Corey Orgeron (file photo)
At least Orgeron concedes that 20′ roads are safer for school buses to travel than 18′ roads.
Future one-term council member, the now un-electable Corey Orgeron is not a fan of Pelican Post or our editor (yours truly). Neither is he fond of President Clint Cointment and newly-appointed Director of Planning and Facility Maintenance Ricky Compton. Orgeron’s social media meltdown began as a comment to our story on Monday’s Strategic Planning Committee, turning into a diatribe against Cointment and Compton for some reason.
Orgeron’s public criticism of Compton comes a mere 12 days after his council colleague was censured for leaving an expletive-laced voicemail for another parish employee. Orgeron, according to multiple of his council-mates, was a leading proponent of that censure proceeding. His hypocrisy will surprise no one whose paid attention to the council since January.
The District 4 Ascension Council representative took issue with our reportage of the committee meeting. Orgeron had argued against proposed legislation to increase requisite width (from 18 to 20 feet) of any road onto which a new subdivision development enters.
https://pelicanpostonline.com/?p=51880
Currently, the operative Subdivision Regulation, 17-4032(1)(a), reads:
No major or minor subdivision may be developed on any street which is less than 18’ in pavement width.
Orgeron insisted, with backing from Councilman John Cagnolatti, that an engineer be engaged to analyze the merits of the proposed legislation. Committee Chairman Chase Melancon disagreed, opining, “I don’t feel that we need an engineer to tell us that 18′ is unsafe.” We sided with Melancon (see link provided above) which drew the ire of Orgeron in the article’s “Comments” section.
I see the disbarred, methhead, wife beating God hating wannabe lawyer and practicing gossip columnist is back at the pipe along with his old drinking buddy Jeff “30 percenter” Pettit. Both still fail to see the truth through the fog. For the record, I asked the chair to obtain support from any one of the numerous engineering firms contracted by the administration for this proposal. Rather than trust the intellect of the one time landscape architect turned Cointment guru and his magical tape measure, I requested data driven by professional engineers. The administration opted to ignore this request. My decision does not question that the safety of our children would best be served on wider highways, but whether the new 20′ requirement was sufficient and whether this new burden would satisfy court scrutiny (the PP publisher might recall this necessity if his memories weren’t damaged from long term exposure to illegal chemicals). If it’s not too much for the geniuses behind these attacks to comprehend, if the purpose behind this charade is really safety why not propose the same road width we require inside subdivisions. Could it be that certain Cointment political allies and financial supporters would not benefit from this requirement? I believe in Mr. Melancon and his intentions, he is a fine person and a trusted colleague; however, as I told him, let’s get the experts to recommend the best and safest practices. If this administration were truly concerned about the safety of our children it would rely on the experts and not the landscape architect he’s paying six figures to play with remote control airplanes and magical tape measures.
NOTE: He’s referring to your writer in the first sentence of another factually inaccurate diatribe, but we’ll leave it alone for now (except to say I’ve never had a drink with Jeff Pettit, or anyone else over the last 11 years). We’ve highlighted the passages in Orgeron’s meltdown most unbecoming of any elected official, particularly a Parish Council member schooled against such petty insults directed at a parish employee.
The parish employee to whom Orgeron refers…”the one time landscape architect”…is Ricky Compton whose recent job appointment is scheduled for ratification by the Council on Thursday. Two months ago Compton appeared before Strategic Planning to argue in favor of wider roads…
“So, we know what we need to drive down the road safely. We’re not going to cure the sins of the past. We’re simply saying that a new subdivision should not be approved on a road where buses cannot pass safely.
Whatever data you want us to collect, we’ll be happy to collect it. But the number we chose is not arbitrary. It’s factual and based on the buses that are in our system.”
Lambert/Orgeron/Cagnolatti reject Subdivision Regulation proposed to ensure child safety
Orgeron omitted any mention of Compton (and Cointment) on June 11 as he accused unnamed individuals of rigging the game against large developers:
All I know is that certain individuals who are going to personally benefit from limiting the size of subdivisions in the parish are pushing this issue. We have certain individuals in this parish who own smaller tracts of land who are looking forward to eliminating larger subdivisions so that now their property becomes the only game in town. That’s what’s taking place in this parish; that’s what’s happening here.
They’re finally getting their voice out and they’re strategically putting things in place so that their property is the only property, the only game in town, the only property that is developed. We need to make sure that we’re not like Robin Hood; stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Or stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.”
We don’t get the Robin Hood allusion either.
This is not the first time Orgeron has taken on the Cointment administration. In a May email sent to the entire council, among others, he accused another high-ranking official of “malfeasance.” Orgeron was not called out for that one, not publicly at least, by any council member and “censure” seems never to have been discussed.
Speaking of hypocrisy…we’ll soon find out if it pervades the entire council.
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