Kenner's New Economic Development Director Doesn't Live In Kenner

Question: What city, despite having a residency rule approved by voters, will soon have 3 current and former Mayors, a Deputy CAO, a Deputy CAO of Public Works, and several department directors and assistant directors employed in city government earning well over $1 Million in salary and benefits courtesy of tax payers and only 1 of them actually lives in the city they govern?

Answer: If you guessed Kenner, thanks. You are paying attention.

Oh, and sorry if you are a resident of Kenner that actually believes that government respects you and your wishes.

The newest ex-mayor joining the Ben Zahn Administration is former Covington Mayor Candace Watkins.

Watkins was defeated in her bid to return as Covington Mayor in April finishing 3rd in a 3 person race.

Prior to that, Watkins was employed for 3 1/2 years in the Louisiana Office of Community Development/Disaster Recovery Unit as a "Disaster Recovery Specialist". Before joining the state, she was the Director of Community Development for St. Bernard Parish (where she also did not live) and spent 8 years as Covington Mayor.

Watkins signed a contract with Mayor Zahn as a "Consultant" (a semantic way to get around the will of the people of Kenner and the residency rule) to become the first Kenner Economic Development Director (although she can't really become a "Director" without the City Council granting a waiver to the residency rule).

Regardless of where Watkins lives (40 miles from Kenner) or what her title is, Zahn told The Advocate that she will work under her contract as a "Consultant".

Let's take a step back.

In 2014, when I ran for Mayor, I discussed the need for Kenner to have its own Visitor's Bureau and Economic Development entity. At the time, Kenner utilized the Jefferson Convention and Visitor's Bureau and JEDCO, both groups are heavily involved with then-Mayor Mike Yenni's political consultant Greg Buisson. Buisson is also the political consultant for Zahn, and several members of the Kenner City Council including Mike Sigur, Brian Brennan and Kristi McKinney.

While I believe strongly that the city needs an Economic Development entity, I don't agree with Mayor Zahn creating a city department staffed with political appointees, at least one of whom doesn't even reside in the city. 

An Economic Development entity should represent the city and should transcend politics, not serve at the pleasure of the Mayor or work for his agenda.

An Economic Development entity should promote Kenner and lay the groundwork to attract and retain businesses and jobs.

But, the ultimate "Economic Development Director" should be the Mayor.

The Economic Development entity can lay the foundation for businesses and provide a central point of contact to assist with real estate, permits, licenses, grants, funding and other issues, but the Mayor of a city needs to be the leader.

In Kenner, that won't be the case.

Ben Zahn is a florist and a decorator. He may be very good at what he does but no one would ever confuse Ben Zahn with a being a salesman. And, that's not a knock on the Mayor. Beyond color, I couldn't describe different varieties of roses and forget about me ever putting together a nice looking bouquet of flowers. Not going to happen.

Ben Zahn is not a "closer". It's just not in his skill set.

Unfortunately for Economic Development in Kenner, Candace Watkins isn't a "closer" either.

Covington is a nice small town. It's population is about 10,000 folks, less than 1/7th the size of Kenner. It has a Downtown (something Kenner doesn't), some nice shops and restaurants.

Covington has Cracker Barrel restaurant.

Covington is "Small Town Louisiana" at it's best.

But, during her 8 years as Mayor, what large businesses did Watkins recruit for Covington? What large retailers did Watkins bring to Covington? How many jobs was she responsible for attracting and retaining?

And, yes, the Covington area is growing now but during Watkins 8 years as Mayor, Covington grew by an average of less than 40 people per year.

So, if Covington wasn't booming during her time as Mayor; if she didn't attract, retain or help create thousands of jobs; and if she doesn't even live in Kenner, how can she be "Kenner's Economic Development Consultant/Director/Top Salesman"?

The short answer is - she can't. 

I mean, would you buy a car from someone who's never driven?

