Less than 10 days in office, Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory replaces top deputy

Less than 10 days after Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory took office, he replaced his top deputy who is no longer working in local government.

Guillory announced Wednesday that Chief Administrative Officer Beth Guidry, named to the position on Dec. 2^[1] as one of his first appointments, was leaving the job. He named long-time Lafayette Consolidated Government spokesperson Cydra Wingerter as CAO.

Wingerter, who served briefly as interim CAO during former Mayor-President Joel Robideaux’s final weeks in office, joined Lafayette government in the last year of former Mayor-President Joey Durel’s final term. She previously served as Chief Communications Officer under Robideaux.

Wingerter was appointed as interim CAO by Robideaux on Oct. 11 at the start of his internal review of payments between the Lafayette Utilities System and its sister telecom agency LUS Fiber. She took over as interim CAO while Robideaux’s previous top deputy Lowell Duhon conducted the internal review of LUS as the utility’s interim director this fall.

Wingerter returned to her former position as chief communications officer when Guillory took office on Jan. 6.

Guidry previously led the St. Martin Economic Development Agency, and was hired by the city of Broussard early last fall to promote economic development within the municipality.

In a Wednesday press release, Guillory did not go into detail on Guidry’s departure, saying it was a personnel matter.

“I named Beth as my CAO because of her strong leadership skills and her extensive background in economic development,” Guillory said. “Those traits will carry her far in her next endeavor.”