Box 73521, Metairie, LA 70033-3521
info@bissonet.org
JEFFERSON PARISH ANNOUNCES
NEW CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard announced today that Jose Gonzalez, Chief Administrative Assistant for Public Works for Jefferson Parish, is the Parish’s new Chief Administrative Officer. Mr. Gonzalez replaces Tim Whitmer who resigned on January 4, 2010.
In making the announcement, Parish President Broussard cited Gonzalez’s work ethic, integrity, and experience in administering seven major public works departments with a workforce of approximately 1,200 employees and an annual budget of approximately $200 million.
Mr. Gonzalez began his career with parish government in 1981 as a professional engineer in the Roads and Bridges Department after a 10 plus year stint in the private sector. When he was 13-years-old, he had immigrated with his family to the United States from Cuba, fleeing the Castro communist regime. He graduated from Holy Cross High School in New Orleans and then from LSU with a degree in civil engineering.
Mr. Gonzalez became the Director of Engineering for the Roads and Bridges Department in 1984. He was promoted to Executive Assistant to Parish President Tim Coulon in 2001, then to Director of Public Works in 2004. As the Chief Administrative Assistant for Public Works, he oversees the operations of the Departments of Drainage, Water, Sewerage, Streets, Parkways, Engineering and Capital Projects. Together those departments employ about one-third of the total parish government workforce and their annual budgets total over one-third of the entire parish budget.
Under Mr. Gonzalez’s direction, Jefferson Parish Public Works departments secured more than $500 million in state and federal grants for street, drainage, sewerage, water, and parkway projects.
Mr. Gonzalez has a current annual salary of $142,340. Upon assuming his new position, Mr. Gonzalez will receive a five per cent raise, with another five per cent raise due after six months of satisfactory work performance.
Kazem Alikhani, Director of the Jefferson Parish Department of Drainage, will assume the role of Chief Administrative Assistant for Public Works, and the parish will begin a search for a new Drainage Director.
Mr. Alikhani began his career with parish government in 1982 as an engineer in the Department of Drainage after working in the private sector. He later worked as Project Engineer in the Department of Engineering and in 1995 was promoted to Assistant Director of the Water Department.
Mr. Alikhani was promoted to Director of the Department of Drainage in December of 2004 at which time the Departments of Pump Stations and Drainage were consolidated.
As Director of the Department of Drainage, which employs a workforce of approximately 300 employees and an annual budget of approximately $50 million, Mr. Alikhani oversees the daily operations and maintenance of 53 drainage pump stations, 340 miles of drainage canals, and 1,500 miles of street subsurface drainage systems.
Mr. Alikhani graduated from the University of New Orleans with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1980 and continued to receive his Master of Science in Engineering in 1984.
"Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Alikhani were chosen for these respective positions because of their many years of experience and institutional knowledge in the inner workings of Jefferson Parish government and their excellent job performance over their many years of service,” said Parish President Broussard. “These are two men that are greatly respected by their co-workers and the administration and have worked closely with this Council over the last six years. It was fortunate to have such excellent, capable persons available within the administration to fill these two critical positions. The immediate mission of Mr. Gonzalez will be to refocus the administration's efforts on providing the day-to-day services to the people of Jefferson Parish in the most effective manner possible.”
“Acting CAO Bert Smith will return to his position as Deputy CAO and will work with Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Alikhani in carrying out their duties," he added.
Jefferson Parish Receives GFOA’S Award
The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) recently announced that Jefferson Parish, Louisiana was the recipient of the “Distinguished Budget Presentation Award” for its budget document. The Jefferson Parish Finance Department has received this award for the past 14 years.
The award represents the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting and represents guidelines for effective budget presentation by an organization. In order to receive this award, the entity had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity’s budget serves as:
· a policy document
· a financial plan
· an operations guide
· a communications device
Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories, and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories, to receive the award. This year’s award was presented to Gwen Bolotte, Director of Finance, and the Finance Department.
GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving over 17,600 government finance professionals throughout North America. The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.
Section 8 Housing
If you are interested in finding out information about Section 8 Housing you can call
Barry Bordelon
Director the Housing Authority of Jefferson.
583-7442
The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) has awarded $3,164,202 in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds to Jefferson Parish for the Midway Drainage Project located in
This project involves implementing subsurface drainage improvements to Charlotte, Marsha and Wildwood Drives, between
For more information contact Kazem Alikhani, Director of the Jefferson Parish Department of Drainage at 736-6753.
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