Council Preview: Land for new library and LUS rate hikes

Parish Council

Resolutions

Special constable election. The Parish Council will vote Tuesday on plans to call a special election this fall to replace a retiring constable. Constables largely perform the same duties as city marshals, i.e. serving warrants and carrying out court orders. A temporary appointment to fill the vacancy is planned for March 5. 

Final Adoption

Public necessity. Both councils will vote Tuesday on their first public necessity ordinances, which became a point of contention under Guillory as his administration used them to controversially expropriate land for major projects. Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet told the City Council that her approach would be fundamentally different, saying expropriations aren’t embraced in Lafayette and should be a last resort. The Parish Council’s ordinance deals with the replacement of a bridge on Giselle Place near Milton. 

Introduction

New library land. The Parish Council will also consider plans Tuesday to authorize Boulet to buy (or take) land for the long-awaited Northeast Regional Library, which has been years in the making. The library is requesting 6 acres of land off Shadow Bluff Drive near the I-10 exit to Louisiana Avenue for the new branch location, and an appraisal is underway. 

City Council

Final Adoption

STR first. The City Council will vote Tuesday on the first rezoning request for an existing short-term rental since new rules banning them from single-family residential zones were passed last fall. The new rules make it unlawful for STRs to operate in RS zoning districts in October but set an April 1 deadline for other STRs to apply for permits. In this case, that means getting rezoned before then. 

Public necessities. The City Council will also vote Tuesday on its first public necessity ordinances. The City Council’s ordinances deal with overhauls to 12th Street and Congress Street, plus the Failla Road bridge replacement. 

Introduction

Brown Park. Boulet’s administration is offering a plan to move $1.5 million in federal stimulus funds from Downtown drainage improvement projects to improvements at Graham Brown Memorial Park, where renovations began to some surprise last fall. 

LUS rate hike. LUS is asking the City Council to approve a series of minor rate hikes over the next four years to help pay for its roughly $400 million Bonin Gas Plant redevelopment, which will replace LUS’s retiring coal-fired power plant in 2028. The increases would add a total of $5 to LUS’s monthly service charge between now and November 2027 and incrementally increase its base rate by 12% over the same timeframe, though that doesn’t impact LUS’s fuel rate, which makes up about half of its total electricity rate. 

Joint Items

Final Adoption

New cabinet. Mayor-President Boulet has largely reorganized the top brass at Lafayette Consolidated Government, which she deemed her primary goal for her first 100 days in office. But she’ll need approval from both councils to officially change the positions and salaries within the mayor-president’s office. Both councils will vote Tuesday on Boulet’s plan, which would replace the chief of minority affairs position with Municipal and Constituent Services Advisor Vincent Pierre, a former state representative, and would replace the deputy chief of staff job previously held by Jamie Angelle with Policy Advisor Yancy LeGrande, among other changes that net a total increase of about $1,800 a year in personnel costs.

Public necessity. Both councils will also vote Tuesday on a joint public necessity ordinance for repairs to the E Verot School Road Bridge.

Introduction

No significant items.

Property

Vacancies