Parish Council puts off action on charter amendments

The St. Mary Council put off action on proposed charter amendments at a quick, smooth and lightly attended Aug. 28 meeting.
The council now expects to take up the proposed amendments later this month. They focus on tweaks to the existing charter and on bringing the charter in line with changes in state law.
A separate charter review commission has been meeting to examine larger issues with the organization of parish government, including the role of the parish president and whether the job should be full time.
The council couldn’t have passed the tweaks proposed in 11 ordinances at Wednesday’s meeting. Passing a charter amendment ordinance, which would put an amendment on a parishwide ballot, requires eight positive votes.
Only seven council members were present for the Aug. 28 meeting until Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville, a physician who occasionally arrives late for meetings, came in midway through.
The ordinances have already passed the 20-day period that must elapse between introduction and a public hearing followed by a passage vote.
The changes in the ordinances would:
—Require council members to be legally domiciled in the districts where they live for a year before they qualify to run. The current charter requires candidates to be voters in their districts but not that they have legal domiciles there.
—The charter currently says council members forfeit their offices if they lack the required qualifications, are convicted of state or federal felonies, or fails to take office. The amendment would add the catch-all phrase “otherwise disqualified by law from holding office.”
—When a council vacancy occurs, one of the ordinances would allow an interim appointee to serve the remainder of a term if it’s less than 18 months. If it’s more than 18 months, the seat must be filled with a special election. The charter currently says a vacancy appointee can serve up to a year, and that a vacancy lasting more than a year requires an election.
—Instead of being reimbursed for receipts related to travel outside the parish on government business, council members would be given a per diem at the rate set by the federal General Services Administration.
—Official acts of the council would have to be published within 20 days, rather than the current 30 days.
—The passage vote on proposed ordinances would have to come at least 20 days after the ordinance is published, not within 20 days after introduction as is the case now.
—As with council members, an ordinance adds “otherwise disqualified by law” to the reasons for which the parish president may be removed from office.
—Again, as with council members, a vacancy appointee for the parish presidency could serve up to 18 months of an unexpired term. A longer vacancy would require a special election.
—A proposed amendment would repeal the charter section 3-10A(8), that deals with the appointment of members to board, commissions and authorities, leaving the rules governing the process up to state law.
—Another proposed amendment would make it clear that after a construction project or means of financing a construction project has been rejected by voters, it can’t be placed on the ballot again for at least a year
Also at the Aug. 28 meeting, Parish President Sam Jones paid tribute to Oray Rogers, the longtime Franklin City Council member and two-term parish president who died Aug. 17.
Rogers was on the council when Jones was elected Franklin’s mayor.
“He was the first guy, when I got elected in 1982, to put me on the right track,” Jones said.