Happy fourth birthday Sunday to Wesley Kidder, we love you, Douglas, Reid and Grandmommy … Happy 18th birthday Rhett Ratcliff, we love you, have fun, from family and friends.
The St. Mary Parish Council’s Wednesday meeting lacked the strife that has plagued parish government for much of the year. Members may be ready to embrace just a touch of revolution.
They’re headed toward a discussion about rewriting the four-decades-old home rule charter, the blueprint for the parish government’s structure and the rights and responsibilities of officials within it. Action to create a citizen panel to consider a new charter could come as early as next month.
A new charter is being put forward as a way to solve issues such as the roles of the parish president and chief administrative officer. In recent years, the council has also grappled with the question of which council members are eligible for the two leadership positions and with minority representation.
Councilman J Ina of Franklin put discussion of a new home rule charter on Wednesday’s meeting agenda. Ina alluded to public reaction to heated debates over the parish budget and the naming of a new CAO.
“When people come to the podium and say ‘chaos’ or whatever,” Ina said, “it’s time for a change.”
Ina suggested resurrecting the charter review committee that developed recommendations in 2018, largely without result.
Councilwoman Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink upped the ante. Rink floated the idea of creating a charter review commission that could send its recommendations directly to a popular vote without intervention by the council.
Either way, Ina wants the committee or commission to have a consultant to help with the work. Councilman Dean Adams of Morgan City suggested turning to the Louisiana Police Jury Association for help.
The need for a new charter came up earlier Wednesday, when Parish President Sam Jones spoke at a St. Mary Chamber luncheon at The Forest restaurant.
Jones and former state Sen. Bret Allain said St. Mary Parish is alone in the region in being led by a part-time parish president.
Jones, elected last fall, wouldn’t see the personal benefit of a full-time salary if such a change is approved by voters and if he sticks to his one-term pledge.
But he told Chamber members that the current system, in which the day-to-day operation of the parish government is handled by a chief administrative officer, doesn’t work.
The charter limits the parish president’s power while giving the CAO a lot of authority, Jones said.
“People don’t vote for the CAO,” Jones said. “They vote for the president.”
Allain said the time is right to consider rewriting the parish charter.
“I’m going to urge you to urge the Parish Council to at least look at this and try to do it through the council,” Allain told Jones. “If not, we’ll have to do it through a grassroots effort.”
The council rejected an attempt to make the president post full-time in 2018. St. Mary voters later rejected a proposed charter amendment that would have raised the parish president’s salary to the average of the pay for the parish’s mayors as a step toward making the post full-time.
The parish president currently receives $1,000 per month. The amendment would have raised the salary to about $50,000 a year.
When Ina talked about bringing the charter review committee back, he suggested inviting members of the 2018 panel to participate again.
The committee included Oray Rogers, Nick LaRocca, Ricky Armelin, Deborah Price, the Rev. Allen Randle Sr., current Councilman Mark Duhon, Chris Lipari, Logan Fromenthal and Stan Robison.
LaRocca died in 2021. Duhon left the committee after his election to the Parish Council.
Paul Governale will be St. Mary Parish government’s new chief administrative officer.
The Parish Council voted unanimously Wednesday to confirm Parish President Sam Jones’ appointment of Governale, who has served as parish government’s finance director.
Governale takes the job as the parish government struggles to cover what is expected to be a $2.5 million shortfall in the 2024 budget.
Jones named Governale to be the interim CAO last month after Jean Paul Bourg resigned.
The parish charter, which effectively makes the parish presidency a part-time position, gives the CAO broad authority over the government’s day-to-day operations, including personnel matters.
Governale has worked for parish government for 18 years, a fact that figures in his compensation.
The council agreed to raise Governale’s salary by 6% now with the possibility of another 6% raise in three months.
Governale’s salary was not disclosed at the meeting. But because of his lengthy tenure, he had been making more than Bourg, who had seven years of service with the parish.
Jones said that even with the raise, the parish will come out $24,000 ahead because the new finance director will start at a lower salary.
When it was time for public comment, Woodrow Parker of Morgan City came to the lectern to ask how much Governale makes.
Councilman the Rev. Craig Mathews said rule protect the privacy of individual employees.
"His income, council member Mathews, is taxpayer money," Parker said.
The Morgan City Council has a new member.
