SM Council discusses charter

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, April 16, 2019

ST. MARTINVILLE — For the second time since Mayor Melinda Mitchell took office, the St. Martinville City Council has taken up the discussion of forsaking its special legislative charter in favor of the state’s Lawrason Act as its basis for government.

District 4 Councilman Juma Johnson added the discussion to Monday’s regular meeting agenda. Johnson said he wanted the council to vote on the change because he felt the special legislative charter, which gives the city council most of the legislative power in establishing a weak-mayor form of government, prevented Mitchell from hiring and firing and did not give her the power to veto council actions.

“When we had the discussion over the termination of the Public Works superintendent, it was a 3-2 vote, but it really wasn’t a 3-2 vote,” Johnson said.

City Legal Counsel Allan Durnd said the change could not be made without a public vote.

“There’s a provision in the Lawrason Act that provides for changing from a charter to the Lawrason Act only by the approval of the voters of the municipality,” Durand said.

Mitchell said she would be willing to put the measure on a ballot.

“It should be what the voters want, not what the mayor wants,” Mitchell said. “I have taken the blame in the newspapers for things, but I have no control over them. Seventy-five percent of Louisiana cities are governed under the Lawrason Act.”

District 1 Councilman Mike Fuselier said the city’s charter is fine as it is.

“The charter has worked for 200 years, for 100 different mayors,” Fuselier said. “Instead of one person making the decisions, we have a multitude of people who have a say in the decisions we make.”

Nary Smith, who has long been a proponent of eliminating the charter, said the charter was created without any input from the black community.

“Mike Fuselier says it is just fine, and if I were him I would agree,” Smith said. “But when the charter was adopted, there was no black input.”

Smith went on to call out Fuselier and Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper for perceived wrongs, including the loss of the Newcomers Club Parade and problems within the St. Martinville Police Department.

“I’m not trying to stir race,” Smith said, before doing exactly that. After several minutes, Mitchell gavelled an end to Smith’s time.

“No one ever has gone from a charter to the Lawrason Act,” Prosper said. “We can change anything we want within the charter. With the Lawrason Act, you can’t do that. When I talk to the leaders in our neighboring municipalities, they say, ‘Y’all would be crazy to do that.’”

Prosper said the charter is not the problem.

“Our problem is communication,” Prosper said. “Over the weekend, I had several calls from Mayor Mitchell to talk about items on the agenda. I was extremely happy she did. She reached out and she told me her position on the issues. That is what we need.”

The resolution to advance the charter vote failed, 3-2.

The council agreed unanimously to hire Brian Touchet, a St. Martinville native and 22-year Air Force veteran, as the city’s new Public Works superintendent. Although the council’s vote was unanimous, there were two members of the public who questioned bringing in a superintendent from outside the Public Works department’s ranks.

“My only concern with this man is that he could be earning four times what we are offering him,” Prosper said. “But he has been away from his house for 22 years. I can understand him wanting to come home and go to bed at night in his own house.”