Pitch with the pros at Kemper Williams Park in Patterson
October 21, 201552nd State Representative District to choose between 2
October 21, 2015
Voters in Lafourche Parish will decide who the parish president will be for the next four years on Saturday.
But with oil prices low, the Gulf of Mexico swallowing swaths of Lafourche every day and the business climate suffering, this election is an important one for the parish.
The Times spoke with the presidential candidates vying for the top job to see where they stand on some of those critical issues important to voters.
The gubernatorial Primary election is this Saturday.
Aaron Caillouet (No Party)
Aaron Caillouet is the councilman representing District 3, which contains Thibodaux. He served as parish president from 1996 to 2000 and has previously served on the Thibodaux City Council.
He said the first thing he will do as president, should he be elected, would be to examine the department heads and decide who he would keep and who he would not. He said he plans on hitting the ground running and needs good people to do that.
One of the top issues Caillouet said Lafourche Parish government is facing is wasteful spending.
“Because of the bickering that we’ve had between council and the parish president, we’re dealing mostly with preferential projects that council members want,” he said. “And it’s done so the president can achieve a majority [council vote] on the projects that come forward which may not be best for Lafourche Parish in long run, only to satisfy a particular need at that point in time.”
Caillouet said that number one on his list for spurring economic development in the parish is to help develop the tourism industry. He said that there are a lot of people who already come to Lafourche for its fishing.
“We need to develop that,” he said.
James “Jimmy” Cantrelle Sr. (No Party)
This is “Jimmy” Cantrelle’s fourth and final time running for the office, after losing the last presidential bid to Charlotte Randolph in 2011. That race went to a runoff where Randolph won by a slim 51 percent majority. Exactly 435 votes determined the outcome.
Cantrelle served on the Lafourche Parish Library Board from 2005-13, five as board president. When he left the library board, the system had a cash surplus. Approximately $3 million in property taxes was returned to Lafourche residents each year Cantrelle served, the candidate said.
“I don’t believe we need to fleece the people or tax the people and that’s what a permit is that is not justified,” Cantrelle said. “Don’t get me wrong, we have justified permits. We have no choice because the government requires certain permits. Those are perfectly OK and I understand why we have to have them.”
Cantrelle also said he would work to improve the entire parish drainage system with a “vigorous” maintenance program to clear out reservoirs and ditches. He also said he intends to build safehouses for pump operators to hunker down in during hurricanes to keep essential personnel at the pumps.
Cantrelle said he believes the reason there is discontent between the parish administration and council is because of a lack of communication.
“If you want respect, you’ve got to give respect,” he said. “I think you have to treat all councilmen with the respect due to their office. They need not to be lied to. I think the parish government has to be more transparent. Don’t move money that they didn’t vote for them to move it. Be straight forward with the council. If you can’t do something, tell ‘em you can’t do it. Don’t mislead them. I think if you mislead people, eventually it catches up to you.”
When it comes to increasing business viability in the parish, he said he would work to lower millages in the parish.
“If we want to be competitive, we have to lower the millage,” he said. “Lafourche is 20 more mills than Terrebonne Parish… We can’t roll forward the taxes all of the time. You need more businesses to pay less taxes, not less business to pay more taxes.”
Joseph “Joe” Fertitta (R)
“Joe” Fertitta has served a total of three terms as councilman, the latest two being consecutive, representing part of eastern Thibodaux stretching to Raceland.
He said the first thing he would do in office if elected to parish president would be to “tweak” the permitting office. He said many people have told him that the staff in the permitting office have been less than customer-friendly while speaking with residents during his grassroots campaigning.
“They make too many trips back to the office to get things done,” Fertitta said. He said maybe some more training and establishing a single interpretation of regulations may be necessary in order to improve residents and business owners’ experiences with the office.
In the arena of drainage, Fertitta said he would “bring back the spray crew” that used to spray defoliant in ditches.
“The more foliage they have in a ditch the slower they drain,” Fertitta said. “We need to be more proactive instead of just doing a band aid effect. When you get a complaint, you’ve got to find out what causes that problem and solve it so you don’t get it again.”
Fertitta said he considers business development as a top priority for the next parish president.
Fertitta said he would delegate that job to “someone with the expertise” and a “proven track record” of bringing new businesses into their area to do the same for Lafourche Parish. He said that he may not create a new position, but rather expand the duties of a current employee.
“Have to surround yourself with competent people,” he said. “A leader is only as good as people surrounding them.”
When it comes to improving relations between the parish president and the council, Fertitta said “it all boils down to communication.” He said that due to poor communication between the administration and the council, councilmembers don’t find out about some issues until the day of a meeting, forcing the councilmembers to question administrators about a list of items during proceedings.
Charlotte Randolph (R)
Charlotte Randolph has served as Lafourche Parish president for three consecutive terms.
She said the first thing she would do if re-elected would be to start implementing the master plan, a 200-plus-page document outlining a broad plan to improve Lafourche’s resiliency against flooding, improve infrastructure, economy and quality of life.
Randolph said the first part of the plan to be implemented would be improving transportation infrastructure in the parish with the end result being a bus service throughout the parish.
She acknowledged that drainage ditches and reservoirs need to be maintained better and said Don Edwards, the parish public works director, is putting together a maintenance plan “to ensure waters flow as they should.”
“Residents shouldn’t have to call,” she said. “That would enhance all of the infrastructure work we’ve done.”
In order to improve the economic viability of the parish, Randolph said she would work to reduce property and sales taxes. Another thing she said she would work for is the completion of the elevated LA Highway 1 between Leeville and Golden Meadow, which has not been completed because of the high $300 million price tag.
Randolph said that she has formed good relationships with the myriad agencies throughout the parish both governmental and not. She also said that she has a knack for connecting with organizations outside the parish to invest in Lafourche. During her tenure as president, she said, she has experienced four hurricanes, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the ensuing moratorium and has put together 11 parish budgets.
Despite those people skills, Randolph gave no assurances that things would be better when asked why she believed there was, or at least people perceived, contention between her administration and the parish council, nor could she pledge to improve those relations.
“I can’t give [voters] those assurances,” she said. “There is one councilman in particular who feels that the best way to accomplish his goals is in a contentious way and [if] the president still is no longer on the council (sic), the perception will always be that.” •
