On Monday evening, Mayor Sid Edwards announced that he had made the “difficult but necessary” decision to lay off four employees in his own office ahead of larger anticipated job cuts across city-parish government.
The mayor’s office on Tuesday confirmed with Daily Report the identities of the four staffers laid off:
- Charlie Davis, chief efficiency officer
- Bill Sherman, communications director
- Falon Brown, press secretary
- Cydni Rabi, operations director of the city-parish’s satellite office in north Baton Rouge
According to Open Data BR, Davis’ salary was $156,613, Sherman’s salary was $97,362, Brown’s salary was $63,487 and Rabi’s salary was $63,487. Collectively, they earned $380,949 per year.
Davis, previously Edwards’ interim chief administrative officer, transitioned into the newly created role of chief efficiency officer in September.
In a notice sent to city-parish employees on Monday, Edwards warned that up to 200 positions may ultimately be eliminated beginning Jan. 1 and continuing through the first quarter of 2026.
The cost-cutting measures come after all three of Edwards’ Thrive EBR tax propositions failed at the ballot box on Saturday.
