See the Ville
Legendary decorator, baker and raconteur, Marc Charbonnet, discusses all things design and history with his beloved friends and neighbors in Saint Francisville, Louisiana.
See the Ville
Kenny Havard - STV: 9
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See the Ville is taking a short summer hiatus. While we’re away, Marc will be sharing some of our favorite episodes. We’ll be back this fall with new guests, new stories, and new conversations. Thank you for being part of the See the Ville family. Have a wonderful summer, and we’ll see you this fall!
Hello everyone and welcome to See the Vill. I'm Mark Charbonnet and we're so thrilled to have Kenny Havert, the president of West Feliciana Parish, and a wonderful native of East Feliciana Parish, and we're going to visit with him today. How are you, Kenny?
SPEAKER_01It's fine. How are you?
SPEAKER_00I'm good. It's been a long day, but I'm so glad we're together to have this little visit.
SPEAKER_01Me too. I was in Baton Rouge earlier, so I was biking traffic. So my blood pressure is just coming down.
SPEAKER_00Oh good, good. He's sipping bourbon and I'm sipping watermelon juice. Um, Kenny, tell us a little bit about your growing up here. I understand you're from Jackson, Louisiana, which is next door.
SPEAKER_01I am. I I grew up, I went to high, you know, school in Jackson from kindergarten to uh graduation with you know the same kids that I went to kindergarten with, you know. Uh my parents and most of all of their family work there at East Louisiana State Hospital. It was a middle institution back in then, you know, built in the 1800s. But um Jackson and East Fluciana is known for a lot of state facilities, so that was pretty much our uh cottage industry was uh state facilities.
SPEAKER_00Uh what did your family do in Jackson with the state facility?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my uh my dad uh retired with I think almost uh 36 years, 38 years, something like that, over 35 years. And he uh retired, he was over, I think, um over the transportation, over like uh I forget what they called it. Um but anyway, he was over the transportation, the ambulance service, so he was over laundry at one time, lots of different things he did while he was there. My mom, she worked in the uh payroll insurance and stuff. So all of the people around East Feliciana, they had a we knew or grew up with, especially through my parents. It's funny, when I was running for a state representative, uh, lots of people said, Well, I don't know you, but I sure know your mom or your dad, so they got me more votes than I got.
SPEAKER_00So tell me, when did you first run for the state legislature?
SPEAKER_01Uh 2011 is when I was elected uh state representative, uh represented East Fleischana, West Fleciana, and parts of uh Zachary.
SPEAKER_00So was it a how did you like campaigning and all of that?
SPEAKER_01It was uh it was an experience that I didn't uh look, I kind of it was a weird uh kind of how I got involved in it. Mr. John Travis was our state representative years ago. Uh he and and then after he was there, uh Tom McVay was state representative, and John Travis was always um, he was from Jackson. So uh Governor Jindal, not Jendal, but Romer. Uh when I was a kid, the Republican governors at the time, I think it was Treen and Romer, that group, it was everything was cut, cut, cut, and they always wanted to cut state facilities, the hospital, the middle hospital. I can always remember it as a kid sitting around the table, and everybody was like, that's not gonna happen. John's not gonna let that happen. And they were, you know, uh talking about John Travis. So John, you know, I was like, well, who is that guy, you know? Wanted to be him, you know. And then later and later, Mr. Tom McVeigh and people, you know, he was retiring and it was an opportunity to like, you know, you know, fight for our district, right? So uh anyway, I kind of got recruited. One day John Travis showed up at my house and asked me about running, you know, and said you you should run. I said, Well, I'm a Republican, you know. And he's like, everybody over here is Democrats, you know, and you are too. That doesn't matter. I said, but I'm not changing, you know. I've been a Republican since I was, I didn't even know really what it was, you know, but I I have been. So I'm not changing to win an election, it is what it is. And uh so I had a lot of uh Democrat support. I remember I had signs that had Democrat for Havert on it, you know, make stickers up and put on them and stuff. So it was funny. We ran against uh five other uh people. Uh all of them, you know, one of them spent a lot of money, two of them spent lots of money, and I didn't have it. I didn't raise I don't like raising money. I've never uh raised much money politic, and I haven't had a uh uh campaign account since 2016 or something like that.
SPEAKER_00How many terms did you serve?
SPEAKER_01Two terms in the legislature, and I was uh second term I was uh chairman of transportation. So over all the ports and you know just transportation for the state, or oversaw that you know, uh department or whatever uh through the committee.
SPEAKER_00Do you have any funny stories of that time?
