A few days after elected officials predicted a loss of institutional knowledge because of the governor’s proposed state retirement changes, legislators asked cabinet secretaries about the likely impact at their agencies.
For the most part, the cabinet secretaries told the Senate Committee on Finance that they had little insight on whether key aides will retire before the changes take hold.
State Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, wanted to know if the state Department of Transportation and Development is likely to lose engineers or truck drivers.
“It’s really hard to speculate,” said Sherri LeBas, the agency’s secretary.
The committee got a similar response from the state Department of Veterans Affairs.
The heads of both agencies are appointed by the governor.
State Police Col. Mike Edmonson said he came up with 467 employees who would be eligible to retire after excluding those who would not be impacted by the governor’s proposals.
Of the 467 employees, 180 work for the state Office of Motor Vehicles, which handles driver’s licenses and related issues.
Edmonson told legislators not to worry about the number who might retire.
“We’re cross training so if we lose somebody, somebody’s there to do the job,” he said.
