Permits director ready to lead Lafourche in 2011

Although a cloud of uncertainty and reservation lingers above Lafourche Parish’s decision to implement its Planning and Permitting Department n which officially began at the turn of the new year n nobody questions the qualifications of the man poised to lead the department from its inception.

Frank Morris touts a construction background spanning more than 37 years. He claims to be the top certified building official and code enforcement official in Louisiana. Morris has a general contractor license in six states across the southeast, including Louisiana.

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface for Lafourche Parish’s chief building official, who boasts 61 construction-related certifications and who has instructed more than 40 different classes.

“I was pretty familiar with the codes already, and I started taking test after test after test,” Morris said. “I did just the opposite n most people go to work for municipality and they get their certifications. I wound up getting all my certifications before, and I did it for the professionalism of it.”

Beginning Jan. 1, the parish is paying Morris an annual salary of $75,000, which makes him Lafourche’s highest-paid government employee. Parish President Charlotte Randolph will earn $69,243.82 in 2011.

“I have no problem hiring Frank, but I have a problem with someone making more than the parish president,” Councilman Lindel Toups said before the council approved the salary by a 6-to-3 vote at the Nov. 9 Lafourche Parish Council meeting. Phillip Gouaux and Rodney Doucet cast the other no votes. “[Morris] might be worth that, but I’m for taking applications and resumes to look for a cheaper salary. … This is going to open a can of worms with a lot of parish employees.”

The effects were felt two weeks later, when Councilman Jerry Jones proposed a failed ordinance that would have increased the parish president’s salary to $100,000.

Lafourche Parish contacted Morris last year to serve as a consultant to the parish’s permitting division. On May 11, 2010, the council unanimously approved the creation of the Permitting and Planning Department.

“Mr. Frank is very, very qualified,” Doucet said at the time. “But I’ve lost a job because I was overqualified.”

For Morris, after a life of tests, certification, consulting and instructing, it was the opportunity to be at the helm of a parish government department.

“Lafourche has kind of grabbed a hold of my heart,” the former Ruston resident said. “We’ve made a lot of progress but there is still a lot to be done, so we decided we’ll stick around for a while longer.”

By proxy, Morris’s appointment drew the ire of Gouaux in particular. As the council debated the merits of approving his salary, Gouaux presented evidence that the parish would be wiser to return its code inspection duties to the South Central Planning and Development Commission.

South Central Planning (SCP) handled inspections for Lafourche, as well as five other parishes and five municipalities until 2009, when tension reached a breaking point concerning the parish overstepping its authority.

Mike Wich, chief building officer for SCP, said more than 100 complaints were logged against Lafourche Parish Government over a six-month span from late 2008 to early 2009 charging it for illegally granting permits without approval from Wich, the parish’s CBO.

It was through this accusation n backed by the regional and state code councils but disputed by Lafourche Parish Government n that the new planning and permitting department was spawned.

Gouaux argued that instead of being part of a group of six parishes that would absorb legal, training and software costs, provide support in emergency situations and serve as an alliance when requesting code changes to the State Code Council, the parish will have to handle the nuances of the office solitarily.

Lafourche paid $120,000 last year to SCP. For the new department, the entity has secured two grants totaling $760,000 for 2011.

The first, a $460,000 reimbursable grant awarded by the Code Council will be used on vehicles, computers and software. The second, a $300,000 grant from the Office of Community Development will cover personnel.

The Code Council’s grant has two years of life, and the Office of Community Development grant must be approved annually.

Although Gouaux may have raised valid points, the measure at hand at the time was setting Morris’s salary. The department was officially created six months earlier with a 7-0 vote, with councilmen Daniel Lorraine and Louis Richard absent.

In addition to serving as the parish’s CBO, Morris will do work for his clients through Tri-State Consultants. Morris is the president of the construction and code consulting company and said he will do that work at nights and on the weekends.

“We still have a big demand for training and we provide training all over the U.S,” Morris said. “It probably won’t be as widespread; probably mainly in Louisiana. A lot of building officials depend on me for training and guidance throughout the state, so we will still provide that service.”

Prior to his appointment, Morris traveled throughout the United States to train, teach and consult up-and-comers and stalwarts in the construction industry.

In addition to leading Tri-State Consultants, Morris maintains studythecode.com, a subscriber-based E-learning community that offers software, videos and tips to assist users in passing code certification tests.

The website’s testimonial section includes members’ notes of gratitude from as far away as the United Kingdom.

“Your webinar is right on target,” one testimonial, written by L. Vasquez of McAllen, Texas, reads. “This is the best value for training I have found. I can get all of my inspectors training without leaving the office. They can train for 1 to 2 hours and then go out in the field. It doesn’t disrupt our office and I can get my inspectors the training they need for a price I can afford. Keep those webinars coming.”

Southern Louisiana is at annual risk of hurricane destruction. With mandated, random FEMA code inspections stemming from previous storms and the urgency to permit business to resume activity in the wake of future storms, those in authority agree it’s important that the parish’s chief building official is well versed in the code law and able to dispatch knowledgeable inspectors to quickly get the parish’s economy running smoothly.

From all accounts, Frank Morris is qualified.

Top 10 LPG Salaries:

• Frank Morris, director of planning and permitting n $75,000

• Charlotte Randolph, parish president n $69,243.82

• Kerry Babin, director of public works n $62,681.76

• Crystal Chiasson, parish administrator n $62,666.10

• *Nurse III n $59,654.16

• Karen Zaughn, senior planner n $56,702.77 (paid by grant)

• Ryan Friedlander, director of finance n $54,308.88

• *Nurse III n $54,204.48

• Carleen Babin, council clerk n $54,162.72

• Jerome Danos, solid waste manager, IT analyst n $51,865.92

* Nurses are Health Unit employees

SOURCE: Lafourche Parish Government