St. Mary Parish Council ponders racial balance, loud music rules

What does adequate minority on the St. Mary Parish Council mean, and what’s the best way to make it happen?

That was the question posed by Councilman J Ina at the council’s Wednesday meeting.

Also Wednesday, the council heard from Amelia residents who are demanding a remedy for loud music from vehicles and homes — a problem that has been addressed for years without a solution.

Racial balance

The council must redraw its district map by next fall based on 2020 Census results. So far, the most contentious issue is over representation in Berwick, where Councilmen Patrick Hebert and Mark Duhon each hope to enlarge their districts to take in more of the town.

In western St. Mary, District 2’s Ina, District 1’s the Rev. Craig Mathews and District 3’s Rodney Olander appear settled on one of the proposals developed by the South Central Regional Planning & Development Commission staff.

The proposal mainly affects Mathews’ district, which would be expanded to run around Franklin to Verdunville.

The Black majorities in the districts represented by Ina and Mathews would be increased.

But on Wednesday, Ina talked about minority representation in a different way.

Blacks make up 32% of the parish’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Two of the Parish Council’s 11 members are African Americans — Ina and Mathews — both elected from districts with African American majorities.

Surrounding parishes have roughly the same percentage of African American citizens as St. Mary but have greater minority representation, Ina said.

“I think the Black population is grossly underrepresented,” Ina said.

Without specifying, Ina said he will put forward ideas for increasing minority representation.

Mathews made his point by asking Ina how many surrounding parishes have council members elected at large. The answer is none.

Eight of the St. Mary Parish Council’s 11 members are elected from geographic districts. The other three are elected at large. All three at- large members are white.

Olander said that he won’t argue with Ina’s numbers. But if only the eight geographic districts are considered, 25% of the council members are African Americans.

Loud music

Two Amelia residents asked the council to come up with some way, possibly an ordinance, to prevent loud music from mobile homes and vehicles from disturbing their lives.

Charlene Patureau made an impassioned plea for the council to do something.

Denise Chaisson said she’s been coming to the council since 2015 with complaints about loud music from homes and vehicles that makes it hard to sleep and bothers older residents.

Loud music even interrupted a priest who was officiating at a recent funeral.

“They don’t respect the dead, much less the living ...,” Chaisson said.

“Everybody tries to do something, and nothing gets done.”

That seems to sum up the state of a noise enforcement in the parish.

Eric Duplantis, the attorney for the council, said he’s been asked to draft dozens of ordinances over the years, but they don’t get introduced.

Gary Driskell, the chief deputy for the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office, said talks with the District Attorney’s Office haven’t resulted in an enforceable strategy.

Council Chair Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink said she’s been working on an ordinance for months. She promised to have one for the council to consider by the end of September.

Rink said the issue is complicated. She wanted to know whether council members would want to take on the expense of providing deputies with decibel meters to measure the noise level.