Morgan City Council looks at present and future elections

A few days before Morgan City voters head to the polls to decide whether to impose a new sales tax, the City Council also looked ahead to future elections.
Council members called for an October election on a charter amendment to recognize reality by requiring council members to be elected from single-member districts. But members refused to ask voters to put council member term limits in the charter.

The council also got a look at three proposed maps for the council districts for the 2024 council elections. But they had to squint, and they asked for bigger maps.

The sales tax election will be 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday. Morgan City voters are being asked to approve a half-cent sales tax that would raise $1.3 million annually for police and firefighter pay and to train new hires in both those departments.

City officials say Morgan City police and firefighter pay lags salaries at other departments across the region, leading to costly turnover.

At the end of the April 15-22 early voting period, the Registrar of Voters Office had received 541 votes.

In anticipation of the tax’s passage, the council introduced an ordinance Tuesday authorizing the city to levy the tax. Final passage of that ordinance could come as soon as the May 23 meeting.

Charter amendment

The council called for an Oct. 14 election on a proposal that would require council members to be elected from single-member districts — just the way they’ve been elected for more than 20 years.

The charter currently calls for council members to be elected at large. But a 2000 lawsuit settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice required members to be elected from geographic districts. The charter was never changed to reflect the new districts.

The original amendment proposal also included a section that would impose a two-term limit on council members. Council members Steve Domangue, Ron Bias, Mark Stephens, Tim Hymel and Lou Tamporello all spoke against the term limits.

“What happens after a term limit of eight years ends and no one runs?” Domangue asked.

“If someone is doing their job,” Hymel said, “why vote them out?”

“As the old saying goes,” Bias said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Stephens moved to table the resolution until the council can get input from Mayor Lee Dragna, who is on vacation. No one seconded the motion.

The council approved the resolution calling for the charter change to single-member districts without the term limits.

Redistricting

Josh Manning of the South Central Regional Planning and Development Commission staff gave the council three maps showing ways the existing council maps could be redrawn.

Legislative bodies with geographic districts are required to redraw their district maps after each census to account for population changes. Morgan City must have its remapping complete before the July 2024 qualifying period for the November 2024 elections.

The 2020 Census results indicated that Morgan City lost 7.5% of its population 2010-20 and had 11,472 residents in 2021.

Two of the maps presented by Manning make relatively minor tweaks of the existing map. A third was drawn from scratch, he said, and makes more wide-ranging changes.

All three proposals maintain an African-American majority in District 3, now represented by Bias.

The maps were presented to the council on 8-1/2- by 11-inch paper at a scale that made it impossible to have a detailed look at the new district boundaries. Tamporello, who presided at the meeting in Dragna’s absence, asked Manning for larger maps for the council to consider.

Also Tuesday:

—The council set the city’s property tax rate for 2023 at 16.07 mills. That rate will be applied to an assessed valuation of about $134 million of assessed valuation.

A mill is 1/10th-cent of tax applied to each dollar of assessed valuation. Louisiana’s homestead exemption does not apply to city property taxes.

—The council heard a complaint from Joyce Simmons about speeding near her home on Allison Street.

Simmons said people who appear to be going to and from work race along Allison, often ignoring calls to slow down or making rude gestures.

Tamporello said the city will increase police patrols in the area.

Another citizen complaint focused on vehicles staying for extended times at a home-based car repair business and abandoned homes in the Eleventh Street area.

—City grant-writer Hannah Roy came in for praise after reporting on recent funds the city has received.

The big score was a $6.9 million grant from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for upgrading the city’s natural gas distribution system.

The city has also received grants that helped fund improvements to the city’s welcome signs and Saturday’s Operation Beautification event, and to pay for development of the Explore Morgan City app, which offers a voice- and video-guided tour of 14 historic sites in the city.