Parish Council slows down to debate stop sign

FRANKLIN — A stop sign in Bayou Vista, what one councilman called a public records roadblock and a charter amendment that could create a wider avenue to the council chairmanship packed a short agenda for Wednesday’s St. Mary Parish Council meeting.
The proposed amendment, which would remove charter language limiting the council chairmanship and vice chairmanship to members elected from parishwide at-large districts, was introduced Wednesday.
Councilman James Bennett of Morgan City told the council that he had to struggle to obtain public records from the leadership of Gravity Drainage District 2A, a source of contention since the council consolidated drainage districts serving Morgan City and Amelia.
An ordinance that would have removed the stop sign on Jupiter Street at Columbus in Bayou Vista looked like a minor bit of housekeeping on the agenda. But it led to a lengthy discussion about public safety vs. traffic flow before the proposal was voted down.
Public records
Bennett told the council that he made his public records request last month to the Drainage District 2A board chairman, Hanko Hoffpauir, and to board attorney Greg Aucoin and a district staff member.
Bennett sought a long list of records, including employee time cards from June through September; invoices; work orders; work performed by contractors and attorneys; copies of maintenance logs, repair logs and invoices related to District 2A pumping stations; and more.
Bennett said he was told that he wouldn’t be getting the records. After he contacted the State Ethics Board and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, he received the records immediately before a Drainage District 2A board meeting Tuesday night.
After the Parish Council meeting, Bennett said his request was made to see whether the district is fulfilling its obligation to spend Morgan City tax money in Morgan City and Amelia tax money in Amelia.
He declined to be more specific, citing his contact with the Ethics Board and the attorney general.
The consolidated drainage district has been the focal point of disagreement for nearly a year between Parish President David Hanagriff, who pushed for the consolidation as an efficiency and cost-saving move, and Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna, who chaired the board serving his city until the districts were merged.
Dragna challenged the procedure by which the council consolidated the districts and made his own extensive records request from the parish government soon after his election as mayor.
Hanagriff has accused Dragna of attacking the consolidated board and said he believes the request by Bennett, who is employed by Dragna’s LAD Services Inc., is part of that pattern.
Bennett insisted he made his request on his own and not at the urging of the mayor.
Stop sign
The ordinance that would have removed the stop sign on Jupiter at Columbus was rejected by a 9-1 vote. The only yes vote came from Councilman Scott Ramsey of Bayou Vista, who introduced it.
Ramsey noted that the sign is one of four stop signs along the same short stretch of road, which is heavily traveled.
That’s too many stop signs for Ramsey.
“This is crystal clear,” he said. “This stop sign is not needed.”
But that wasn’t clear to former Councilman Glen Hidalgo, who lives in the neighborhood with wife Gwendolyn Hidalgo, who is currently the council’s vice chairwoman.
“It does what it’s supposed to do,” Glen Hidalgo said. “It slows people down.”
The Hidalgos said older residents, including a 91-year-old, as well as school children live in the neighborhood, which also has a bus stop.
“I hope you consider this as public safety,” Gwendolyn Hidalgo said in urging members to vote against the ordinance.
She, Bennett, Mark Duhon, Kristi Prejeant Rink, Chairman Dean Adams, Patrick Hebert, Leslie “Les” Rulf, Rodney Olander and Craig Mathews voted against the ordinance.
Amendment
Mathews stepped up for an absent J Ina of Franklin to introduce Ina’s proposed amendment.
Eight of the 11 council members are elected from geographic districts. The other three are elected at-large in parishwide voting.
The parish charter currently says that only at-large members are eligible to be the chair or vice chair.
When the current council was seated, and when council members elected Adams and Hidalgo to the leadership positions, Ina and Mathews argued limiting the leadership positions to at-large members.
Ina and Mathews are African American. At-large elections are sometimes criticized for putting minorities at a disadvantage.
After introduction, a proposed ordinance must wait 20 days for a passage vote. If the council votes to put the amendment to voters, the proposal would be on the April 30 ballot.
Jails
The search for jail space to house parish prisoners continues.
Chief Administrative Officer Henry C. “Bo” LaGrange said he’s been notified by Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur that his town won’t keep parish prisoners in its jail.
For now, plans are to house inmates at jails in Patterson, Iberia and possibly elsewhere.
The search began after Morgan City’s Dragna asked the council to raise the rate the parish pays the city from $14 to $19 per prisoner per day, the rate Dragna said the city needs to break even.
Hanagriff countered with an offer of $16 per prisoner per day and a promise to look for more money in future budgets. Dragna later notified the parish that the city will no longer house parish prisoners, sending the parish on a search for jail space.
Morgan City’s jail is configured in a way that allows for segregation of male and female inmates, so the city housed the parish’s female prisoners.
Also Wednesday, Chairman Adams offered a Veterans Day salute to 102-year-old vet Henry Watson of Baldwin.