BATON ROUGE - Janet Simmons is the interim superintendent of BREC, following Corey Wilson's decision not to renew his contract.

“We have five cities, instead of just Baton Rouge,” Simmons said. “We have five cities that we're going to be working with. We have to address the needs of each city.”

Five cities exist with five mayors, whose opinions are now included on the BREC board, along with four members selected by the East Baton Rouge Metro-Council.

Wade Evans, the mayor of Central, says he’s excited to serve the parish in his new capacity.

"The people of Central expect certain things from their parks,” Evans said. “The people in St. George expect certain things from their parks, and we want to make sure that everybody's needs are met."

Simmons says she has been watching social media to directly address issues at the various BREC parks, such as maintenance requests.

“If we can deliver that service at a more cost-efficient manner to the taxpayer, we're going to have to look at everything,” Evans said.

Thursday night’s meeting would have been the first since state lawmakers changed the makeup of the board. BREC sent a notice Thursday morning calling it off.

“We had a lame duck commission, and so there's no point in having a meeting,” Simmons said. “I am not about having a meeting just to have a meeting.”

Among other changes, Simmons appointed new leadership, including an Interim Chief Human Resources Officer and an Interim Chief Operating Officer.