Immediately following his inauguration this week, St. Mary Parish President Sam Jones sought to make immediate administrative changes to St. Mary Parish including a new chief administrative officer which was voted down by the parish council.

But at Wednesday’s parish council meeting, Jones and the council were less confrontational with the parish president, instead laying out a plan for the upcoming weeks.

At the center of the issue is what Jones calls a $2.5 million deficit in St. Mary Parish government. It’s an issue the parish president said he learned the day of the inauguration and would need the full support of the council and administration to fix it.

Certain members of the council contested the claim, including Councilman Craig Mathews who said the budget passed in December did not show that much alarm.

Jones, however, said the situation felt similar to the one he was in as a state representative back when Gov. John Bel Edwards inherited a fiscal disaster from the previous governor.

An immediate move Jones asked for was the hiring of Baldwin Alderman Marion Newton as the parish’s chief administrative officer, a request that was narrowly denied and considered a “bad idea” by some council members.

“One of the problems we have here is a $2.5 million deficit which is a real deficit,” Jones said at Wednesday’s meeting. “We’re beginning to work on this and whittle it down, and I’m committed to signing every check. If there’s something we don’t need, I’m committed to sending it back.”

Jones said he plans to re-amend the budget to more accurately reflect what the parish government has in revenues and expenditures.

“It’s not going to be $39,” Jones said. “It’s considerably less.”

In other business, the parish council selected Gwen Hidalgo as chairwoman of the council and Kristi Rink as vice-chairwoman.