Parish Council will talk about citizen comments

The St. Mary Parish Council will talk about the way citizens are allowed to talk at council meetings.
The agenda for the 6 p.m. Wednesday council meeting also includes discussion of mutual aid among water and sewer service districts and an introductory ordinance that could save the parish more than $1 million.
Councilman J Ina of Franklin put an item on the agenda related to “discussion and action relative to public comment guidelines as set forth in Ordinance No. 2159.
The discussion follows two recent meetings in which the council took up a request from Alfreida Edwards, a state Democratic Central Committee member, to ensure African American representation among employees in the Registrar of Voters Office.
Edwards and another member of the audience rose to speak about the request at the Feb. 24 meeting.
But, on advice from legal counsel Eric Duplantis, they weren’t allowed to speak. Duplantis said state and parish law limited public comments to items on the agenda for vote or to those who had requested to be placed on the agenda.
Ina and Councilman Craig Mathews challenged Duplantis’ interpretation of the parish ordinance. They noted that by the time the agenda is set and available to view on the Friday before the second- and fourth-Wednesday meetings, it’s already too late for a citizen to request a place on the agenda.
Also Wednesday, the council will talk about “establishing Mutual Aid Agreements between St. Mary Parish Government, St. Mary Parish Water & Sewer Commission, and Municipalities relative to water system interconnection.”
The item was placed on the agenda by Coun-cilman Scott Ramsey of Bayou Vista.
The council will also consider introduction of an ordinance that would refinance bonds issued in 2018 and 2019 for road improvements. The two bond issues raised a total of $19.5 million.
Capital One, which holds the bonds, offered a lower interest rate of 2.95% in exchange for extending the bond redemption period, but not the life of the bonds, four years to 2032.
The lower interest rate is expected to save the parish $60,000 a year or about $1.2 million over the life of the bonds.
The complete agenda is available at https://www.stmaryparishla.gov/agendas-minutes/.