Parish Council moves closer to calling for new charter

The St. Mary Parish Council’s Wednesday meeting lacked the strife that has plagued parish government for much of the year. Members may be ready to embrace just a touch of revolution.
They’re headed toward a discussion about rewriting the four-decades-old home rule charter, the blueprint for the parish government’s structure and the rights and responsibilities of officials within it. Action to create a citizen panel to consider a new charter could come as early as next month.
A new charter is being put forward as a way to solve issues such as the roles of the parish president and chief administrative officer. In recent years, the council has also grappled with the question of which council members are eligible for the two leadership positions and with minority representation.
Councilman J Ina of Franklin put discussion of a new home rule charter on Wednesday’s meeting agenda. Ina alluded to public reaction to heated debates over the parish budget and the naming of a new CAO.
“When people come to the podium and say ‘chaos’ or whatever,” Ina said, “it’s time for a change.”
Ina suggested resurrecting the charter review committee that developed recommendations in 2018, largely without result.
Councilwoman Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink upped the ante. Rink floated the idea of creating a charter review commission that could send its recommendations directly to a popular vote without intervention by the council.
Either way, Ina wants the committee or commission to have a consultant to help with the work. Councilman Dean Adams of Morgan City suggested turning to the Louisiana Police Jury Association for help.
The need for a new charter came up earlier Wednesday, when Parish President Sam Jones spoke at a St. Mary Chamber luncheon at The Forest restaurant.
Jones and former state Sen. Bret Allain said St. Mary Parish is alone in the region in being led by a part-time parish president.
Jones, elected last fall, wouldn’t see the personal benefit of a full-time salary if such a change is approved by voters and if he sticks to his one-term pledge.
But he told Chamber members that the current system, in which the day-to-day operation of the parish government is handled by a chief administrative officer, doesn’t work.
The charter limits the parish president’s power while giving the CAO a lot of authority, Jones said.
“People don’t vote for the CAO,” Jones said. “They vote for the president.”
Allain said the time is right to consider rewriting the parish charter.
“I’m going to urge you to urge the Parish Council to at least look at this and try to do it through the council,” Allain told Jones. “If not, we’ll have to do it through a grassroots effort.”
The council rejected an attempt to make the president post full-time in 2018. St. Mary voters later rejected a proposed charter amendment that would have raised the parish president’s salary to the average of the pay for the parish’s mayors as a step toward making the post full-time.
The parish president currently receives $1,000 per month. The amendment would have raised the salary to about $50,000 a year.
When Ina talked about bringing the charter review committee back, he suggested inviting members of the 2018 panel to participate again.
The committee included Oray Rogers, Nick LaRocca, Ricky Armelin, Deborah Price, the Rev. Allen Randle Sr., current Councilman Mark Duhon, Chris Lipari, Logan Fromenthal and Stan Robison.
LaRocca died in 2021. Duhon left the committee after his election to the Parish Council.