City Hall Spotlight

August 7, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Eric Terry

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up? 

I currently live in Algiers, but grew up in Uptown New Orleans/Constance and Louisiana Avenue.

Describe your job to us!

I am the Building Maintenance Supervisors for our Tchoupitoulas Facilities division. My crew and of all service orders and set ups for all buildings in Property Management’s purview. We build the stands for Mardi Gras, and assist with just about anything concerning building maintenance we are tasked with.

Tell us about your career path.

I started working with the city of New Orleans as a Labor and then became a Building maintenance worker and I was promoted to Building maintenance supervisor. I plan on continuing working with the city, and strive to continually grow.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

My job takes me to many/most of the buildings and departments that make up city government.I enjoy working with my development and other departments and meeting the many dedicated employees working for the city.

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

Although we always manage to complete service orders to the best of our ability it is at times difficult with our limited maintenance staff. We have a crew of 10 at Tchoupitoulas and that includes our trades. It makes it difficult to complete service orders quickly and efficiently.

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

I love everything about New Orleans, especially the food the people in Mardi Gras and I love how we all come together as neighbors to help one another out in and event of a storm or hurricane.

July 10, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Tyra Johnson Brown

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up?

Castle Manor, New Orleans East Uptown in Central City

 

Describe your job to us!

My primary responsibilities include overseeing the annual agency certification and funding process for public service and housing activities. This includes but not limited to grant management and program management such as the rental and utilities assistance program in which my office has served over 24,000 households.

 

Tell us about your career path.

I began my career with the City of New Orleans in 1997 as an Analyst Assistant. My career path progressed to being promoted to Contract Analyst, followed by being promoted to Bureau Chief. In 2018, I was appointed as the Director of Housing, which led to my current position as the Director of Housing Policy and Community Development. I have served in the same Department for 25 years.

 

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

Public Service, helping to meet the needs of our most vulnerable population.

 

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

Lack of resources to meet the overwhelming demand from the community.

 

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

The Culture-There is NO place in the WORLD like New Orleans!

June 9, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Valerie Bouldin

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up? 

I live in Gentilly and grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Describe your job to us!

Officially my title is Acting Director of Boards and Commissions and Senior Projects Manager in the Office of the Mayor.  In short, I get to connect people interested in serving fellow residents to the opportunities to do so.  The more than one hundred bodies that govern our city depend on New Orleanians who are willing to share their time and talents for the good of the whole.   Our city is just teeming with talented people.  I also have the privilege of serving as the project manager for Project Why, whose goal is to increase or rebuild trust in government.  All of my work is done in conjunction with other city departments, residents, non profit partners, councilmembers and national thought partners.  Our Mayor is clear about expanding the spectrum of who is engaged with city government to include everyone. 

Tell us about your career path.

I am an educator by trade and taught mathematics to high school and college students.  That step created an opportunity to work as a program manager for an educational nonprofit in Washington, DC.  My service on the Police Community Advisory Board in the First District connected me to the programs of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Engagement.   A couple of years after completing their Civic Leadership Academy (CLA shout out!) I joined the NEO team.  My many roles in that office brought this opportunity my way.  In this role, I utilize every skill that I honed as a teacher and all of the relationships built across the city when serving as a neighborhood liaison.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

Problem solving, relationship building, process designing, listening and learning and the 4700 or so folks who make up the City staff.

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

Committing hundreds and hundreds of new things to memory at once is not easy.  I depend heavily on technology and scores of colleagues willing to share insights and get to hone new skills.

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

Easy answer:  New Orleanians!  New Orleans did not spring forth on its own.  EVERYTHING here was cultivated, created, birthed, preserved, endured, designed, labored over, protected and perfected by those who have called this place home from hundreds of years ago to right now. 

May 5, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Nate Fields

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Baltimore, MD and I lived in East Baltimore near John Hopkins hospital most of my youth and stayed in New York a couple of years as well.

Describe your job to us! 

