Parish Council eyes new position

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The St. Landry Parish Council is consider creating an administrative assistant position at a $70,000 to $80,000 annual salary.
The agenda item for Wednesday’s meeting comes after Richard Lucito announced he resigning in his role as a part-time administrator. Lucito said he would stay until the position is filled.
The Council would be approving Amanda Cain, parish president designee and chief financial officer, to advertise and hire the person.
Cain said funding for the position is coming from permit fees that are generating about $100,000 a year.
Cain has been the parish’s chief administrator since Parish President Bill Fontenot announced in March he was taking a medical leave due to a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma. He has been absent from Council meetings since February.
In November 2019, Fontenot was elected to a third term as parish president. The job pays $105,000 a year.
Under the parish’s Home Rule Charter, “A presidential disability that exceeds six consecutive months gives the council the power to declare by resolution that the president’s office is vacant due to disability. The council shall hold a public hearing on the issue prior to declaring the office vacant, and the president shall be entitled to be heard and present evidence at this hearing.”
In other business, the Council is to vote on a resolution to hold an election on Dec. 5 for a one-mill, 10-year property tax to fund jail maintenance. The tax is expected to raise $671,400 a year, according to the proposition. The proposition failed in a fall 2019 vote.
Derek Legendre, the Council’s information technology consultant, is to deliver a report on high-speed internet access for rural St. Landry Parish.
Council member Timmy Lejeune raised the issue and called service in the rural areas as “horrible” and in some areas as non-existent.
Legendre said he would investigate the Parish Council’s role as the franchse authority.