Terrebonne Parish President Jason Bergeron to unveil new logo at next council meeting

Terrebonne Parish President Jason Bergeron will unveil a new parish logo before the Terrebonne Parish Council's March 27 meeting.

The logo will not replace the Terrebonne Parish Government Seal. The seal will be used for official matters, and the logo will be for general use. The logo was designed by the communications department, which spent between 30 and 50 hours on the design since Jan. 4, according to Communications Director Robbie Lee.

Lee said the logo invigorates the government's image and will aid in marketing the parish as an icebreaker to attract businesses.

"It's to modernize us to the outside businesses that Terrebonne is really open to business," Lee said. "That change is coming. It's just to kind of refresh everything. Gordy did phenomenal things over the past eight years because he focused so much on pumps and levees and drainage systems. Now the focus can be on bringing high-paying businesses back to Terrebonne Parish. And that's what this brand is going to help us do."

The parish was seeking to copyright the new logo, Lee said, to avoid the logo being used by others to impersonate the government, but learned a Louisiana state law bars governments from copyrighting such things. According to Lee, the parish government has a form for both the logo and the seal for the public to use either. These can either be applied for in person, or online.

The form for the official seal preexisted because an ordinance still remains on the books which carries a fine of up to $500 for those who use it without the written consent of the parish president or the parish manager. The ordinance is section 1-18.

The new logo was primarily worked on by Parish Graphic Designer Megan Chancy, with some input from Lee. The two invested approximately 48 hours on the logo, according to Lee, averaging out to about $1,332.24 of taxpayer dollars.

The idea for the new logo came from Lee's time working for the Lafourche Parish Government as an intern. During his time in Lafourche, prior to becoming the communications director there, the parish was rebranded, and a new website was created. Lee said he had looked at marketing research for businesses and thought it would help with government.

"This was the thing that in Lafourche convinced us to do it," Lee said. "It's a gateway piece. People are very visual when it comes to stuff like business. Think about food, when you try to decide what you are about to eat a good portion of the time, the thing that looks the best Is the thing you latch on to. It's the same thing with brands. It's to be an eye-catching piece to open the door for us to be able to get in and to talk to a business."

Other leaders and former leaders say it takes more than a rebranding to attract businesses.

Parish President Archie Chaisson was asked about Lafourche's brand change, and said it wasn't for marketing purposes. The new logo was an announcement of a change in governance and isn't a factor in enticing businesses to his parish, he said.

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"We didn't rebrand it for the purpose of economic development," Chaisson said, "I mean, the brand that we had when we took office was almost 15 to 18 years old, and it was just time for a fresh look. We were a new administration with new ideas. When we go to talk to a business to talk about locating here, we use the good things in the parish, not a sticker."

Former Parish President Gordan Dove also was critical of the idea of the logo being used for marketing purposes. Like Chaisson, he said business is incentivized through parish's assets, not a brand.

"You rebrand a parish with infrastructure," Dove said. "You rebrand a parish with a workforce. You rebrand a parish with keeping people here. You rebrand a parish with low insurance rates, which are killing us right now. If you ever get a business that tells me they came to Terrebonne because of an emblem, please, I want to talk to them."

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Terrebonne Parish new logo unveiled at council meeting