Said she worked 1,100 uncompensated hours, was told she did good job
After more than 10 years as the secretary for the St. Charles Parish Council, Barbara Jacob-Tucker was released from her position at the council’s organizational meeting on Monday.
Tucker didn’t go quietly, holding back tears while giving an impassioned speech that questioned why the council chose to relieve her of her position. She also took a few veiled shots at current council members before walking out the door.
Before the council voted on whether or not to keep Tucker as the council secretary, Councilwoman Carolyn Schexnaydre gave a speech of her own, saying that firing Tucker was a horrible way to start off the new year. Schexnaydre said that the secretary gave “200 percent” of her time away from a sick and dying husband at the behest of a few council members last year and worked nearly 1,100 hours in the past four years that were uncompensated.
Councilman Paul Hogan also nominated Tucker to renew her position as council secretary with a raise.
Hogan, Schexnaydre and new council members Traci Ackerman-Fletcher and Terrell Wilson all voted to keep Tucker as council secretary, while council members Larry Cochran, Dennis Nuss, Shelley Tastet, Wendy Benedetto and Clayton “Snookie” Faucheux voted to go in a different direction.
After the vote, Tucker took control of the podium and thanked both Schexnaydre and Parish President V.J. St. Pierre for their support. Then she had a tongue-in-cheek response for a few council members.
Tucker told the council that she answered emails and returned phone calls from residents in Benedetto’s district, which allowed her the opportunity to meet many new people.
“Whoever follows in my footsteps, I hope that they continue to keep District III residents informed,” she said.
Tucker said that in the last four years, she worked more than 1,100 uncompensated hours and more than half of those hours were spent attending meetings with Cochran in District V.
She saved her final words for Nuss, saying that out of everyone she was probably the most disappointed in him.
“You know how the system works. Every plant employee gets either verbal or written evaluations giving them time to improve,” she said. “Over the last four years I requested written evaluations from you and only received four.”
Tucker said that Nuss has been the council chairman for two years and should have informed her if she wasn’t doing a good job. She said Nuss told her last week that the council was looking to go in another direction and told her that it had nothing to do with her job performance. She said that Tastet has also praised her job performance.
Tucker has served as council secretary since 2001. Schexnaydre said that she believed other council members voted against Tucker’s rehiring because of the amount of money Tucker made.
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