St. Martinville – The City of St. Martinville held two Town Hall meetings in March to present information to city residents about the item on the May 3 election ballot that will give voters the option to change the city’s form of government from a special legislative charter to the Lawrason Act.
The first meeting was held osn March 6 at Adam Carlson Park with the second scheduled on March 11 at Magnolia Park.
Consultant Karen White was on hand at both meetings to explain the differences between the two forms of government that voters will choose between — the current special legislative charter adopted on April 4, 1898, and the Lawrason Act, created by the state legislature in 1895.
Under the city’s charter, the city council operates under a stronger position. Twenty-four towns, villages and cities in the state are governed under special legislative charters.
The majority of villages, towns and cities in the state are governed under the Lawrason Act. Voters abolished legislative charters in 1974 in approving the new state constitution. The Lawrason Act provides more checks and balances similar to the U.S. government’s division between the executive branch (in this case the mayor, who is the city administrator) and the legislative branch (the board of aldermen, or city council in St. Martinville’s case). Around 248 municipalities in the state are governed using the Lawrason Act. Another 33 are under Home Rule Charters.
Existing legislative charters were allowed to continue after 1974 but the legislature could amend or repeal those charters at any time. In 2010, the legislature enacted a statute that says if a legislative charter is silent on a particular matter, the provisions of the Lawrason Act controls the issue.
Broussard Mayor Ray Bourque spoke at the March 6 town hall, saying he and Broussard Councilman David Forbes were there to help St. Martinville residents see how the Lawrason Act works in their city, and to make an informed decision when the vote comes up in May.
Town Hall
Bourque said that both the city council and the mayor have a lot of authority under the Lawrason Act, which Broussard uses as its basis for municipal government.
“But they serve two different roles distinctly, and you can always go back to it and kind of get that answer,” Bourque said. “‘Do I have the authority to do this or that?’
Forbes also said that he and Bourque were not there to try to tell St. Martinville residents which way they should vote, merely to say what they know about the Lawrason Act, and how it works for the City of Broussard, and what the mayor’s role and the council’s role are under the Lawrason Act.
Questions were answered from those attending the meeting as well.
According to White, some city officials are appointed by recommendation of the mayor and approval by the council, including police chief, the municipal clerk, the city attorney, and a financial auditor, if there is one. Some key department heads also may be appointed positions, depending on how the city is organized, such as the public works supervisor.
Those appointed people could only be removed from office by recommendation by the mayor and then by vote of the council. Neither the mayor nor council can appoint or remove those people from their positions without the other’s approval.
All other positions are considered employees under the Lawrason Act. The mayor has supervisory authority over those authorities — authority to hire, fire and discipline those employees — but civil service regulations apply to those employment decisions foremost.
“And it allows those employees to have a clear idea of ‘who do I report to? Who ultimately is at the top of the food chain here?’” she said.
If residents choose they can instead opt for a Home Rule Charter, which is a lengthy process. The City of St. George, which recently voted to separate from the East Baton Rouge city-parish government, has chosen to use a Home Rule Charter, but the majority of the 34 Home Rule Charter communities in the state are among the state’s larger cities with a lot of operational needs — Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, etc. St. George has a population of more than 30,000.
If St. Martinville opts to move to the Lawrason Act, it could not vote to go back to a special legislative charter because those have been abolished. The city could opt for a Home Rule Charter, however.
St. Martinville City Council members Carol Frederick and Mike Fuselier, who voted against bringing the issue to residents for a vote, were given a brief time to ask questions or make comments about the potential change to city government.
Frederick said that she spoke to a number of people in District 2, her district, who were largely opposed to changing to the Lawrason Act, and she also said she spoke to mayors and council members in cities that use the Lawrason Act.
“What it seems that I learned from them, and what I learned from you is that the most successful cities don’t focus on it being council vs. mayor, they focus more on working together, not making it a competition of power and seeking to include all,” she said. “Maybe you have lanes and you stay in those lanes. But as you said, there’s a lot of communication and transparency, so it works when that’s what’s happening.”
Frederick also did not like that the mayor controls what gets on the agenda for council meetings under the Lawrason Act.
White said that the Lawrason Act provides ways around the mayor’s control of the agenda. First, the will of the people is strong, and the people always will be heard, she said.
But putting that aside, the council also has rights under the Lawrason Act. The council can add an item to the agenda by a unanimous vote at the meeting, she said. In addition, if the council by majority will wants to meet, the mayor cannot stop the council from meeting. If the mayor does not want to conduct an agenda, the council can convene a meeting by majority will with its own agenda and conduct its own meeting.
“But make no mistake about it, the council by one of those means I talked about can always get an item on an agenda for their discussion,” White said. “It’s their job to discuss those matters.”
District 4 Councilwoman Janise Anthony encouraged residents to learn as much as they can about the Lawrason Act and do their due diligence by reading about it on the internet.
“I’m a firm believer that we need to move in a forward direction,” Anthony said. “We don’t live in the 1800s anymore. Times have changed.
“I ask you to just do your homework. Ask questions. My challenge is, if you want a better St. Martinville, let’s act upon it and let’s all make it a better St. Martinville.”
Fuselier said he found it very disheartening that a paid consultant and two elected officials from another city were given all the time they wanted to speak but that St. Martinville city council members were limited to a few minutes.
He then read from notes about the issue.
“Our city fathers created for us a special charter,” he said. “We have been governed by it for nearly two centuries. A multitude of mayors and council members have served under it. When needed, it was amended.
“Here’s the important part. It was amended to meet the needs of the City of St. Martinville.”
The Lawrason Act is a one-size-fits-all, cookiecutter form of government, created a long time ago by the state, not by the cities themselves, he said.
