St. Mary Council struggles to come to agreement over parish charter committee

By Robert R. Jones III

The St. Mary Parish Council struggled for about an hour to agree on the terms of the formation of a special committee suggested by Glen Hidalgo to review and suggest changes to the parish charter.

The move came after Hidalgo said he had a problem with parish government spending more than $10,000 on any proposal without public input at the last regular meeting two weeks ago, leading to heated discussion Wednesday night.

Issues among the council members and audience ranged from the makeup of the proposed committee to how groundwork for the group would be laid out before it was formed, resulting in Councilman Chuck Walters voting no to the measure.

After Hidalgo moved to allow either a councilman or a person chosen by the councilman from their geographic district to sit on the 11-member committee, Councilman Kevin Voisin suggested all the councilmen have names of committee members at the next meeting to meet the July 15 deadline for the November ballot.

The suggestion immediately garnered opposition, as other councilmen said they did not wish to rush the issue and end up with an unsuccessful result.

“This is an (important) issue and some ordinances require a lot of research and debate,” said Councilman Gary Duhon. “If we try to rush and do this in 45 days, we might as well not do it at all.”

Walters said he agreed in principal to the move, but he would not support the measure or appoint a committee member until groundwork was laid out for the new group.

“We need a set of guidelines of exactly what we want done before we make a motion,” he said with the support of Councilman Rev. Craig Mathews. “There can’t be 11 guys just throwing out suggestions. We need something in writing and I want to see what these people will be charged to do.”

Unlike Walters, Matthews did support the measure when it came to a vote, though he agreed guidelines should be drawn out in advance.

Hidalgo said something needed to be done because most of the council members had problems with the charter, which has not been adjusted since 1983. he added members could be named next month to address the problems in committee.

Councilman David Hanagriff agreed, saying if Walters had no problems, his appointee could help mediate other problems.

“We should be able to vote on it,” he said.

Walters replied he did have problems with the charter, but the committee needed guidelines before it would be effective and formal.

Councilman Steve Bierhorst said he wanted the committee set up so all the problems could be addressed at once on one ballot.

“Don’t piecemeal it,” he said. “I have no problem starting the committee, but I don’t want to rush it.”

Councilman Logan Fromenthal agreed the issue should be taken up, adding nothing could be put to a vote without approval by the council.

“I thing we agree the charter should be reviewed,” he said. “We should start now, and the committee would have to come through the council to get on the ballot. We are looking to the experienced councilmen for guidance, but I agree with Hidalgo this needs to be reviewed, though it does not have to be on the November ballot if it is not done properly by then.”

The council, except Walters, eventually agreed a person from each district would be appointed by a councilman to sit on the committee and advise the board on charter matters.