– The St. Martinville City Council approved the hiring of a new Director of Administration at Monday’s council meeting in the wake of the resignation of office manager Candy Bertrand. Floyd Johnson, a native of Opelousas, Johnson said he married someone from St. Martinville and stayed here, adding that he loves the city. He also praised the city’s employees and department heads and said he was pleased that the council and mayor work together in the city.
“Everything that I have seen that you guys have been doing is just wonderful,” he said. “You’re on a fantastic trajectory to take the city to where it needs to be.
“I’ve had all week to work with the staff and I’ve seen nothing but good things. The mayor’s attitude and vision seems to parallel all of you, which is a wonderful thing. Trust me, I’ve been involved in municipal government, and that does not happen often.”
The purpose of city government is to serve its constituents and to provide good fiduciary leadership, he said, while trying to help the town grow.
He added a bit of his history including an undergraduate degree in finance and accounting and work in construction, as a laborer, a legal background that includes 18 years in the District Attorney’s office, teaching at the police academy for eight years and serving in municipal administration. He also is a Marine Corps veteran.
Director
“So I have a lot of stuff that I can bring, that I want to use to help the city move forward,” he said. “That’s why I’m here.”
Bertrand is returning to the private sector, where she and her husband have a real estate business and to pursue other interests, the mayor said. Willis said Bertrand brought a lot of unity to the city administration and was valuable to the city.
Nuisance property The council voted to give the owner of property at 226 Stagg Street 30 days to clean up the property, which has drawn complaints about several vehicles on the property. With a new vehicle ordinance coming into effect, the property owner moved four of the vehicles to the back of the property, Councilwoman Flo Chatman said.
The owner told Chatman he is having someone from Loreauville clean up the property. Chatman proposed giving him 30 days to make progress on clearing the property, and then to revisit it at the city council meeting next month.
In other business
The council approved a request from the Knights of Peter Claver to hold a Cancer Walk on Saturday, Oct. 17. Representatives from the group talked with the acting police chief about the route and closing the roads for the walk and providing security for the walk.
Registration for the walk will be from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. with the walk starting at 9 a.m., going from Garrett Street up Main Street to the traffic light and then to the police station on New Market Street with the street in front of the police station and City Hall set up for the postwalk gathering.
Councilman George Choplin suggested holding off on forming a Friends of Magnolia Park group with a new Parks director coming in to the administration. Choplin said he would prefer to have the new park director decide what he or she would like to do to clean up and maintain the park before pushing off the duties of keeping the park up on a private group.
