Ortego resigns as Civil Service Board chairman

Change is coming to the Ville Platte Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board after its chairman announced his resignation during Thursday’s meeting.
“I will be resigning from the board and as chairman due to no fault of my own,” announced David Ortego. “I’m pursuing a political office; therefore, requirement, rules, and regulations of serving on the civil service board do not allow you to be involved in any political situation or campaign.”
Ortego looked back on his time on the board that spanned three mayoral administrations and nearly 17 years. “It’s been a pleasure serving with all of you,” he told his fellow board members. “It was quite an experience.”
He continued, “We’ve had some easy times and times where we’ve had to make decisions that were not totally comfortable, but they were necessary decisions to be made regardless. I think we made some good decisions that we came out of without too many blemishes or scars.”
Board members Chris Soileau and Venita Doucet thanked Ortego for his years of service on the board and expressed how much they enjoyed serving with him.
Hilda Edwards, board secretary, told Ortego, “We appreciate you, and we’re going to miss you.”
During the meeting, the board approved the following personnel action forms: Tyla Godeaux- confirmation as police officer, resigned; Gujuan Anderson- resigned; Lance Kincanon- lay off due to budget cuts; Raymond Batiste- provisional appointment, lay off due to budget cuts; Conner Atchison- provisional appointment, from provisional to police recruit, lay off due to budget cuts; Samer Abdelatif- provisional appointment, police recruit, lay off due to budget cuts; Daylan Maricle- police officer recruit, resignation; Zachary Blood- resignation; Arron Clark- termination of military leave; Lucas Griffin- resignation; Cedrick Jackson- provisional to recruit, probational police officer; Susan Vankerhove- confirmation as police officer; Jay Gallow- resignation; Shandon Semien- police officer recruit; Lyndon Marsh- termination of military leave; Arron Clark- provisional appointment, recruit to probational; and Clifford Clark- resignation.