HOUMA — Chief Daniel Scott, a 27-year veteran of the city Fire Department, has tendered his resignation adding to a growing list of high-level vacancies in the parish administration.

WWL-TV

Scott, who has been chief for little more than two years, handed Parish President Michel Claudet his two-weeks notice Wednesday, becoming the third high-ranking Terrebonne official this month – and the second this week -- to end his employment with the parish.

Emergency Preparedness Director Jerry Richard was fired Monday after Claudet concluded he violated policy by taking his parish-owned SUV to an LSU game two weeks ago as Hurricane Ike flooded homes and businesses.

And David Battard, the former parish human-resources and risk-management director – responsible for assessing damage to public buildings and equipment, filing insurance claims and dealing with insurance companies in disaster situations -- resigned last week amid accusations he was absent from the parish before, during and after Hurricane Gustav.

Scott said he had intended to leave his job before the storms but would not resign during a crisis or the immediate aftermath of the twin hurricanes that caused widespread damage in Terrebonne earlier this month.

He said his decision to end his career with the Fire Department after 27 months as chief is best described as a retirement.

“I’m retiring,” said Scott, who is taking a reserve position with FEMA as a hazard-mitigation branch chief.

“There’s an opportunity available that I can’t pass up,” he said.

“I was honored to have been able to fulfill a lifelong dream to become fire chief for the City of Houma Fire Department,” Scott added.

“I had some irons in the fire, some things I wanted to accomplish that I’ll leave unfinished,” he said. “But there’s always things that will be unfinished.”

One issue on which Claudet and Scott clashed was the reinstatement of an assistant chief position for the Fire Department, which Scott had lobbied for last year.

Money for the job was budgeted by the Parish Council last year, before Claudet took office, and in January Scott appointed Reed Callahan, one of the department’s four district chiefs, to fill the role until a Civil Service test for the position could be given, Callahan said.

A few months later, Callahan was demoted back to district chief when Claudet told Scott the salary for the position would not be paid for a second year.

“Daniel Scott called me in the office and said the parish president wasn’t going to fund the assistant chief’s position,” Callahan said.

Scott would not say whether friction between the Fire Department and Claudet’s administration led to his decision.

“No comment,” he said.

However, he said he has succeeded in changing perceptions among some officials as to the role the local fire service plays.

“Some parts of the administration (now) know that you don’t pay us for what we do every day. You pay us for what we do ‘that day’ -- when it happens, when everybody else is running away. You pay us for going there,” Scott said. “These law-enforcement guys, these first responders, they did some amazing things for these hurricanes. … It’s too bad at this point in my career it’s taken this long for this administration to understand that.”

Claudet would not discuss the circumstances surrounding Scott’s resignation.

“As always, we generally don’t comment on personnel matters,” the parish president said. “I expect to begin action immediately to fill the position.”

Callahan described Scott as a competent, able fire commander.

“I just wish he’d have stayed a little longer. He was doing a good job. He knew what he was doing,” Callahan said.

District Chief Ernie Miller said Scott was “fair-minded, honest and intelligent” as chief.

Asked if Scott was popular, Miller, a three-decade veteran of the department, chuckled.

“I had six fire chiefs, and not one of them was popular,” he said. “Usually about 10 years after they’re gone, the real measure of them comes up.”