Charter vote could come as early as July

FRANKLIN — By mid-summer, voters parishwide could have a hand in changing the parish’s direction.
Lisa Morgan, clerk of the St. Mary Parish Council, predicts an ordinance making six or so changes to the parish’s 42-year-old charter could go before voters by mid-July.
The ordinance, which the council introduced in early December, must formally be adopted next month, in order to be placed on a “yes” or “no” election ballot.
The ballot would ask voters to make one choice, in favor or against, these changes:
—Reducing the parish council from 11 members to 8 single-member districts, eliminating the three at-large seats.
—Updating the council and parish-president compensation to reflect current duties, with cost-of-living adjustments every four years.
—Establishing term limits of 1-1/2 consecutive terms for both the council and the parish president.
—Designating the parish president as chief executive and administrative officer, eliminating the separate chief administrative officer position.
—Clarifying procedures for vacancies, meetings and publications of ordinances.
—Removing obsolete or redundant sections, including outdated ballot and district provisions.
In April 2024, the parish council agreed to create and appoint a charter commission to tackle the ills of the document, which they said has stunted parish growth. The move was the third time the council agreed to rewrite the charter.
Councilman Jay Ina said he first introduced the idea of a charter review committee in 2018.
And he said each time the council agreed to form a charter committee, “we put together an incredible group of outstanding knowledgeable people. They met, and produced a report with recommendations; however, we as council moved nowhere. We got nothing accomplished, because we could not agree.”
But even though the council did not agree on much, one or two of the committee’s recommendations were brought before voters, but they were shot down.
It was Councilman Dr. Kristi Prejeant-Rink who suggested the council appoint a Home Rule Charter Commission in order to thwart the council’s interference with accepting or rejecting final recommendations from that body.
Rink said the commission should rewrite the charter, concluding, “Whatever they come up with goes before voters. A commission will take the charter out of our hands, so there will be no arguing back and forth.”
So the council agreed to Rink’s suggestion, and they appointed a commission, which included: John Armato, Jeremy Chasteen, Barry Dufrene, Betty Hicks, John Higdon, Judge Ed Leonard Jr,, Kenneth Perry Jr., John Trevino Sr., Baldwin Mayor Clarence Vappie, Norbet Wanous and Dr. Gary Wiltz.
In an interview this week, Wiltz said, “We worked really, really hard on this revision. We spent over a year. It wasn’t a knee-jerk process.”
“You’re looking at a document that hasn’t been changed in more than 40 years.”
Wiltz noted the parish president job only pays an annual $12,000. He also noted St. Mary Parish has lost 10,000 residents over the past decade.
“It’s going to take a full-time parish president that’s committed, with a parish council that wants to work hard, especially with that parish president’s vision,” Wiltz said. “I think we have opportunity with the recommendations that we have made. This is an opportunity that we have for the future. I am hopeful voters will be favorable.”
Many other parish leaders are in support of a full-time St. Mary Parish president.
Parish Economic Development Director Evan Boudreaux has said, “If we do not start creating an environment that is conducive to growth, we might as well start packing up now.”
Parish President Sam Jones has said he campaigned for the office so that he could see the position is changed to full time.
And former State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Adeline, has said, “It is time we make our parish look like the successful parishes around us.”

This story has been edited to complete the list of commission members.