Abbeville administration sworn in

When Abbeville’s newest administration presides of its first city council meeting this evening, it will be full of familiar faces.
Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza and each of the five councilmen, Brady Broussard Jr., Louis Joe Hardy, Wayne Landry, Francis Plaisance and Francis Touchet Jr., as well as Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy, took part Monday afternoon in an official swearing ceremony. All seven men return to their respective seats.
Piazza is entering his fourth term as mayor, following three terms as a councilman.
“It is truly an honor for me to represent the citizens as their mayor,” Piazza said. “Entering my seventh term as a public official is a humbling experience, one that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I look forward to working with the city council and the chief of police for the next four years.
“I thank my family and friends for their continued support.”
Like the mayor, Touchet returns to his seat with plenty of experience. This will mark Touchet’s fourth term representing District B.
“I will be going on 16 years as a city councilman,” Touchet said. “What I look forward to is that we move into this term as a team and work together on all issues to make the city of Abbeville a better place for everyone to live.”
Touchet said there are goals to which he will work to achieve.
“I am looking as the finance chairman of making every effort to be more fiscally responsible in this new term,” Touchet said. “I want us to bring things to the point where we are able to save in case there is something that takes place with anything out of the ordinary that we are not expecting.
“I think that is truly one of the things we will be focused on.”
Touchet said there is another issue he will address.
“We really need to look and try to get to the root of why the city is facing so much crime in the last couple of years,” Touchet said. “I will bring that up on the agenda tonight.”
Broussard is entering his first full term on the District C seat. He became a councilman in late 2011 and fulfilled the remainder of the late Carbett Duhon’s term. Broussard agreed with Touchet that there are several issues that need to be addressed.
“Though our city has made progress in the last four years,” Broussard said, “we are now faced with problems that we will begin to address Tuesday night at the first Council meeting of the new administration.”
As far as serving as a councilman, Broussard said it is nothing short of a pleasure.
“The swearing in ceremony was very nice and a special time for me to be surrounded by family friends and peers that I will work with in the next four years,” Broussard said. “I am humbled by the enormous responsibility in serving the fine citizens I represent.”
Councilman Hardy is entering his third term serving District A. Combined with his time as a Vermilion Parish Policy Juror, Hardy has more than 40 years in politics.
“It doesn’t seem like it has been that long,” he joked. “It seems like it’s only been 10 years. It goes by fast.
“I am looking forward to getting after it again and working with everyone.”
Landry, who is entering his second full term in District D, echoed those sentiments. Landry returns to office after being the only city official to take part in an election. The mayor, police chief and other four councilman went in unopposed.
“I am looking forward to it and I’m very excited,” said Landry, who has held the seat since ‘08 after taking over for former Councilman Carlton Campbell. “I want to keep building on the positives and address the negatives.
“I want to hit the ground running, work as a team and make the city as successful as possible.”
Continuing to work as a whole is part of what Chief Hardy said he wants to be a focus in the coming years. Hardy is entering his second term as police chief.
“You can’t stop,” he said. “You have to keep going. I want to continue working with the mayor and council for the next four years.
“I most definitely want to keep that going.”
As does Plaisance. He is entering his third term as councilman-at-large.
“I want to continue moving forward with many of the projects we have had,” Plaisance said. “We have resurfaced a lot of roads in the city. We are doing everything we can to get grants and things like that. I just want to continue being of service to the community. Whoever needs to call me, I look forward to responding.
“I want to do whatever I can to help move our city forward by working with the mayor, council and police chief.”