EAST BATON ROUGE — Several candidates filed their intent and qualified to run for St. George’s first-ever election set for March 29, 2025. Qualifying ran through Jan. 29-31, 2025.
The election will be for a mayor, police chief and council members.
Current interim Mayor Dustin Yates is running for that position against Jim Morgan while Todd Morris is the sole candidate for Chief of Police.
Both Yates and Morris were appointed to those positions by Governor Jeff Landry in May of last year after the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled to incorporate the City of St. George in April of 2024.
“I’m running for mayor because I believe in a brighter future for our city and parish—a future where families thrive, businesses grow, and neighbors work together,” Yates said in January. “St. George is a community that has already shown what we can accomplish when we come together and I want to build on that momentum.”
Morris said that for the time being, there will be no separate police department for the City of St. George.
Instead, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office will continue to provide law enforcement services to the newly formed city, with Morris acting as a liaison between EBRSO and St. George. Although the possibility of a standalone police department for St. George remains open, Morris emphasized that such a development would likely be years away.
Joel Davis, David Dellucci, Scott Emonet, William “Bill” Johannessen, James “Jay” Lindsey, Jim Talbot, and Shaunn Wyche are running for the At-Large District seat while Richie Edmonds is running for the District 1 Seat.
Steve “Chili” Monachello and William “Bill” Brigman are seeking election for the District 2 seat while Max Himmel is seeking the District 3 seat. Patricia “Patty” Cook, David Madaffari, Shannon Powell, and Justin Turner are running for the District 4 seat.
J. Andrew Murrel is the only candidate running for the District 5 seat so far.
Moncachello, Himmel, and Cook already serve as council members after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry appointed them in May. Monachello was appointed to serve District 1 by Landry, Himmel to District 3, and Cook as the Large District seat holder, though all three are now seeking different district seats.
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One Response
I am shocked to hear about the high salaries you decided to give yourselves, the mayor and a city manager. The mayor will get $160,000 for being basically a figurehead with few duties. The City of Central has no city manager and only 5 city employees. They eliminated the bureaucracy and saved so much money that they a have a huge surplus. If The mayor receives such a high salary, he needs to do much more and we DO NOT need to spend a $250,000 salary for an unnecessary city manager. I will be voting NO to the city charter due to other very questionable aspects one of which is the need to have a super majority to amend the charter: six out of seven members. It could never be amended. We so NOT need a charter!! Central does not have charter. You guys appear to be self-serving and not very conservative. This is not the kind of city government we the people want.
This is NOT better government. We need to cut these salaries and eliminate city manager using IBTS instead. Go back to the Lawrason ACT.