Richard to vie for parish president

Former Iberia Parish Councilman Larry Richard this week announced his intention to run for Iberia Parish president.

The owner of LR&A Traffic Control and Construction Materials and LR&A Specialties represented District 13 on the Parish Council from 2000 to 2012. In a prepared statement, Richard said he would make strong decisions to protect residents’ investment in their parish and would run Iberia Parish “as a business.”

“With territorial politics and personal animosities creating a dysfunctional government, we must bring strong leadership to the office and focus on the issues at hand, such as coastal restoration, infrastructure and funding concerns, to name a few,” Richard said in the statement.

Richard said he planned on immediately hiring a grant writer to start working on drawing such funds to the parish if elected.

The U.S. Army veteran graduated from the Communication Signal Corp and was a member of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division. Richard is married to Kim Richard, with whom he has two children, Tyler Richard and Morgan Ann Richard-Olivier.

Richard is president-elect of the New Iberia Rotary Club, vice president of PEPI Adult Education and a board member with the Iberia Industrial Foundation.

For more information, visit www.RichardForIberiaParishPresident.com.

First-term Iberia Parish Councilman David Ditch also has declared for the parish president’s race.