Eschete vows change for Thibodaux

In a race that was billed as change versus success, change won and a new face was elected mayor of Thibodaux for the first time in 12 years.

Tommy Eschete defeated Charles Caillouet with 55 percent (2,404) of the vote, and the focus now turns what changes the new mayor will enact.

Eschete ran a platform centered on his four-year plan, which targets term limits for the mayor, various infrastructure issues, recreational improvements and an emphasis on community development.

“We feel like the policies in the current administration are stale,” Eschete said. “We feel we can improve the level of participation in the city. We feel that new leadership brings about a higher level of citizen participation. There is no better way to assess the way of our citizens than taking their input.”

In his campaign, Eschete also talked about installing new leadership at the Thibodaux Police Department.

“Another key issue is that we feel there is a need for new leadership in our police department,” Eschete said. “We are concerned with the number of turnover, and we need to assess what the issues are within the police department so we can try to put a handle on how we can do a better job of retaining our law enforcement officers.”

The new mayor said that the big picture for Thibodaux isn’t going to change, but the methods to reach the end goals are going to be tweaked.

“The goals and objectives aren’t going to change,” Eschete said. “We need to take our decision-making process and scrub the politics out of it as much as we can, and move that priority as far down to the bottom as we can and move our citizens needs as far to the top as we can.”

Also in Thibodaux, Chad Mire held on to his seat as a councilman with 60 percent of the vote in his race against Gary Palmer.

Fellow incumbent Varick Taylor, finished second in a three-person race to Constance Johnson, who won with 411 votes (37 percent) to Taylor’s 401 (36 percent). Jimmy Winston finished third with 27 percent of the vote.