Parish will require training for board members

Staff report
The St. Mary Parish Council passed an ordinance Jan. 8 requiring training for members of boards and commissions that provide vital services across the parish.
The council also sent a complicated request back to the Planning and Zoning Commission and honored a longtime St. Mary physician who died recently.
And the council voted to keep the members who have led the council for the last year in their leadership positions.
The council voted for Gwendolyn Hidalgo of Bayou Vista to be the chairperson for another year and for Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville to be vice chair.
The parish charter limits the two leadership posts to members elected from the three at-large council districts, whose representatives are chosen by a parishwide vote.
Hidalgo was elected from District 10, Rink from District 9. The third at-large member, Dean Adams of Morgan City representing District 11, voted for his two colleagues.
Also Jan. 8:
•The newly passed ordinance will require “at least four (4) hours of training regarding duties, responsibilities, ethics, substance of their positions, and Roberts Rules of Order for conducting meetings.”
The training must occur before assuming board positions or within six months of taking office using programs established by the boards.
The training may be either in-person or online.
The boards and commissions — 51 of them, or one for every 960 St. Mary residents if advisory boards are included — provide a variety of essential public services. Those include fire protection, flood control, drinkable water, sewer service and recreation centers.
Three members were absent from Wednesday’s meeting, including J Ina of Franklin, who introduced the training requirement. All eight present council members voted for the ordinance.
•Randy Tisdale had asked for an exception to rules forbidding residential land use in industrial areas, like the Amelia-area tract where he hopes to place a mobile home.
He had lived there but moved, giving up a grandfather exemption to the ban on residential, all while maintaining utility service on the property.
The Planning & Zoning Commission had recommended granting the variance. But Councilman Mark Duhon argued against it, saying the parish policy is not to allow residential use in industrial areas.
Four council members voted to deny the request, and one voted against the denial. But with the three absences and three abstentions, the denial fell short of the six-vote majority required on the 11-member council.
Members voted to send the request back to the Planning & Zoning Commission for more consideration.
•The council passed a resolution of respect for Dr. Robert Blereau of Morgan City, who died Dec. 16 at age 88.
Adams described Blereau as “an old school doctor” and said “he was a great guy.”
Rink, also a physician, said she bought a building belonging to Blereau.
“This man was in his 70s and he was still delivering babies,” Rink said.
Councilman Patrick Hebert of Berwick said Blereau was his doctor for his whole life.
“He set a great example of what a person should be,” Hebert said.
•St. Mary Council on Aging Director Beverly Domengeaux gave her annual report to the council. She said the agency performed 70,000 instances of some form of service this year in St. Mary, including meal deliveries and transportation.
The council provides service to 582 people with 92 more on a waiting list.
The seniors’ biggest need is for someone to reach out, Domengeaux said.
“Your senior citizens need you,” she said. “They need personal contact.
“They don’t need fans and heaters. They appreciate them, but they’re lonely and they’re left alone.”