Parish Council confirms interim CAO at another contentious meeting

A St. Mary Parish Council meeting devoted largely to discussion of parish government dysfunction turned into another series of sometimes heated exchanges.
Yet despite some bickering, Wednesday’s regular meeting was not without accomplishments.
The council voted 9-0 with two abstentions to confirm Parish President Sam Jones’ appointment of Paul Governale as interim chief administrative officer. He’ll fill in after Jean Paul Bourg resigned last month amid sometimes contentious debate surrounding efforts to fix a projected $2.5 million year-end budget shortfall.
Governale currently serves as the finance director.
The parish charter puts the chief administrative officer in charge of the day to day operations of parish government under a part-time parish president.
Councilman J Ina of Franklin asked Jones what will happen after Governale’s 30 days.
“I don’t have a name right now,” Jones replied. “I want to see what he can do and not do.”
The council also passed a resolution of respect for Sheriff Blaise Smith who died Feb. 24. The resolution was presented to Smith’s wife, Karen. It praised the 50-year law enforcement veteran for “dedication, integrity, faithfulness, compassion and honesty.”
Councilwoman Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville, who said she knew the sheriff as a physician and as a friend, shed tears as she described him as “a phenomenal man.”
Other kinds of emotions surfaced at the meeting:
—The discussion turned to why a deputy assigned to provide security at council meetings had been withdrawn for a time. The deputy was at Wednesday’s meeting.
At issue was whether Jones or Rink had asked Sheriff Gary Driskell at a meeting to withdraw the security, and whether the deputy was needed to keep order at unruly Parish Council meetings or as a general security measure.
“I would never pull security from these Parish Council meetings” without being asked, Driskell said Wednesday.
“Obviously, what the sheriff remembers and thinks we had in the conversation is different than what President Jones and I remember in the conversation,” Rink replied later.
Still later, Driskell said, “when you question my integrity, it makes it very difficult for me to work with you.”
Rink said she didn’t mean to question anyone’s integrity. She also noted that no deputy was present at meetings during her chairmanship term and the term of Dean Adams of Morgan City.
Ina wanted to know why a decision potentially affecting safety was made in a small meeting rather than by the council. Jones said that at the meeting, he focused mainly on a discussion about the parish jail and not on a short discussion about security.
During his campaign, Jones had pointed to the presence of the deputy at council meetings as evidence that the council is out of control. On Wednesday, Councilman the Rev. Craig Mathews of Jeanerette said, “That is just absurd.”
Council Chair Gwendolyn Hidalgo of Bayou Vista said the security is needed to protect the public.
“Hell yes, I’m scared,” Hidalgo said. “I’m scared for myself and the people in this audience.”
At one point, Adams tried to bring the lengthy discussion to an end. Mathews objected, and they raised their voices.
“That’s why we need someone here, I guess,” Jones said.
—Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna came to the lectern to chide the council for another rambunctious meeting, this one March 27. At that meeting, the council rejected a first attempt to appoint an interim CAO and rejected the administration’s proposed budget amendments.
Dragna said the meeting went viral online.
“If I wasn’t where I am, there’s no way I’d come to this circus …,” Dragna said. “This is the most ridiculous council I’ve ever seen.”
Mathews called Dragna’s remarks “a waste of 5 minutes. Tell the people of Morgan City that.”
—Former Parish President David Hanagriff also warned the council about the effect its meetings could have.
“You talk about toxic meetings?” Hanagriff said. “Well, it’s been really bad.”
Revenue remains stagnant, and expenses go up, Hanagriff said. But officials shouldn’t politicize the budget troubles, he said, because it will affect the parish’s economic development.
Hanagriff also said Bourg’s departure is “going to have a long-lasting effect on the parish and cost the parish a lot of money.”

This story has been edited to correct the vote by which Governale's appointment was confirmed.