After a resolution seeking his removal as council chairman was pulled from the agenda, Terry Authement said he has sent an e-mail to all council members seeking input about their concerns.
At the July 20 meeting, several council members said that Authement has not kept them informed about the goings-on in the parish and did not attend a July 7 meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers about the West Bank levee. Though Authement admits that he didn’t attend the meeting due to the health of his mother, he is still not clear about the other communication issues.
“I’m still trying to find out what all the issues are and I have sent an e-mail to all council members asking them for information about their concerns,” he said. “That way, we can look at them in writing and agree about what the council chairman should be doing.”
During the last week, Authement said he has received a couple of responses.
In an earlier resolution, Councilman Dennis Nuss had asked the council to consider defining the council chairman’s job. Authement, who also served as chairman in 2000, said that as far as he knows, the council chairman is just supposed to run the meetings.
“I haven’t changed anything from the way I operated as chairman in 2000,” he said. “If the chairman is supposed to do more than just run the meetings, then it needs to be spelled out and put in writing.”
Authement said that he and the rest of the council are moving past the issue and are going to work together to clearly define the council chairman’s role. However, Authement said that he doesn’t want to burden the next council chairman with unreasonable expectations.
“I don’t want the next council chairman to do anyone’s job for them,” he said. “In my case, I wasn’t elected to represent the council members – I was elected to represent the people.
“If they can make the expectations clear, and it’s something that all of us can agree on, then at least the next chairman would know what those expectations are.”
Be the first to comment