Harlan Kirgan
The Eunice Board of Aldermen voted to abolish the job of deputy chief in the Eunice Police Department.
And it is likely the Board will not fill an open lieutenant’s job in the department.
The Board’s decision at Tuesday’s city meeting came after a discussion with Police Chief Randy Fontenot, who recommended the appointment of Lt. Tony Kennedy as deputy chief. The job came open with the retirement of Deputy Chief Richard Daigle effective last week.
Aldermen had other ideas about the job as they eyed a list of police department employees and their pay.
Alderman at-large Marion “Nootsie” Sattler said Kennedy makes more than the chief.
The employee list requested from Mayor Scott Fontenot states Kennedy made $86,962.98 in 2020. The report states Kennedy was paid for 1,085 hours in overtime.
The police chief is paid $46,000.
Budget matters including pay of public employees is a record open to the public.
A public hearing is to be held at next month’s city meeting on abolishing the deputy chief job.
The action also would go the city’s civil service board.
The voice vote to abolish the job was unanimous.
The police chief said there is no civil service eligibility list for the deputy chief, but asked that an emergency appointment be made.
But it became apparent the recommendation was going to be challenged.
The mayor said there are 26 municipalities in the state with populations of 7,000 to 13,000. Thirteen of those cities operate without a deputy of assistant chief, he said.
“So, half of them are operating without an assistant chief or deputy chief,” he said.
“Do you think that would be possible operating your department?” the mayor asked the chief.
“I can see it causing problems because if I’m not there he is the one in charge,” the chief said.
The chief emphasized there needs to a chain of command and that at one point there had been a suggestion to operate with two captains.
“If you’ve got two people of the same rank trying to make decisions it can cause some problems as far as the chain of command goes,” he said.
“With our current structure, if you do away with the deputy chief position then we have seven lieutenants,” the chief said.
“According to our civil service board one lieutenant cannot give an order to another lieutenant,” he said.
A year ago the chief presented a plan to the council to reduce the number of lieutenants to three, while creating new supervisory positions over the jail, records and information technology.
The lieutenant positions would have been reduced by attrition.
Aldermen rejected the plan.
Chief Fontenot said the council budgets how many positions are in the department.
“It is more than just the city council deciding we want to eliminate this one class. You have to go through civil service to eliminate a class,” he said.
And a vacancy is to be filled within 60 days, he said.
Alderman Ernest Blanchard remarked that not filling the deputy chief’s job might save on overtime.
“You know when we are shorthanded we will have all the rank there. I made some recommendations to this council a while back about we could restructure some of the rank and try to save some money, but the recommendation was rejected,” the chief said.
The overtime on the sheet was referenced by Board members.
But the police chief said Kennedy was willing to work when needed.
“I have several officers that don’t like to work overtime,” the chief said.
There should be five people working a shift, but often that is not the case, he said.
“When we had the shooting Sunday night I had a lieutenant working the desk because we had no dispatcher that night and no jailer and I had two patrolmen on the street,” Chief Fontenot said.
He added that there are no applications for patrol positions.
Mayor Fontenot acknowledge that pay is an issue for filling patrol jobs.
“That’s our biggest issue,” Chief Fontenot said. “We are not the only one having trouble.”
Mayor Fontenot went through the job classifications for Abbeville, Broussard, Carencro and St Martinville.
— Abbeville has police officer, sergeant, lieutenant, communication officer and secretary.
— Broussard has police officer, sergeant, lieutenant, secretary and police clerk.
— Carencro has police officer, sergeant, captain and record clerk.
— St. Martinville has police officer, officer first class and sergeant.
— Eunice has police officer, sergeant, lieutenant, deputy chief, jailer, communication officer, secretary to chief and police record clerk.
“In your opinion would you be able to operate without a deputy chief’s position?” the mayor asked.
“Under our current structure it would be difficult. The places that don’t have a deputy chief sometimes they have another position that acts, that does the same job duties as our deputy chief does,” Chief Fontenot said.
Mayor Fontenot said, “I’m bringing this up chief because you came here to the council almost a year ago March 10 of 2020, which is tomorrow actually, and asked the council to create other positions to where you had supervisors in records clerk, jail and the IT positions and that you wanted to reduce your lieutenants from seven to three.”
The mayor added, “I’m just trying to figure out how we can help you to get where you get the most out of your department.”
Sattler said, “I think if we could possibly abolish the deputy position we possibly could create more money.”
Sattler also said,” I want the citizens, the taxpayers to know where their money is being spent as far as the police department.”
Blanchard said the Board is trying to work with the chief and his department.
“I know what is going on in my department. I know what is needed. I’m there every day,” Chief Fontenot said.
“I’m here to make recommendations so we can better serve our public,” he said.
The bottom line for the Board was likely on the pay list for the police department. The list does not include all police department employees, but included 17 employees with 2020 pay ranging from $24,766.49 to $86,962.98. Three employees are listed with pay above $80,000 in 2020. They are Kennedy; Sgt. Quitin Doyle, $81,719.50; and Lt. Jeremy Ivory, $84,222.19. Lt. Ryan Young was paid $71,643.20 and Sgt. Robert Brickley was paid $67,467.36. The 2020 hours worked included: Young, 2,683 straight time and 779 overtime hours; Doyle, 2555 straight time and 1,521 overtime hours; Brickley, 2,616 straight hours and 1,082 overtime hours; Kennedy, 2,682 straight hours and 1,085 overtime hours; and Ivory, 2,677 straight hours and 1,364 overtime hours.
Mayor Fontenot did not know if the pay reflected the $6,000 state supplement.