SPEAKER_01Well, yes, I I probably did. I have a couple, but uh some uh you know, I guess probably one of the I guess my claim to fame, which my I always joke, that's my mom's, you know, best moment for me, but I know, but they were changing the age of strippers. And the uh somebody carried a bill, and we were short, like two billion dollars short that year. And I'm sitting out there listening to them, you know, argue, you know, here we are cutting mental hospitals and everything in the state, two billion dollars short, and some jack lags worried about just changing the age of strippers, you know. Like I'm like, you know, so I went down to the mic and and put an amendment on the bill and said, look, if we're gonna do something good, I mean for the industry, let's do something good, you know, and let's keep with this legislative theme of uh trimming the fat. I said, so I put an amendment on the bill that couldn't be any older than 27 and no more than 160 pounds either. You know, just they're making satire.
SPEAKER_00How did that go over?
SPEAKER_01It didn't go over. That was you know, I was probably the first in Louisiana to get woke, you know. So uh people wanted me to apologize and all that. And I was like, you know, I did I really mean that? No, right?
SPEAKER_00Uh I was living in New York and I kind of remember that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it was it made national news.
SPEAKER_01It did, it was a big deal, but it was one of those moments where you know I was trying to make a point. I think I I got my point across, you know. It it was it was a rough ride for a little while, but um I don't I don't know.
SPEAKER_00What made you decide to uh become president of a parish?
SPEAKER_01Well, I I I thought that uh with the I saw how things ran was in Baton Rouge, and I think that it's important for our parish, first of all, to not depend on the federal government or the state government. Um there's lots of things that we can do as a parish in-house that we can do it better, we can do it faster, and we can do it cheaper. Uh if you take the federal money that comes along, you know, all the strings and stuff, it all sounds great. You're gonna put raw water in, you're gonna put rural, you know, broadband, everybody, the Skittles, it's gonna rain Skittles every day. Those things come with a lot of um strings attached to it, and it's and it look, you know what it does, it spreads money out because you have to everybody has to hire this consultant, whether it's an engineering company or whatever. And it and for instance, there's a there's a thing called the off-system bridge program where the state will come in and repair a bridge for you. In return for that, they want to inspect your bridges, which is fine. You know, a lot of rural parishes can't afford those things uh or have the manpower to do it. So they do, and and in return for that, they'll re-pick a bridge for you every once in a while to repair it. Well, you still have to come up with a match, 25% match. We can go in and build a bridge cheaper than our match, and we can do it in 30 days. The state takes two and a half, three years before they even show up.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_01And my match is twice what I can build it for, and it's a two and a half million dollar bridge. We can build that same bridge for $100,000. Oh, right. Well, it's a wooden bridge, theirs are all, you know, concrete and all that, but still, a wooden bridge lasts 30 years. It people kind of like them around here. You know, I I like them. I would like to see us cover some of them. You know, pick a few around that, and that would keep some of the bigger trucks off. We could force them on state roads, use it as a tool for us, and and then we would have probably one of the only places in the parish that had covered bridges. Now, can we just the parish? I don't know that the parish needs to spend that that money doing that, but there's organizations like the foundation and stuff who could, when we drive these pylons, we can leave the pylons up and then they could come in and wrap it. You know, those are the types of things I'd like to see us work with our community partners on. Um to get, you know, those are things that I see the foundation uh could be doing, or you know, some non-governmental organizations.
SPEAKER_00Let me ask this selfishly. Do you all ever consider a dog run for the parish?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, they they I think we would. I mean, no one's opposed to it, those types of things. We uh there's been talk about it at the sports park and stuff, and uh it'd be great out there. Yeah, yeah, it would be. And uh there I know there's there's lots of things that we're gonna be able to do now. Everything's a function of money, right? Everything. No matter what anybody ever tells you, everything is about money.
SPEAKER_00I know. Well that brings we're talking about more money, and that's because of the data center that's coming here.
SPEAKER_01Right. And those are the types of things that we can do. Quality of life issues, right? That's what West Feliciana, I've preached that since I've been in office. That is the difference between us and East Feliciana. I mean, I and I'm from East Feliciana, I love East Feliciana, but we have a quality of life here that no one else has.
SPEAKER_00Nobody.
SPEAKER_01I'm in the state and most of the country, you know, we can sit around and have this conversation night. And I I don't, you know, I don't you don't have to lock your doors, you don't have to worry about those things.
SPEAKER_00No, it's true. Every time I wake up and I remember it's I'll never forget somebody said when they heard I couldn't find my car keys. Well, you should just leave them in your car.
SPEAKER_01I thought that was the funniest thing. I can always tell the pilgrims when they show up in town. They get out of their car and then they're walking up and they beep beep. Oh, they're not from here. You know, I leave my wallet on my seat. I mean, I just don't even think about those things. I I find myself doing it in Baton Rouge. And friends with me go, what are we doing? I'm like, what I go back and grab my keys out of my door pocket.
