Lafayette City-Parish Councilman Jay Castille has replaced Lloyd Rochon as Carencro's city manager.
Ten days of Lloyd Rochon's departure from his job as Carencro city manager, Lafayette District 2 City-Parish Councilman Jay Castille was hired for the job. Rochon was making almost $64,000 a year when he left the post, Mayor Glenn Brasseaux confirms, and Castille was hired by a vote of the Carencro City Council at a salary of $50,000.
Brasseaux says Rochon notified him Oct. 26 that he would be leaving the job he had held since 2002; Rochon's last day of work was Nov. 11. "Lloyd was the first city manager hired by the city," Brasseaux says. "He did an outstanding job for us."
Rochon says among his proudest achievements was organizing all areas of city government to increase efficiency in the delivery of services to residents, and developing a motivated and knowledgeable staff that is cross-trained to step up and assume additional duties when necessary. "Our staff is the best at what they do," he says.
Among his biggest accomplishments, the former city manager cites his work to help obtain $1 million in state capital fund monies to build a new fire station and renovate city hall. Rochon says he also wrote a grant application for $400,000 for the Richard Street erosion control project, which is in the design phase, and consistently obtained grants form the Louisiana Governmental Assistance Program for sewer improvements and other city projects. "The grant application is currently pending to continue renovations to city hall," Rochon says, noting that the maximum amount of the available funds is $50,000.
In citing other unfinished business he hopes his successor continues to pursue, Rochon says he coordinated with the Corps of Engineers for a $2.6 million grant to make improvements to the Beau Basin Coulee. While the funds were earmarked for this project, they were withdrawn when the debt crisis occurred, he maintains. "Efforts must be continued to keep this project alive and on the front burner for the Corp," Rochon says.
Neither Brasseaux nor Rochon would say why he left the post. "It was time to go," Rochon told The Independent Monday. He is unsure what path his career will take next but is not ready for full retirement. "I like to keep busy," says Rochon, who is also caring for his ailing wife, Eva Dell.
On Oct. 22, four days before he resigned, Rochon ran unsuccessfully for the C-P District 3 seat held by Brandon Shelvin. He also sought the seat in 2007, at the time being cleared by the Louisiana Attorney General to keep his job if he were elected to the council.
Rochon retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1977 after 22 years and worked as a communications consultant for South Central Bell for a short time. He was director of federal programs for the Lafayette Parish Police Jury from 1979 until 1984, when parish government was formed and he became the first and only person to serve as clerk of the Lafayette Parish Council. After consolidation of city and parish governments in 1996, he took over as clerk of the Lafayette City-Parish Council, retiring in 2001.
Castille, who begins his second term as a C-P councilman in January (he was unopposed this year), is the owner of Jay Castille Construction Inc. and is also a land developer, according to his bio on Lafayette Consolidated Government's website. He retired from the Lafayette Fire Department after 20 years of service.