Terrebonne names new directors

The Terrebonne Parish Council approved the appointment last Wednesday of Jerrold Richard as the parish’s new director of the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

In addition, the council approved the merger of what had been two separate parish departments: Human Resources and Risk Management.

The council then appointed David Battard as director of the Dept. of Risk Management and Human Resources.

Richard has worked as a safety technician in private industry and was an administrative officer in the Louisiana Air National Guard.

Battard was the senior director of a flood data company in Austin, Texas and was a bank officer with Capital One in Dallas.

In addition, the council passed the following ordinances:

• Approved hiring the Dallas firm Waters Consulting Group to update the parish’s employee salary classification structure for $69,000.

Terrebonne hired Waters to do similar work in 1997.

A Houma resident told the council his company spends $30,000 yearly determining wages for its employees.

“The reward for restructuring is worth it,” he said.

• Approved hiring two engineering interns, an engineering technician and a clerk for the parish Public Works Department as part of an effort to reduce the use of engineering contractors.

• Approved transferring Sewer-age and Pollution Control Services from the Utilities Department to the Public Works Department.

The council also passed an ordinance spending $142,800 in Louisiana Local Government Assistance Money on several projects, including spending $45,480 toward purchasing a group of Native American burial mounds in Dulac.

The land containing the mounds is privately owned. Houma Realtor S.P. LaRussa told the council in September that the land was appraised at $219,000 in 1997.

Houma lawyer Michael Billiot told the council Wednesday that a nonprofit group plans to purchase the mounds. He said the group will disallow any development.

The mounds will be kept as an archaeological site, Billiot told the parish council.