Here is a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the City and Parish councils. To see the full agendas, check out the links below:
- Parish Agenda
- City Agenda (Public Comment Time!)
Lafayette 101
Lafayette Consolidated Government
Lafayette combines city and parish government services into one administrative agency, Lafayette Consolidated Government. LCG is run by a consolidated executive branch, the mayor-president and his administration, but governed by split legislative branches, the City Council and Parish Council. Whether this arrangement fairly represents city and parish interests is a key point of contention in local politics.
Parish Council Special Meeting
Introduction
$22 million for Bayou Vermilion Flood Control. This ordinance appropriates $22 million in state funds for the Bayou Vermilion Flood Control project, a catchall budget item that includes the Homewood Regional Detention project and a pond on Coulee Ile Des Cannes. Work on Homewood, a $60 million project, is stopped after a district judge ruled LCG illegally seized land to build it. Last month, the Parish Council moved $12.8 million to Bayou Vermilion Flood Control, purportedly to pay for the Ile Des Cannes project.
Parish Council Regular Meeting
Report
Recommendations of the City-Parish Alignment Commission. In May, this commission, created by the Parish Council in response to the City Council’s Protect the City Committee, released its final report, which recommends no substantive changes to consolidated government. The Protect the City Committee recommended ending consolidated government.
Final Adoption
New Parish Council Districts. There are four ordinances up for final adoption, each approving a different redistricting plan: Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 3, Plan 4. Parish Council districts have to be rebalanced to account for changes in population.
Introduction
Reclassifying $14.1 million of ARPA funds. This ordinance shifts money from Parish Future Project Reserves to Parish Loss Revenue Reserves. ARPA rules allow for recipients to spend some of this money without restrictions so long as it can be shown to offset lost revenues. The administration has not proposed a similar ordinance for the City’s ARPA funds.
$4.1 million of ARPA funds. These ordinances appropriate ARPA funds to a variety of projects:
- $400,000 for Parish Tourism
- $67,000 for Maple Grove Lane Overlay Project
- $1 million for Coulee Mine Flood Control Project
- $500,000 for Garber Road Bridge Replacement Project
- $200,000 for Carmel Drive Sidewalks Project
- $2 million for Louisiana Avenue Extension Project
Another $2.35 million to the Bayou Vermilion Flood Control Project. This ordinance transfers $545,000 from the Bayou Vermilion Flood Control-Chappuis Project and $1.8 million from the Oak Springs Flood Control Project to the vaguely defined Bayou Vermilion Flood Control Project, which includes the spoil banks removal project and Homewood Regional Detention Project, both of which are in legal jeopardy, to the massive Coulee Ile Des Cannes ponds.
City Council
Final Adoption
$1 million for the Webb Coulee Detention Project. This ordinance transfers funds from the Malapart Detention Pond Project to the Webb Coulee Detention Project. The mayor-president secured $1 million from the City Council for the Malapart pond last summer, which was to be located west of Carencro. The Webb Coulee ponds are located near Pa’ Davis Park.
New City Council Districts. There are four ordinances up for final adoption, each approving a different redistricting plan: Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 3, Plan 4. City Council districts have to be rebalanced to account for changes in population.
Introduction
$500,000 for the Comprehensive Stormwater Plan. This ordinance takes money from the city capital fund to pay for a parishwide comprehensive drainage plan. The administration contracted CSRS last summer to work on a comprehensive plan but has argued in court in defense of its expropriations that LCG already has a comprehensive plan.
Joint Items
Final Adoption
New rules for commercial pedi-cabs and more. This ordinance establishes new regulations for commercial pedal carriages — defined as four or more wheeled bicycle-like vehicles — that distinguish them from shared mobility devices like scooters. This category would include transports like pedi-cabs and pedal pubs.
Early raises for LCG employees. This ordinance accelerates the automatic 2% raises for LCG employees triggered by increased sales tax revenue collections. These raises are scheduled to take effect Nov. 1 but instead would start in June.
A raise and a new hire for the mayor-president’s office. This ordinance authorizes a raise for an administrative specialist and adds a digital communications specialist position within the mayor-president’s office. Despite being a joint ordinance, the burden of these increased costs would fall entirely on the city.
Introduction
LCG taking over maintenance for state roads. This ordinance authorizes the mayor-president to enter into an agreement with the state of Louisiana through which LCG will be reimbursed to mow and pick up litter on some state roads.
Property
Below is a table collecting council actions related to property, such as rezonings, annexations and disposition of adjudicated properties.
| Address | Approval | Action |
| 715 Coolidge St | City Council | Rezone from RM-1 to CM-1 |
| 601 General Mouton Ave | City Council | Rezone from MN-1 to MN-2 |
| 300 East Martial Avenue | City Council | Rezone from RM-1 to PI-L |
Appointments
| Board | Approval | Applicants |
| Lafayette Parish Library Board of Control | Parish Council | Virginia Bienvenu, Claire Dawkins, Tim Howat, Daniel Kelly, Barbara Lamont, Erasto Padron Jr., Alicia Roberts, Joan Savoy, Marquia Whitehead |