Evans: New Council Will Be Good Group For Me to Work with

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News — One of the first things Mayor-elect Wade Evans said he did after the election Nov. 8 was reach out to the members of the Central City Council — five of whom he

served with the past four years.

The mayor-elect said he has a good working relationship with the group and with the individual members. He said, “I want members of the Council to be able to achieve their top priorities, and I will work with them to do that.” He plans to meet with IBTS weekly and include re-

presentativves from the Council.  He is designating a room at City Hall for the Council to have an office.

Mayor-elect Evans is happy to report that Mayor David Barrow agreed to a good transition, and that is important. He said he is asking Terri Parnell to stay on as Chief Administrative Officer. 

The Mayor-elect said he has been talking to the news media and was happy with a segment he did with WAFB-TV.  “We want to develop good relations with multiple media outlets,” he said.

Evans said he has spoken with Central schools Supt. Jason Fountain and expressed a desire to get high school students involved with his administration.

He said one of his concerns is that too many Central High graduates leave the Central community and never come back. “We need to provide opportunities that will make our young people want to stay in Central.”

To do that, we need to talk to young people and find out what they want here that will make them want to stay, he said.

He said his administration will be about ideas.  “My job is to be a salesman,” he said, “and get the community to take ownership of new ideas as they arise.”

Mayor-elect Evans campaigned on public works projects that will improve roads and drainage in Central. “The most important thing about public works is that it should never be political.  It should be based on the needs of the community.”

He said he has confidence that the Mayor, the City Council, and the community can move Central forward in a positive direction.

Evans served as Mayor Pro-Tem the past four years.  Two members of the City Council were unopposed — D’Ann Wells and Tim Lazaroe — and two were returned by the voters — Aaron McKinney and Josh Roy. McKinney was reelected as Councilman-at-Large.  Roy replaced Evans for the other Council-at-Large seat.  Councilman Dave Freneaux did not seek reelection, and he was replaced by former Council member Dr. Kim Fralick.  The only fresh face on the Council is J. D. Lavergne, who replaces Josh Roy for a district seat.

Two seats are coming up for appointment to the Central Planning & Zoning Commission.  However, those will be made by the City Council, as the Mayor does not have any appointments on the P&Z.