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Jefferson Parish president proposes two-COO model; council approves code change
Summary
Parish President LeShane told the council she seeks flexibility to replace one chief operating officer and a deputy with two COOs to split day-to-day workload; the council approved the ordinance after a public hearing and questions about civil-service impacts.
Parish President LeShane told the Jefferson Parish Council on Feb. 4 that she will seek to amend the parish code to permit flexibility in assigning executive titles, replacing the current single chief operating officer and deputy post with two chief operating officers. "This would allow those executive positions, to be allocated however the parish president believes is most effective," LeShane said during opening remarks.
The proposed amendment (item 15) would let future parish presidents rearrange the nine principal executive positions to suit management needs while remaining within the executive plan and budget, LeShane said. She framed the change as a response to the operational demands placed on a single COO, calling the job "constantly putting out daily fires" and a source of burnout.
At the public hearing firefighter Robert Burquette warned that inserting supervisory roles above a fire chief could conflict with Louisiana fire-and-civil-service rules; he said such a change "would be trampling on the Louisiana fire and civil service laws" if it applied to the East Bank consolidated structure. LeShane responded that the ordinance "doesn't reference fire" and that departments would continue to be assigned to chief administrative assistants as appropriate.
Councilman Walker moved approval; the measure was seconded and passed unanimously. The ordinance now permits the president greater discretion in aligning departments under two COOs, with the council reserving ratification authority when appointments are later made.
