Williams sets new pace in ’09

Arlanda Williams’ persistent demeanor is only occasionally betrayed by signs of fatigue. You might catch her stifling yawn, or resting her forehead against her long fingers. But if Williams is tired, it’s for a good reason.

She has often called being a Terrebonne Parish Council Chairwoman a 24/7 job. When she’s not doing that, she’s a claims processor for Gilsbar. She’s also a single mother of two, organizes a breast cancer awareness event called the Pink Ribbon Social and has repeatedly traveled to Baton Rouge and Washington, D.C., on behalf of the parish.

When asked how she handles it all, she answered, “Well, don’t forget about the 25 at-risk teenage girls we adopted with Diamonds and Pearls,” her organization to help the parish’s young women find success.

Whether you find her politics engaging or abrasive, you have to give Williams at least this much: she works hard.

In what little spare time she does find, Williams reads voraciously. “I just read all the time to gain knowledge,” she said, “and I try to instill that in my children, because the more you know, the further you can go.”

Up until the parish council’s last meeting, the year had been marked more by peace and ease than the body’s traditionally fractious nature. At the Dec. 16 meeting, members blew up at each other back and forth, and matters became personal as a budget amendment to purchase land for a government complex was debated. That measure was ultimately tabled and will be handled early next year. Prior to that, however, Williams had managed to keep a lid on a council with competing allegiances and goals.

“I think her ability to work with different parties in order to come to some resolution of a problem and her leadership abilities have made her a wonderful chair,” said Parish President Michel Claudet. “We’ve accomplished a lot this year, and we still have one more thing to accomplish in that budget amendment.”

As chairwoman, Williams works closer with the administration than other councilmen, and has a greater ability to steer the council toward certain goals and projects. Under her stewardship, the council accomplished goals both large and small. They changed subdivision regulations and finally began turning dirt on the Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system with no federal support.

“I got to learn a lot as council chair, like what it takes to move forward,” said Williams. “I’ve definitely gained a lot of respect for elected officials. You can’t just hand somebody a sheet of paper and say, ‘go build me a levee.’ “

The council also set up an emergency preparedness committee, chaired by Kevin Voisin, to help the lower reaches of the parish protect themselves from hurricanes and aid those areas in recovery efforts.

“I’m just glad we were blessed and didn’t have any hurricanes,” said Williams, “although we did have the privilege to be out there hands-on in the community during two floods helping people out.”

Despite feeling accomplished in her year as council chair, Williams said the parish still has plenty left to accomplish.

“We did need to work on, and are in the process of concentrating a lot of our efforts on drainage. We need to put out old fires before we start new ones with development,” she explained. “We also need to help our local businesses. We haven’t felt the national recession too much just yet, but that’s not to say it’s not coming.”

Balancing those two goals will be challenging. As the area continues to grow, demand for housing has increased, but the infrastructure in the parish hasn’t always kept up with ever-increasing development.

“I’m for economic development, but I don’t want to infringe on those who already live here. Our forefathers did not have enough foresight to see the day we’re in. With proper planning, the parish can be the metropolitan area it’s projected and still be a good hometown,” said Williams.

Presiding over a council known to be something of a Good Ol’ Boys’ Club has sometimes caused Williams to be blunt about her goals. Parish Manager Al Levron, however, said that this is one of Williams’ traits that helps her get things done.

“Her assertiveness in the chair position, in my opinion, has been very beneficial,” he said. “Obviously, her availability, her knowledge of government, her expertise in criminal justice, her involvement in the community, all of these are certainly characteristics that make her a true leader.”

Among the highlights of an active year for Williams was the chance to meet President Barack Obama earlier this month.

“I was born and raised in Deweyville, and, in my family, we didn’t see color,” said Williams, noting that she has a Caucasian and a Korean aunt, “but a lot of my family lived in a time where this could never happen.

“My first instinct when I shook his hand was to faint, and I could tell he knew because he kind of squeezed my hand extra tight,” she said. “But I stayed up because I knew there would be people back home saying, ‘Aw, what’s she doing?’ “

Williams said that meeting Obama was particularly inspirational to her as a mother and a politician.

“It just gave me this feeling in my heart that there’s no stopping your potential,” said Williams.

As the first woman, and just the second African-American to chair the parish council (Alvin Tillman was the first), Williams has broken ground. For her, however, that term has more to do with finally starting the Morganza-to-the-Gulf plan or implementing a new tax-increment financing zone rather than race and gender.

“It doesn’t matter what color my skin is, at the end of the day if I mess up, they’re still going to say, ‘Arlanda, you messed up,’ ” she said.

“We have too much stuff going on in this world to worry about who has what in their pocket or what color skin they have. We have too much to gain to by working together to tear each other down all the time.”

Terrebonne Parish Council Chairwoman Arlanda Williams credits part of her success to those around her. “You have to have a good calendar, a great staff and you have to take care of family,” said Williams. * Photo by BRETT SCHWEINBERG