Now, let's look at another false narrative (see, I'm trying hard to not use the word "lie") from Mayor Zahn: The City will be saving money bringing Economic Development in-house (btw, this "false narrative" was also trumpeted by Kenner D4 Councilman George Branigan. In less than a year, Branigan has proven to be one of the leaders in the "false narrative" competition).

For years, Kenner paid JEDCO $75,000 per year to represent Kenner. As I stated previously, I believed that JEDCO should have represented Kenner for nothing since their funding comes from the JP General Fund, which Kenner contributes to indirectly through property taxes.

Watkins salary as a "Consultant" will be $90,000 per year.

Even Common Core Math proves that $90,000 is more than $75,000.

And that's just Watkins' salary.

When you add benefits, staffing, marketing materials, travel, and other expenses, this new city department will cost well over double, possibly triple, what we paid JEDCO. 

And, to be honest, I would be fine with double or triple if it yields results and was led by someone with experience and a proven track record.

Yes, I would prefer that it be a separate, non-political entity, but, I'd take it.

But, when the City of Kenner under Mayor Zahn feels the need to impose a recreation participation fee on its residents, when the city is already under a crushing debt load and the city is borrowing millions more to pay off a lawsuit from KFD that it never should have fought, when a chunk of University City and several neighborhoods South of I-10 are virtually unprotected from fire because the Zahn Administration did not have the forethought to provide a temporary Fire Station to cover the area for the almost 2 years before a new station can be built (a station that will also not adequately cover the I-10/Veterans neighborhoods), how can the City of Kenner afford another expense with another non-resident, unproven leader?

Again, the short answer - it can't.

The new Kenner Economic Development Department is yet another great opportunity squandered by Mayor Zahn for political purposes. 

 The Kenner City Council will vote on the creation of the new Economic Development Department at it's next meeting. Since Ms. Watkins is a political appointee, the Council will not vote on her appointment.

You can, and should, voice your opinions to the City Council and the Mayor and, if you care about Kenner's future, you will.

C'mon JP Council! 400k Residents and the Best You Can Come Up with is Keith Conley???

After the abrupt resignation of JP Councilman-at-Large Chris Roberts, the JP Council began the process of nominating Roberrts' replacement until the Fall election. The interim councilman will be precluded from seeking election to that seat, but not another council seat, in the election.

Traditionally, the two At-Large seats have been split among the East and West Banks - Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng resides on the East Bank while Roberts resided on the West Bank.

Lee-Sheng is seeking the Parish Presidency in the Fall and Roberts was term-limited so both seats will be open for the Fall election and jockeying for them has already begun in earnest.

District 1 Councilman Ricky Templet has announced he would seek the Division A seat held by Roberts before his resignation and District 2 Councilman Paul "Love Me Some Free Copelands" Johnston said he will run for the Division B seat currently held by Lee-Sheng.

Templet resides on the West Bank and Johnston on the East Bank which would mean, if both were successful, the At-Large seats would remain split among the East and West Banks.

Templet nominated former JP CAO Keith Conley for the interim seat to replace Roberts. Conley has said he was considering running for one of the At-Large seats but would not specify whether he would run in Division A against Templet (likely) or Division B against Johnston (highly unlikely). Both Conley and Johnston are clients of Jefferson Parish's Minister of Propaganda Greg Buisson.

So, if anything, it was a smart political move by Templet to nominate Conley, even if it breaks with the East/West Bank tradition and would be horrible for Jefferson Parish. The Conley nomination takes out Templet's chief rival for the seat.

Now the questions are: does Conley/Buisson file a lawsuit to overturn the preclusion of the interim from seeking the seat or does Johnston go back on his word and run against Templet allowing a clear path for Conley to seek the Division B seat.

Let me just get this out there from the jump - Keith Conley elected ANYTHING in Jefferson Parish is a bad thing for JP residents, a very bad thing.

But. this entire process was flawed. 