SPEAKER_00I can't tell you the nights that I didn't lock my door, and all I could think the next day when I realized it was, I'm so glad I live here.
SPEAKER_01And and those are that, if I had one thing, you know, to just say to people, is like, look, think about that one issue. What you really want in life is peace, right? Where else in Louisiana do you have the peace that you have?
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01No, we have we're Mayberry, we fight and argue during the day, and you know, when Ain't B gets mad, and you know, Ernest throws, you know, rocks at the window and all of that. But at the end of the day, no one gets guilty. Maybe no, it's true. So that's who we are. That's what we say. In life, everything I think is a sell. You know, you want people to come here. That's my job. If I were governor, I would try to sell Louisiana, right? We Louisiana we have a lot to sell, but we also have a lot to protect, right? People come here, spend your money. You know, we all can't live where we want to live. Sometimes it's expensive. Sometimes it's uh, you know, I'd like to live in Martha's vineyard, I can't afford it. It doesn't mean that I'm asking them to lower their standards so they can I can squeeze in. That we're the lucky few, and I think we should uh appreciate it. And and I I I think most people here really do appreciate it. And I really do. Um and we all have the same thing. We just have different goals about how we think we should get there. You know, I'm of the opinion I could care less, I've said it. If we build another house, you know, I know we need them, you know, and there's some, you know, we do, you know, but you know, people talk a lot about affordable housing and and those sorts of things, and and that all sounds good, but why would you build affordable housing in the most expensive place to live in the state? You know, there's not if you don't have a house, you probably don't have a car. So what is your public transportation? It's all of those things that have to connect if if you're gonna make a go of that. That's just not who we are. We're so spread out, you know. Um is St.
SPEAKER_00Francisco one of the more expensive places to live in Louisiana?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it it is. It our property values are expensive, you know, getting higher and by the day. And that, you know, to me, that's not a bad thing. You know, if you know, me, you know, learning a lot over the years, you know, I would complain you know about property, right? I wanted to live in West Louisiana and I couldn't afford to buy over here. That was way back when because they had a great school system. You know, you have a great school system and a great community because you have great people. And the great people they support it. And you know, we've always had a public school system, which is a great thing for us. We made a go of the public school system years ago. Everybody supported it. You know, some people pulled their kids out and they went to other places, and that's their choices. But we never broke down over here and built uh private schools and so forth. So we had to make a go. The community works together, whether you're black or white or whatever, you get the same education as the next person. So I think that's very important, and and and I and certainly no one can say we're not educating our kids.
SPEAKER_00No, I think it's a great job. Excellent school.
SPEAKER_01You know, we we can disagree on you know whether they're spending too much money, you hear that on this and that, and and the school system has had a uh a lot of money over the years to spend, but but uh overall, you know, you complain when they when they if you have a lot of money and they're spending it and you're not getting any results. People don't mind paying for you know when they see smoke. Give them smoke. And you know, and the way we do it is we do the simple things that people see. Pick pick the garbage up. Right? We you don't when you cross Thompson Creek bridge, you don't I mean you see a few pieces of litter, especially during hunting season, the corn bags blow out of the you know, hunters' trucks and all that. I wanted to put a sign up, you know, hunters welcome, but secure your corn bags, just remind people of those things. But you know, it's just a difference here, you know. Uh when you go to Baton Ridge, as soon as I cross Thompson Creek, there's stock on cups or a bit here. And East Feliciana, it's not their responsibility to pick up those um the side of the road. And any, you know, we shouldn't pick up 61 Highway. The state should do that, Highway 10, all of it, but we pick it up. The taxpayers of this parish picks that tab up it does that because we want it to be clean. And if we didn't, our 61 Highway would look just like the other side. And those are the differences between who we are. And I think I hope that the people I do. I didn't come from uh, you know, I told you my parents were both were, you know, state employees, you know, so state paid for every pair of tennis shoes I ever had. But I I don't I just don't expect anything but try to get the best, you know, and I don't understand people who don't want that, right? There's people who uh are satisfied living in a cardboard box, and there's those that want three yachts. You know, I want three yachts, you know. Now I'll help the guy in a cardboard box, you know, and I'll build him a house if I can do it. But don't hold me back, you know, because I I want to be comfortable too.
SPEAKER_00No, I understand.
SPEAKER_01And that's the kind of people I think we need. That's the kind of people we have here. We it's a community that wants everybody to do well. You don't see anybody sleeping under the bridges.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01You know, if you know, we take care of our own. Well, even if we don't like them.
