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The shakeup in Lafourche Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle’s administration continued as another member of his executive staff is out.
Lafourche Director of Communications Doug Cheramie resigned from his position today. Cheramie’s resignation marks the second official gone this week after Cantrelle fired Parish Administrator Reggie Bagala on Tuesday.
Cheramie announced his resignation with a short, terse letter addressed to Cantrelle.
“This correspondence shall serve as my formal resignation from the position of Director of Communications for Lafourche Parish Government effective immediately, February 2, 2017,” Cheramie wrote. “It was an honor serving the citizens of Lafourche Parish.”
Cheramie’s resignation is the latest in a tumultuous week for Cantrelle’s administration. Bagala’s firing left a vacancy for both the parish administrator, the second-highest position in the parish after president, and director of community services, the department Bagala was overlooking before his September promotion to administrator. The Lafourche Parish Council has a special meeting tonight, where they will vote on hiring Bagala as a legislative internal auditor and also vote on declaring a vote of no confidence in Cantrelle.
Council Member Luci Sposito expressed her disappointment with Cantrelle’s actions the day after Bagala’s firing.
“[Bagala’s] experience in government will not easily be recplaed. I have not been told why he was terminated, but I have my suspicions,” Sposito wrote via text message. “I pray Mr. Bagala will find a position where his honesty, integrity, and loyalty will be respected and appreciated.”
Cantrelle is not in need of replacements for the positions, though. Deputy Director of Communications Caroline Eschette has taken over Cheramie’s duties. Cantrelle has hired Tommy Lasseigne as interim parish administrator and Paul Robichaux as interim director of community services. Cantrelle will have to send full-time candidates to the council for approval for the two positions within 60 days of the vacancy.
Lasseigne was previously hired by Cantrelle the parish’s director of both finance and human resources. However, he resigned in October after he was under fire by the parish council, which was preparing to go into executive session to remove him from his position. At its Aug. 24 meeting, the Lafourche Civil Service Board reinstated a pay raise for an executive assistant that Lasseigne had removed. In a December opinion, District Attorney Cam Morvant found Lasseigne committed “numerous civil service procedure violations and potentially a civil rights violation” in regards to placing an employee on a drug screen list when he was not authorized to do so. Lasseigne also formerly served in the position Bagala is up for tonight, having been the legislative internal auditor until his resignation in July 2015.
A Lafourche Parish press release announcing the hires said “interim leaders waste no time getting to work for Lafourche Parish residents,” and said Lasseigne is honored to serve in his role.
“[Lasseigne] knows the intricacies of Parish Government like no other,” the press release said. “With leadership roles in the Legislative and Executive Branches in recent years, Lasseigne is known for his ability with ‘the numbers.’”
The press release also praised Robichaux, an operations manager with Danos, for his experience in employee development, recruiting, and operational expansions.
“[Robichaux] will tap into his long time netwrosk to grow Community Service offerings as it relates to education, services and recreation expansion,” the press release said.
