Terrebonne group renews search for leader

An economic development group in Terrebonne Parish is about to restart its hunt for an executive director. The (Houma) Courier reports that the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority decided this week to renew the search after learning earlier that its search committee’s first pick, Nicholas Johnson of Austin, Texas, had filed for bankruptcy twice over the past 13 years and was arrested for writing bad checks. The new search is expected to take four to six weeks. Despite concerns that TEDA’s search consultant, Chloe Johnson, had not uncovered the problems, the board decided to have her continue the search, since the $12,000 fee to be paid her comes with a guarantee of a successful hire. The search committee voted Friday to restart the hunt, bringing the recommendation Monday to the full board. The plan is to come up with three new finalists to be interviewed in Terrebonne as soon as possible, board members agreed. After Johnson was nominated, The Courier and (Thibodaux) Daily Comet‘s review of federal court records found that Johnson had filed for bankruptcy twice, in 1998 and 2007. Upon learning that, the search committee put its nomination request aside and asked Johnson for a more-detailed financial history.