Newly elected state Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, who has served as Lafayette’s director of Parks & Recreation for three decades, will scale back to 34 hours per week as rec director to comply with state laws regard dual office-holding after consulting with the state Ethics Board, the state attorney general and the legislative auditor in December.
“I’m still unclassified — I work at the pleasure of the mayor — but this is a permanent part-time position instead of a permanent full-time position,” Boudreaux says.
Boudreaux tells The IND he will also freeze his retirement benefits with Lafayette Consolidated Government and will use accrued vacation time while in Baton Rouge serving as the District 24 senator. At the direction of Gov. John Bel Edwards state lawmakers will convene a special session to address state finances in February ahead of the regular session that begins March 14. The changes to Boudreaux’s employment status with Lafayette Consolidated Government go into effect Sunday.
“One of the things that I wanted to make crystal clear is that I take my job as director of Parks & Recreation serious and that’s not going to be compromised by me being a state senator, and conversely I want to represent and serve the people of District 24,” Boudreaux adds. “Mayor Robideaux has worked with me to accept the fact that when we’re in session I still have duties and responsibilities, but I’m not going to be on the city’s clock during those times.”
Boudreaux, the brother of Lafayette Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux, was also a Division I NCAA men’s basketball official for 28 years and later served for seven years as supervisor of officials for the Southeastern Conference. He stepped down from the SEC three years ago, joking that he “had to give something up.”
“I’m appreciative to Joel for working with me on this. He gets to have the title of being the fifth mayor I’ve worked under. We’ve come a long way in this community with recreation; there’s a couple of more things I hope we can get done before my tenure’s done. But I also look forward to the challenges from the state — that we can do better and we will do better.”