Ordinances would ask voters to change charter

A special meeting Wednesday put a series of proposed amendments to the St. Mary Parish Home Rule Charter on the table for possible passage.
The amendments, largely correcting language or bringing outdated charter passages into agreement with state law, must be approved by eight of the 11 council members and then parish voters.
A Parish Review Commission is meeting periodically to consider possibly bigger changes in the charter.
The ordinances before the council would:
—Require council members to be legally domiciled in the districts where they live for a year before they qualify to run. The current charter requires candidates to be voters in their districts but not that they have legal domiciles there.
—The charter currently says council members forfeit their offices if they lack the required qualifications, are convicted of state or federal felonies, or fails to take office. The amendment would add the catch-all phrase “otherwise disqualified by law from holding office.”
—When a council vacancy occurs, one of the ordinances would allow an interim appointee to serve the remainder of a term if it’s less than 18 months. If it’s more than 18 months, the seat must be filled with a special election. The charter currently says a vacancy appointee can serve up to a year, and that a vacancy lasting more than a year requires an election.
—Instead of being reimbursed for receipts related to travel outside the parish on government business, council members would be given a per diem at the rate set by the federal General Services Administration.
—Official acts of the council would have to be published within 20 days, rather than the current 30 days.
—The passage vote on proposed ordinances would have to come at least 20 days after the ordinance is published, not within 20 days after introduction as is the case now.
—As with council members, an ordinance adds “otherwise disqualified by law” to the reasons for which the parish president may be removed from office.
—Again, as with council members, a vacancy appointee for the parish presidency could serve up to 18 months of an unexpired term. A longer vacancy would require a special election.
—A proposed amendment would repeal the charter section 3-10A(8), that deals with the appointment of members to board, commissions and authorities, leaving the rules governing the process up to state law.
—Another proposed amendment would make it clear that after a construction project or means of financing a construction project has been rejected by voters, it can’t be placed on the ballot again for at least a year.