Abbeville City Council does not rehire Jerry Smith as parks director

Jerry Smith is not getting his job back as Abbeville’s Park and Recreation Director.
The Abbeville City Council voted 3-2 again not to make Smith the permanent parks and recreation director.
Before the vote, Abbeville residents voiced their concerns as to why they wanted to keep Smith. The residents also wanted to know why councilmen Francis Plaisance, Joe Hardy and Wayne Landry voted not to re-hire Landry.
Plaisance did not hesitate when he gave his reason. It was not an answer anyone in the audience was waiting to hear.
Plaisance accused Smith of lying on his resume as to where he was employed before accepting the Abbeville job. On his resume, it stated Smith was the chief program director for the city of New Orleans Recreation. Plaisance said when the city tried to recently check on Smith’s employment in New Orleans, they “ran into a dead end street.”
“We find out during the interview process that Mr. Smith was employed in New Orleans,” said Plaisance. “I remember him asking not to contact his employee because he was still employed there. We find out that Mr. Smith was not even employed there at the time. We understood that he was.”
Plaisance said when the council voted not to keep Smith, it was aware of the New Orleans problem. Plaisance added the council also had several other issues that it dealt with about Smith.
“There are other issues we can not talk about,” he said. “We have other serious issues that have surfaced.”
Plaisance said if the city is going to hire someone full-time, he wants to make sure the person is truthful about where he or she works.
He said Vermilion Catholic High School let go VC head football Charlie Cryer because he lied on his resume not long after he had just won a Class A state title.
“We have to make decisions on the information we have before us. Mr. Smith could not remember who his supervisor was in New Orleans. If you were in the position I was in, you would have done the same thing.”
Smith was allowed to speak after Plaisance talked. He said Plaisance was not telling the truth. After the vote, Smith walked out of the meeting room.
When the Meridional went to press Tuesday night, the City Council was still trying to decide what to do about the recreation league in Abbeville.