The council on Tuesday confirmed Mayor Lee Dragna’s appointment of Bonnie Leonard to fill a vacant seat on the council.
Also Tuesday, the council decided to wait for more discussion before approving a Planning & Zoning Commission recommendation to rezone a tract for a new mobile home park. They introduced an ordinance to set property tax rates for this year.
And council members heard a report from Council on Aging Director Beverly Domengeaux.
Leonard will serve the remainder of the term of Mark Stephens, who had represented the city’s District 2 for nearly two full terms. Stephens, a retired firefighter, resigned effective Monday to take a private-sector job.
“It’s truly an honor,” Leonard said after the meeting.
After the four remaining councilmen voted to confirm Leonard’s appointment, the oath of office was administered by her husband, District Judge Ed Leonard.
“For years I’ve gone with him to events where he swore people in,” the new councilwoman said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be the one he’d be swearing in.”
The mobile home park issue involves a rezoning request from James Beranek of Beranek Land Holdings. He asked to have the tract on which the mobile home park is planned rezoned from commercial to residential. The land is bounded by Industry Road and La. 182 in eastern Morgan City.
The Planning & Zoning Commission voted 3-0 with one abstention in favor of the rezoning April 9.
The council members seemed impressed by the plans for the mobile home park, a $1.7 million project with 40 lots, a requirement that mobile homes must be less than five years old, a small shed for each lot and a 9-foot fence surrounding the property.
But some nearby property owners have raised concerns about what the project might do to drainage in the area.
They’ll discuss the issue again at the next regular meeting May 28.
The property tax ordinance is based on city’s latest assessed valuation of about $138.9 million.
The law requires a rollback in property tax rates after reassessment to ensure that tax proceeds remain the same if the assessed valuation rises. The council has the option of moving the rate back to the previous level and receiving the revenue boost from the higher valuation.
The increase in Morgan City’s assessed valuation would reduce the 16.07-mill general purpose tax to 15.85 mills. Rolling the rate back to 16.07 mills would generate another $30,000 in revenue.
The 2-mill tax for Morgan City Municipal Auditorium would be rolled back to 1.97 mills unless the council votes to keep it at 2 mills. The difference is worth about $3,800 to the city.
A public hearing on the ordinance will take place at the next regular meeting at 6 p.m. May 28.
In her presentation, Domengeaux said the Council on Aging provided 20,250 meals to Morgan City seniors in the last year. The council provided 1,100 trips for purposes such as doctor’s appointments and 622 homemaker visits.
But there is also a waiting list of 100 people for services, she said. The problem isn’t funding, Domengeaux said.
“I’ve got the money,” she said. “I can’t get people to work.”
About 17% of the city’s population is over 60, Domengeaux said, and 20% of the seniors have incomes below the poverty line. And 15% live by themselves, she said.
Also Tuesday, the council took a routine vote to declare 24 pieces of Police Department equipment to be surplus property, making it available to be sold.
But the first eight items listed in the enabling resolution won’t be sold.
The Morgan City government is donating eight Safety Vision Primafacie 32G body cameras, which the department no longer needs, to the cash-strapped Baldwin Police Department.
FRANKLIN — Parish President Sam Jones has had a sometimes tense relationship with the St. Mary Parish Council during his first three months in office. But Jones told a St. Mary Chamber luncheon audience Wednesday that positive things are happening in the parish, too.
Jones has sparred with Parish Council members over what he has insisted is a potential $2.5 million-$2.7 million shortfall in this year’s budget.
Yet despite the budget struggles, parish’s governments have managed to come up with capital outlay funding for important work, Jones said. That includes $175,000 for work at the Fairview Treatment Center, $266,400 for Kemper-Williams Park, $1.15 million for work on Lake Palourde Road, $1 million for the Central Fire Station and $400,000 for emergency power at an Amelia pump station.
Morgan City has received $7 million for gas and water system improvements, and Patterson has received $5 million-$6 million for water and sewer upgrades, all from some combination of federal and state funds.
In the more contentious 2024 budget issue, the council appeared to go along with a series of cost-cutting measures, including deferred equipment purchases, tighter overtime rules and, most controversially, delaying 25% of its allocation to nongovernmental agencies and local fire departments.
But, while those changes whittled down about half the shortfall, the council balked at more cuts, including a hike in the allocation deferrals to 50%.