SPEAKER_00Well, let me get let me get on another subject.
SPEAKER_01What everybody help everybody.
SPEAKER_00What everybody's talking about is the new data center. How long has this project been in the making?
SPEAKER_01We sold the property and I think it was September of 23. The parish sold the piece of property. Um when we sold the property, it was 107 acres. We had it appraised, uh, took it to the council, and the council, the appraisal was from four to uh ten thousand dollars an acre. It was a it was a range. We got an offer for five thousand dollars an acre. Brought it to the council and said, here are these people, this is what they're gonna give us for. They approved it, we sold it. They were gonna at the very least do a uh like an industrial plaque, like in Baton Ray. One of them decided he was kind of a it was I'm telling you this whole story because it's really an interesting story. No, I want to hear it very from the very beginning, so everybody knows exactly what happened. So we we sold this piece of property to these people who were gonna build maybe a valve shop, maybe a machine shop, like a red stick armature. My goal was always, you know, for us to get a plant, uh, a river and smokestacks. I don't even know if we want that, right? You know, some of those things. Uh it was always a pipe dream. First, we didn't only had 107 acres and and we didn't have all the other land around it to pair us with the parish owned. And I was quite frankly tired of uh Baton Ridge area, uh not chamber, but LED and places like that. When someone wants to come into uh the state, they'll uh economic development, they'll bring, they'll bring them to three or four sites, you know. Hey, what do you think about this? We were always like uh, I always thought that the site that they just had to show because uh, and they already knew where they were gonna go, right? Like a third bidder type deal. So it always kind of aggravated me. So I was like, we're gonna do it, take it the bull bottle horn ourselves, and we're gonna go find an industry or somebody that's gonna, you know, put this stuff in commerce. So Redstick Ormature, for example, they're they're a great tax base for us, right? And that's something that I didn't think was a pipe dream. I thought we could maybe snipe off some people that had old shops off of Choctaw and Port Allen and places, and maybe then move their business up here. It's just as close to Exxon, they don't have to deal with the bridge, all of those types of things. So that's kind of where I was thinking. And then one of the guys said, Well, you know, this uh Bitcoin stuff, they need a lot of uh power. This place has power. Uh and we knew it had power because the state, I had its book that told us we had like 400 megawatts of power. I want to put this location. It was a site certified site. Uh well I didn't even know what Bitcoin was, right? So in 2013, they uh I mean uh 2023, we we we sold the property. Uh they started this one guy says maybe a Bitcoin place. Well, I didn't even know what Bitcoin was, and they were talking about AI. You know, think about two years ago, no one really knew, right? No, even at joke, I'm like, what the hell is Bitcoin? You know, and the guy, he's, you know, this is one of the co-founders of uh, you know, this, and he's one of the largest owners of Bitcoin. And they're trying to explain it to me, and I'm laughing, you know. Well, at the time, at the time we weren't even talking to those guys, okay? We were talking to, I told them, if you're gonna flip this to someone, I want to be upfront and honest with them because I sat when I was in the legislature, I always fought for that the state should not give away local sales tax, no local tax dollars. That's our decision. If we want them here, we'll give the money away and they can come here, and if not, you can move them to Richmond Parish or wherever you want to put them, you know, if they want it. Let's let's just compete for it. Because I always believe that CEOs and people like that want to be where there's a quality of life. Their wife wants to be somewhere where they can shop, where they can sleep and be safe. And so those decisions play into people's minds whether they believe it or not. You know, and you know, it's why Louisiana loses out, because we give away too much crap. So I didn't want to do that. So I probably I told these people, if you're gonna flip it, I want to meet with the people you're gonna flip it from because I want them to know that the sheriff, the school board, and myself were gonna fight any tax exemption. And I didn't want, I wanted that to be up front with them. So once we had those conversations and they were like, okay, they started bringing, you know, these different, you know, Bitcoin companies or data centers. We met with them, and I would tell them all the same thing. I'll help you if the state's dumb enough to give you all the money, which they are, I'll show you how to do it. I'll set on the commission, but you're not getting ours. And and I'll help you with this. But other than that, we're gonna fight. So these people were like, we wanna, you know, we're in. So there were three or four different companies that went through, and then all of a sudden, the one who ended up buying it all and doing in HUD eight, you know, that was our agreement. And you know, we pretty much stuck to that all the way through the end, and it it worked out for us. We helped them. It looks like they're gonna, you know, it's gonna be a win-win-win. Uh, but yeah, so that that's exactly what happened. These people bought it, flipped the land, then they went and started helping them buy other pieces of land to make it bigger and bigger.
SPEAKER_00How many acres is it altogether now?
