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# BREC’s culture club
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/brec-culture-brooks-williams-november-message-accountability/
- Published: 2026-11-10T00:23:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-10T00:23:09.000Z
- Description: Superintendent Brooks Williams says fewer jobs, better pay and higher standards are key to better operations and public trust.
- Author: JR Ball
- Tags: News

BREC is cutting jobs, paying better for the ones that remain and expecting more in return. This is the vision Superintendent Brooks Williams spelled out in his November [message](https://www.brec.org/assets/Supt/SuptMsgNOV2026-1.pdf?ref=redeyebr.com)—and he is asking the public to hold him accountable.

**Why it matters:** Williams has been [consistent](https://www.redeyebr.com/brec-brooks-williams-change-coming-cut-waste/) since his arrival in wanting to rebuild the public’s [trust](https://www.redeyebr.com/brec-brookswilliams-baton-rouge-citypark/) in BREC while also focusing on more efficient operations and improved facility management.

**Getting leaner:** Williams is clear that the job reductions were deliberate, but the cuts will be coming to an end. 

- Leadership changes, shifted duties and [eliminated positions](https://www.redeyebr.com/brec-trims-ranks-to-put-more-hands-in-the-parks/) have been happening at BREC over “the past few months.” Paring jobs and contracts has saved $11.3 million annually.
- The goal is a “lean, high-functioning agency” that sends “as many dollars as possible” back into parks.
- The period of eliminations and departures “will end,” he writes, but he doesn’t say when.

**Pay for play:** Williams says the days of “we don’t pay much, so we don’t expect much” are over.

- BREC will pay “well” for knowledge, skill and judgment, and expect the most in return.
- Investing in one or two capable professionals often results in a better ROI than three or four lower-paid positions; that’s where BREC will invest.
- He declares low expectations a form of “bigotry,” aimed at employees and residents alike.

**Accountability:** Something called the SAVE plan—Standards, Accountability, Visibility and Execution—is becoming BREC’s internal operational playbook.

- Employees will have the standard explained and then held to it, with the training, tools and authority to meet it.
- Leaders are expected to inspect the results, talk with employees and check that finished work did what it was supposed to do.
- Repeated failure to deliver, he writes, is something those leading the work must address.
- Residents “should be able to hold us to those same standards.”

**My bad:** Williams says an honest mistake deserves a different response than a refusal to take responsibility.

- BREC should explain what happened to the people affected, fix it and apply the lesson.
- Employees should be able to raise concerns or better ideas without worrying it will be held against them.

**Accepting mediocrity:** Williams makes the case that East Baton Rouge Parish, including BREC, has grown too accustomed to doing things poorly.

- “That’s just how things are,” he writes, becomes a reason to stop expecting better.
- Residents stop raising concerns and employees quit offering ideas once they decide nothing will change.

**Notable quotable:** “What we walk past, we teach others to accept,” writes Williams.

**The bottom line:** Williams brings an interesting blend of city-manager sensibilities and vision-setting ambition to BREC. The public and other city-parish leaders should closely monitor the results and, if successful, adopt similar thinking.