This is the second in a series of candidate question and answer features St. Tammany News will run before the upcoming elections. Each candidate was asked a series of the same five questions.

Freddy Drennan currently serves as the Slidell Chief of Police, and has a long career in law enforcement and management. He has served as chief of police in Slidell for eight years. Before that he was the Chief of Police in Picayune, Miss., and served as Chief of Detectives for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Department.

He has been married to Cecelia Minnick Drennan for 40 years and has two sons and four grandchildren.

Freddy Drennan

Drennan was instrumental in getting the Slidell Police Department back up and running after Hurricane Katrina flooded the department’s headquarters on Second Street in 2005. He was the 2006 president of the Southeast Louisiana Police Chiefs Association and is a board member. He is also on the 911 Board of Directors for St. Tammany Parish.

The chief is known for his community involvement. As member of the United Way, Drennan started various fundraisers in Slidell like Glamour and Glitz, and the Red Beans and Rice Cookoff. He was also the founder of the Wild Game Cookoff, which annually raises money for Community Christian Concern.

What do you see as the biggest problem facing Slidell and how would you try and solve that problem ? I think the biggest problem that Slidell faces is a downturn in the economy. The same problem that is being seen throughout our country. I believe our best solution is to increase economic development and thus bring additional tax dollars to our city.

Besides the proposed levee in south Slidell what more can be done to protect Slidell from future hurricanes and flooding? In addition to the South Slidell levee, I believe another proposal to connect existing levees together deserves merit.

As someone who experienced the devastation of Katrina personally with the flooding of my own home I assure you that I will work hard with parish, state, and federal officials to secure funding to make some of these proposed ideas a reality.

Without raising taxes, what can be done to increase revenue to pay for city services?

We must continue to increase businesses and clean industry to locate inside the city. We must continue our efforts to stimulate eceomic growth.

Where do you think there is waste in city government and what can be done about it ? I believe there are some duplication of services that can be streamlined through consolidation thus saving money and continuing to provide good services to our city.

How do you plan to attract more businesses and jobs to Slidell? I plan on being the type of Mayor that doesn’t sit behind a desk. I plan on being proactive in recruiting new business and good clean industry in and around the city of Slidell.

Even though a business is not in the city itself the city derives the benefit of increased jobs and revenue back into our city.