| | As commissioner, Hébert exercised both executive and legislative functions through supervision of his department and as a member of the three-person city council, all of whom were elected on an at-large basis. He supervised the repair and upgrading of municipal streets and sewer operations, encouraged youth sports programs, and worked to expand Alexandria Zoological Park, then a small facility begun in 1926. Located adjacent to Bringhurst Field, the zoo has since been enlarged to attract thousands of visitors annually from throughout Central Louisiana. He once cared for several abandoned lion cubs and a monkey in his own home.<ref name=bio/> As commissioner, Hebert in 1974 hired [[Les Whitt]] as the director of the Alexandria Zoo, a position in which Whitt achieved great success in a 34-year career.<ref>"Alexandria Zoo Director Les Whitt dies"''The Alexandria Town Talk,'' August 17, 2008, p. 1.</ref> | | As commissioner, Hébert exercised both executive and legislative functions through supervision of his department and as a member of the three-person city council, all of whom were elected on an at-large basis. He supervised the repair and upgrading of municipal streets and sewer operations, encouraged youth sports programs, and worked to expand Alexandria Zoological Park, then a small facility begun in 1926. Located adjacent to Bringhurst Field, the zoo has since been enlarged to attract thousands of visitors annually from throughout Central Louisiana. He once cared for several abandoned lion cubs and a monkey in his own home.<ref name=bio/> As commissioner, Hebert in 1974 hired [[Les Whitt]] as the director of the Alexandria Zoo, a position in which Whitt achieved great success in a 34-year career.<ref>"Alexandria Zoo Director Les Whitt dies"''The Alexandria Town Talk,'' August 17, 2008, p. 1.</ref> |
| − | After the city charter was switched to the mayor-council format, Hébert became the first director of the revised city department of public works under Carroll Edwin Lanier,<ref>Cynthia D. Jardon, "Former Alexandria Mayor Carroll Lanier dies at 86", ''The Alexandria Town Talk'', accessed December 5, 2012.</ref> the first mayor elected after the demise of the city commission government and a former finance and utilities commissioner. Hébert left the post in 1951 after four years of service. At the age of fifty-five, he sustained a life-altering [[stroke]],<ref name=bio/> which required caregivers for the remainder of his life.<ref name=pathebert/> | + | After the city charter was switched to the mayor-council format, Hébert became the first director of the revised city department of public works under Mayor [[Carroll Lanier]], who also was a former finance and utilities commissioner. Hébert left the post in 1951 after four years of service. At the age of fifty-five, he sustained a life-altering [[stroke]],<ref name=bio/> which required caregivers for the remainder of his life.<ref name=pathebert/> |