The Daily Advertiser

Lafayette Parish citizens are being asked to vote on a lengthy Charter amendment modifying our Home-Rule Charter in several ways. The most significant changes are the establishment of a new Lafayette City Council and a restructured Parish Council — neither of which affect my position as Mayor-President.

I agree with the concept of the City of Lafayette having its own City Council — this missing component is a fundamental flaw in our current form of governance that needs to be corrected.

Political initiatives, however, oftentimes include concessions and tradeoffs — and this time is no exception. There is an extremely important detail to this Charter amendment not being discussed and needs to be understood by voters.

Reduced representation

Under this proposal, the makeup of the new Parish Council ignores population distribution and shortchanges City of Lafayette representation. City residents need to know that a “yes” vote reduces their representation on the Parish Council from five out of nine (55 percent) to two out of five (40 percent).

Currently, the City of Lafayette makes up 55 percent of the total population of Lafayette Parish, yet the new five-person Parish Council is represented by three non-city majority districts and only two city majority districts.

This makeup gives non-city districts a supermajority of the votes on the Parish Council, even though they only account for 45 percent of the total Parish population. Certainly fairness would dictate that the districts be drawn in accordance with the existing population.

Why is this so important? Well, the Parish Council controls things like: where parish-wide drainage tax dollars are spent; how the parish-wide roads and bridges millage is allocated; and most other issues that have parish-wide impact. Are city residents willing to relinquish controlling authority over drainage efforts in exchange for its own Council?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but I feel obligated to make sure city residents know there is a trade-off and this amendment is more than just the City of Lafayette getting its own City Council.

Councils need to agree

There is also a practical concern impacting the budget process if this Charter amendment passes — these two new Councils will need to agree on spending priorities in order for a budget to move forward. Our current makeup of nine members ensures that there is no stalemate and that the budget process can be finalized.

Under the proposed Charter amendment, if the two new governing authorities disagree, there is no mechanism to resolve that conflict. In other words, they have to agree in order for us to have a budget. Unresolved disagreements leave government and the services we provide in limbo. That’s not very comforting in today’s political climate.

As I stated in the beginning, the Charter is flawed. I believe the City of Lafayette should have the ability to: set its own utility and tax rates; choose whether to provide LUS water outside of the city and, if so, at what price; control the expansion of LUS Fiber inside and outside of city limits; act solely in the city’s best interests.

Simply put, the City of Lafayette should have the same autonomy as every other municipality in Lafayette Parish.

I would prefer to be able to stand confidently either for or against this Charter amendment. While governmental autonomy is fundamental to our democracy, so is accurate representation. Unfortunately, the solution being offered forces us to choose between autonomy and accurate representation.

I don’t believe City of Lafayette residents should have to “give away” its majority status in order to have its own City Council. I have faith we can present a better solution to voters, so I will be voting “no” on this proposal. Regardless of what happens on Election Day, we must continue this discussion and address our challenges together.

Joel Robideaux

Lafayette Mayor-President