St. Martinville – St. Martinville Police Chief Ricky Martin announced his retirement from the position at the end of Monday night’s St. Martinville City Council meeting.
“Maybe moving on (is a better term),” Martin said in telling the City Council and Mayor of his decision. “I’ve been chief for eight years, eight and a half years, and like I told the mayor, because the mayor was pretty shocked when I brought it up to him, this is why. When I took the chief’s job, and the only person on the council at the time (who is still on the council) was Mike (Fuselier). And me and Mike had a conversation — when I took this job, I took it with the reason of changing the police department in a better way. I had certain goals that I wanted to accomplish, and I did those. I’ve accomplished every one of them. Actually, we went above what I was trying to accomplish. We went beyond that. The department’s in much better shape than when I took it, so I can’t ask for much more than that.”
Martin said he’s gotten to the point where he doesn’t have any fresh ideas for how to change the police department for the better, and he doesn’t want to be the kind of person who just goes to work to collect a paycheck and hold a title.
“If I can’t bring a lot of change, then I don’t need to be there taking up space,” he said. “That’s just how I feel.”
Martin said he’s not leaving the community and is moving to a job in the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office.
“I want to thank everybody in this room, because at one time or another, y’all have been there for me when I needed it,” Martin said. “I’ve had support since Day 1 as the chief. I’ve tried not to let people down. And of course, I’m not perfect. We all make mistakes and we all do things that people don’t agree with sometimes. But like Mike said, I always tried to make a decision keeping the three R’s in mind — do the right thing, for the right reasons, at the right time.”
Mayor Jason Willis said that he was shocked when Martin told him of his decision.
“I want to commend the man,” Willis said. “Like he said, the department is probably in the best shape it’s been in since I’ve been here.”
Retirement
Willis said that some of the problems the department faced in the past were because of a lack of funding, which the current council did its best to remedy in helping fund equipment purchases and promotions for personnel.
Willis also said that Sheriff Becket Breaux spoke to the mayor to make sure that hiring the chief was not going to leave the city in a bind.
The city will have a hiring board to bring in a new chief, with Martin involved as well as the city civil service board going through the applicants. The city will advertise for the job.
“We’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that we do it right,” Willis said. “It won’t be a decision made through politics. It will be made through experience, qualified police officers, chiefs, mayors, whoever’s on that board.”
July 5 will be Martin’s last day in office, he said.
