by Tommy Comeaux
Proponents of the parish council form of government again presented their case to members of the Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury, but the jury took no action on their request to allow the public to vote on the issue.

State Sen. Rob Marionneaux (D-Livonia), St. Martin Parish President Guy Cormier and Steve Boudreaux, representing Progress Pointe Coupee, an organization advocating the change to home rule charter, presented their case to the jury at its Tuesday meeting.

“This issue won’t go away,” Marionneaux told jurors at the end of the discussion, adding supporters of the parish council form of government will continue to return to the Police Jury every three months until jurors vote to place the matter on a ballot or until the petition Progress Pointe Coupee has started reaches its goal of 10 percent of local voters.

Either method will allow the matter to go to the voters, according to state law. Marionneaux and Boudreaux said the petition now contains 800 signatures of registered voters who would like to see the issue reach a ballot.

With 16,121 registered voters in Pointe Coupee as of Tuesday, according to Registrar of Voters Shanika Olinde, 1,612 signatures would be needed.

Jurors seemed content to allow the parish council supporters continue with their petition drive rather than to offer a resolution of their own to let the matter go to the voters.

Marionneaux pointed out to jurors they would have no say in the formation of a parish council commission or the writing of the parish charter voters would decide on if the petition method places the item on a ballot, but would have control over both if they agree to a resolution to put the option of a parish council on a ballot.

“I would simply urge the jury to take the bull by the horns and help make the charter better and stronger,” he said. The option was first introduced to the Police Jury and parish voters at a presentation held in November 2009 at the Julien Poydras Museum and Arts Center, a meeting hosted by Marionneaux, state Rep. Major Thibaut and Sheriff Bud Torres. Featured speakers at the forum included representatives from three nearby parishes that have already made the switch from police jury to parish council, Iberville, West Baton Rouge and Livingston.

Iberville Parish President Mitchell Ourso, West Baton Rouge Parish President Riley “Peewee” Berthelot and Livingston Parish President Mike Grimmer headlined the discussion, each offering their own explanations of why a parish council works better for them than the old police jury system.

Members of the Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury have been opposed to the change since its introduction 20 months ago and little seems to have changed since.

“The jury is out right now” on the merits of a parish council in Pointe Coupee, Jury President Melanie “Miss Mel” Bueche said Tuesday. “We respect your opinions…and we will come back with a decision, but not right now.”

“I’m asking you to give us the time to consider it,” she said later. “I’m just asking you to allow us as the elected officials of the parish to do the right thing for Pointe Coupee Parish.”

Bueche continued by saying the jury is “not slamming the door” on the idea, but that jurors did “not want to put a timeline on it.”

Marionneaux began the discussion by telling jurors, “A lot of things have happened since we last met,” referring to a meeting in March when jurors said they would host a series of public hearings on the parish council. Jurors hosted five meetings around the parish, but the issue never returned to a Police Jury agenda after those meetings.

One juror at Tuesday’s meeting said he’s heard nothing from his constituents that would lead him to believe the jury needed to take further action.

“The people overwhelmingly told us they didn’t want it,” said Juror Russell Young, one of several jurors who have been vocal opponents of the change since its first mention nearly two years ago.

Boudreaux said Young’s review of the public’s reaction to the public meetings held in April was wrong. “There was strong public opinion in favor of the parish council form of government,” he said.

He added the group had a following of 700 “friends” on its Facebook page and “the message is getting out” about the possibility of changing to a parish council in Pointe Coupee.

“That is our sole and only mission,” Boudreaux said. “…This group of people has worked very hard and is devoted to this parish.”

He also said later that everyone the group has contacted either wants to sign the petition, wants to learn more about the parish council form of government or is fearful of retaliation from supporters of the Police Jury.

“Almost no one that we have come in contact with have said they’re completely satisfied with our current form of government,” Boudreaux said.

Supporters of the parish council form of government say it is a better, more effective form of government than a police jury.

“I only come here with a recommendation,” Marionneaux said. “…I just think the parish council is a better option.” “We have seen this business style form of government change the way we do business in St. Martin Parish,” Cormier said, adding over $40 million has been put into capital improvements in the parish since it went to a parish council. “That would not have happened under police jury rule.”

He also said there were four members of the former police jury who were adamantly opposed to making the change, who “did not want us to succeed,” who would today “say they were glad it succeeded.”

“I think it’s important to the people to know you’ve studied the parish council concept,” Cormier said later. “Unless you explore it, you’ll never know if it’s right for your parish.”

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