BY PATRICK FLANAGAN

THE DAILY IBERIAN

The buildup to October’s elections got under way Monday night with a forum for Iberia Parish Council candidates, some who were no-shows.

Darren Sophus, who is vying for the District 8 council seat, incumbent District 6 Councilman Bernard Broussard and Classie “Sticky” Charles, one of two candidates running for District 12, showed up to Monday night’s Parish Council forum while their opponents did not.

“It’s a shame there’s not hardly any people,” said Billy Savoy of Coteau, who was one of about 50 Iberia residents who attended the event. “People need to get involved.”

Monday night’s forum, sponsored by the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce, The Daily Iberian and Leadership Iberia, was the first of three political forums scheduled this week at the South Louisiana Community College in New Iberia.

When asked what they considered the three biggest issues facing Iberia Parish, a majority of the candidates’ answers centered largely on improving sewerage, drainage, roads and hurricane protection.

Yet, not all candidates considered those three issues to be of top priority. Sophus, who is running against Ricky Gonsoulin, a no-show, said the creation of Economic Development, or TIF, districts, without a vote of the public is a major concern.

“The people don’t have enough info and they need to know more about these TIFs,” Sophus said.

When asked what ideas they have for generating money without using federal and state grants, incumbent District 5 Councilman Troy Comeaux said he believes the TIF is the answer, despite being a “sore” subject among many parish residents.

“It’s creating a tremendous amount of revenue for the parish,” Comeaux said.

Comeaux’s challenger, Tim Gautreau, agreed.

Gautreau said in addition to the TIF, he believes an additional tax must be considered to help fund the creation of a hurricane protection levee, a project that is in the planning stages but without a funding source.

District 7 Councilman John Berard said despite being in favor of the parish’s first TIF district, along U.S. 90, he was not in favor of the creation of a second TIF, which he described as the “greedy man’s TIF.”

“Instead, I think we should use tax incentives, tax breaks and enterprise free zones to encourage businesses to come here,” Berard said.

Berard’s challenger in District 7, David Ditch, said if elected, he would be a firm supporter of consolidation, meaning the merging of parish and city governments into one governing body.

That sentiment was expressed by the majority of the candidates, agreeing that before pushing forward on the consolidation issue, it must first be brought to the voters of the parish to decide.

Presented with the question that Iberia Parish may appear to some as unfriendly to business, citing the issue with Gordon’s Landfill and the development of a Dollar General in Coteau, the candidates largely argued that the Parish Planning and Zoning Commission should be able to enforce the decisions it makes.

“Development is being controlled by who screams the loudest,” Ditch said.

Sophus echoed Ditch and said if Planning and Zoning rules against a business being developed in a residential area, then that ruling should stand.

Eddie Paul Romero, who is challenging incumbent Thomas Landry for the District 3 council seat, said he believes favoritism plays a big role in who is allowed to develop and who is not, namely Gordon Doerle.

“Y’all let him put that dump in Coteau without letting anyone else know, and now Highway 88 stinks to high heaven,” Romero said.

Landry countered, and said Planning and Zoning is an evolving process, which requires tweaking as it evolves.

“There was a lot of legal issues involved with the actions we took on Doerle’s,” Landry said.

Jody Suire, a candidate for the District 13 seat, said he believes the parish failed the residents in its handling of Gordon’s Landfill.

“Y’all put boards in place for a reason,” Suire said.

“That’s because we don’t want full-time elected officials. We need to live by the laws. Zoning ruled, but then the Parish Council overruled. The parish didn’t do due diligence.”

Trahan’s answer to zoning issues in Iberia Parish is to create individual business districts, which would be overseen by the Iberia Industrial Development Foundation, he said.

Classie “Sticky” Charles, who is running for District 12 seat in Jeanerette, said although she is not familiar with many of the issues facing the council, she is ready to serve and noted that her experience at Morton Salt and as a labor union member lends well to government service.