Council solidifies roles for new administration
Published 3:15 am Sunday, July 3, 2022
- Legal counsel Allan Durand, right, explains employment provisions in the city charter while council members Janise Anthony, center, and Carol Frederick, left, listen.
The St. Martinville City Council approved several housekeeping items as Mayor Jason Willis and the council sought to get off on the right foot on the heels of their inauguration just minutes before.
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The main purpose of the meeting was to handle the separation of duties for Willis’ administration, as well as the hiring of a new employee to oversee personnel.
Legal counsel Allan Durand said the city charter provides for the role of a secretary-treasurer for the city who has the duties of performing accounting and administrative roles.
“As long as I’ve been involved with the city we’ve never had a secretary-treasurer,” Durand said.
Instead, the city has typically had a chief administrative officer who has performed all personnel and accounting duties at the same.
“I brought it up during the past two administrations and both mayors wanted to get around to it but never did,” Durand said. “I mentioned it to Mayor Willis who wanted to start off right and operate under the charter as it is written.”
Durand said the role of secretary-treasurer as written in the charter would entail more duties than one person could provide for, however, so an ordinance was introduced to create an office of clerk of the council and a chief financial officer who would be able to perform their duties respectively. The ordinance passed unanimously.
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The council also unanimously approved the creation of the role of chief operating officer, and the hiring of Kimya Cruz to fill the position.
Willis said Cruz will manage personnel and assist the mayor in administrative functions in her new role, and will allow for the chief financial officer to focus solely on accounting and related duties.
“She definitely shows talent,” Willis said. “She’ll be able to manage people and assist me.”
Cruz, a St. Martinville native, said she was looking forward to working with the city in her new position.
Councilman Mike Fuselier also added that Cruz chose not to receive any benefits from the city in her employment package. Willis said the decision saved the city about $26,000.