[StBernard] St. Bernard council slaps chairman with censure vote

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard council slaps chairman with censure vote
Criticism of fire chief spurs rebuke of Dean 
Thursday, June 08, 2006
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau 

St. Bernard Parish Council Chairman Lynn Dean is a well-known longtime
critic of the local Fire Department, but his council colleagues censured him
at Tuesday's meeting because they said he had gone too far this time:
belittling Fire Chief Thomas Stone and other professional firefighters in a
debate over cutting overtime spending. 
 
Dean said at the meeting that he "could be a better fire chief" than Stone
as they debated techniques used in a house fire two years ago, and he also
said the department costs too much even if they do "save a few lives." 

Council members, who have had several public dustups with Dean in recent
weeks, were outraged and demanded the meeting be halted to officially rebuke
Dean. 

"That's enough," Councilwoman Judy Hoffmeister said. "People will think you
are representing the council, and that couldn't be further from the truth." 

At that point, at the motion of Councilmen Craig Taffaro and Tony "Ricky"
Melerine, Council Vice Chairman Joey DiFatta took over the meeting for a
council vote to censure Dean's actions, and Dean mumbled to DiFatta that he
was being "ignorant." 

"That's right," DiFatta said. "I'm ignorant now. You have become abusive to
the audience and abusive to the employees and abusive to the council." 

All council members except Dean voted in favor of chastising Dean for his
actions. 

Dean said the vote was a "political thing" and defended his criticism of the
Fire Department. 

Dean has been battling the department since his days as parish president in
1992. During that term the council voted to force him to keep a minimum
staff at fire stations. In the fall of 2004, when he was first elected to
his at-large council position, Dean created a firestorm when he said keeping
fire stations open in the rural parts of the parish was no longer
cost-effective, even though the firefighters also serve as first responders
in medical emergencies. 

The council is wrestling with financial trouble because of reduced tax
revenue since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the parish. Officials are trying
to reduce overtime spending across all departments, including the Fire
Department, and Stone promised to bring a proposal to the council to
consider June 15. 

The council's censure of Dean has no legal meaning and does not threaten
Dean's council chairmanship. Under the parish charter, Dean and DiFatta
alternate each year at the chairman's post as the only parishwide
representatives on the council. 

But after the meeting Hoffmeister said she would censure Dean again if he
continues to act as he has while chairing previous meetings, rebuking
audience members and sometimes refusing to let people speak at certain parts
of the meeting. 

"He was acting totally unprofessional," Hoffmeister said. "I think he was
losing it by the minute, and he was actually verbally attacking our fire
chief and the Fire Department." 

. . . . . . . 

Karen Turni Bazile can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3335.