,
God, bless you, hearty