The Honorable Jeffrey W. Hall is serving in his first term as the Mayor of the City of Alexandria, Louisiana, Rapides Parish. He is the first African American elected to the Office of Mayor in Alexandria.
Since taking office as Mayor of Alexandria in December of 2018, Mayor Hall has worked to bring residents together to work to improve the quality of life in Alexandria. Hall faced tremendous challenges in his first three years in office including a tornado that destroyed the city’s Johnny Downs Sports Complex in December of 2019, major hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020, two major ice storms in February of 2021 as well as the effects of the global COVID pandemic that started in early 2020.
Despite those challenges, Mayor Hall has lead a number of efforts to improve the community. Under Hall’s leadership the City successfully negotiated new contracts with the unions representing police officers and firefighters. Both contracts offered significant pay increases and new benefit packages making the Alexandria Police Department and the Alexandria Fire Department competitive with other agencies in the state. Hall also oversaw rebuilding of the damaged Johnny Downs Sports Complex, repairing damage done by the tornado and making improvements, including the addition of artificial turf to the eight baseball and softball fields, designed to keep the complex as one of the premiere sports facilities in the state. Hall’s administration is also working to make improvements to the Riverfront Amphitheater as part of his ongoing efforts to revitalize downtown Alexandria and enhance Alexandria’s position as a destination city.
Other significant accomplishments under Hall’s tenure to date include refinancing utility bonds to save taxpayers millions in interest over the life of the bonds, creation of a number of projects to improve drainage throughout Alexandria, including a $10 million project to re-route flood waters to the Red River, and significant investments to replace aging City equipment including ATRANS buses as well as fire trucks, medical units, utility repair trucks and sanitation equipment. Each of these efforts will benefit Alexandria residents for years to come.
Hall is the son of the late Mr. Willie O. Hall and Mrs. Florice Hall from Alexandria, Louisiana. He was educated in the Rapides Parish public school system. In 1969 he graduated from Peabody High School and entered Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in 1972.
In his early career, Hall worked for the City of Alexandria as a clerk, accountant and assistant internal auditor before moving to Legal Services Corporation. From there he went to work for the Rapides Parish Police Jury.
Jeffrey has more than 43 years of professional experience in politics and business in Louisiana. He started his career with Cleco in 1981 and retired after 32 years of service. During his tenure with Cleco, he served in various leadership capacities and served as the first African American Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Economic Development, and the first African American Senior Vice President before he retired. Hall is also a past member of the Rapides Regional Hospital Advisory Board, the former chairman of the Greater Alexandria Economic Development Authority (GAEDA) and has served as Vice President of the Small Business and Retail Division as well as various other capacities with the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce.
Hall was first elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in February of 2015 to finish former Representative Herbert Dixon’s term. He was then elected in October of 2015 to a full term of his own where he served three years of his four-year term before stepping down to become Alexandria’s first African-American Mayor. While serving in the State Legislature, Hall served as a member of three committees in the House of Representatives: Education; Transportation, Highways, and Public Works; and Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development. Before stepping down he served as Vice-Chairman of the Education Committee and as First Vice-Chairman of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus (LLBC), the third highest position in the Caucus. He also chaired the LLBC’s Economic Development Committee. Hall was also a member of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
In addition to his duties as Mayor, Hall was appointed to serve as a member of the Education Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) for 2018 and 2019. The SLC is a branch of the Council of State Governments. Hall was also appointed to serve on the Advisory Council on Historically Black Colleges and Universities under the jurisdiction of the Board of Regents. He is also a member of the Louisiana Democratic Caucus, the Rotary Club of Alexandria, the Grambling State University and the National Alumni Association and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Currently, Mayor Hall is serving on the board of Louisiana Energy & Power Authority (LEPA).
Jeffrey is married to Patricia Breaux Hall. They have been married 49 years and are parents of Nicole and Christopher. He is a member of True Vine Baptist Church where he serves as a Deacon.
