Cochran credits parish success to teamwork, thrifty spending

Budget savings led to extra $5 million in general fund

The former chief of the St. Rose Volunteer Fire Department, Larry Cochran has moved up the ladder since those days, as he closes in on the conclusion of his first year serving as St. Charles Parish President.

But he hasn’t forgotten his days as fire chief. In many ways, they helped shape the philosophy he adheres to as the head of the parish’s government.

“I think that experience in fire service, it really teaches you something,” Cochran said. “You have to rely on the guy behind you. Especially going into a burning house, because if he’s no good, you get killed. It isn’t a game.

“That kind of resonated as I moved up the ranks. I realized in government you need to work as a team to get anything done.”

That emphasis on teamwork is one of the key elements Cochran touched upon when reflecting on his first year in office.

That so many people in his administration have bought in, he said, is one of his biggest points of pride so far. “I think we’ve brought a team atmosphere to government,” Cochran said. “When I was fire chief, I didn’t run the department, my assistant chiefs and I ran it. I don’t run this, we (gestures to other members of his administration) run this. Believe me, sometimes they don’t like my decision, and I’ve been outvoted. We go with consensus. And we’ve done well with it so far.”

Communication, he believes, is key. One thing Cochran noted his administration has done is implement weekly meetings of the directors of parish departments in order to stress cohesion.

“They collaborate. No duplication of services and no waste of money,” he said.

Cochran himself, along with his staff, also meets regularly with other government heads, like Sheriff Greg Champagne and Superintendent of Public Schools Felecia Gomez-Walker.

“We talk about issues and working together to make things better. We serve the same people,” Cochran said. After serving on the parish council for eight years prior to being voted in as president by parish residents in 2015, Cochran said the job has largely been everything he expected.

It hasn’t been without challenges, of course. The first priority of his administration was to address the parish government’s budget, a task made more difficult due to the reassessment of property values brought on by the reduced inventory tax. While Cochran said his belief that parish departments would have to learn to “do more with less” was already the stance of his administration, the tax issue created even more of a crunch.

“(The inventory tax) was a tough thing to have to address,” Cochran said. “But we knew we could save already, and that was our mantra even as we were coming in. Billy (Raymond, the Parish’s Chief Administrative Officer) was on the council for four years and I was on for eight. We knew about

the budget and we knew we could save money. But you have to get to this position to make that change.

“We knew we could do more with less. And we’re looking for bigger and better things from our directors in the upcoming year.”

The parish adjusted just three of the 14 millages funding parish government entities, while Cochran’s administration worked closely with those departments’ directors to find ways to make ends meet in the face of a budget shortfall.

Likewise, Cochran said an emphasis was made on setting an example from the top as he and his executive staff eschewed unnecessary expenses wherever possible, for example eschewing vehicle upgrades and keeping the parish’s existing bridge logo and branding in an effort to save money.

Overall, he notes the budget savings have allowed the parish to raise the general fund balance from the $7 million mandated minimum to $12 million for the first time in eight years.

“That’s a substantial amount of money,” Cochran said. “We kept spending down. I’m very proud of our budget, I truly am. The work these gentlemen have put in, the directors as well … a lot of thought and heart was put into that budget.”

He has also made efforts to engage local businesses in the parish, in part by establishing a networking event for local businesses; implemented a selection process to choose engineers for parish projects in an effort to provide more transparency; established SCPReportIt.com, which was created to allow residents to engage with and make requests of the government more quickly and efficiently; and supported the successful renewal of a millage funding the parish’s Parks and Recreation department after holding a series of town hall meetings to hear public feedback.

Going forward, he said there is still work to be done in procuring funds to further progress on, and eventually complete, the hurricane protection levee initiative on the parish’s West Bank.

“Levee, levee, levee,” Cochran said, making no secret the level of attention he believes that cause demands. “When you look at the tax we passed, there’s no way we can build a levee for that money. That money is there to leverage other monies, and there is none. We’re working hard with the state and the feds to leverage more money, because that is so important over there, to complete that levee from end to end.”

Another goal he has is to solve what he calls a “space crunch” in the parish’s courthouse.

“We wanted our people in this building,” Cochran said. “Even with us coming up to the third floor, it’s still an issue.

The Registrar of Voters needs more space, as do the judges, the Clerk of Court, the Assessor … we’re working on doing things and we’re going to alleviate it. Every different government entity should have what they need to do the people’s work, and to do it efficiently. I believe that.”

Cochran says he doesn’t feel the position has changed him after a year in office —“I’m the same person I was, I just wear a suit and tie now,” he said.  He says he’s hopeful that his second year is even more productive than his first, though he admits it’s not likely he’ll ever be truly satisfied.

“I’m never happy,” Cochran said. “There’s always something else that can turn the corner. I don’t like leaving my office until my desk is clean … the reality is, it never will be. We all have room for improvement as we grow as people and in our positions. You learn from both your success and your failures as you go.”

 

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