IPC votes no reduction

Published 12:00 am Thursday, January 6, 2011

After rejecting one ordinance introduced for public hearing, three substitute motions and a bit of parliamentary confusion Wednesday night, the Iberia Parish Council has voted against any plan to send a possible reduction of council membership to the voters in April.

District 5 Councilman Troy Comeaux has pushed for consideration of reducing the council from 14 to seven members. He wanted to let voters decide in an election April 2.

There are several hurdles that must be crossed to get the plan in place in time for council elections in October.

The council is faced with approving a reapportionment plan in a short period of time already, said Assistant District Attorney Eric Duplantis, without further complicating the process by needing additional approval from the U.S. Justice Department to change the structure of parish government.

Duplantis was skeptical the council would be able to accomplish reduction and reapportionment.

District 14 Councilman Naray Hulin made the first motion Wednesday night to table to ordinance altogether in hopes of giving the council more time to try and accomplish the reduction efforts. That motion failed with only five council members in favor of doing so.

District 4 Councilman Lloyd Brown made a substitute motion to reduce the size of the council to seven but to increase the salary of those seven council members to $1,600 per month. District 7 Councilman John Berard made a second substitute motion to reduce to seven with no pay increase. Comeaux made a third substitute motion to reduce to seven, raise pay to $1,000 per month with an annual 2 percent cost of living increase, send to voters in the fall of 2012 and implement the reduced council size if approved by voters during council elections in 2015.

Comeaux’s substitute motion failed 9-5. Councilwoman Maggie Daniels, Councilmen Joe Boudoin, Tommy Landry, Bernard Broussard, Barry Verret, Glenn Romero, Roger Duncan, Berard and Brown voted against the motion.

Because the motion failed, the council reverted to Berard’s substitute motion to reduce the council with no increase in pay. That motion failed 7-7. Because it is a Home Rule Charter change, it requires a two-thirds vote of the council. Daniels, Landry, Brown, Verret, Duncan, Councilman Charles Williams and Hulin voted against Berard’s substitute motion.

The council then reverted to the first substitute made by Brown to reduce the council’s size and increase the pay to $1,600 per month. That motion failed as well 9-5. Daniels, Boudoin, Brown, Comeaux and Hulin were the only council members to vote in favor of Brown’s suggestion.

Ultimately, the ordinance introduced for public hearing died and will go no further with the council as presented because the council could not agree on what to send to voters and when.

The debate lasted almost an hour with several council members unable to keep track of what motions were made and what exactly they were voting on because of all the discussion in between. “All of this was my reason for the motion to table,” Hulin said. “We need a time frame conducive to good government. We don’t have the pleasure of time on our sides. I think right now we need to worry about reapportionment at 14 and do all of this other stuff at a later date.”

Several council members said they wanted to see more public participation in the conversation, including input from municipalities that might be impacted. District 13 Councilman Larry Richard said he would like to work toward presenting some degree of complete consolidation to voters at some point.

In other council business, the council held elections Wednesday for its chairman and vice-chairman. Duncan will serve as chairman for 2011 and Broussard as vice-chairman.

Also, three candidates running for the District 22 state Senate seat formally announced their candidacy to the council at its meeting, including state Rep. Simone Champagne, R-Jeanerette, New Iberia lawyer David Groner and New Iberia insurance agent Armond Schwing.