Keep up with Parish Council with online updates

By Renee Simpson

The parish Public Information Office and Council Office are making it easier to keep up with the actions of the St. Charles Parish Council with online updates before and after each meeting.

Council meeting schedules and agendas can be found by visiting stcharlesparish-la.gov/council. Complete agendas are posted on the website either the Wednesday or Thursday before each regular meeting. Introduced ordinances for the next meeting are posted the Tuesday following a regular meeting. At that address, residents can also get information on upcoming Council committee and town hall meetings.

Previews of each upcoming meeting will be posted on the front page of the St. Charles Parish website’s news section the Friday before each Monday night meeting at http://stcharlesparish-la.gov.

After meetings are complete, residents may log on to the parish Facebook (facebook.com/stcharlesgov) or Twitter (twitter.com/stcharlesgov) to read about actions taken. Here are just a few actions from the latest council meeting:

•Council overrides Parish President’s veto of a 2 percent salary cap budget amendment to apply to parish administrative employees. Classified employees remain eligible for raises up to 5.2 percent.

•Council approves an ordinance to require a minimum budgeted fund balance of 5 percent of all parish expenditures. This provision codifies retaining funds to respond to emergencies or national disasters.

•Council approves contract with Frickey Brothers Construction LLC for Rathborne Park Phase I development, to include ball field, playground equipment.

Finance employee wins service award
St. Charles Parish Finance Department Accountant I Ellen Cancienne has received an honorable mention in the 2011 Charles E. Dunbar Jr. Service Awards Program sponsored by the Louisiana Civil Service League, Executive Vice President Daniel E. Sullivan recently announced.

St. Charles Parish Personnel Director Sandra Zimmer nominated Cancienne for the prestigious award, saying Cancienne always goes “above and beyond” in her over 30 years of service to the parish.

The Dunbar Award is the highest honor classified state employees can receive for their service to the citizens of Louisiana. The Civil Service League bestows the award on local, state and municipal civil service employees who distinguish themselves through unselfish service. Nominees are judged on commitment to the classified service, contributions toward workplace improvement, personal initiative and volunteer community service.

The award is named after the founder of the League, who was responsible for spearheading the effort to establish a classified workforce that would be governed through merit system principles.

In the past 50 years of the program the Dunbar Award has recognized more than 800 classified public employees in Louisiana. The Louisiana Civil Service system in large part owes its existence to Dunbar, who wrote the 1940 and 1952 civil service basic laws and founded the league.

In winning the honorable mention, Cancienne scored just a few points below the small pool of 12 Dunbar Award recipients. For more information about the award, visit http://lacsl.com/charles-e-dunbar-jr-career-service-award/.