ABBEVILLE, La. ( KLFY ) — It was a bittersweet moment for Councilman Francis Touchet Jr. as Tuesday marked his last council meeting after 22 years of service.
Touchet, who serves District B as Mayor Pro-Tem, announced his resignation for the end of the month so he can focus on his other duties as Lafayette Parish School System superintendent .
“I am looking forward to devoting my entire career to the Lafayette Parish School System and making sure that I am living within the community and I am doing the things I have to do to be able to help all of our employees and students throughout the district,” he said.
Touchet served 22 years and six consecutive terms on the Abbeville City Council. He explained that he will be moving to Lafayette to practice what he preaches to 4,400 employees who work for him there.
“It’s to make sure that I am living by what I preach every day. When we are in Lafayette, we need to be spending money there and we need to be investing in our communities. I’m going to be moving to Lafayette and I’m going to be living where I work and making sure that we’re doing what we can to provide the level of education to all students,” he said.
Serving with three different mayors and councils, Touchet said his proudest moment is giving a voice to District B.
Morgan City mayor says water pumps were on and working for Hurricane Francine “I can tell you the one thing that I’ve always done is I’ve always stated that I’m going to look at every single person equally and I’m going to make sure that I take care of people and I do what I need to do and regardless of what kind of money you have and where you come from. You’re going to be treated the same and I truly believe that the citizens in District B understand that because they have my personal cell number and they’ve had my personal cell number,” he said.
Touchet said Abbeville will always be in his heart and he will not be a stranger to the city.
“I will just tell you that I’m a person who is always a phone call away, and I’m here to help each and every one of you if I can,” Touchet said.
Former Mayor Mark Piazza highlighted some of Touchet’s accomplishments. Among those accomplishments, Touchet helped provide housing and food after Hurricane Lily in 2002 and he obtained grants to help with flooding mitigation in an area they call “the bottom” after dealing with 17 major hurricanes and 22 tropical storms in 20 years.
“That area has been a big success. In 2016 when other parts of Abbeville were flooding there was very little flooding and the people slept more comfortably at night in their homes in the bottom because of the grant Francis Touchet got for his district,” Piazza said.
Second teen arrested in connection with barbershop murders, police say Piazza further noted Touchet’s efforts in bringing free entertainment to the public and working with Councilman Brady Broussard to improve the parks.
One of the most significant things Touchet did during his time was helping Piazza spearhead the head of the Electrical Committee in 2006, the former mayor said.
“He’s the one who recommended that Ben Russo come back with a contract that had a fixed rate that wouldn’t fluctuate and Ben Russo did and came back with CLECO with a fixed rate contract in 2006 that lasted for a six year period. No other city in the state of Louisiana had a fixed rate contract for electrical power that’s provided on a full-scale level of cities like Abbeville,” said Piazza.
“We have had the benefit and the pleasure of low-cost electricity for the past 18 years. It didn’t end with just that one contract. We renegotiated another one, then another one. All fixed-rate contracts that have saved the city millions of dollars and saved the taxpayers millions of dollars and the businesses millions of dollars, because that gentleman right there, negotiated the very best electrical contract in the state of Louisiana back in 2006,” Piazza continued.
He said Touchet served the last 22 years the way an elected official should serve — with integrity, honesty and discipline.
“Francis Touchet, he always made sure that his point came across and that he made his point and that he fought his people. He fought for his district and he fought for the people of Abbeville and I am proud to say that I had the opportunity to serve with this gentleman for 20 years and it was a pleasure and I call this gentleman my friend, and he was a tremendous city councilman. I think one of the best the city of Abbeville has ever had,” Piazza said.
Tony Hardy, councilman of District A, thanked Touchet for what he has taught him since on the council.
Applications for the Coastwide Nutria Control Program are now open “I hope he’s the superintendent of Lafayette until he’s ready to retire. I wish him all the luck. It’s been great working with you. I really hope you have the rest of your life just as great as it has been lately,” he said.
Mayor Roslyn White thanked Touchet for his support and encouragement as she expressed joining the council and running for mayor.
“Lafayette Parish gain is our loss here in the city of Abbeville but thank you for the time that you’ve served and we appreciate you,” she said.
Touchet said the council will vote on his replacement at the first meeting in October.
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