Jones will try to make parish president post full-time

Incoming Parish President Sam Jones will be looking for a change in the parish charter to make the post a full-time job, probably through an amendment, possibly by proposing a new charter.
“I’m not saying definitely it will be a new charter,” Jones said after speaking Thursday at a joint East St. Mary Kiwanis-Morgan City Rotary meeting at the Petroleum Club. “But we need a full-time parish president who’s responsible for seeing that things get done.
“It’ll be as clean as we can possibly make it and as responsible as we can make it,” Jones told the clubs.
Jones, a former Franklin mayor and state representative, won the Oct. 14 primary with 58% of the parishwide vote. He’ll succeed Parish President David Hanagriff, who is term-limited, in January.
And, Jones told the service club members, he’ll serve only a single four-year term. During that term, he’ll devote his time to the duties of his office.
St. Mary is alone among nearby parishes in having a part-time parish president, which makes the position “somewhat useless,” Jones said.
He expressed frustration when he said that as a state lawmaker, he had come to the parish government with proposals for work financed with state money, only to see the parish turn down the offers.
When the former Teche Regional hospital in Morgan City was threatened with closure with the pullout of lease-holder LifePoint, Jones said, he told parish officials about the coming problem. But nothing was done.
The hospital was on the brink of closure before Jones, who by then was working in the administration of John Bel Edwards, called the governor to warn him. Edwards made a call to Ochsner Health’s CEO and quickly obtained a commitment to run the hospital, Jones said.
“It happened in 15 minutes, when it didn’t happen in a year and a half,” Jones said.
Ochsner has operated the hospital since 2019 as Ochsner St. Mary under lease with St. Mary Parish Hospital Service District No. 2, which owns the facility.
St. Mary’s population fell by about 5,000 between the censuses of 2010 and 2020. An oilfield downturn was partly to blame, Jones said, but other oil-dependent parishes including Terrebonne, Iberia and Lafayette are growing, Jones said.
The incoming president has also been a critic of parish spending. He noted Thursday that the Parish Council on Wednesday took its final vote on a 2024 budget that calls for spending of $39.6 million on revenue of $37.1 million. The budget was balanced using funds from accumulated balances.
Jones will take office next month along with nine re-elected incumbents and two new council members. The incumbents are Mark Duhon of Amelia, Dean Adams of Morgan City, Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville, Gwendolyn Hidalgo of Bayou Vista, Patrick Hebert of Berwick, Les Rulf of Patterson, Rodney Olander and J Ina of Franklin and the Rev. Craig Mathews of Jeanerette.
The newcomers are David Hill of Bayou Vista and James Davis of Morgan City.
Jones’ debate with council members started early. After Thursday’s luncheon, Hebert offered to work with Jones but compared some of Jones’ comments to a particular kind of fertilizer.
Jones had said no new subdivisions had been developed in St. Mary in 20 years. Hebert said later that he had developed housing in Patterson during that time.
Hebert also said Jones hasn’t attended council meetings, including budget meetings.
Jones said he has never been contacted by anyone on the council nor by Hanagriff to talk about the transition.