Weeks of sniping over how to best search for a new leader of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport came to a head Wednesday, when the Metro Council decided to form a committee to conduct a national search for a director.
Nonetheless, those who argued the council should forego a national search and simply hire Ralph Hennessy—who has served as the interim director for about a year—said he will likely be one of the three candidates brought to the Metro Council by the new search committee.
The committee will consist of three council members and four airport commissioners, but Metro Councilwoman Barbara Freiberg says she has to come back in two weeks to establish who the members will be and their timeline. She floated the idea of having Metro Councilman Trae Welch serve as a council representative on the committee. Welch, who is also a pilot and an airport commission member, has been the most outspoken advocate of hiring Hennessy and critic of a national search.
“I personally am going to begin today researching airports, researching job descriptions, researching ways … we can improve this airport,” Freiberg says, adding she hopes to have a director selected by early next year.
The committee will establish criteria for applications and then interview candidates before submitting a recommendation of “at least three” qualified applicants to the Metro Council.
Hennessy served as assistant director of BTR airport for 15 years until former director Anthony Marino retired last year after serving for more than 20 years. The Metro Council then voted to appoint Hennessy interim director.
Also at its meeting Wednesday, the Metro Council:
- Increased floodplain development requirements. The council passed a measure from councilmembers Dwight Hudson and Erika Green requiring developers to plan their projects to be able to handle more severe storms. Developments will now have to be able to handle 25-year storms as well as the previous 10-year storm requirement. But council members did not agree to another part of that measure that would have made developers have a net positive impact on the floodplain.
- Voted to fund a long-discussed Baton Rouge Bike Share program headed by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The program, originally set to roll out this fall, has been delayed until next spring. The program will offer 800 bikes at 82 docking stations once all phases are completed. Downtown, Mid City and the health district are the main areas that will get bikes. The federal government will pay up to $593,904 and the parish will pay a 20% match.
- Approved moving forward with a study of the parish stormwater system by HNTB, an engineering firm that has some of the largest contracts in Baton Rouge city-parish government. Mayor Sharon Weston Broome selected HNTB last month, a little after the one-year anniversary of massive flooding and amid heightened attention toward preparing for the next major flood. The council voted to authorize Broome to execute the contract.
- Approved hiring Republic Services to collect trash and recycling for the next five years. The city-parish has contracted with the company for several years. The council also approved increasing fines for blighted properties from $125, $250 and $500 up to $1,000, $3,000 and $5,000.
—Sam Karlin