SPEAKER_01It you know, I really can't, I don't know that, and and and even if I did, I don't really want to say it. Oh, okay. But they're in the process of buying, you know, pieces of property on that end of the parish down there, and they're gonna, you know, everybody knows it, and it's uh it's gonna be good for the parish. It was it's it's good for the families that are there, it's good for us. There's no smokestack, you know, it's it's a it's a good clean industry. Uh people think it's because we have the nuclear plant right here that that's why. That did somewhat play into it, but they can buy power off the grid anywhere. It doesn't have to be next to a nuclear plant. But we had pipelines, they had infrastructure, they had the power lines already there. So it was a Lot of uh things that go into that. There's a lot of m information out there that are is valid or uh come uh or concerned, I'm gonna say valid concerns, water issues, um, noise issues, light pollution, right? All of those things that come along with data centers, right? They have their deal too. Nothing's perfect. But here is one of the only ones that I know that's not gonna have uh be pulling water off the water aquifers, which is a concern in North Louisiana.
SPEAKER_00Where will the water be coming from?
SPEAKER_01They're gonna use just potable water. They fill basically three Olympic-sized swimming pools with water, and then it's a recirculation system like a radiator. Oh. So they're not gonna be constantly drawing off the river, discharging to the river, pulling off the our water aquifers. So it is a it so that was one of the deals up front. And so so we were that that's a big thing for us. It's next door to the paper mill, which is the most southern, southeastern part of the parish you can get. It's far away from the house. Noise is not going to be an issue. That's why one of the reasons they're trying to buy some buffer, you know, and stuff, and make sure, you know, we don't have those issues. And then it gives them time, you know, room for expansion as well in the future. But it's uh it's a state of art design. It's something that's uh I don't think it's been done before this way. Uh so that's exciting for us. And again, that's that's what Westley Shanna does, right? We leave. So there's there's take the bull bottle horns, AI's happening, whether we we you know embrace it or not, it just it just as well be here where it's gonna employ some people, and at you know, everybody saw, you know, 90 million dollars a year or something's what we're estimating that we're gonna be collecting over and above the 41 million that we collect now. So there's going back to your question, the dog stuff and those types of things, we're we're gonna be able to do a lot of things. Put you know, bike paths on roads.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's nice.
SPEAKER_01Uh widen our roads a little bit without cutting trees and but you know, just keep the rule character and that sense of community.
SPEAKER_00When will the project be completed, do you think, up and running?
SPEAKER_01Uh they have to by the end of 27 they'll be online March of we get our first check March of I think March of 27. Um and we may get we're still in the process of negotiating because there's a second phase to this, and we're still in the process of negotiating some of that, so we could get money up front. I can tell you, there will be some money up front. I just can't tell you what it is right now, but we're we're doing everything we can right now to try to take care of basically our our basic needs, which is our public servants. You know, we've got people that cut the grass and stuff that that you know you would scoff if I you know told you what you know some of them make and and it's just it's not right. And and now that we have an opportunity to make it right, that's the I think that's what we should do first, and then the rest is coming our way. You at you you know we you hire good people, you keep them happy, and they're gonna keep all of us happy.
SPEAKER_00Can you talk about any of the major players in in this project?
SPEAKER_01In this project. Well, HUD 8 obviously is uh is the one that you know has pretty much announced they're gonna be doing something out there. Now the who their tenant is, I can't talk about that. I I really don't even know at this point. Yes, and uh HUD 8, the company, you know, they started a called American Bitcoin Company, and it's uh they own actually 80% of Trump's uh Donald Jr. and Eric Jr.'s uh crypto company. So they'll butterfly by night company.
SPEAKER_00Will they be producing that?
SPEAKER_01No, this will be nothing, no Bitcoin mining here. Uh this is all AI centered. This but American Bitcoin is a spin-off of HUT A company, this is a subsidiary of it. And that's they own 80% of one of the Trump companies. I think Eric Trump, one of them, sits on the board of directors of that. Have they been here to see the site? American Bitcoin.
SPEAKER_00Have they visited yet to see the site?
SPEAKER_01Uh not that I know of. I don't think they've been here yet. Hopefully, one day they'll come.
SPEAKER_00What do you think about employee numbers for people that'll be in the parish who will have jobs?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh that's it, that's another thing. Some of these places they don't, there's not a lot of employees, right? This one, the first uh phase of the project is supposed to have somewhere around 100 employees, permanent, uh full-time employees. It will take about 1,500 people to build it. Of the people that build it, there's a percentage of them that'll stay on. So it's important that people, when they start hearing that, you know, when they actually announced a project and it really starts taking off, probably gonna have some job fares. That was the that was the plan early on, and try to put you know our you know people to work, you know. Uh you don't there's not every everything that you would see in a plant will be there. So it's not everyone's gonna be, you know, Elon Musk, you know, sitting down there. There's gonna be lots of jobs for lots of people. You're gonna be able to train people. We want to get they want to go into the schools and set up these pilot programs and stuff so that we can educate our kids here, you know, and get them prepared for the the AI world. You know, the world is changing.
