After bringing in millions of dollars of grants into St. Charles Parish, Holly Fonseca has announced she is leaving the parish government after serving nearly nine years as grants officer.
May 31 was Fonseca’s last day in the job.Councilman Paul Hogan called her leaving “a big, big, big, big, big loss to the parish.”
Hogan also called Fonseca “irreplaceable.”Fonseca said her job with St. Charles Parish was very rewarding.
“I was fortunate to work with so many talented parish employees, consultants, contractors, and personnel with state, federal, and other agencies to accomplish so many great things for our parish with the $100 million in grant funding for 172 different projects that was secured,” she said.
Fonseca began working for the parish in 2007 as an accountant in the Finance Department and was appointed grants officer in 2008 by former Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr. She was the sole employee in the grants office for the first 1-1/2 years. The office now has two additional staff positions.
Fonseca said she decided to “pursue other challenging opportunities,” but will take this summer off before deciding on her next career move.
Among her achievements, she singled out also serving as project manager for the Edward A. Dufresne Center, constructing the parish’s largest government building in more than 30 years; being a member of the parish’s levee team, as well as serving on the team that secured voter support last year for the 4-mil ad valorem tax for the hurricane protection system.
Councilwoman Julia Fisher-Perrier called Fonseca’s departure “a pretty big loss to us” and added, “She was a big part of our funding in relation to levees and she had a lot of knowledge on what steps were necessary to take next.”
Fisher-Perrier agreed Fonseca was a big part of the parish’s levee projects, but she also suggested it was possible the gap could be filled by the lobbying firm, Tauzin Consultants, if the Parish Council approves a $180,000 a year contract for the service at the June 6 council meeting.
“We’ll pick up the pieces, move forward and try not to lose any time,” she said.Hogan said, “She’ll be sorely missed from a financial standpoint. The money she has brought into this parish is insane. I really hate to see her moving on.”
As of November of last year, Fonseca and the Grants Office had been credited with generating $100 million for 170 projects since 2008. The projects were numerous, including levees, drainage, the Edward G. Dufresne Community Center and Emergency Operations Center.
Fonseca said the parish’s established reputation for implementing projects in a timely manner improved its competitiveness for grants. Then Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr. said this was critical because most grants are awarded on a competitive basis.
St. Pierre added, had the Grants Office not been able to respond quickly, much of this money would have gone to another jurisdiction.
By 2014, the Grants Office had landed another $8 million in grants that went to critical projects including the Ellington Levee, part of the West Bank Hurricane Protection Levee; Ormond Boulevard pavement rehabilitation at $3.1 million and $2.8 million for the East LaBranche Shoreline Protection Project.
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