New Web site monitors parish Home Rule Charter

A government watchdog group has launched a new Web site to educate the public about proposed changes to the St. Tammany Parish Home Rule Charter, the governing document of parish government.

The Web site, www.OfByAndForThePeople.org, outlines those changes that include among other items, a scaling down of council members from 14 to 11.

The League of Women Voters and Tammany Together, civic groups who proposed the changes with public input, hope to place the amendments on the Nov. 4 presidential election.

A special meeting will be held at 7 p.m. July 30 at parish headquarters, 21490 Koop Drive, Mandeville. The Home Rule Charter hasn’t been revised since its 1998 adoption, according to the civic group.

“The committee wants to emphasize that the changes we recommend are not a reflection of anyone now serving on the council, planning and zoning commissions or our parish president,” the report said. “St. Tammany’s charter provides us with a roadmap for now and the future… All such documents deserve periodic review and update. We believe the changes we propose will improve the parish’s roadmap.”

The proposal contains a bevy of changes, including an elimination of five council seats and adding two at-large council members, making the council an 11-seat board.

In addition, the amendments call for council members to be term limited to no more than two terms in the same district beginning in 2012. Currently, Parish Council members have no term limits.

Other recommendations include:

• Creation of an independent legal department instead of using the local district attorney’s office as now required by the Louisiana State Constitution.

However, parishes with their own Home Rule Charter are allowed to operate independently, the report said.

• Requiring a master planning and zoning plan be reviewed every two years if needed, backed by “the force of the law.”

• Consolidation of the parish planning and zoning commissions, now operating as separate boards made of identical members. That move would strip two seats, making the commission a nine-member board instead of 11.

• Promoting the parish chief administrative officer or the assistant CAO to fill the term of parish president if a vacancy occurs. Currently, the council must name an interim parish president within 15 days.

Once appointed to the interim position, the CAO cannot run for the seat in an open election. The proposal “ensures that the appointee will be focused on the needs of the parish and not on an upcoming election,” according to the report.

For more information call Sandra Slifer, president of League of Women Voters at 875-9388.