BATON ROUGE – Charles J. Pasqua, a former president and the long-time executive director of the Louisiana Municipal Association, died early Tuesday morning, January 4, at the age of 75.

 

            Pasqua, the former three-term mayor of the City of Gonzales, was LMA president in 1971-1972 and became its executive director in 1973, serving as chief lobbyist and spokesman for Louisiana’s villages, towns, and cities until his retirement in 1993.

 

            “Charles Pasqua possessed the energy and drive that would steer the Association toward the greatest membership growth and program expansion it has ever witnessed in its history,” said LMA President Bobby R. Washington, mayor of Cullen.

 

            Under Pasqua’s administration, the LMA realized numerous accomplishments. The Association grew in its portfolio of services and prestige as it enabled municipal elected officials and town and city administrators to engage in a greater participation in political affairs, improve the relationships of municipalities to each other, parish governments, and the state and federal governments.

 

            Pasqua expanded training opportunities for mayors and municipal officials, created an efficient and effective self-insurance and risk-management program for municipal governments and their officials and employees, and spearheaded efforts to plan and build, in the late 1970s, an office building for the Association, and in the 1990s, a new versatile, multi-faceted, four-story office building at 700 North 10th Street just outside downtown Baton Rouge that symbolizes the Association’s phenomenal growth over the 20-and-a-half years of Pasqua’s directorship and municipal-government advocacy and leadership.

 

            During his tenure at LMA, Pasqua’s accomplishments included:

 

            ■ Securing and coordinating federal grant funds to employ additional staff and provide a vitally needed training program for municipal officials.

            ■ Instituting in 1978 the first “Annual Mayors’ Day at the Legislature” to engage mayors and municipal leaders in the Association’s legislative priorities and facilitate their greater involvement in the legislative process.

            ■ Positioning LMA’s capabilities to purchase property to construct an office building for its first location, occupied in 1979, and then building in the early 1990s a four-story state-of-the-art structure, the current Association headquarters which became operational in 1992.

            ■ Creating a self-insured workers compensation program for municipalities in 1979 and a self-insured general liability program for municipalities to ensure the availability of indemnification protection at premium rates more competitive than in the commercial market. Other self-insured programs to follow included accident and health and unemployment compensation plans.

            ■ Producing as many as 20 publications per year to acquaint and familiarize municipal officials with all aspects of their involvement in the governance process and public service.

            ■ Improving training opportunities for a greater number and diversity of municipal officials through developing and expanding new or more conferences, seminars, and annual conventions.

            ■ Established in 1987 Risk Management, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary company assigned to handle claims management for all of the LMA-sponsored insurance funds as well as involve municipalities more in risk-management, loss prevention, and cost-containment best practices.

            ■ Encouraging greater involvement by elected municipal officials to engage in dialogue on policy and legislative issues at the state and federal levels of governments and participate on state boards and commissions as well as governing boards and advisory panels such as the Louisiana Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and the National League of Cities.

 

            “Through Charles Pasqua’s astute vision and dynamic leadership, the Louisiana Municipal Association was able to advance far beyond its years since its establishment in 1926 and serve as a true and active advocate for the state’s municipal governments,” LMA President Washington said.

 

            “The members of this Association grieve this distinct loss and express our deepest sympathies and condolences to Charles’ wife, Laura, and her family,” Mayor Washington added.

 

            A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 22, at St. Theresa of Avila Catholic Church, 1022 North Burnside Avenue in Gonzales, where Pasqua was a faithful parishioner and served as an usher.