– St. Martin Parish President Pete Delcambre told the St. Martin Parish Council’s Administrative and Finance Committee that he did not approach St. Mary Parish President Sam Jones about having St. Mary Parish incorporate Lower St. Martin Parish into St. Mary, as Jones told the St. Mary Parish Council at its March 11 meeting. Delcambre said that he was asked by St. Mary Parish Council representatives at a 16th Judicial Courthouse meeting, and by Jones at a luncheon, about whether St. Martin Parish would be interested in having the Stephensville/Belle River areas annexed by St. Mary Parish. Delcambre did not approach St. Mary Parish officials about the matter, he said.
Delcambre told Jones that he would research the idea, first to find out if it was possible and feasible, and second to see if it was something that St. Martin Parish and residents of Lower St. Martin would be interested in.
But at the March 11 St. Mary Parish Council meeting, Jones said that Delcambre had approached him and was looking to have Lower St. Martin Parish incorporated into St. Mary Parish, and that Delcambre said the St. Martin Parish Council was in favor of that idea.
Delcambre said he heard about the comments the next day and called Jones, and said that he did not make any approach to give away part of the parish to St. Mary.
“The way this went down was incorrect,” Delcambre said of the comments made at the St. Mary Parish meeting. “The things that were said that I said were incorrect. The positions that I was put in, I think are unjust.”
Delcambre said he has no problem with Jones, as Jones helped get permission for Lower St. Martin debris following Hurricane Francine in September 2024 to be brought to St. Mary Parish for pickup.
Annex
But he does have a problem with what was said at the St. Mary Parish Council meeting, he said.
“I said (in a conversation the next day), Sam, there were three entities involved in this thing,” Delcambre said. “There was St. Mary. All I ever said to you was, I’ll look into it. But there’s two other entities involved in this. The Parish of St. Martin, my position as parish president, and the words you said and brought in St. Martin Parish Council into this, which I told him flat out were incorrect. But I said, you know what, the main participants in this thing, the third party in this thing, are the residents of Stephensville and Belle River. I said you did not contact these people to see if they had any opinion, if they had any desire to do this.”
Jones did say in the St. Mary Parish meeting that a parishwide vote in St. Mary and a parishwide vote in St. Martin would be necessary for annexation, and that people in Stephensville and Belle River would have to be in favor of it.
Delcambre said he spoke to a third person who attended the luncheon with him and Jones, and that person was surprised at what Jones said at the St. Mary Parish Council meeting also, and that he agreed that Delcambre did not make the offer to have Lower St. Martin annexed by St. Mary Parish.
Delcambre said people in Lower St. Martin Parish need to be contacted before any suggestion of that part of the parish being moved to another parish is considered.
“From my perspective, it’s not a council decision,” he said. “It’s not a parish president decision. It is a decision of the people of Stephensville and Belle River. And without that approval, nothing gets done.
“As far as my factfinding, as far as me looking into it, that’s exactly what it was. And without remiss, I will continue to factfind and look into things that I think will benefit the people that I serve, always taking these people into primary consideration before I do anything.”
Delcambre said that he was not asked about the issue before it was reported from one side and then exploded on social media.
Council member Hoyt Louviere, whose District 1 covers Lower St. Martin Parish, said he was not part of any discussions about annexation and Delcambre cleared a lot of his questions up after Jones’ comments at the St. Mary Parish meeting.
“I’m not in favor of transferring Lower St. Martin Parish to St. Mary Parish,” Louviere said. “Nobody I’ve talked to down there, as of yet, has verbalized that they are wanting to leave St. Martin Parish to go to St. Mary Parish.”
Council Chairman Chris Tauzin, answering a question from Council member Tangie Narcisse, said the item was put on the agenda because the matter had been brought up in a public meeting in another parish concerning the St. Martin Parish Council and he wanted to give Delcambre a chance to address what was said.
Delcambre told Tauzin that the comments Jones made about Delcambre saying he and the St. Martin Parish Council pushing for Lower St. Martin to be moved to St. Mary Parish were untrue.
Stephensville resident Carroll Angelle said his phone rang off the wall on Friday with people asking what was going on.
Angelle said that residents of Stephensville feel they are treated like stepchildren, but he doesn’t feel residents want to leave St. Martin Parish.
“Pete came over and I was one of them to meet with him, one of eight or 10 other people,” Angelle said. “And I promise you, it’s going to change. Those people are not against Pete. Once he explained what happened, we knew what happened.
“My opinion is, and I may be wrong, somebody pushed one of Sam Jones’ buttons to do what he did, because I know what politics are. So, let’s all work together. Let’s help everybody out. Help us build some roads out there. Help clean up the ditches.”
Delcambre said that the talk likely came about after FEMA granted St. Mary and Assumption parishes full federal aid in the wake of Hurricane Francine in September 2024, but Lower St. Martin Parish was not granted full aid, because the federal government assesses damage on the full parish. The majority of St. Martin Parish did not receive heavy damage from the storm, though Lower St. Martin did.
St. Martin Parish was formed in 1811, but when Iberia Parish was formed in 1868, it cut through the lower part of St. Martin Parish, leaving a portion adjacent to St. Mary Parish and separate from the rest of St. Martin Parish.
Delcambre said he talked to Sen. John Kennedy about using zip codes to see if an area qualifies for full federal disaster funds, rather than going on a parishwide basis.
Delcambre said that Jones and some St. Mary Parish officials asked Delcambre about possibly annexing lower St. Martin, and he said he’d look into whether it was even possible, but it was only casual conversation and nothing definitive was committed to by Delcambre.
