As expected, Slidell Mayor Ben Morris officially tosses his hat in for Slidell Police Chief during the final day of qualifying Friday.
Morris finishes out a field of four candidates for Slidell top cop job. Also running is former lieutenant with the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office, Randy Smith, Pearl River policeman J. J. Jennings and security company employee Jason Zar. This will be Morris’ second time running for police chief. He was the city’s police chief from 1990 to 2002.
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The big surprise at the end of qualifying was the number of City Council seats that will be filled automatically because there were no contenders to run against the incumbents.
Of the six incumbents running, five were unopposed by 5 p.m. Friday, the deadline for qualifying.
This means that District A Councilman Lionel Hicks, District D Councilman Joe Fraught, District G Councilman Bill Borchert and both at large Council members Kim Harbison and Landon Cusimano will retain their seats on the council.
The only incumbent that drew any opposition was District C Councilman Warren Crockett, a Republican who will face off against two Democrats, local businessman Dwayne “Buddy” Lloyd and retired businessman Valsin “Val” Vanney.
In District B, appraiser Richard Reardon will go up against retired schoolteacher Sam Abney to see who takes over Hursey’s seat on the council.
Two other newcomers to politics, Jay E. Newcomb and M.T. “Terry” Youngs will vie for the District F seat that was held by James Devereux.
The council appointed Devereux after Harbison won the at large seat, and by law he cannot run for the seat again.
Another surprising end to the qualifying period was that former Slidell Mayor Sam Caruso was the only candidate to qualify for the District E council seat. Caruso, who was mayor from 1986 to 2002, will replace Councilman Ray Canada who could not run again because of term limits.
There were no surprises in the Mandeville mayor’s race.
Council member Trilby Lenfant and School Board member Donald Villere had both publicly announced their candidacy to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of former mayor Eddie Price, so it came as no surprise when they both qualified Wednesday.
The two have been pounding the pavement meeting with residents and touting their previous service for weeks.
Villere has served on the St. Tammany Parish School Board for 12 years, two of which he served as president of the board. He currently serves as chairman of the board’s Business Affairs and Administration Committee.
Previously he served as a board member of Fourth Ward Recreation, where he was active in the effort to build what is today Pelican Park; and as chairman of the Fire District 4 in Mandeville, where he led the district to initiate an emergency transport service and improved fire and emergency response.
Villere said he has a strong vision to move Mandeville forward beyond the headlines of the recent past and to restore confidence in the office of the mayor and city government.
Lenfant has served on the City Council since 2000, when she was elected without opposition to represent District One, which covers the western side of the city.
In 2004, she ran and was elected to one of two at-large seats on council.
Lenfant has lead the city’s movement toward stronger reforms in city government by initiating the creation of an internal audit committee, a code of conduct committee and a citizen’s review committee.
Lenfant said if elected, she would continue to work on re-establishing the citizens’ trust in local government.
In the Sun Board of Alderman election to fill the seat vacated when longtime alderman and former mayor Floyd Stanley Mizell died last fall, netted only one contender.
Will Talley qualified for that race Wednesday and was elected to the seat by default.
The primary election is March 27 and there will be a runoff May 1 if necessary.
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