Jones blamed the shortfall on $20 million in parish bond borrowing and large payments that become due this year. Jones said he didn’t agree with the borrowing.
At Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting, Finance Director Paul Governale — who had been appointed by Jones and confirmed by the council as chief administrative officer — said $3 million in payments on the debt come due in the next few months.
The shortfall remains unsolved, Jones said. “The reason is the Parish Council hasn’t passed an ordinance to reduce spending.”
Jones told the Chamber audience that he will use the authority he has under the charter to refuse to pay bills for which the parish doesn’t have adequate funding.
“We’re going to keep fighting,” he said. “We’re going to keep spending down.”
Laura Leigh Vice, 54, a resident of Morgan City, died Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at her residence.
Visitation will be Saturday from 11 a.m. until services at 2 p.m. at Twin City Funeral Home, which is in charge of arrangements.
BATON ROUGE — The House and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 9-5 on party lines Wednesday to advance a bill favored by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry that calls for a limited constitutional convention next month.
House Bill 800, sponsored by Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, calls for a constitutional convention to take place from May 20 to June 3, and it could be extended until no later than July 15. The bill now goes to the House floor, where Republicans hold a solid majority and are likely to pass it.
The convention’s delegates would be the members of the state House and the state Senate and 27 people appointed by Landry.
The committee amended the bill to address concerns expressed in hearings last week. Under the amended bill, judges appointed as delegates by Landry would not have to recuse themselves from their judicial work.
Landry would also not be able to appoint himself as a delegate, and state Atty. Gen. Liz Murrill or her designee would serve as a legal advisor to the convention.
The amendment also prohibits delegates from impacting Articles 1-4 of the Louisiana Constitution, which are deal with declaration of rights, distribution of powers, the legislative branch and executive branch.
Despite the attempt to address concerns, some members of the committee and the public still took issue Wednesday with the bill due to the timeline and lack of public participation.
“How could we possibly, in four or five weeks, figure out what we want to move where and be able to really digest the effects of moving something protected by the constitution to something that will have loose protections in a super statute,” Rep. Candace Newell, D-New Orleans, said.
Former Republican Rep. Neil Abramson, who was a part of Landry’s transition team on constitutional reform, defended the timeline and explained that each article of the constitution would be assigned to a certain legislative committee. It would examine that article and decide what would stay in the constitution and what would be transitioned into statute.
“We have already covered Articles 1, 2, 3 and 4 through this committee’s work,” Abramson said. “The idea of the process would be the same for the other committees that we would take a little bit of their time during one of their normal committee meetings, but it would not be disruptive of the rest of your work where you couldn’t get to the rest of it, which I don’t think we’ve done for this committee.”
Lawmakers also raised concerns that citizens do not understand what a constitutional convention is or were not given enough notice to express their opinion on the possibility of a convention.
“I’m finding that some of the public has no idea what that means, even that language, because we’re not saying ‘constitutional reform,’ we’re saying ‘convention,’” Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, said.
Beaullieu argued that the timing of the convention is “perfect” because of the upcoming fall elections. He believes there would be less public input if the convention was pushed back to the next session. In that case, he said, there would have to be a special election, which would result in a lower voter turnout.
“We’ve had a lot of testimony,” Beaullieu said. “We’re going to continue to have that voice, and that’s why we’ve established the procedure for going through this committee structure to continue to give the people of Louisiana a voice and receive this public input.”
Beauilleau also discussed the financial effect the convention would have as the .45 cents of the state sales tax is due to expire in spring of 2025.
“Next year we have a fiscal cliff that we’re hitting,” Beaullieu said. “$500 million is what it’s looking like if we proceed as it is without this convention, and we don’t give ourselves the ability to do a comprehensive tax reform. If we don’t address something, it’s coming out of higher ed, health care, it’s that simple.”
All nine committee Republicans who were present voted in favor of advancing the bill to the House floor. All five Democrats present voted against the bill.
Terrebonne General Health System announced the recent acquisition of the Ion endoluminal system for lung cancer biopsies.
Ion is designed to address a challenging aspect of lung biopsy by enabling physicians to obtain tissue samples from deep within the lung. The Ion system features an ultra-thin, ultra-maneuverable1 catheter that allows navigation far into the peripheral lung, and unprecedented stability enables the precision needed for biopsy compared to manual techniques.1 Terrebonne General is the only facility in the region to offer this innovative technology.
