Ricks setting scene for smooth transition
LIVINGSTON — Personnel changes are coming in the administration of Livingston Parish government, but the incoming parish president said that doesn’t mean he will fire all of the department heads.
Layton Ricks, who will take office as Livingston Parish president on Jan. 9, said he is looking at finances, personnel and how engineers and architects are selected for parish work.
Ricks said one of the first steps in his transition is meeting with department heads from the current administration.
The purpose of the meetings is to determine their current duties, get their input, gain information about specific projects and gain a feel for their work, the incoming parish president said.
“It’s not going to be a wholesale firing, but there certainly will be some changes,” Ricks said.
Until he talks to department heads and looks at the budget he won’t determine what the structure of the administration will be other than that he will have a chief of staff and an administrative assistant, Ricks said.
Ricks does plan to create a committee to review contracts of architects and engineers, and he has started drafting an ordinance to create such a committee.
Asked if that committee would be made up of council members and the administration, Ricks said it wouldn’t.
If approved by the council, the committee would have a broad membership, he said.
The idea would be to remove politics and “the perception of politics as much as possible,” Ricks said.
He said he also wants to create a parish-wide, animal control committee.
Though Denham Springs and Walker have animal shelters and animal control ordinances, the parish doesn’t have such a program.
Ricks, a former Denham Springs councilman, said he had a cordial meeting with Parish President Mike Grimmer this week and Grimmer promised to give him copies of various documents, such as a listing of all parish workers and their salaries, that will make the transition easier.
The meeting was short, Ricks said, and didn’t go into major issues, such as the Hurricane Gustav debris cleanup, over which the men sparred in the campaign before the November election.
He said he expects to meet with Grimmer again before Jan. 9 and is confident the transition will be smooth.
Ricks said he has also talked to all of the people who will be serving on the council in the coming four years and has been talking to the mayors of the municipalities in the parish.
“I want to keep the lines of communication open with the parish council as well as all of the parish elected officials and mayors in Livingston Parish,” he said.
One of the problems Grimmer had in his second term was a running battle with a majority of the council.
Only three of the nine council members will return to office next year.
Ricks said he also wants to have a complete audit of parish finances.
The installation of the parish president and members of the Parish Council is scheduled at noon, Jan. 9 in the Parish Council Chambers.