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 (Public Comment Time!)
- Special Joint Meeting Agenda
- City Agenda
Lafayette 101
Vetoes
When the councils pass ordinances, the mayor-president has three options: sign them, veto them or let them pass unsigned. By charter, the M-P has 10 days to take action once the councils pass an ordinance. The councils can override a veto with a two-thirds vote. Under the current configuration, a council needs four votes to defeat a veto. For joint legislation, each council needs four votes.
Parish Council
Final Adoption
No significant items.
Introduction
Temporary housing during disasters. This ordinance authorizes the mayor-president to participate in the Temporary Housing and Shelter Assistance Program within the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. The program requires waiving certain land use regulations temporarily.
Appointments
Library Board of Control. The Parish Council has yet another vacancy to fill on the library board. These appointments have become high stakes in recent years. New members affiliated with conservative activist groups have proposed radical changes to library operations and sought more control over the system’s collections.
Special Joint Meeting
Veto Override. This special joint meeting was called to vote on overturning a veto M-P Josh Guillory used to restore substantial raises for LCG directors in the upcoming budget. The councils had cut the raises from the budget unanimously. Guillory withdrew his veto last week. It’s not clear whether that has any legal effect. The councils may need to override the veto anyway.
City Council
Resolutions
$118.5 million in bond issues. This resolution authorizes LCG to sell $68.5 million worth of bonds backed by city sales taxes for city infrastructure. This resolution authorizes $50 million worth of bond sales backed by LUS’s revenue for utility upgrades.
Final Adoption
Downtown sidewalks. This ordinance declares a Downtown sidewalks project a public necessity and authorizes the acquisition of property either on an amicable basis or through expropriation, if necessary. The geographic scope of this authorization encompasses most of the Downtown district.
Introduction
Downtown Drainage Improvements Phase II. This ordinance declares Downtown Drainage Improvements Phase II a public necessity authorizes the acquisition of property either on an amicable basis or through expropriation, if necessary. The geographic scope of this authorization covers land adjacent to Johnson’s Boucanière near St. John Street. The project involves installing a subsurface storm drain storage basin and the construction of a parking lot.
Temporary housing during disasters. This ordinance authorizes the mayor-president to participate in the Temporary Housing and Shelter Assistance Program within the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. The program requires waiving certain land use regulations temporarily.
Property
| Address | Approval | Action |
| 511 Saint Charles St | City Council | Condemnation |
Vacancies
| Board | Approval | Qualifications |
| Keep Lafayette Beautiful | Parish Council | Registered voter and a resident of Lafayette Parish |
| Keep Lafayette Beautiful | City Council | Registered voter and a resident of Lafayette Parish |
| Heymann Performing Arts Center | City Council | Registered voter and a resident of Lafayette Parish |
Appointments
| Board | Approval | Applicants |
| Lafayette Parish Library | Parish Council | Tiffany Abshire, Susan Benoit, Roslyn Bergeron, Aimée Dominique, Erika Godfrey, Christie Maloyed, Erasto Padron, Alicia Roberts, Azadeh Yazdi-Kaufman |
| Animal Care Center Advisory Board | Parish Council | Shirlene Bender |
| Bayou Vermilion District | Parish Council | Barry Ancelet, Sally Donelon, Glynn Maturin II, Clancy Ratliff |
| Keep Lafayette Beautiful | Mayor-President | Julie Racca Koppie |
| Mayor-President’s Awareness Committee for Citizens with Disabilities | Mayor-President | Haley Block |
| Mayor-President’s Awareness Committee for Citizens with Disabilities | Mayor-President | Laynie Stevens |
| Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority | City Council | George Roussel, Karen Alleman |
| Lafayette Airport Commission | City Council | Kenneth Clay, Aleisha Cook, Dolores Cormier-Zenon, Chris DeGuelle, Patrick Edmond Sr., Jeremy Morrow, Camella Mouton, Cindy Randazzo |