During bronchoscopy with Ion, the physician uses the controller to navigate to the target along a planned path.
The catheter can articulate 180 degrees in any direction to pass through small, difficult-to-navigate airways and around tight bends to reach all 18 segments of the lung. Ion’s peripheral vision probe provides direct vision during navigation. Once the pulmonary nodule is reached, the catheter locks in place.
The Flexision biopsy needle, a flexible biopsy needle compatible with Ion, then passes through the catheter, even when positioned in tortuous airways. After advancing around tight-radius bends of the catheter, the needle deploys into the target location on a straight path.
Ion is made by Intuitive, the company that makes the da Vinci surgical system and is built on more than two decades of leadership in robotic-assisted technology.
“We are truly thrilled to be a leader in this field and look forward to continuing to bring minimally invasive robotic-assisted options to the Bayou Region,” said Phyllis Peoples, president and CEO.
For more information on robotic-assisted minimally invasive biopsies at Terrebonne General Pulmonology Care, contact us at 985-850-6090 or visit tghealthsystem.com.
Terrebonne General’s health care team consists of over 1,400 employees, with over 450 medical staff providers who offer 42 various specialties.
Nineteen cadets graduated Wednesday from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Law Enforcement Academy, including three who will be assigned to St. Mary, Assumption and St. Martin.
The cadets moved into the ranks of Wildlife & Fisheries’ Enforcement Division at a ceremony in Baton Rouge.
At the academy, cadets train to enforce the state and federal laws for wildlife and fisheries and recreational boating laws and do general law enforcement work.
The graduating agents will be assigned to a field-training officer for their first six months of duty.
Assigned to this region are:
—Savannah Lavergne, of Carencro, assigned to St. Mary Parish
—Harry Gaines, of New Orleans, assigned to Assumption Parish
—Gavin Bazer, of Benton, assigned to St. Martin Parish
—Carl Reed, of Muskegon, Michigan, assigned to Terrebonne Parish
BATON ROUGE --The House Health and Welfare Committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would require seafood sellers to clearly market whether the seafood is local or imported from other countries like China.
Sen. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, showed an image of a package of frozen crawfish sold at a local supermarket. Connick explained that the item named “Boudreaux’s Crawfish” was not from Louisiana but instead a product of China.
“They are using our label, our name, our image, our culture,” Connick said. “But it’s Chinese shrimp, Chinese crawfish.”
Connick, understanding that lawmakers cannot infringe upon commercial speech, hopes to make the Louisiana seafood industry safer and more transparent.
“We cannot say ‘you can’t do this,” but if they’re going to sell it, they’ve got to make sure that we know where it’s coming from,” Connick said.
Officials could not immediately be reached for comment at a company in Westwego, a suburb of New Orleans, that distributes the crawfish under the Boudreaux’s name. Despite the Cajun-sounding name, the packages do say “Product of China” in the lower right corner.
Nationally, 80 to 90% of seafood is imported, with half of that being farm-raised, according to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. Louisiana is the second-largest seafood producer in the United States.
The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that imported seafood could potentially have risks because the federal Food and Drug Administration does not have the resources to adequately inspect and test all imported seafood.
Connick felt like this was a commerce issue as well as a health issue. He cited an Associated Press article that highlighted unethical working conditions for Indian shrimp processors.
Despite issues with safety for workers and quality of the seafood, the U.S. continues to import Indian shrimp.
“People need to know if you’re going to buy this cheap product, there’s a chance that it’s contaminated, that it’s been tested, and that your health can be affected by it,” Connick emphasized. “So it’s more of the connection to the product and how this might affect our constituents being connected to wherever this product comes from.”
Connick’s proposal is one of a group of bills moving through the Legislature this spring to increase fees and safety checks on imported seafood, both for consumer safety and to help Louisiana shrimpers and crawfish farmers, whose supplies have been reduced by extreme weather conditions.
If this bill were to become law, packaging for imported seafood would have to clearly advertise it as such starting Jan. 1, 2025.
“So just be fair,” Connick said. “Just don’t mislead us. All they need to do is put a stamp on the front.”
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Fax: 337-828-2874
Morgan City Review
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Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255