SPEAKER_00No, it is certainly.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, the days of getting your calculator out, why would you do that when you can have chat you know, GDP and and and those sorts of things? So uh our kids need to be ready for that.
SPEAKER_00Do you use chat GPT?
SPEAKER_01I I I do not.
SPEAKER_00I do all the time just to fact check.
SPEAKER_01I have I have not.
SPEAKER_00I I've I'm trying to just I understand you can you can make a movie on it, I understand.
SPEAKER_01I probably could. I probably could, because it has been a uh yeah. You don't hear a lot about ours, you hear a lot about meta, meta, meta in North Louisiana. Yeah, that one gets a lot of child, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh we This has been your like your baby then, huh?
SPEAKER_01It has been because you know I was determined from when I was in the legislature not to be taken advantage of by the system that I think harms our state, which is if you want to do business here, and this is gonna sound really crazy, but let's just take the uh take a Francis for example. They pay taxes, right? We don't give them a tax break. You know, why should we give uh anyone else a tax break? So if we're gonna give tax breaks out to uh businesses to get them started, it should be I don't care if they have one employee versus a solar form.
SPEAKER_00What you know, whatever. What do you think in tax dollars this will bring in?
SPEAKER_01We're looking at uh sales tax-wise, the state passed a deal, uh it was I think it was in 23 or 24, 24, HP 82 827. Uh I don't know the AC number, but it gave away all the state uh sales tax or data centers. Um now does it bring data centers to our state and make that well add obviously, right? They also gave away the uh the local sales taxes too. Cost us several hundred million dollars in just one year, right? And nothing we could do about it. The state gave that away. Um so when it came time for us to negotiate our deal, um we just we we stuck and we made sure that, you know, because we did our job helping the company, you know, do, you know, get through some hurdles that they needed to get through. And I thought it was only fair that, you know, West Fleet Shanna's probably the only people that's not gonna make any money, right? All the contractors and all of the, you know, the you know, we know who's gonna make the money, right? So and it and they all have their hand out, you know, wanting you know, to be introduced to this person and who's doing this, and right? And you know, during it the negotiations, it was like, look, West Fleesian is not asked for anything. Contrary to what some people may say that you know, Kenny's made all these millions of dollars and did all these you know nefarious things. I haven't. I said, I'm at my hands out now, and it's for the people.
SPEAKER_00Well, when will the number is? When will the parish make money from the tax?
SPEAKER_01March of 27 could be 90 million dollars.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's wonderful.
SPEAKER_01It could be uh, I mean it could be sooner that we see some up front money. Uh basically for the second phase, they would like to pay their taxes in advance, and then we give them a break later down the road, and those that are you know, pay pay up front so we can do because they want to help us do these roads, they want to be a community partner, they want to work with us. I mean, they you know they don't want the bad publicity that some of these things are getting, and I don't want it either.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, one thing people are concerned about because it has been in the news with several data centers around the country, and that is that at some point in maturity the uh utilities wind up costing a lot, and the uh customers pay the that. And and is that going to happen to us here?
