[StBernard] David Dysart to be Jefferson Parish's next emergency management director

[Westley Annis]

David Dysart to be Jefferson Parish's next emergency management director

Published: Monday, December 19, 2011, 5:23 PM     Updated: Monday, December
19, 2011, 6:19 PM

 By The Times-Picayune 

Ray Meyers, the former state trooper who spent nine months as Jefferson
Parish's emergency management director, is stepping down, and St. Bernard
Parish's homeland security director, David Dysart, will take his place. "We
thank Ray for the service that he has provided to the citizens of Jefferson
Parish and wish him well with his future endeavors," Jefferson Chief
Operating Officer Chris Cox said Monday. 

Meyers plans to leave by Jan. 2, said Cox, who wouldn't elaborate further,
citing it as a personnel matter.

Dysart, who had been expected to serve the remaining days of St. Bernard
President Craig Taffaro's term, tendered his resignation Monday. He would
not publicly discuss the Jefferson position, saying only that he will begin
vacation at the close of business Tuesday and that his official exit from
St. Bernard government will take effect Christmas day at midnight.

Cox disclosed Dysart's hiring in an email to Jefferson Parish Council
members.

Meyers was hired in March as the first emergency management director brought
into Parish President John Young's nascent administration. He oversaw the
final touches to bring online the parish's new emergency operations command
center in Gretna.

But Young's Emergency Management Department took steady flak from Parish
Council members, who criticized its managers as inexperienced. Young
eventually removed Meyers' supervisor, Chief Administrative Assistant
Heather Hilliard, from the chain of command, making Deputy Chief Operating
Officer Richard Hart, the parish's No. 3 executive, Meyers' direct boss.
Young said the move brought disaster management closer to his own command.

Meyers landed in hot water in August, when he was arrested in New Orleans
after driving a vehicle over a woman's foot in the French Quarter. New
Orleans police booked Meyers with aggravated battery. He is scheduled to
appear Jan. 11 in Criminal District Court.

Because the incident occurred while Meyers was off duty and didn't directly
affect his job, Young said he didn't suspend Meyers as they awaited the
outcome of the case.

Dysart, a Marine colonel, came to St. Bernard in the fall of 2005 as part of
the military's support efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Parish President
Henry "Junior" Rodriguez then hired him as reconstruction director, citing
his experience in rebuilding Fallujah, Iraq. Dysart had directed the Civil
Military Operations Center after that city's infrastructure was destroyed by
repeated bombings and Euphrates River flooding in 2004.

In 2008, Dysart became the St. Bernard homeland security director, and he
took on the dual role of interim chief administrative officer in 2009.

When Rodriguez's successor, Craig Taffaro, resigned early last week, he said
Dysart would take over the parish president responsibilities until Dave
Peralta is sworn into office Jan. 10. Peralta defeated Taffaro in the Nov.
19 runoff.

The Parish Council was set to appoint Dysart acting parish president
Tuesday. Instead, the council is expected not to appoint anyone to that role
and instead pass a resolution allowing any needed interim administrative
decisions to be approved by the dual signatures of Finance Director Beverly
Gariepy and the Parish Council's executive finance committee chairman,
Councilman Wayne Landry.

Peralta told a reporter Monday afternoon that Jerry Graves Jr., who left as
St. Bernard's community development director in August 2010 after a soured
relationship with Taffaro, will become chief administrative officer in
January.

. . . . . . .

This story was written by Richard Rainey and Benjamin Alexander-Bloch.