<p class="indent">Louisiana’s 64 parish governments have been constantly changing over the years, but some citizens in Lafayette and East Baton Rouge parishes are upset about their current status. The state has 38 police juries, 21 parish councils and 5 government combinations.</p><p class="indent">Lafayette Parish voters on Dec. 8 will decide whether they want to split their nine-person City-Parish Council into a five-person Lafayette City Council and five-person Lafayette Parish Council. A simple majority vote of the public would amend the home rule charter.</p><p class="indent">Officials with the NAACP in East Baton Rouge Parish don’t like their Metro-Council setup and want separate councils for the city and parish. However, Mayor-President Sharon Broome, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and several council members have expressed opposition to the idea.</p><p class="indent">The Caddo Commission governs Caddo Parish. Terrebonne Parish has a consolidated government like Lafayette and East Baton Rouge. Orleans Parish has a city-parish government. So far, the citizens in Caddo, Terrebonne and Orleans parishes seem to be relatively happy with their governments.</p><p class="indent">Police juries are considered “creatures of the state” with only the authority delegated to them by the state. The 1974 constitution granted parishes the broad home rule authority to create their own forms of government, and that spurred the creation of parish councils and other forms of parish government.</p><p class="indent">Lafayette voters approved their home rule charter in 1992, and its Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) was launched in 1996. So, what has caused voters’ thinking to change?</p><p class="indent">The Lafayette Daily Advertiser said five municipalities in the parish each have their own mayor and council, but they also vote on the mayor-president and a city-parish person for their district. Lafayette residents don’t have their own mayor or city council and they only vote for the mayor-president and city-parish council member for their district.</p><p class="indent">The newspaper said as the population outside the city of Lafayette grows, some fear with the 2020 U.S. Census the city will lose representation on the current combined council. They believe that would give non-Lafayette residents control over the city of Lafayette, its taxes and its utilities system.</p><p class="indent">The proposed new five-member city council would include two districts that are majority black. The five-member parish council would have one majority black district</p><p class="indent">One resident back in August said, “Lafayette has allowed an un-American form of government to perpetuate for 22 years. It is literally why we threw tea in the Boston Harbor,” which was taxation without representation.</p><p class="indent">The charter change being voted on Dec. 8 would also require a public vote of Lafayette residents on proposals for outside entities to manage the Lafayette Utilities System (LUS). The proposal also applies term limits of current City-Parish Council members to the new City Council and Parish Council and creates city and parish planning and zoning commissions.</p><p class="indent">Lafayette voters in 2011 rejected a plan to abolish their consolidated government, but some former supporters now want change. If voters approve the charter amendment, elections for the new city and parish councils would take place in 2019. The winners would take office in 2020.</p><p class="indent">Meanwhile, NAACP leaders in Baton Rouge have argued the black community isn’t getting the representation it deserves on the 12-member Metro Council. The council is comprised of seven white Republicans and five black Democrats.</p><p class="indent">The Advocate said white residents outnumber blacks parish-wide, but blacks make up a majority of the population within the city limits of Baton Rouge. U.S. Census 2017 population estimates indicate 48.1 percent of the East Baton Rouge Parish population is white and 46.5 percent black. In Baton Rouge the black population is 55.2 percent while the white population is 38.6 percent.</p><p class="indent">A spokesman for the NAACP said the group is prepared to collect signatures to force the issue onto the ballot, but prefers to have the council do that. However, change doesn’t appear to be likely in the capital city.</p><p class="indent">The Advocate reported at least two of the black Democrats on the Metro Council have echoed the NAACP’s concerns but weren’t interested in dismantling the current form of government. They are asking for ways to make it more representative of the population. How that might happens remains to be seen.</p><p class="indent">Some of the state’s 21 parish councils have had their problems over the years. Ascension Parish, for example, debated for nearly a year and in June decided to keep its elected parish president-council government rather than try a new parish council-appointed manager.</p><p class="indent">A West Feliciana Parish councilman tried in July to let voters decide if they wanted to return to the police jury form of government, but the move was delayed for at least a year.</p><p class="indent">Parishes in this corner of the state have kept their police jury form of government, and the area has prospered like never before. It’s a good reason to remember the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”</p><p>UNHAPPY CITIZENS — Lafayette and East Baton Rouge Parish citizens don’t like their current form of local government, and Lafayette voters will decide the fate of theirs on Dec. 8.</p>MGNonline