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New council studies its roles
Members to be sworn in Monday
The newly elected parish council, which will hold its first meeting Tuesday, spent all day Friday meeting with various department heads and learning more about their new jobs.
"I'm very glad this is taking place," said new District 9 Councilman Glenn Stout. "We are getting a good basic understanding of how parish government functions. It is giving us an overview of what our responsibilities are and where the money goes."
New District 3 Councilwoman Fekisha Miller agreed. "It is important we are made aware of our resources so we can make the best use of them for the people," Miller said.Parish President Don Menard, who arranged for the training day, said it was all about building a team that can work for the people.
"The public sent a message that they wanted a team. The first part of building a team is communication," Menard said. "I'm extremely excited. I'm looking forward to working with these men and women. We all have the same goal - moving this parish forward."
The day started out with a talk by Jack Burson, who had served as chairman of the Home Rule Charter Commission that crafted the parish's new president-council form of government.
The Home Rule Charter, which did away with the former police jury form of government, was approved by the voters in 2002. In 2003, voters elected the parish's first president and 13 member council that took office Jan. 1, 2004.
Rather than 13 independent police jurors, each responsible solely for their own district, the new president-council form of government's aim under the new charter was to create a unified parish.
Similar to most city governments, the president exercises executive authority and the council exercises legislative authority. At its most basic, that means the council passes the laws that govern the parish and the president is responsible for enforcing those laws and overseeing the day-to-day operation of the parish.
Burson spoke to the new council members about their responsibilities. He was followed on the agenda by Judge Robert Brinkman, who had served as legal adviser to the Home Rule Charter Commission, who spoke on the authority and function of the parish president.
Next on the agenda was Parish Legal Adviser Andrea West, who talked about ordinances and resolutions and how each are crafted and enacted.
Independent Auditor Steve Moosa then reviewed the parish budget, doing his best to explain where the money comes from and where it goes.
"Parish government is a lot more than just roads," Moosa said, explaining the parish must fund health care centers, the clerk of courts and assessor's offices and numerous other branches of government.
It also is responsible for meeting the costs of justice in the parish, having to fund the district attorney's office, the various judges and courts and pay for the feeding and housing of prisoners and the maintenance of the parish jail.
"These are mandated expenses. You must fund these," Moosa said.
The end result is that while the parish collects more than $12 million a year in taxes and other revenues, only about $3 million of that is left over for other projects.
Other department heads who spoke during the day included:
- Lisa Vidrine with the Office of Homeland Security and
Emergency Preparedness;
- Chris Thomas with code enforcement and adjudicated
properties;
- Parish Inspector Paul Doherty with the building codes and
inspection office;
- Val Theriot with the permits office;
- Parish Engineer Carl Aucoin, who spoke about subdivision
regulations;
- Public Works Coordinator Michelle Kidder, who explained how
work orders are processed;
- Public Works Supervisor Kent Richard, who spoke about the
how the use of parish equipment and work crew assignments are
prioritized;
- Director of Public Works Tim Marks, who spoke about the
maintenance of parish buildings; and
- Animal Control Officer Patricia Guillory, who spoke about the operation of the parish's animal control officers and the parish animal pound.