Goodness, it was quite a journey for Wade Rich to finally get confirmed by the Bossier City Council as the city's Director of Public Works at the meeting on Tues. Sept. 21.
Evidently Rich finally passed the smell test of council member King David Montgomery, Mr. Seconds Jeff Darby and the rest of the lackey group. Why it took so long can only be a testament to King David's determination to make life hard for new mayor Tommy Chandler.
Rich's confirmation was initially delayed by Montgomery to all more time for further investigation of Rich's qualifications. This was the same excuse/tactic utilized at the first council meeting on July 6 to delay confirmation of now city attorney Charles Jacobs and assistant city attorney Richard Ray.
At the next meeting after the postponement Mayor Chandler bumped the nomination off the agenda at the last minute. Obviously, there was doubt in Chandler's mind that a positive vote could be achieved.
Fast forward to the third time Rich was on the agenda and then another surprise. This time it was a letter by Rich withdrawing his name from consideration. Evidently Rich had had enough of being a pawn between Chandler and the King David court.
Evidently the powers to be, i.e., King David, Mr. Seconds and maybe council pres. Don Bubba Williams, decided to put the interests of the city first, above the petty politics that had become the norm since Chandler took the oath of mayor on July 2. And presumably they assured Rich that the games were over as far as his job, convincing him to reconsider the public works position.
Now Bossier City has a Chief Administrative Officer and a Director of Public Works. The next important position to be permanently filled is that of city engineer. Currently Manchac Group is being paid $12,500 per month to perform the city engineer's functions on a part time basis. Mancha is the full-time manager of the city's water and sewer department and construction projects exceeding $130 million.
Chandler was unhappy that before he took office the Bossier Council extended Manchac's contract for water and sewer management for three years, which will limit his selection powers until late in his term. Whether or not Chandler is "happy" with Manchac serving as an independent contractor for the city engineer's position is an unknown.