SPEAKER_01I'm glad you asked that question because that that's probably one of the most important questions that it could probably ask as far as data centers go. Now, if you think politics is bad, it's pure politics, utility politics is work. Okay, you're dealing with a bunch of regulated monopolies that uh I mean you have to have electricity, right? If you don't have electricity, they come cut it off, right? They uh you can't build your house, you can't build a plant, you can't build anything unless entergy basically waves a magic wand over and gives you permission. That's total bullshit. You know? Um they also it's not this is not a shot at at Jeff Landry, it's just a shot at the system. Um when John Bell was there, when when I was there, you know, serving in the legislature, I saw it then. When if you want to build a plan in Louisiana, LED picks up the phone and they call entergy. And entergy goes and says, Well, you know, we really don't have the power, we're gonna have to do this upgrade and that upgrade and whatever, and by the way, give us $20 million. The company gives them $20 million so they can get their damn project done. Entergy turns around and takes that $20 million and builds us whatever they need to do it, but they charge us for it. So they're double dipping. Okay, because they're they're a regulated company and they're guaranteed a certain amount of their expenditure. So whatever they expend, you know, put out there on the grid or spend to upgrade the grid, they get to charge it back to the rate base. Problem is they're using other people's money to do that, they're not even using their money. So here, they really have to do any of that. You know, we'd you know the companies paying for the upgrades. So this one should not be. Now, if they go and have to start building a bunch of power plants to support a bunch of these things around, if we continue the process and the way that we do business in this in this country and in this state, especially in the south and these regulated utilities, then it's gonna cost a fee. Okay? There's no way around it. I mean, there I I don't see it. Unless we allow these people to build their own power plant. Okay, they shouldn't have to rely on it. One energy is too too slow to do it, so they're gonna pass us by and they're gonna go to Texas or whoever figures out how to do it first. Louisiana is an energy state. Okay, we have natural gas. You know, we're gonna at some point the whole country's gonna go to nuclear, you know, it's just a bridge to get there. So let's burn our natural gas that we have. It's cleaner than you know some of the other things. You know, there's ways to clean it up, but let's burn these natural gas, but let them do it. So they they never have to touch the grid. They can build their own power plants as cheap as you know for what they have to give the power company to go and do it for them, and then have all the strings attached to it. So there's there's three uh classes of electricity in the state. There's residential, there's electric, I mean, there's residential, commercial, and industrial. I think that we need to look really, really hard at as a state, and if I was in the legislature, I'd be carrying a bill to create a fourth class. So, and then that fourth class, if you're a mega class that needs all of this power, you build your own plant. If you can figure it out, go do it. We don't care how big you build it, but don't charge us. So that that's what I would do different, but that's not a model that uh is used really anywhere, I don't think. Um if I could wave a magic wand, that's what I would do, and the people would, you know, there's it's a power play. Whoever has electricity, the most electricity in the in one spot, they win, right? That's the biggest computer, it's the fastest, and then they move to the next spot. So allow them to build, and that would kickstart Louisiana, oil and gas. Just allow them to build their plant, make sure it's clean. You don't have to cut all the regulations and all of the stuff that you know smokestacks and just blow building now. But allow them to do build their own plant, and and they will do it faster, quicker, and they won't mind paying their taxes.
SPEAKER_00But would integrative allow that?
SPEAKER_01No, integers won't allow it, but that's that's why we have a legislative session. That's why we should go every year, because that's what we do. We change laws and change the damn law. But the energy's not gonna like that.
SPEAKER_00But uh so wait, as we stand, it looks like we may wind up having bigger utility bills.
SPEAKER_01No, no, not not here. Now, if they keep the one in North Louisiana, I don't know all the full details. I know they got to build more power plants, and I know it's the same basic model. Get the money from the as a you basically take a big um deposit, if you want to call it. You get a 300, you know, 200 million dollar deposit or whatever the number is, and then you and then you go take and you go build something, and then you charge the ratepayers the money. I mean that. And that that's just not sustainable, it's not right morally, one, and and it should be changed. The governor can do it, the public service commission can do it. It's just gonna take political will to do it, whether they will or not, I don't know. Um but from my standpoint, uh I I'm gonna work on trying to get it done because it's the right thing to do. I'm gonna, I don't want this thing to cost us anything, you know, and it shouldn't. There's lots of money in it, it's lots of money in it for them, it's lots of money. Everybody's gonna, you know, be fine. People, you know, is is who we should be worried about. And and we give away that in the state, and we always have. Um we give away, when I was in the legislature, the the one number that always gets stuck in my head, and it's still to this day it drives me nuts, is that we have we collect at the time about two and a half billion dollars in uh taxes in the state from LLCs, you know, uh we collect from corporations 400 million out of all the corporations, we have 19 refineries, we have, and I'm not saying go, you know, down the you know, you know, hurting the refineries and all that stuff. I'm just saying that if they're making money and you and you give them a quality of life, which I don't think Louisiana does. I mean, if I were a company, I would like look at Louisiana and go, what what in the what in the world? You know, the roads suck, the I mean, we worry about the football team, you know, who the coach is gonna be, and we'll sit in damn traffic for four hours to get to the game, you know. Well, where's our priorities at, right? Um and I think that's just the difference with West Louisiana. We I I I hope we have our priorities in in line and our priorities are in line. I hope and our priorities are the people. You know, give as much back to the people as we can.
SPEAKER_00So what are your plans? Because you can't run again for parish president, can you?
SPEAKER_01I can't. No.
SPEAKER_00Are you going to go back to the state legislation?
SPEAKER_01You know, I don't know. There's been, you know, there's I don't know. I may just go back in the private sector and do what I do. You know, I love I love politics, the game. I love the you know, getting back to, you know, how I got into this, you know, my I like public service. You know, some people go and use their skills to, you know, make a bunch of money and do things, and you know, and yes, I I'd like to do that too. But to me, you know, it's a win too. I told you I like to see things nice. I like to see things built, I like to see things happening. Um, and and that's the reward for me. It's not about all the money. So public service is is is where I'm at. I I I'll probably go back and do some uh private stuff for a while, but at some point I'll probably bounce back into public service at some point.
