St. M’ville council fills appointive positions

In the first regular meeting of the newly installed city council on July 5, members approved the appointment of several administrative positions with little discussion – until it came to the selection of the mayor pro tem.
The council members gave unanimous approval to the reappointment of Allan Durand as city attorney, McBade Engineers & Consultants LLC of Youngsville as city engineers, and Eddie Guidry as city magistrate.
The council also agreed to retain Poché Prouet Associates LLC of Lafayette to assist in negotiating a new wholesale electrical power contract.

Mayor pro tem
But when it came to naming a mayor pro tem, a split council chose first term Councilman Jonas Fontenette of District 3 over veteran Councilman Mike Fuselier of District 1.
In the first round of voting for Fuselier, who was nominated by District 2 representative Carol Frederick, Janise Anthony of District 4 abstained, resulting in Fontenette and Fuselier each receiving two votes. District 5 representative Flo Chatman nominated and voted for Fontenette.
But when Mayor Jason Willis called for votes in favor of Fontenette, Anthony provided the third vote to name Fontenette to the position.
Before opening the nomination process, Willis  emphasized that he had no recommendation regarding the selection, but said that unlike in the past when the mayor pro tem was appointed for a four year term, in his administration the position would be filled for one year at a time.
“Maybe that would give all of you a chance at the job,” he suggested to the council members.
Fontenette, a close political ally of the new mayor,  promised full cooperation with and support for Willis and his programs.
In accepting the decision of the council Fuselier, who is serving his 7th term on the body and had held the mayor pro tem position in the past, said he felt the council had made a wrong decision but pledged his “100 percent” support for Fontenette.