I am the Director of Homeless Services & Strategies- My job is to find ways to make the system work more efficiently. There are gaps in the system that make it hard for a person that’s experiencing homelessness to navigate and my job/goal is to make sure that we can: 1 prevent homelessness before it begins; this will be a strategic plan that will allow us to think together as a community to plug the gaps that lead to homelessness and housing insecurities and make sure that we can find a way to help a person before they reach the system. 2. Make homeless rare, brief, and non-reoccurring. To make sure that the person who does hit the system find resources quickly and can navigate the system without anything getting in the way.    

Tell us about your career path. 

I started out as a truck driver years ago as I was finishing my undergrad and was in Psychology. My Aunt told me about human services and how I should look into helping others. I graduated and was offered a job running a group home. I was shortly after offered a job working as a counselor working with person with intellectual disabilities, which led to me being offered a job in Baltimore helping to run a foster care agency. During this time, there was a growing issue with youth experiencing homelessness in Baltimore and a company named Downtown Partnership of Baltimore was looking for someone who could work with young people. I was asked to apply for the position. During my interview I was introduced to the youths who were living in a plaza next to the office and they all knew who I was as they were former foster youths who the system had failed. I was able to recognize that there was a need for me in homeless services and I then took off running from there. I worked for the Mayor’s Office of Baltimore City next helping them to create and build out the homeless services office, which back then, homeless services fell under the office of human services. The rest is a very long list of jobs working in homeless services that led up to me coming to New Orleans.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most? 

I enjoy helping people get housed and seeing them put back together the things that were taken from them as society has stolen their ability to be housed by creating financial gaps that keep them from being able to live successfully.

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role? 

Getting people to understand that nobody chooses to be homeless. Not one person wakes up and says, “You know what, I will leave home today and live on the street because that’s just where I need to be!” Most of the folks are there for a reason and it’s usually not that easy to convey that message.

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans? 

People are my favorite everywhere I go! Everyone has a purpose whether they believe it or not. I think the people here make New Orleans this beautiful welcoming place and although some struggle, as often as most do, which is what makes us human! It’s those ideas that makes us all who we are and what we are!

April 10, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Kim DeLarge Jr.

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up?

I live in the 7^th Ward where I grew up with my entire family. My grandfather and all of his sons owned homes on the same block.  I recently purchased and renovated my grandfather's house on Bruxelles Street and have been living there for the past 5 years. My family still lives on the same street with me.

Describe your job to us!

I'm currently the Assistant CAO of Operations. My major responsibilities are managing and directing the Equipment Maintenance Division which is responsible for the entire city's vehicle and heavy equipment fleet. Our goal is to work in partnership with all city departments to provide high quality functional vehicles and heavy equipment needed to perform their operational duties. 

Tell us about your career path.

I've been with the city for 14 years, started in 2009 in Capital Projects as an entry-level Analyst. Capital Projects later became the CPA /Project Delivery Unit (PDU) where I served as one of the charter employees. Majority of my career was spent working in every financial aspect of  the PDU. As an Analyst I handled Invoices & Requisitions and Contract Management. Later on I became Documents Control Manager where I was responsible for maintaining all infrastructure documents and Information Technology support. I was then elevated to Capital Budget Director in 2012 and continued through 2022. In this role I was responsible for every aspect of the $2 billion dollar capital budget. I managed a staff of 45 employees who have become more like family over the years. In 2022 under the leadership of Mr. Joseph S. Threat, Sr.  I was promoted to the Project Delivery Unit Director of Capital Budgets & Operations. This was one of my proudest moments because I started as charter employee and ascended to the Director and leader of the PDU. Just this past month in March 2023 an opportunity presented itself to become Assistant CAO of Operations and I couldn't pass it up. This was a very tough decision for me because I realized I had been in the PDU my entire career and the PDU is like family to me. However, I gladly accepted the opportunity because it was my dream job. I would personally like to thank CAO Mr. Gilbert A. Montano for the opportunity and trusting and believing in me.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

My favorite aspect of the job is the people; the people I work with and the citizens of New Orleans. Everything we do is impact our communities in a positive way. As a third generation civil servant, I take pride in serving our community. My grandfather, Alton DeLarge, Sr., worked under former Mayor Dutch Morial in the construction department. His three sons, Alton, Wayne, and Kim, Sr. all had longstanding productive careers as civil servants. It is an honor to continue their legacy and I strive to meet the mark every day. 

