Full-time president, Black representation among likely topics in charter talks

Staff Report
The St. Mary Parish Council inched closer Wednesday to empaneling a group of citizens who will review the home rule charter with an eye toward asking voters for changes, possibly an altogether new charter.
Along the way, two agendas have emerged among proponents of change: making the parish president post full-time, and increasing minority representation on the council.
At Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting, no action was taken to create a charter review panel but heard that an ordinance for that purpose could be ready for introduction as early as the May 22 meeting.
Councilman J Ina of Franklin, who advocated for more Black representation on the council at Wednesday’s meeting, made it clear he wants the council to create a charter review commission, with power to put proposed changes directly to the voters, rather than a committee that makes recommendations to the council.
Ina noted that none of the changes suggested by an earlier review committee were enacted.
Meanwhile, he said, St. Mary’s population is 31% Black, but only two of the 11 council members are Black.
Ina, an African American representing a Black-majority district, said he proposed two changes to boost minority representation.
One was to create a voting district set-up similar to the St. Mary School Board, which has 11 traditional geographic districts and four minority members.
Alternatively, Ina proposed that the Parish Council should change its system of at-large districts.
Currently, eight council members are elected from traditional districts. Three more are elected from at-large districts. While each at-large member represents an at-large district, all three are elected by parishwide votes.
Ina argued that if at-large members were elected only by voters in their respective districts, District 9 in west St. Mary would become a Black-majority district.
Both those changes were rejected by the council.
Ina again made the case for more minority representation.
“At the end of the day, we have the opportunity to do it because it’s the right thing to do,” Ina said.
He talked about recent federal court rulings that have rejected Louisiana’s congressional map because it didn’t include a second Black-majority U.S. House district.
“I strongly believe we’ll do it right by choice … or someone will come in and make us do it,” Ina said.
Parish president
Current Parish President Sam Jones ran last fall on a platform that included making the post full-time with a full-time salary.
Jones doesn’t figure to benefit from higher pay because he has pledged to serve a single term.
But he and others have pointed out that the St. Mary post pays only $1,000 a month, while surrounding parishes pay six-figure salaries to full-time presidents who promote their parishes, push for economic development and play a larger role in overseeing day-to-day operations.
St. Mary’s charter leaves much of the supervision of parish government operations to an appointed chief administrative officer.
Another supporter of a full-time presidency is former three-term state Sen. Bret Allain. He spoke at a St. Mary Chamber event last month, saying that if the Parish Council doesn’t want to make the change, it’s time to build grassroots support.
They may have some persuading to do. In March 2023, St. Mary voters rejected a charter amendment that would have raised the president’s salary to the average of the mayors in the five St. Mary municipalities, or about $50,000.
The proposed amendment, which lost by a 60%-40% margin in a typically low spring election turnout, was billed as a step toward making the presidency full-time.