With jobs coming, officials push for housing

FRANKLIN — St. Mary Parish is hoping for a hiring boom. But where will the people who take those jobs live?
That was Parish President Sam Jones’ message at Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting.
Also Wednesday, a Charter Review Commission member urged the council to inform people about the upcoming vote on revisions in the parish’s governing document. The council has yet to take action on resetting the date for that election.
Jobs
Jones called it a “burst” of employment. Saronic, which bought the Gulf Craft shipyard last year, has a plan for building autonomous vessels that could result in 1,500 direct jobs. Metal Shark is also active in that market. Congress recently included $140 million in a defense bill for construction of Yard Repair Berthing and Messing vessels being constructed by Conrad Shipyard.
“There are probably 3,000-4,000 jobs that will be available, some of them now,” Jones said.
Those numbers would represent a significant increase in the number of people working here. At the beginning of 2026, the Louisiana Workforce Commission said 17,891 people were employed in the parish, up 194 from a year earlier.
“We need to grab this,” Jones said, “ride it to the end, ride it forever.”
But there would also be pressure on the local housing stock. The Census Bureau’s five-year average through 2024 puts the number of housing units in the parish at 18,463. About 69% of those units are occupied by their owners. The rest are rentals.
Councilman the Rev. Craig Mathews of Jeanerette pointed to past disputes over whether housing developments met regulatory requirements or ran into opposition from neighbors.
“As long as we continue to put these restrictions on what people live in, that’s going to be a problem in St. Mary Parish,” Mathews said. “That’s why this body is elected, to make decisions that some people are not going to agree with.”
Jones pointed to the scale of the potential need for new housing.
“We’re not talking about three or four houses …,” Jones said. “I don’t know what it’s going to take. But it’s going to take an effort by all of us.”
Election
Barry Dufrene, a member of the Charter Review Commission, praised the work of his colleagues as they developed proposed changes in the parish’s home rule charter.
That charter has been changed only lightly since it was enacted in the 1980s, he said, and that was to enact three-term limits on council members in 2014.
He called for a public forum to educate people about the proposed revisions.
“Voters deserve to know what’s going on,” Dufrene said.
The key points of the commission’s proposals:
•Updating the council and parish president compensation to reflect current duties, with cost-of-living adjustments every four years.
•Eliminating the three at-large council districts from which representatives are elected through a parishwide vote.
•Limits of 1-1/2 consecutive terms for both the council and the parish president.
•Designating the parish president as chief executive and administrative officer, eliminating the separate chief administrative officer position.
•Clarifying procedures for vacancies, meetings and publications of ordinances.
•Removing obsolete or redundant sections, including outdated ballot and district provisions.
The council originally passed a resolution calling for putting the proposal on the June 27 ballot. But last month, the council voted to rescind that resolution. Councilman Patrick Hebert of Berwick argued that a June 27 election could be more expensive to the parish than a Nov. 3 vote. The June election might not include federal offices, forcing the parish to pick up the entire tab.
The council has yet to pass a resolution calling for the Nov. 3 election.
Council members have expressed concern about the all-or-nothing nature of the charter revision proposal. Voters who might like some provisions but not others would be required to vote yes or no on the entire package.
On Wednesday, as council members talked about the need to pass an election resolution as a deadline approaches, Mathews asked whether other related items might be included on the ballot.
After the meeting, Mathews wouldn’t say what he has in mind.
“It’s possible some other items might be coming along,” he said.