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

I'm new to this role. I'm learning everyday and that in itself is a challenge. I work with some great people and they are helping with that learning curve daily. 

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

Food, family, and music festivals. To put it in one word, the culture. I always joke with my family and tell them I am the 7^th ward. I was born in the 7^th ward, I live in the 7^th ward, and when my time is up on this earth, they will scatter my ashes across the7^th ward with a traditional second line band. 

 

March 13, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Paul Harang

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up?

I live in Broadmoor. I grew up in bayou country, a few miles south of here - Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish.

Describe your job to us!

I work with the Clerk's Office, our council central staff team, and the seven councilmembers and their staff. Together we manage the department budget, the legislative process, and the work of each council committee.    

Tell us about your career path.

After getting my masters in Journalism at LSU, I worked in government, higher ed, and healthcare in New Orleans. I was former mayor Mitch Landrieu's liaison to the City Council as well as speechwriter/senior advisor for communications. I've always wanted to work for the body, and I jumped at the chance a few years ago.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

I love seeing how democracy works in practice at the city government level. I have worked with elected officials for my entire career, and local electeds have what I think is the most difficult and sometimes the most rewarding elected position. The public expects to see them working on their behalf. I like to help them do that.

 

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

The variety! We have a large portfolio of work. Luckily we have a great team on staff and a City Council that works well together.

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

I try to prioritize joy in my day-to-day life, not just in some future achievement. I think that outlook fits in well here. 

I know it's cliche to mention, but I love Mardi Gras. The fact that we all take an annual pause to celebrate life in the present tense is special. I have memories with my wife, kids, and friends that I would not have without carnival.

February 10, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Enrico Sterling

 

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up?

I am from Prince George’s County, Maryland- right outside of Washington, D.C., the city of my birth. I came here to attend Tulane University, 2022 AAC Football Champions and Champions of the 2023 Cotton Bowl.

Describe your job to us!

As Deputy Director of Property Management, I work with the staff to maintain operational services in all City buildings and the department; facilitate sales, leases, and purchases of city properties; and maintain City cemeteries.

Tell us about your career path.

My career path spans both the private and public sectors.  I have worked in marketing and special events.  I have also worked in the classical arts with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.  In my time at City Hall, I have worked for the City Council District A office, the Public Works Department, and now the Department of Property Management.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

I have been fortunate to work with an outstanding group of dedicate people, all of whom make me look better than I am.  Working with them is the most enjoyable aspect.

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

We have many facilities with many issues and the ever present threat of hurricane situations (quite the wild card).  But our team gets the job done.

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

THE FOOD. DEFINITIVELY. UNEQUIVOCALY. AND IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE!

January 13, 2023 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Michael Karam

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up?

9th Ward/St. Roch. I was born and raised in Franklin (which is in St. Mary Parish, not the Northshore)

Describe your job to us!

I have the privilege of managing an incredible team of dedicated professionals that maintain, develop, beautify and preserve a wide variety of public greenspaces and the City's tree canopy: from Jackson Square to Brechtel Park and every neutral ground in between...and Joseph M. Bartholomew Golf Course in Pontchartrain Park. I work closely with the leadership teams at NORDC, City Park Conservancy, Audubon Nature Institute, SWBNO as well as the City's Infrastructure Team: Sanitation, Office of Resilience and Sustainability, Public Works, Property Management, among others. We at Parkways pride ourselves on our public engagement, ability to impact people's lives by improving public greenspaces and our responsiveness during events like Mardi Gras and after emergency events.      

