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!)
- City Agenda
Lafayette 101
Adjudications
Properties become adjudicated when their annual property tax bills aren’t paid, leaving LCG in charge of handling them until the owner pays off the tax bill or someone else goes through the lengthy process of obtaining title to the property to become its new owner. The slow process causes adjudicated properties to often sit neglected for years.
Parish Council
Final Adoption
Jail money. Mayor-President Josh Guillory’s administration is asking the Parish Council to approve $45,000 in new funding for a detention facility activation planning project related to the construction of a new parish jail after the state awarded LCG $17.5 million this year to start work on a replacement.
Introduction
No significant items.
City Council
Final Adoption
SRO agreement. The City Council will vote on a plan to provide 21 school resource officers from the Lafayette Police Department to the Lafayette Parish School System in exchange for a little more than $1 million over the coming school year.
Fire Department funding. Guillory’s administration is asking for an additional $300,000 for personnel costs within the Lafayette Fire Department, most of which would be budgeted for overtime pay.
Road overlay. The council will vote on a $350,000 request to fund urban asphalt road overlays in the city, adding to $3.3 million budgeted for such projects this year.
$4M for transit. Two ordinances (one, two) up for final votes Tuesday would accept about $4 million in federal grants for Lafayette’s public transit operations, with a required combined local match of about $2.8 million.
LUS late fees. After being flagged by auditors this year for allowing LUS to suspend late fees and disconnections during last summer’s natural gas price spike, the Guillory administration is proposing an ordinance to give LUS Director Jeff Stewart power to suspend late fees and service disconnections during emergencies or special circumstances subject to several restrictions.
Introduction
Fire & Police raises. Tuesday’s meeting will offer the first glimpse of Guillory’s proposed raises for Lafayette’s fire and police employees, which would total $3.1 million in addition annual personnel costs. Guillory’s administration is seeking to add the proposed raises, which would bring police starting pay to $47,000, to the remaining months of the current year budget with Tuesday’s ordinances, and it is expected to push to add them to next year’s budget as well.
Joint Items
Final Adoption
Limit two. A proposed update to Lafayette’s Development Code would limit the number of temporary yard signs allowed on lots in residential neighborhoods to just two signs totaling less than 12 square feet in combined size. The change comes as political yard signs have popped up around the city ahead of the Oct. 14 election, when multiple statewide and local offices will be on the ballot. It would impact not only campaign signs but any temporary signs in residential neighborhoods. Lots in other parts of the city will be limited to four temporary signs totaling 32 square feet in area.
Introduction
McComb adjudications. A plan to turn over 19 adjudicated properties to the McComb-Veazey Coterie will be introduced to both councils Tuesday in a bid to hasten the revival of adjudicated properties in the McComb-Veazey area and give greater local control over the fate of those properties to the neighborhood’s residents. Adjudicated properties are typically revived one at a time, so LCG’s novel approach of turning over several to a non-profit neighborhood group all at once could provide a new path to clearing the hundreds of adjudications around the parish.
Property
| Address | Approval | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 506 F St., Duson | Parish Council | Sale of adjudicated property to neighbor [Resolution] |
| 418 Breaux Road | Parish Council | Sale of adjudicated property to neighbor [Resolution] |
| 3820 West Congress St. | Joint Councils | Sale of adjudicated property to neighbor [Resolution] |
| 208 Olivier St. | Joint Councils | Sale of adjudicated property to neighbor [Resolution] |
| 716 Delord St. | Joint Councils | Sale of adjudicated property to neighbor [Resolution] |
| 504 Thirteenth St. & 1219 S Magnolia St. | Joint Councils | Donation of adjudicated properties to non-profit Acts of Love, Inc. [Final] |
| 1201 Carmel Drive | City Council | Conditional Use Permit for convenience store with gas station in commercial-mixed (CM-1) zoning [Intro] |
| 800 Block Vincent Road | City Council | Conditional Use Permit for convenience store with gas station in commercial-mixed (CM-1) zoning [Intro] |
| 1315, 1417 & 1419 S Hugh Wallis Road | City Council | Annexation and assignment of industrial-light (IL) zoning [Intro] |
Vacancies
| Board | Approval | Qualifications |
|---|---|---|
| Lafayette Public Innovation Alliance Board (two vacancies) | Parish Council | None listed |
| Lafayette Parish Waterworks District South Board | Parish Council | Applicants must reside with the Lafayette Parish Waterworks District South boundaries |
| Lafayette Mayor-President’s Awareness Committee on Citizens with Disabilities | Mayor-President | None listed |
| Lafayette Mayor-President’s Awareness Committee on Citizens with Disabilities | Mayor-President | Applicants must be submitted by non-profit agencies working with disabled citizens of the Parish of Lafayette |
| Evangeline Thruway Redevelopment Team | City Council | None listed |
| Keep Lafayette Beautiful Committee | City Council | None listed |
| Lafayette Airport Commission | City Council | None listed |
| Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority | City Council | None listed |
Appointments
| Board | Approval | Applicants |
|---|---|---|
| Lafayette Parish Bayou Vermilion District Board | City Council | Ruth Foote |