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 Parish Meeting
- City Agenda
Lafayette 101
Special and emergency meetings
On top of the two meetings held each month, the councils can also call special and emergency meetings. Special meetings require 24 hours notice. Emergency meetings do not. Rules for Lafayette’s council meetings are governed by the charter and by Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law.
Parish Council
Final Adoption
Flood Mitigation. The Parish Council will look at an ordinance that will declare the Localized Flood Mitigation Contract #24 near W Broussard Road a public necessity. This ordinance will allow for LCG to acquire land using expropriation if necessary.
Introduction
No significant items.
Special Parish Meeting
Emergency Preparedness. Following the regular Parish Council meeting, a special meeting will be held to discuss budgeting related to the Mayor-President’s plan to create an internal parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness funding a director and emergency preparedness officer at $186,133 annually. The move comes as Boulet enters her first hurricane season as mayor-president, and it follows weeks of frustration with LCG’s response to the strongest winds Lafayette had seen in decades in May.
City Council
Final Adoption
No significant items.
Introduction
PARC Budgets. The City Council will look at an ordinance to fund the upcoming Louisiana Recreation and Parks Association Conference with revenue received from the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission. $24,000 would go to LCG’s Department of Parks, Arts, Recreation, and Culture to fund the conference.
GUMBO grant power. The mayor-president is seeking greater administrative authority to budget local funds for broadband projects supported by the state’s Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities program. LUS Fiber, Lafayette’s city-owned telecom company, has received millions to expand its network outside of Lafayette Parish through the program. This ordinance amends a 2023 statute to clarify the mayor-president’s budgeting power with respect to GUMBO projects.
Joint Items
Final Adoption
No significant items.
Introduction
Emergency preparedness. Both councils will consider repealing the entirety of chapter 30 in Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government’s Code of Ordinances, which defines Lafayette’s emergency management operations. The repeal is necessary to execute Mayor-President Boulet’s proposed creation of an emergency preparedness department for the parish within her office.