Tell us about your career path.

After spending a few years in Lebanon and Syria teaching English and exploring my cultural roots, I moved back to New Orleans in 2006. I quickly became involved in neighborhood association tree planting and improvement initiatives and returned to Loyola to obtain a law degree. In 2015 I joined the City of New Orleans as an Assistant City Attorney focusing on blight reduction in the Department of Code Enforcement. My longtime interest in public greenspaces led me from volunteering over the years to eventually joining the board of Parkway Partners. In 2020, I took over as Director of the Department of Parks and Parkways, with invaluable guidance and mentorship by the outgoing director, Ann Macdonald. In this position, I have been able to put my skills and passions to work as mentioned in the above paragraph.    

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

Working with the Parkways staff, our partners and residents to improve public greenspaces.  It is so simple to say, but so rewarding everyday. 

Also, small victories or improvements that may go unnoticed are often the most rewarding...somewhere, someone appreciates the fix or enhancement...it's public service at its best.   

 

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

The diversity of greenspaces that we manage: thousands of acres that range in focus and size: from historical, passive parks and spaces, to neutral grounds and rights of way, to a golf course and playgrounds to green infrastructure projects. Also, managing and growing our tree canopy and working with partner departments and entities on green infrastructure expansion is challenging in that much of it is new territory for the department, but vital to the City's future. The support and partnership that we receive from those groups and our park partners is invaluable and allows us to move past challenges. 

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

The people, greenspaces, food, culture, density, history...we're a one of a kind place on this Earth, know what I mean? 

 

November 6, 2022 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Gerilyn Dinette

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up?

Algiers. I grew up in Boothville — Venice, in lower Plaquemines Parish.

Describe your job to us!

I assist constituents and the executive office staff to the best of my abilities. It could be as simple as transferring a call, directing someone to the appropriate department or as complicated as reaching out to multiple agencies both inside and outside city government to help someone find housing, assistance with daily living needs, or mental health support.

Tell us about your career path.

I started out working as a first responder/EMT with EMS. I worked in EMS for 17 years until I was injured and no longer able to perform my job as an emergency medical technician. After 17 years as a frontline worker, I transitioned into working as the executive assistant and contracts manager at New Orleans EMS, where my previous Director (Dr. Emily Nichols), encouraged me to enrolled in office management and contract courses that the City of New Orleans offers at City Hall. In addition to the courses I completed, I watched countless YouTube videos to prepare myself for office work. One day, I just happened to be on the city website looking at the job postings and saw this job and I felt like it would be a good fit for me so, I applied and shockingly I was called for an interview then, even more shockingly I was called with the job offer, I accepted and NOW I'M HERE!!!!

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

Being a part of an AMAZING TEAM This job is very rewarding to me because, I’m still doing what I enjoy doing most, I’m helping others.

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

Currently, I don’t have any challenges in my role.

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

The diversity in the culture, I call it the gumbo culture and of course the food but, most of all the resilience of the people!!!

October 7, 2022 | From City of New Orleans

City Hall Spotlight: Joseph Threat

What New Orleans neighborhood do you live in? / Where did you grow up?

I currently live in Gentilly with my daughter. I am originally from Kansas City, Missouri.

Describe your job to us!

I have authority over the FEMA-backed program that aims to rebuild 400 miles of streets. It's a handful. It's like walking through a minefield with pork chop pajamas on. It's a professional challenfe that I accepted, and I'm just trying to do my best and be accountable. It's all about getting the job done.

Tell us about your career path.

I started in the Marine Corps in 1969. I was also the Executiev Director for FEMA Recovery from 2009 to 2012.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

Working with a great team of staff and helping them develop and mature.

What challenges do you find to be the greatest in your role?

Trying to build and maintain a cohesive team.

What is your favorite thing about New Orleans?

The music and the food. I've been all over the world, but it feels like you can stay in New Orleans and experience the entire world from here.