SPEAKER_00Are you are you allowed to you know leave after your turn and then run again after the next turn? Can or you can only serve two terms?
SPEAKER_01I can only well two consecutive terms. I can sit it out a turn. I can I can actually quit now and come back and run in a couple years if I wanted to. You know, that that you know, but that's just to me, it's it's just not the way to handle it. It's um if you we really need to change our uh our charter and and go to at least three terms, right? But it takes like this this project, right? It's taken how long? That's been consumed with when is your term up? At the end of 27. So if we could change it to three terms, and not for me, but for just for the next guy, you build all this political horsepower, you know, you know people, you you meet people, you have all those bags, especially for me coming from the legislature. I just think we're uh, you know, in a in a way, once, you know, you gotta just start over every few years with some someone that's just doesn't even know who the governor's chief of staff is or whatever. Um those those things pay off in the long run for West Louisiana. Everybody wants to scream term limits and ah well, I will, I was I was right there. But I have seen things differently now, not because I think I'm the savior and I need to be here, but I I just think that you lose a lot of institutional knowledge. Um that can that can be good in some point, you know, and it can be bad, depending on how you use it, you know. But it's uh kind of like a gun, right? You put it in the wrong hands, power is the same way.
SPEAKER_00So uh I've often thought that the the president should be have a term of six years and not be able to run again.
SPEAKER_01I I I agree with that totally. And I always said if you're gonna get a term to them, do one term.
SPEAKER_00Give them six years so they can get their stuff done. But if you can't get it done in six years, then you shouldn't be in there anyway.
SPEAKER_01Do one but do yeah, do one term because that's what I see the problem is. As soon as legislators get in there or you know, they should teach you a class, the class they should teach you when you get to the legislature or any elected position, what do you do with all your new best friends? Right, you got a bunch of them. Right, and and those managing that whole thing is a is a is a problem for some people. I I I I never went to a lot of, you know, I tried not to get roped into that, uh, wanting to be there so bad that I would do anything just to get to go to the governor's Christmas party, right? That's that's not uh how you operate. I don't think, and I think that's where we are in politics. There's a lot of people who just want the you know wear the hat and and go to the party and all that BS. And I'm more of a I don't know, I'm in the weeds kind of guy. Not in the weeds, I let people do what they I'm a big picture. I try to hire people that I trust and let them do their their deal. I don't micromanage them, they'll tell you that I hope they will. But you know, I do have some wild ass ideas sometimes. You know, they have to try to figure out. But uh and but I think that's important, you know. I agree with you. I mean, if you're not gonna can't just continue to do things the way you we've always done them.
SPEAKER_00Well, Kenny, I gotta thank you for coming on today and giving us all of this information and letting me ask you questions. Uh, everybody's been asking about the data center, and I think people I'll always love to hear from you anyway, so it was nice to get you on the podcast. And uh I'll have this up soon and you can hear it. I'll let you know when it comes out.
SPEAKER_01I really appreciate it. You know, I I think it's important. I want to get out more and start talking about it more. The problem is, you know, they're a publicly traded company, so they there's things that they can can and can't say.
SPEAKER_00Well, maybe I can have you back on.
SPEAKER_01You can't tell me.
SPEAKER_00So as soon as it's you know, it's you call me, you call me when you can talk more, and I'll have you back on.
SPEAKER_01You know, and if anybody's listening, I'd like to, you know, the churches or you know, whoever if they're having a family reunion and they, you know, want you know to hear what's going on, we want to do our uh we want transparency. I want people to know what's going on, right? Uh we have nothing to hide. We have a great community, everything is uh our finances, we've had a perfect audit four years now uh in a row. It's uh got some good good people financially. We're in a good shape. The courthouse gang, I call them, the sheriff and all the elected officials get along, you know, pretty good. So uh he keeps us safe. I can't complain about that, you know, and um everything's just clicking along good up here. People, I would just tell people to, you know, uh enjoy the ride. You know, there's no way in the world. It's a great ride. This is one of them right now. Your ride home might suck a little bit on stage here because you got a pothole, but I promise you we're coming to fix it. I might not be here when they fix it, but we'll have the money and we will fix it.
SPEAKER_00Great. Well, I want to remind everybody that I have my tour company see the bill. You can text me at 212 751 1911 to make a reservation for one of my special tours. And I thank you for listening to us today, and we will see you soon. Thank you.