Charter amendment creating city, parish councils advances

Claire Taylor | The Daily Advertiser

Show Caption Hide Caption Conrad Comeaux addresses council about possible charter changer Lafayette resident Conrad Comeaux, a former parish councilman and current assessor, addressed the City-Parish Council July 10, 2018, about a proposal to split the council into a city council and parish council.

A move to split the current Lafayette City-Parish Council into a city council and a parish council, giving the largest municipality in the parish its own city council for the first time since 1996, advanced one step Tuesday.

Each new council would have five members. The current council has nine.

The council voted 5-3 to introduce an ordinance calling for the Home Rule Charter amendment to be placed on the Dec. 8 ballot. The ordinance returns to the council July 24 where you can expect more heated debate among council members and residents.

If six of nine council members vote July 24 to approve the ordinance, the charter change will be on the Dec. 8 ballot for voters to decide.

LCG will survive

The proposal is not to abolish Lafayette Consolidated Government. That was attempted in 2011 and failed.

The form of government is being modified, the legislative branch being split in two, City-Parish Attorney Paul Escott said.

The city and parish councils acting jointly, he said, will remain the governing authority of Lafayette Consolidated Government "which still survives if this is approved."

Other changes are needed to the Home Rule Charter approved by voters in 1992 to create LCG, such as creating separate planning and zoning commissions. But the mayor-president, administration and staff won't change.

How they voted:

Voting to introduce the ordinance Tuesday were council members Kenneth Boudreaux, Jay Castille, Bruce Conque, Nanette Cook and Liz Hebert.

Voting against were Jared Bellard, Pat Lewis and William Theriot.

Kevin Naquin was absent.

When LCG was created in 1992 and took effect in 1996, five smaller municipalities in the parish kept their own mayors and councils. Only the city of Lafayette no longer has its own mayor and council.

As the population outside the city of Lafayette grows, some fear with the 2020 U.S. Census the city of Lafayette will lose representation on the current combined council, giving non-Lafayette residents control over the city of Lafayette, its taxes and utilities system.

Minority representation questioned

Pat Lewis, whose district includes downtown Lafayette and is 91 percent city residents, said he wasn't kept in the loop about the proposal and wasn't initially contacted about redrawing the council districts. He asked for more time to get answers, suggesting the proposal be delayed until after the 2020 Census.

According to a map showing the proposed new city-only council, Lewis' minority-heavy district would no longer include downtown Lafayette.

The current council has two minority-majority districts, Lewis' District 3 and Kenneth Boudreaux's District 4. If split as proposed, the city council and parish council each would have only one minority-majority district.

District 3 resident Ravis Martinez asked the council to delay the proposal for additional study.

"We need to make these changes. There's no doubt about it," he said, adding, "I think it will have a negative impact on District 3 and may open us up to liability in the future."

What others on the council had to say

Councilmen William Theriot and Jared Bellard, like Lewis, questioned why they weren't shown the proposed ordinance or the proposed council districts.

Bellard, whose District 5 is only 31 percent city of Lafayette residents, said he found out about the proposal from the news media. He doesn't like the idea of only five council members because only three people could control decisions for either the city or parish.

"The lack of transparency in this entire process is a disgrace," Theriot said. "What has been done with this council is an attempt to hijack local government with virtually no input from this council or the people we represent."

Theriot, whose District 9 is only 6 percent city of Lafayette residents, questioned who authorized the hiring of a demographer to work with the handful of councilmen who created the new council districts.

Councilman Jay Castille, who along with Boudreaux and Councilman Bruce Conque prepared the proposal, took exception to Theriot's comments and insinuation that those who worked on the proposal "were trying to pull a fast one."

"I wouldn't include you, Mr. Theriot, in anything because of your negative attitude," he said.

RELATED:

Robideaux comments on proposed charter amendment

Separate city and parish councils: What does it mean to you?

What's this about separate city and parish councils?

Highlights of the proposed city, parish council split

Maps, details about city-parish council split released

Castille, whose District 2 is only 14 percent city of Lafayette, said he asked for help from the demographer, who wasn't paid. The maps included in the council packet have been changed several times, as late as Tuesday, he said, and will probably change again before it goes to the council July 24.

Boudreaux, who was chairman when council districts were redrawn to reflect population shifts in the 2010 Census, said he recalled at least 10 maps were made of council districts before the final one was approved.

What residents had to say

Lafayette resident Conrad Comeaux, a former parish councilman and current Lafayette Parish Assessor, said the entire city-parish council was never intended to vote on issues involving city-owned utility Lafayette Utilities System.

The Home Rule Charter actually designates the Lafayette Public Utilities Authority as the governing authority over LUS. The LPUA is comprised of council members whose districts include 60 percent or more city of Lafayette residents.

But attorneys or others, Comeaux said, decided during the first city-parish administration that the entire council should vote on LUS matters, too. If the proposal is approved, the city council alone would vote on LUS matters.

"There were some decisions made by councils that were detrimental to the city of Lafayette," Comeaux said. The fix is to deconsolidate, he said, but that won't happen.

The proposal isn't perfect but the council and public have time with introduction of the ordinance to study the proposal, discuss it and offer alternative suggestions, he said.

Andy Hebert, who has questioned consolidation since it was approved and wants the city and parish to fully consolidate, thinks the proposal isn't the answer.

The ordinance, he said, should do what the charter says: If the smaller cities want to join consolidated government, they should have their own election and the entire parish would vote on whether to allow them to join the city-parish government.

"Why should people living outside my corporate limits decide my government?" Hebert said. "That is not fair. That is not equal representation."

Hebert and city of Lafayette resident Wallace Senegal both suggested the new council districts are gerrymandering.

CITY MAP LEGEND:

District 1, blue

District 2, pink

District 3, beige

District 4, purple

District 5, green

PARISH MAP LEGEND:

District 1, blue

District 2, pink

District 3, brown

District 4, purple

District 5, green

City of Lafayette versus parish population of each city-parish council district: *

District 1, Kevin Naquin, 14 percent city, 86 percent outside the city

District 2, Jay Castille, 14 percent city, 86 percent outside the city

District 3, Pat Lewis, 91 percent city, 9 percent outside the city

District 4, Kenneth Boudreaux, 93 percent city, 7 percent outside the city

District 5, Jared Bellard, 31 percent city, 69 percent outside the city

District 6, Bruce Conque, 100 percent city

District 7, Nanette Cook, 61 percent city, 39 percent outside the city

District 8, Liz Webb-Hebert, 91 percent city, 9 percent outside the city

District 9, William Theriot, 6 percent city, 94 percent outside the city

* Based on 2010 Census