Saying he needs one more term to finish up the work on rebuilding the parish after Hurricane Katrina, three-term Parish President Kevin Davis is submitting a bill to the Parish Council that would allow him to put his name on the 2012 ballot.

Davis is restricted to three terms, according to the Parish Charter, and he insists his proposal would not get rid of term limits.

“It would just put my name on the ballot for one more term,” Davis explained.

Kevin Davis

The bill, which will be presented to the council at its Jan. 8 meeting, calls for a special election in May 2009 for voters to decide if Davis should serve another four years.

Davis said that since Katrina, there are many things he needs to get done, and that will take another term.

He points to his negotiations with the federal government in general and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in particular.

“It’s important to maintain a cohesiveness of local government in relation to getting the federal government to help us,” Davis said.

In other words, he’s been doing all the negotiating, and a new parish president would have a steep learning curve in continuing those negotiations, he said.

District 11 Parish Councilman Steve Stefancik, one of the bill’s sponsors, agrees.

“Nobody else understands the bureaucracy of the federal government better than Kevin,” Stefancik said. “And we need that now more than ever.”

Davis said the parish is “very close” to finalizing plans for a parish flood protection system.

He said it has taken eight years to put together, and he still needs to go to the U.S. Congress to make sure the plan is instituted appropriately.

He also said he wants to see the completion of University Square, a complex of four state universities that will occupy 50 acres of land just north of Lacombe.

He sees the project as changing the process of higher education in Louisiana and even the country. The parish has just purchased the land for the project, and Davis said it will take awhile for University Square to become a reality.

“These projects just don’t happen overnight,” Davis said.

He also named other post-Katrina problems and projects like the lawsuit against FEMA over the canals in Coin du Lestin and getting roads and other infrastructure projects completed.

“I’m only asking for this because of Katrina. I’m not asking to end term limits,” he said.

Stefancik said he doesn’t see the Parish Council objecting to the bill.

“Most of the council is very happy with him,” Stefancik said. “He’s been a good leader in trying times.”

That’s not to say there haven’t been some objections to the idea.

“I’ve been getting e-mails on this both ways. Some people are OK with it, others are not happy about it,” Stefancik said.

In the end, both Davis and Stefancik agree, the issue will be in the hands of the voters.

“Let the voters decide on one more term for me,” Davis said.