Gov. Jeff Landry appoints council members for the City of St. George

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Gov. Jeff Landry appointed five council members for the city of St. George on Thursday, May 23.

Landry appointed Steven Monachello for District 1 Alderman, Ryan Heck for District 2 Alderman, Max Himmel for District 3 Alderman, Richie Edmonds and Patty Cook for Aldermans-at-large.

“Each of these folks have been heavily involved with the incorporation effort and are dedicated to ensuring the success of the city of St. George. I am confident in their leadership and looking forward to the work they will accomplish alongside Mayor Yates and Police Chief Morris,” said Landry.

According to the announcement, Monachello is a retired East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office deputy, Louisiana State Police trooper and Drug Enforcement Administration agent. After retiring, Monachello began working with the United States Department of Homeland Security as a FEMA Fraud Task Force agent. He currently works as a federal background investigator for the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

“I’m extremely honored to be selected for this appointment,” said Monachello. “I’m very excited to play a role in the formation of my new City of St. George. I see the task, as we move forward, to be one of starting from ground zero on a previously untraveled road in the beginning in an effort to move our city forward. I look forward to working in an environment of like-minded individuals where a team effort will be required for all of us to succeed.”

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Heck served as an East Baton Rouge metro council member from 2012-2016 and is an entrepreneur who invests in agriculture, disaster recovery and tech startups.

“I’d like to thank Governor Landry for the appointment, and I look forward to getting to work,” said Heck.

Himmel was the owner of Himmel Architectural Door and Hardware Company, a top-five architectural door supplier in the U.S. Himmel sold the business but works as an advisor.

“One of my main goals in the very beginning, I feel we need better infrastructure for our roads and drainage before we can allow any more subdivisions mainly on Hoo Shoo Too Road which is 8” too narrow,” said Himmel. “Tiger Bend is the same along with Elliott Road. I have been out here for 25 years and have not seen any changes in the width of the roads or the intersections and a complete overlay of the roads is needed after the road problems are taken care of. When someone has a problem, we need to look at it and make sure we don’t cause a problem to their neighbors or the whole subdivision. I am very happy to work with anyone and we can ALL work together.”

Edmonds is a business owner, a licensed contractor with the Louisiana State Board of Contractors and a licensed real estate agent.

“I am extremely humbled and honored to be appointed by Governor Landry as interim
Councilman for the City of St. George,” said Edmonds. “It will be my No. 1 goal to serve all of the wonderful residents of St. George and work tirelessly with Mayor Yates, Chief Morris, our new council, and the transition team to make the City of St. George the next great American City! What a great day for Louisiana and East Baton Rouge Parish for the creation of our new city! St. George is open for business, let’s get to work!”

Cook is an active member of the community who spends time as a substitute teacher at the LSU Lab School. Cook was the office manager for the Louisiana Parent-Teacher Association.

“I am honored and humbled to have been chosen to serve on the interim council for St. George,” said Cook. “My goal is to help achieve our vision of being a city in which we can be proud to live and raise our children and grandchildren. We need to keep our families here with less crime and a better sense of community.”

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