Buisson client, and Mike Yenni loyalist, Dominick Impastato nominated restaurant owner Larry Katz while fellow Buisson client Jennifer Van Vrancken nominated Lisa Jackson. Like Conley, both katz and Jackson reside on the East Bank and that is where the similarities end as neither had a show and were nominated simply for the theatre of showing they were nominated.

Katz quit the process early while Jackson, after filing her paperwork, enclosed a letter withdrawing and endorsing Conley.

No, this seat was Conley's all along.

And that makes this flawed process sad.

But, since we are stuck with Conley, let's examine his record.

I have written about Conley in the past. If you want a refresher, click here or here or here.

Conley was a JPSO Deputy before he "retired" after being named in a cover up of an assault on a Mardi Gras Parade attendee. Conley, the JPSO and several other Deputies were the target of several civil suits that resulted in over $330,000 paid to the victim.

Conley was named Assistant City Attorney by then-Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz. Subsequently, Concley was named Clerk of Court. All the while, despite being one of the highest paid City of Kenner employees, Conley continued his private practice as a Personal Injury Attorney.

Conley and his wife filed for bankruptcy discharging over $800,000 in debt. Shortly after filing, Conley "found" several thousand dollars which he chose to donate to the Mayoral campaign of Mike Yenni instead of paying off his creditors.

After Yenni was elected, Conley was named Kenner City Attorney. Again, while one of the highest paid city employees, Conley continued his private practice and also worked with the law firm of Yenni's bff Michael Brandner (he of the 2nd most stupid legal ads - sorry Juan LaFonta is 1st). Despite the "double-dipping", Yenni repeatedly defended Conley saying "There's nothing in the charter that doesn't allow him from doing it." While that may be true, I think if you're a Full-Time City Attorney you can't spend your days trying your own cases and, as I've said many times, just because it's technically not illegal or unethical, that doesn't make it right. Yenni and I have differed on this point many times. 

While City Attorney, Conley was appointed Interim Code Enforcement Director and given a healthy pay raise. Again, he continued with his private practice and with Brandner.

Conley resigned both positions and was rumored to be seeking an elected office.

Despite endorsing another candidate for the Council-At-Large seat, Yenni worked to position Conley for that seat and then publicly endorsed Conley and raised funds for his campaign. Conley became one of the "Consensus Team" designed to pass Yenni's flawed agenda.

After Yenni was elected JP President, Conley resigned from the Council, quit on the voters who elected him and joined Yenni's Transition Team. He was subsequently rewarded with the CAO position and a salary well north of $100,000.

While CAO, Conley was part of the cover up of the Harahan-River Ridge stench scandal which has caused health problems for residents, a loss of property value, and multiple lawsuits against the parish.

Conley resigned from JP government in December 2018 to seek either a JP Council-At-Large seat or, possibly, the Parish Presidency should Yenni not seek reelection.

So, in a nutshell, Conley is a failed JPSO Deputy who was drummed out of the JPSO after being involved in the cover up of an assault; he's a political opportunist who would rather give money to his friends and secure a politically appointed position than pay his bills; quit on the voters that elected him after he helped his friend, Mike Yenni; joined Yenni at the parish and was involved in another cover up which has led to health issues for thousands of JP residents; and is now appointed to the JP Council and hopes to parlay that into an elected position.

So, again I ask, is this really the best the JP Council could do?

It also brings into question the judgement of Ricky Templet.

Yes, it was a good political move for Templet to nominate Conley but, for someone that is seeking a parishwide seat himself, Templet certainly didn't consider the best interest of the residents of Jefferson Parish.

And that is disappointing.

Just as disappointing is the fact that the other 5 council members also thought so little of the residents of JP that they put out this flawed dog and pony show in the hopes that we wouldn't notice.

Well, some of us did notice and some of us will remember.

So, while this process was smoother than the last interim council pick (which needed to be made by Governor Edwards), neither pick was a victory for JP residents. \

Just politics as usual at our expense.