Town leaders have EBR ties

• By BOB ANDERSON
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Jan 6, 2009 - Page: 6B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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WALKER — The town’s administration looks a lot like the former East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office after Bobby Font took over as mayor and Fred Raiford became his chief of staff Monday.

Both men formerly held high profile positions in the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office.

Adding to Walker’s link with Baton Rouge law enforcement is Eldon Burns, one of four new members of the town’s Board of Aldermen.

Burns, is a retired Baton Rouge police officer, as is Font. Burns once served as Walker’s police chief.

Raiford retired as Public Works director for the city-parish before going to the Sheriff’s Office, where he served as an administrative assistant and spokesman under then Sheriff Greg Phares.

In his first day on the job Monday, Font said he has several matters that need to be handled quickly.

Among those are “serious drainage issues,” wastewater problems and the need for a new roof on the Municipal Building, said Font, who led the East Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office’s SWAT team and ran the regional law enforcement training academy before running for mayor of Walker.

The Board of Aldermen will take up budget issues next week, Font said.

For the time being, Font said he will not push for any changes in the $12 million budget prepared by outgoing Mayor Travis Clark, though priorities may shift in the future.

“Our biggest goal and objective is to see where we are” in terms of finances and projects, Raiford said Monday.

Financial record-keeping has improved, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “where we want it to be,” Raiford said.

“We want to be sure we’re meeting the state requirements.”

Font said he also wants to create a master plan for the town.