Port Fourchon director ponders future after 28 years at the helm

Will he stay or will he go? That is the question Port Fourchon commissioners hope to have answered within the first weeks of January.

This past March, Executive Director Ted Falgout, a 28-year veteran at the port, announced his retirement at the end of the year. Commissioners will try to persuade Falgout to stay, saying his experience is far too valuable at this point when the port is about to undergo exciting changes.

“If we don’t hire Mr. Falgout, someone else will,” said president of the Port Commission, Donald Vizier.

The board will consider asking Falgout to forgo his retirement and stay on as commissioner for another three years. At that time, Vizier hopes to find a replacement from within, someone who knows the port.

“Ted is on a first name basis with everyone. We are not going to find that locally unless we wait until someone gains that experience. Otherwise, we will have to hire someone out-of-state and we will have to pay more than what we were paying Mr. Falgout,” said Vizier.

Davie Breaux, director of operations at Port Fourchon, and Bryce Autin, the port’s general counsel, are two good candidates for appointment to lead Port Fourchon, but Vizier said at this point they are “a little wet behind the ears.” Falgout’s extra time at the port would allow the candidates to gain experience.

A recommendation to keep Falgout on until a new director is named would require approval from five of the nine commissioners. Vizier said he hopes to have an offer for Falgout sometime in January.

As for Falgout, Vizier said, “The first time I asked him he didn’t have answer n he hadn’t even thought about it.”

Weeks later, Falgout is still mulling over his options. “They will have to make an offer I can’t refuse,” he said.

Agreeing to stay on until the new commission takes office after the New Year, Falgout will stick around until after negotiations are made and an offer to the next director is tendered.

“The only commitment I have made to date is that I still have an interest in staying active in the areas of coastal restoration, highway improvement and getting funding for this region,” he said. “Whether that will be publicly or privately, I don’t know yet.”

The port has undergone dramatic changes since Falgout’s start 28 years ago. Now a master-hub of oil and gas imports and home to commercial and recreational fisheries, Port Fourchon is one of the largest, busiest ports along the Gulf Coast.

With Congress’s recent approval of sharing outer-continental shelf revenues with Louisiana, the commission has a wealth of projects just waiting on funding, Falgout said.

“This is an exciting time for the port and I want to be a part of it,” the director said, expressing his passion to protect the land, life and culture of the Bayou Region.

Current projects in need of additional funding include an expansion of the Houma airport, which should entice more Gulf industries to utilize the port, as well as construction along La. 1. Falgout, the port commission and the LA 1 Coalition are working together to complete the project in 10 years.

“I am very proud to say that we [Port Fourchon] are part of getting that project under way; a project that usually would take 30 to 40 years to complete. It’s little things like that I think are the greatest accomplishments of the port and make the port what it is today,” said Falgout.

Vizier said although it does take the work of many, without the passion, loyalty and commitment Falgout has for the coastal community the port would be a much different place.

“He could have left us a long time ago,” he said, referring to the many offers Falgout received from companies around the Tri-parishes. According to Vizier, when the long-time director announced his retirement, the Houma Port Commission offered Falgout an attractive consulting position.

“He always said he wanted to be down here,” said port commission president said.

Vizier said the general feeling among the board favors keeping Falgout onboard, but he does admit there may be one or two dissenting opinions.

The commissioner said he plans to plead his case before the time comes to vote.

Photo provided by The Bayou Board of Realtors * Over the 28 years Ted Falgout has worked at Port Fourchon, the executive director has seen the port become a master-hub of oil and gas imports and home to commercial and recreational fisheries. The port is one of the largest, busiest ports along the Gulf Coast region. And with the recent approval of revenue sharing from oil and gas profits along the Outer-Continental Shelf, more funding should become available to the region, further bolstering business at the facility.