LIVINGSTON - Newly elected Livingston Parish council members have pledged to work together as the entirely new council will take over in January.

Voters replaced three incumbents who did not seek reelection and ousted six others. For the first time ever the parish will bring in nine new members. John Wascom beat out Marshall Harris  who had been on the council for 20 years. Wascom says the current the people of Livingston Parish have shown a need for change.

"I think this current council has given us a good example of what not to do," he said. "So I'm excited to work with the new group of people, and I think it's parish wide that people were just ready for a council that's going to work together."

Parish President Layton Ricks says he's looking forward to fresh faces to move the parish forward. Ricks says it's an exciting time for the parish to put a lot of fighting behind them.  

"Well I just think a lot of the people were sick and tired of the political agenda, the lawsuits, the fighting over nothing, the fighting over anything and everything, and they were just ready to see all of that stop and see us sit down and work together. That just wasn't happening," said Ricks.

The new council will take over on January 11. The current council will adopt the parish's budget in the coming weeks.